Jolie Holland -- Catalpa

Bluesy/folk/country singer-songwriter from SF -- formerly of the Be Good Tanyas. Beautiful Appalachia-esque spooky soulful voice -- reminiscent of old field recordings, Spare, muted instrumentation -- just soft guitars and banjo on a couple of tracks -- serves to emphasize her voice that emotes loneliness and ache in a way reminscent of Billie Holliday or the Carter Sisters. This was originally intended as a demo and was recorded one evening in a living room so the guitar player could learn the songs. There are several coughs and mistakes but that's part of the charm -- the antithesis of over-production. A few people heard it and liked it and she started selling it at some shows then eventually it was released -- a true gem!
PICS: 2, 3, 4, 6, 8, 13
1. muted echoey guitar, bells, thudding drums,
2. sweet folk melody, sadness, loneliness
3. foik/blues, simple, beautiful
4. blues, voice + guitar
5. folk, slower,
6. soft banjo + guitar, bluesgrass, escape
7. instrumental, mandolins, guitar,
8. slow, sad, guitar + harmonica + voice -- great
9. uses some syd barrett lyrics, slightly faster
10. spacey electric guitar -- lyrics are a poem by W.B. Yeats
11. slow waltz feel, tale of destitution -- beautiful
12. beautiful voice, bluegrass -- banjo + guitar + musical saw