Angel Snow

We first heard Angel Snow’s intoxicating music during her Ryman Auditorium debut, opening for Alison Krauss. Snow co-wrote three of the songs on Krauss’s latest album, Paper Airplane, with Alison’s brother Viktor. One of those songs was “Lie Awake,” which held a powerful sway over the current queen of bluegrass.

“I remember hearing Viktor play the riff on the guitar and I had a story emerge immediately,” says Snow of the song’s origins. “It’s about a woman that’s trying to escape her abusive husband and she’s always trying to figure out a way to leave him. Viktor sent it to Alison, and I was in total shock when she called me and said the band wanted to record the song along with two others for her next record.”

“Lie Awake” will be featured on Snow’s upcoming solo album. As for Krauss’s version, Snow says “I love it. They were able to capture that dark, pensive feeling that the song conveys and totally brought the story to life.”

Listen to track below.

- American Songwriter

We first heard Angel Snow’s intoxicating music during her Ryman Auditorium debut, opening for Alison Krauss. Snow co-wrote three of the songs on Krauss’s latest album, Paper Airplane, with Alison’s brother Viktor. One of those songs was “Lie Awake,” which held a powerful sway over the current queen of bluegrass.

“I remember hearing Viktor play the riff on the guitar and I had a story emerge immediately,” says Snow of the song’s origins. “It’s about a woman that’s trying to escape her abusive husband and she’s always trying to figure out a way to leave him. Viktor sent it to Alison, and I was in total shock when she called me and said the band wanted to record the song along with two others for her next record.”

“Lie Awake” will be featured on Snow’s upcoming solo album. As for Krauss’s version, Snow says “I love it. They were able to capture that dark, pensive feeling that the song conveys and totally brought the story to life.”

Listen to track below.

- American Songwriter

Onstage at the Ryman on Saturday night, Alison Krauss shared a personal story. “There’s these little ice cream balls you can buy at Trader Joe’s. Today I ate three of them, and then I took a nap, for like, three hours. I guess you’re only supposed to eat one. And that’s what I did today.”

News flash: Alison Krauss is funny. So are the members or her band, Union Station, the wizards of bluegrass whom Krauss has been paired with for over twnety years. Their good-natured stage banter had the crowd, who were already in a hooting and hollering mood, howling. Maybe folks were just happy to see them together again — it’d been seven years since they last toured. In the interim, Krauss teamed up with Robert Plant for a celebrated album, Raising Sand, while Union Station dobro master Jerry Douglas toured with Elvis Costello. The band reconvened to record 2011's Paper Airplane, an album which finds them at the top of their game, and will no doubt add to their prodigious stack of Grammys come election time (Krauss has won 26, more than any other female artist in history.)

If the jokes were funny, the songs were often doleful. “People come up to us and say, hey, how come you sing all these sad songs? And I guess that’s cause we’re sad people,” quipped Krauss. She soon introduced the room to a handful of Nashville songwriters who’d contributed to their albums over the years, who stood up and waved as the house lights came up. “They’re sad people too,” she said.

Krauss and co. harmonized, sawed and picked their way through songs from Paper Airplane and their deep catalog. Along the way, they covered Richard Thompson (“Dimming Of The Day”) and The Foundations’ 1967 soul classic “Now That I’ve Found You.” Union Station’s Dan Tyminski handled lead vocals on a number of songs, including a crowd-pleasing “Man Of Constant Sorrow” from the O Brother soundtrack.

Opening act Angel Snow also cast a spell over the crowd. They adopted her early, and not just because of her angelic good looks. Her songs, which were played to perfection by her all-acoustic band, have an air of magic to them — at times sounding like Gillian Welch mixed with Sarah Mclachlan; other times, like an Appalachian Fiona Apple or Jeff Buckley. Krauss discovered Snow’s music via her CD demo, and ended up including her song “Lie Awake” on Paper Airplane. Watching Snow on this night, on the famed Ryman stage, it felt like a star was born.

