OLLABELLE
''NEON BLUE BIRD''
AUG 16, 2011
44:30
1/You're Gonna Miss Me/Kelly/3:34
2/One More Time/Ollabelle, Patscha/3:21
3/Be Your Woman/Traditional/3:51
4/Wait for the Sun/McBain, Ollabelle/4:51
5/Brotherly Love/Isaacs, Ollabelle/2:27
6/Record Needle/Helm, Isaacs, Ollabelle/4:27
7/Lovin' in My Baby's Eyes/Mahal/2:49
8/Butcher Boy/Traditional/5:40
9/Dirt Floor/Whitley/4:42
10/When I Remember to Forget/McBain, Ollabelle/4:40
11/Swanee River/Foster/4:08
Jay Collins/Saxophone
Amy Helm
Byron Isaacs
Tony Leone
Chris Masterson/Guitar
Fiona McBain
Glenn Patscha
Travis Stuart/Banjo
Trevor Stuart/Fiddle
Jimi Zhivago/Guitar, Harmonica
REVIEW
by Andrew Leahey
Five years elapsed between Ollabelle’s last studio album, Riverside Battle Songs, and this follow-up release. Amy Helm, Fiona McBain, and Tony Leone all became parents in the interim, prompting the band to take several breaks while the women went on maternity leave. Meanwhile, Universal Music Group overhauled the band’s label and dropped several artists, including Ollabelle. The group wound up taking out a loan to finance the Neon Blue Bird sessions, which were spread out over the course of several years. What could’ve easily turned into a sprawling, loosely connected album is actually a cohesive song cycle, though, steeped in Southern tradition and performed with the sort of breezy, homespun air that belies the difficult recording circumstances. Like Alison Krauss & Union Station, Ollabelle root their sound in classic Americana, with folk instrumentation and gospel harmonies providing the foundation for songs like “Dirt Floor” (a cover of Chris Whitley’s 1998 original), “One More Time,” and a swampy, slinky version of Paul Kelly’s “You’re Gonna Miss Me.” But the band also reaches beyond the South, roping in some atmospheric elements for a lush take on “Swanee River” and evoking the glory days of Chicago blues with “Brotherly Love.” Not every song delivers the same punch -- “Lovin’ in My Baby’s Eyes” drains every ounce of soul from Taj Mahal’s version -- but Neon Blue Bird marks a surefooted return for a band whose absence was sorely missed.
BIOGRAPHY
by Andrew Leahey
Named after Appalachian folksinger Ola Belle Reed, Ollabelle are a Manhattan-based band whose music puts an urban spin on Southern genres like bluegrass, gospel, and country. Despite their rootsy influences, the five bandmates first got together in the decidedly non-rootsy East Village, where a local bar called 9C began holding weekly gospel music sessions during the aftermath of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. What began as a side project for six of the bar's patrons -- singer Amy Helm (the daughter of legendary Americana musician Levon Helm), guitarist Fiona McBain, bassist Byron Isaacs, drummer Tony Leone, keyboardist Glenn Patscha, and multi-instrumentalist Jimi Zhivago -- quickly turned into a full-fledged group, with label interest from Sony Music and support from fellow roots revivalist T-Bone Burnett, who produced the band's 2004 debut. Performances at the 2004 Newport Folk Festival and Alison Krauss' Great High Mountain Tour helped drum up support for Ollabelle's self-titled album, as did the resurgence of old-timey Americana music.
For their second album, 2006's Riverside Battle Songs, the band enlisted the help of former Bob Dylan sideman Larry Campbell, who agreed to co-produce the record. Riverside Battle Songs, like the album before it, featured the band's unique spin on traditional songs, but it also showcased more of their original compositions, which were molded in the style of their influences and recorded without guitarist Jimi Zhivago (who'd left the lineup, thus slimming Ollabelle down to a quintet). The group continued to tour, recording its performances all the while and releasing a strong live album, Before This Time, before heading back into the recording studio for 2011's Neon Blue Bird.
