acoustic guitar highlights

acoustic guitar highlights

Something I Said — Review of singer-songwriter Pieta Brown “One and All”

Something I Said – Pieta Brown

Dwight Hobbes – Twin Cities Daily Planet

Singer-songwriter Pieta Brown‘s One and All on St. Paul’s Red House Records is a fine follow-up to the EP Shimmer, her excellent debut on the label. In fact, remarkably enough, it is an improvement. Shimmer, a seven-song disc, provided a solid showcase for Brown’s bright vocals and well crafted compositions. You get five more this time around and, accordingly, a broader range of moods in her vocals and textures in her material.

It’s hard to recall a folk-influenced lady with Pieta Brown’s potential for crossover to mainstream appeal and national prominence coming along in quite some time. The most recent probably was Melanie, way back in the early ’70′s with “Brand New Key.” And for that matter, Brown has a great deal of consistency in the quality of her work and stands a strong chance to hit on the airwaves much more than she misses. Her capacity to profoundly impact popular music is indeed considerable, and the exposure she gained this year opening for Mark Knopfler on his North American tour certainly didn’t hurt.

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Remarkably gifted with both a distinct voice that leans toward the pensive and superior songwriting skills, she shows with One and All that rare ability to put together a full album on which each offering sounds freshly inspired. While they all have her trademark, wistful reflection delivered in brilliant tones, not a single selection comes off as being one of the others simply reworked. Highlights include the fetching, “Other Way Around,” bluesy with a seductive lilt and lyrics like, “If wishes were horses/ I would ride/ Down to the river/ Where the water is wide/ ‘Cause an eye for an eye/ Just leaves blood on the ground/ Someday/ It will be the other way around?” And there’s the hypnotic tribute to blue-collar life in society’s trenches “Grass Upon the Hills.”

The personnel is top-flight, with Brown (acoustic guitar and keys) backed by Bo Ramsey with whom she produced the album (guitars, backup vocals), Jon Penner (bass), J.T. Bates (drums), Steve Hayes (drums), Brian Wilkie (pedal steel), Joey Burns (cello, accordion), and Constie Brown (backup vocals), with Alex Ramsey on keys for “Faller.” This is choice listening fare that anyone who loves good music will thoroughly enjoy. If you happen to be into rich, poetic ballads with folk roots, so much the better.

About the Author

“Angels Don’t Really Fly” EP by Dwight Hobbes & The All-Star Hired Guns featuring Alicia Wiley. The crew: Me, Alicia Wiley, Stanley Kipper, Chico Perez, Jeff “Boday” Christensen, Aaron “Orange A.C.” Cosgrove and Yohannes Tona. Singer-songwriter Dwight Hobbes recorded the single “Atlanta Children” (BeatBad Records) and gigged 10 years in the Long Island/NYC area, including The Other End, Kenny’s Castaways and My Fathers Place. Fronted the Boston blues band Midlight. In Minneapolis, Hobbes opened for David Daniels at First Street Entry, James Curry at Terminal Bar, sat in with Yohannes Tona, Alicia Wiley at Sol Testimony’s Soul Jam, The New Congress at Babalu, Willie Murphy at the Viking Bar and Wain McFarlane & Jahz at Lucille’s Kitchen. Dwight Hobbes still drops in at the occasional open mic around town. Dwight Hobbes has written for ESSENCE, Reader’s Digest, Washington Post, Minneapolis Star Tribune, St. Paul Pioneer Press, City Pages, Mpls/St. Paul, MN Law & Politics, Pulse of the Twin Cities, Twin Cities Daily Planet, Women & Word, San Diego Union-Tribune, The Circle, to Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder (where he contributes the commentary columns Hobbes In The House and Something I Said. He’s spoken his mind over National Public Radio, Minnesota Public Radio and KMOJ in Minneapolis and St. Paul. Was regularly featured as guest commentator on NewsNight Minnesota (KTCA-Minneapolis/St. Paul) and Spectator (Minneapolis Television Network). His monthly column “Hobbes In The House” in MN Spokesman Recorder comments on domestic abuse and rape. His plays are Shelter – produced at Mixed Blood Theatre by Pangea World Theater, Dues – produced by Mixed Blood Theatre, University of Southern Illinois in Point of Revue, selected for Bedlam Theatre’s 10-Minute Play Festival and published by Playscripts, Inc. You Can’t Always Sometimes Never Tell – produced by Theater Center Philadelphia, Long Island University, reading at The Kennedy Center and published in the anthology CENTER STAGE, In the Midst – produced by Long Island University, starring Samuel E. Wright. Hobbes spoke on the panel “Farewell To August Wilson” at the Guthrie Theater, broadcast on Conversations With Al McFarlane (KFAI, KMOJ). Twin Cities Daily Planet articles archived at www.tcdailyplanet.net/dwighthobbes

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