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March 24, 2008 In Laura Gibson, News

New Tour-Only EP from Laura Gibson!

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fresh photo: Melanie Brown

Tour-Only Cover EPs are the de rigueur of today’s working musician. Colin Meloy announced his ode to Sam Cooke a few weeks back, and we are pleased to confirm the details of Laura Gibson’s (to open all tour dates for Meloy) cover EP counterpoint: Six White Horses: Blues & Traditionals Vol I Presented by Laura Gibson and Friends.

Recorded over a weekend, in the kitchen, front porch and basement of an old Victorian House in Sellwood, Oregon, Six White Horses finds Laura Gibson reinterpreting six old blues and traditional songs that have greatly influenced her music and guitar-work. The sparse and somewhat improvisational arrangements came as a collaboration with multi-instrumentalist Jason Leonard, seasoned in radio sound-effects and found-sound compositions.

While Gibson’s guitarwork mostly adheres to the original blues composition, her voice, nylon strings, and reliance on non-traditional instrumentation bring the songs into a unique time and space. Gibson’s voice and classical guitar were projected and recorded through the speaker of an old-record player. Leonard contributes non-traditional instruments (washbucket, newpaper drums, porch stomping, bells, whistling, vibraphone and glockenspiels). A neighborhood saw player, known only as Mr. Fantastic, exchanged a few haunting melody lines for a bottle of whiskey. All songs were recorded by Sean Ogilvie who engineered the project, and contributed piano to “All the Pretty Horses”. The CD will be available exclusively on the tour, and as a digital release when the tour concludes.

Tracklist

All The Pretty Horses (traditional)

One Dime Blues (Blind Lemon Jefferson)

Freight Train (Elizabeth Cotton)

One Thin Dime (Mance Lipscomb)

Black is the Color of My True Loves Hair (traditional)

Dryland Blues (Furry Lewis)

March 19, 2008 In Loch Lomond, News

Loch Lomond Dishes.

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photo: Alicia Rose (If it’s not square, it’s not a Rose.)

Loch Lomond’s Ritchie Young has been speaking out recently. The always tasteful and popular Muzzle of Bees blog fired off some (five to be precise) questions and Young dished.

“I’m actually not very fond of Led Zeppelin.”

Ooh zinger! Intrigued? This controversial interview can be read in full at by clicking this magic asterisk: *We all know that being in Portland’s best orchestral folk ensemble is glamorous affair, but at the hard-working and not-actually-very-mainstream Mainsteam Isn’t So Bad, Is It? blog (sheesh, is this long title thing a modern life trend?) Ritche reveals what it’s like behind the scenes:

“When it is all over we open six bottles of wine and talk everything out and usually end up dancing to Stevie Wonder and dork out.”

All the juicy details are here behind this trademark sign which really stands for “transport me”: ß

March 18, 2008 In News, Nick Jaina

Pod This.

ipod.jpgWhoa, look at that dinosaur! Do those still even exist? So 2003.

Despite us all knowing what that “clunky” white thing over there is, many folks have not really ever understood what a podcast is. Raise your hand if you can explain “podcast”.

Friends, it doesn’t matter what it is. All you need to know is that it’s FREE (no, not file-sharing FREE, the other, older kind.) And because we are very modern and crafty here at HUSH we’ve taken all the guesswork out. Just click this mysterious symbol for the ride of your life: §

On the other side of the veil you will find a world of free album sampler mixes via our HUSHcast. These borrow the very primitive concept of “abridged and condensed” made famous by Readers Digest a long time ago before you were born, probably. Well we’re bringing it back!It’s nifty. These mixes sew together long song samples of many of our releases to aid you in discovering what nice music we’ve helped bring into the world. And they all have photos and links that come up while you’re listening in iTunes that can take you deeper: Total immersion therapy. Even if you never joined the pod-age you can still listen with the same device you’re reading this on. That’s right, podcasts don’t require iPods. In hsh075.jpgfact ours work better when played via iTunes on your mac or PC. (Just turn on the album art in the corner for more fun.)

Right now we’re pleased to bring you the HUSHcast of Nick Jaina’s Wool, which is a must-experience, even if you must first do so in abridged form. While you’re there, consider picking up the digital release in the iTunes store as well, if you shun gorgeous packaging, that is. (;

ps. For a few hours on Tuesday there were some mis-linked links on our podcast. All is set right presently. If you downloaded Nick Jaina only to find you were listening to Tooththfairy’s twee-lectric beats, just give it another go. And, yikes, sorry!

March 17, 2008 In News, Shelley Short

Shelley Short: Hello Again.

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photo: Faulkner Short

We are overjoyed to officially announce Shelley Short’s third proper album, Water For The Day, to be released on April 22nd. Shelley will be touring with the inimitable Tom Brosseau beginning April 13. (Scroll down on the sidebar for dates.) We will be making the CD available for order at the end of March. In case you missed it, we quietly added the track “Swimming” on our media page as a scintillating preview. Those familiar with the lauded Captain Wildhorse… will likely find this a bit more intimate affair. Compellingly so. Despite the absence of a pervasive backing band, there are more moments of ear-perking surprises. The bookmark-worthy Songs Illinois put it this way:

“She has a wonderful voice and very good ear for creating both the lyrics and the music to compliment it. But she’s not content to create something that is easily digestible. On the surface her music is very listenable but just under the surface there are subversions and distractions that lend it an air of mystery or an ethereal quality.”

Meanwhile Shelley is spending her Spring in Paris. She’ll be stopping in on Hinah world headquarters, I’m told, to play an intimate session to be shared with the world as part of the free Hinah Gift Series which Norfolk & Western and Laura Gibson lended highly recommended performances to over the past few years.