''NEON BLUE BIRD''
AUG 16, 2011
44:30
1/You're Gonna Miss Me/Kelly/3:34
2/One More Time/Ollabelle, Patscha/3:21
3/Be Your Woman/Traditional/3:51
4/Wait for the Sun/McBain, Ollabelle/4:51
5/Brotherly Love/Isaacs, Ollabelle/2:27
6/Record Needle/Helm, Isaacs, Ollabelle/4:27
7/Lovin' in My Baby's Eyes/Mahal/2:49
8/Butcher Boy/Traditional/5:40
9/Dirt Floor/Whitley/4:42
10/When I Remember to Forget/McBain, Ollabelle/4:40
11/Swanee River/Foster/4:08
Jay Collins/Saxophone
Amy Helm
Byron Isaacs
Tony Leone
Chris Masterson/Guitar
Fiona McBain
Glenn Patscha
Travis Stuart/Banjo
Trevor Stuart/Fiddle
Jimi Zhivago/Guitar, Harmonica
REVIEW
by Andrew Leahey
Five years elapsed between Ollabelle’s last studio album, Riverside Battle Songs, and this follow-up release. Amy Helm, Fiona McBain, and Tony Leone all became parents in the interim, prompting the band to take several breaks while the women went on maternity leave. Meanwhile, Universal Music Group overhauled the band’s label and dropped several artists, including Ollabelle. The group wound up taking out a loan to finance the Neon Blue Bird sessions, which were spread out over the course of several years. What could’ve easily turned into a sprawling, loosely connected album is actually a cohesive song cycle, though, steeped in Southern tradition and performed with the sort of breezy, homespun air that belies the difficult recording circumstances. Like Alison Krauss & Union Station, Ollabelle root their sound in classic Americana, with folk instrumentation and gospel harmonies providing the foundation for songs like “Dirt Floor” (a cover of Chris Whitley’s 1998 original), “One More Time,” and a swampy, slinky version of Paul Kelly’s “You’re Gonna Miss Me.” But the band also reaches beyond the South, roping in some atmospheric elements for a lush take on “Swanee River” and evoking the glory days of Chicago blues with “Brotherly Love.” Not every song delivers the same punch -- “Lovin’ in My Baby’s Eyes” drains every ounce of soul from Taj Mahal’s version -- but Neon Blue Bird marks a surefooted return for a band whose absence was sorely missed.
BIOGRAPHY
by Andrew Leahey
Named after Appalachian folksinger Ola Belle Reed, Ollabelle are a Manhattan-based band whose music puts an urban spin on Southern genres like bluegrass, gospel, and country. Despite their rootsy influences, the five bandmates first got together in the decidedly non-rootsy East Village, where a local bar called 9C began holding weekly gospel music sessions during the aftermath of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. What began as a side project for six of the bar's patrons -- singer Amy Helm (the daughter of legendary Americana musician Levon Helm), guitarist Fiona McBain, bassist Byron Isaacs, drummer Tony Leone, keyboardist Glenn Patscha, and multi-instrumentalist Jimi Zhivago -- quickly turned into a full-fledged group, with label interest from Sony Music and support from fellow roots revivalist T-Bone Burnett, who produced the band's 2004 debut. Performances at the 2004 Newport Folk Festival and Alison Krauss' Great High Mountain Tour helped drum up support for Ollabelle's self-titled album, as did the resurgence of old-timey Americana music.
For their second album, 2006's Riverside Battle Songs, the band enlisted the help of former Bob Dylan sideman Larry Campbell, who agreed to co-produce the record. Riverside Battle Songs, like the album before it, featured the band's unique spin on traditional songs, but it also showcased more of their original compositions, which were molded in the style of their influences and recorded without guitarist Jimi Zhivago (who'd left the lineup, thus slimming Ollabelle down to a quintet). The group continued to tour, recording its performances all the while and releasing a strong live album, Before This Time, before heading back into the recording studio for 2011's Neon Blue Bird.
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