JOYCE ANDERSEN
''SWERVE!''
NOVEMBER 1 2011
56:03
1. Yearning/Andersen/5:51
2. LIttle Birdie/Traditional/6:48
3. Heartbreak/Andersen/8:18
4. Higher Love/Winwood/6:26
5. Get Your Swerve On/Andersen/8:36
6. Dream a Little Dream of Me/Andre, Kahn/3:08
7. Hey Joe/Roberts/9:05
8. We Will Shine/Andersen/7:49
REVIEW
Released in Oct 2011. A tour-de-force of Joyce's new solo fiddle sound on 56 minutes of songs recorded live, with just live performances of her vocals, violin, viola, Hardanger fiddle and foot percussion. She has taken her ability to play complex lines on the violin and sing at the same time to new heights, and pushed her arranging and composing skills in exciting new directions.
After nearly 20 years as a fiddle sideman and a singer-songwriter, playing in bluegrass, country, rock, celtic, jazz and folk ensembles, Joyce Andersen has gone into the woodshed for 2 years to create a new body of music and a new musical standard of what an unaccompanied fiddle troubadour can do. Her 5th solo CD and her first in 6 years, Swerve features her new sound in 8 extended improvisational songs that embrace a dizzying range of musical styles, from jazz standards to fiddle tunes, gospel, ballads and blistering rock & roll.
Over her career Andersen has developed an uncanny ability to play violin and sing at the same time, often with the instrument and vocal in counter-rhythms, as well as complex harmony and diverging lines. Add to this an array of hi-tech gear that would make a rock star drool, and Andersen now commands a startling wall of sound that allows her to create and improvise. Without using any computerized or pre-recorded sounds, she literally dances with all four limbs as she weaves intricate rhythms, melodies, and harmonies into extraordinarliy musical sonic collages. Her new sound is built from a large palette of strummed, plucked and bowed violin and viola sounds, combining and juxtaposing beautiful acoustic tones with swirling electro-acoustic explorations, some live loops and crunching rock distortion. (Track 7 is an amazing unedited 9-minute live concert cut that you can watch on http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ec5mcuVUiZQ&feature=player_embedded)
BIOGRAPHY
by Larry Belanger
Joyce Andersen has made a living by singing and playing violin all the way from the bluegrass and country bands of her native New England to the jazz clubs of New York, for over a decade; she has even worked the tour bus circuit of Nashville. In the year 2000, Andersen was found stepping out as a singer and a songwriter, with a fresh new voice in acoustic music. She has the ability to sing loud and sing sultry, while being equally at home belting out a bluegrass, old-time, blues song, and melting one's heart with a ballad or a Celtic classic. The performer has also been known to captivate an audience with some of her own catchy pop/rock songs. Joyce Andersen studied violin at the prestigious Berklee College of Music. She has backed up an impressive list of folk and country artists in her career. She has appeared on the Conan O'Brien show, and on stages as varied as the Winterhawk Bluegrass Festival, and even Carnegie Hall. After several years of residing in New York, the New Hampshire native made the move back into Southern Maine. After moving back into New England, she focused on her long-awaited solo album, The Girl I Left Behind, which was released in September 2000. The Girl I Left Behind features her voice, guitar, and violin on a collection of original, traditional, and contemporary acoustic songs. The Girl I Left Behind contains solo performances, while being joined by stellar local musicians Jon Ross, Harvey Reid, David Surette, and Lex Romane on other tunes from the album. Joyce Andersen's career appears to be moving in a perpetual forward motion, as the response to her debut album receives positive national attention.
''SWERVE!''
NOVEMBER 1 2011
56:03
1. Yearning/Andersen/5:51
2. LIttle Birdie/Traditional/6:48
3. Heartbreak/Andersen/8:18
4. Higher Love/Winwood/6:26
5. Get Your Swerve On/Andersen/8:36
6. Dream a Little Dream of Me/Andre, Kahn/3:08
7. Hey Joe/Roberts/9:05
8. We Will Shine/Andersen/7:49
REVIEW
Released in Oct 2011. A tour-de-force of Joyce's new solo fiddle sound on 56 minutes of songs recorded live, with just live performances of her vocals, violin, viola, Hardanger fiddle and foot percussion. She has taken her ability to play complex lines on the violin and sing at the same time to new heights, and pushed her arranging and composing skills in exciting new directions.
After nearly 20 years as a fiddle sideman and a singer-songwriter, playing in bluegrass, country, rock, celtic, jazz and folk ensembles, Joyce Andersen has gone into the woodshed for 2 years to create a new body of music and a new musical standard of what an unaccompanied fiddle troubadour can do. Her 5th solo CD and her first in 6 years, Swerve features her new sound in 8 extended improvisational songs that embrace a dizzying range of musical styles, from jazz standards to fiddle tunes, gospel, ballads and blistering rock & roll.
Over her career Andersen has developed an uncanny ability to play violin and sing at the same time, often with the instrument and vocal in counter-rhythms, as well as complex harmony and diverging lines. Add to this an array of hi-tech gear that would make a rock star drool, and Andersen now commands a startling wall of sound that allows her to create and improvise. Without using any computerized or pre-recorded sounds, she literally dances with all four limbs as she weaves intricate rhythms, melodies, and harmonies into extraordinarliy musical sonic collages. Her new sound is built from a large palette of strummed, plucked and bowed violin and viola sounds, combining and juxtaposing beautiful acoustic tones with swirling electro-acoustic explorations, some live loops and crunching rock distortion. (Track 7 is an amazing unedited 9-minute live concert cut that you can watch on http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ec5mcuVUiZQ&feature=player_embedded)
BIOGRAPHY
by Larry Belanger
Joyce Andersen has made a living by singing and playing violin all the way from the bluegrass and country bands of her native New England to the jazz clubs of New York, for over a decade; she has even worked the tour bus circuit of Nashville. In the year 2000, Andersen was found stepping out as a singer and a songwriter, with a fresh new voice in acoustic music. She has the ability to sing loud and sing sultry, while being equally at home belting out a bluegrass, old-time, blues song, and melting one's heart with a ballad or a Celtic classic. The performer has also been known to captivate an audience with some of her own catchy pop/rock songs. Joyce Andersen studied violin at the prestigious Berklee College of Music. She has backed up an impressive list of folk and country artists in her career. She has appeared on the Conan O'Brien show, and on stages as varied as the Winterhawk Bluegrass Festival, and even Carnegie Hall. After several years of residing in New York, the New Hampshire native made the move back into Southern Maine. After moving back into New England, she focused on her long-awaited solo album, The Girl I Left Behind, which was released in September 2000. The Girl I Left Behind features her voice, guitar, and violin on a collection of original, traditional, and contemporary acoustic songs. The Girl I Left Behind contains solo performances, while being joined by stellar local musicians Jon Ross, Harvey Reid, David Surette, and Lex Romane on other tunes from the album. Joyce Andersen's career appears to be moving in a perpetual forward motion, as the response to her debut album receives positive national attention.