- American Songwriter

Here are three more acts that shined at the 30A Songwriters Festival: Cool Canadian female duo Madison Violet, Daphne Willis, and a singer who really stood out: Angel Snow

Angel has a smoky voice that cuts right to your heart. I immediately bought her CD (which has no tracks printed on it and just has a copy of her driver's license as "cover art") and listened to it repeatedly on the drive home. Snow -- who collaborates with Alison Krauss's brother Victor -- is one to watch.
Enjoy!
- festgrrl

Alison Krauss is a spectacularly gifted vocalist, fiddle player and producer. Since her first album at age 16, each of the remarkable projects the Illinois native has been involved with over the past two-and-a-half decades, whether one of her own albums or the countless tracks she's been asked to contribute to by everyone from Brad Paisley and Dolly Parton to James Taylor and Elvis Costello, has been imbued with something profoundly ethereal -- you can't quite put your finger on it, but you know without a doubt it's special. Alison's nuanced interpretations of the work of some of the finest songwriters of our time have not only caused her fan base to expand from regional U.S. fiddle contests while she was a youngster to international stages while barely in her 20s, they have also earned the singer a record 26 Grammy awards, the most for any female artist in history.

Most recently, Alison's stunning 2007 collaboration with Led Zeppelin lead singer Robert Plant, 'Raising Sand,' garnered Grammy honors for Album and Record of the Year, among other awards. While a planned follow-up from the duo will have to wait for a while, Alison has returned to the group she has anchored since the mid-1980s. Alison Krauss and Union Station (Dan Tyminski, Ron Block, Barry Bales and Jerry Douglas) have skillfully guided bluegrass music into the 21st century and are responsible for a great deal of the genre's increased popularity in recent years.

The group's upcoming album, their first since 2004's 'Lonely Runs Both Ways' and their sixth all-new studio disc since 1989, is 'Paper Airplane,' due out April 12 on Rounder Records. The title may conjure visions of something feather-light and directionless, but the collection's overall theme, finding hope in the midst of despair, isn't exactly a carefree journey among the clouds. In the capable hands (and voices) of Alison Krauss and Union Station, the journey is one worth taking.

In this exclusive conversation with The Boot, Alison shares details of how she has evolved both professionally and personally since her first recordings as a teen phenom. She also introduces us to a few of the songwriters who contributed to 'Paper Airplane,' including one she's known her entire life.

What is the process like for you when you're looking for songs to record?

Songs come from all over the place. You can't predict what you're going to like. You might like something that doesn't fit right now. What was working for you at one point, something you've loved for years and years, when you get together with everybody, you think, this doesn't match up with what's going on with you personally. So, it gets pushed aside. Even though I'm not writing the songs, they have to be true to the time to be satisfying.

Do you usually know right away that something will be a good fit?

Sometimes I can tell by the title that it's not going to happen, if the title is too descriptive. But then you think, "Well, what if this is the exception?"

Are you listening to the melody first or to the lyrics?

Lyrics, usually. I'm better at messing around with the melody and chords, altering things to be more suitable, to make more sense to me. Lyrics are kind of the whole thing; it's the message. Something might have a beautiful melody but if it's not the truth coming out of your mouth, it's not appealing.

Do you usually have a particular theme in mind for an album or does a theme eventually just emerge?

I don't actively go, "OK, here's the theme and let's find things to go with this theme." If you're following what's speaking to you or what's making sense at the end of that record and you look back, there is a theme. It's not tangible at the start.

So, what's the theme of 'Paper Airplane'?

I'll speak for myself because the guys [in Union Station] don't really want to hear about ... they're like, "Whatever, you like it, you don't like it." [laughs] It's not something I've thought about until people ask me about it. To me, it's like being in the middle of a very trying time and knowing it will end, but at the moment you're in the middle of it.

'Paper Airplane' was written by Robert Lee Castleman. He's someone whose songs you've recorded quite a bit. How did that song find its way to you?

We recorded in July and August and I said, "We don't have it, we've got to stop and let me go look for some more things." So we took a break, and I went looking for stuff. I called R.L. and said, "Where are you?" I had known that he was in a place of being uninspired. I was lost. Sidney Cox [another frequent contributor to Alison's albums] was lost. We kept having these conversations of, "I just can't find it. Nothing is sad enough. Nothing is resounding. I'm not able to connect with these things I'm singing about," which is a very empty feeling. If you're not connecting with what you're singing, it doesn't mean the material is bad or that they aren't beautiful songs. They just weren't speaking to me yet.
- Stephen L. Bitts "The Boot"

Angel Snow and Viktor Krauss bring Sarah Siskind, the Bittersweets and more to Mad Donna's

PUBLISHED BY DAVE PAULSON ON NOVEMBER 12, 2009 IN NEWS.

Nashville musicians Angel Snow and Viktor Krauss start up a four-week residency at Mad Donna's in East Nashville on November 29th, and they've assembled a killer collection of special guests for the run.

Singer-songwriters/Old Black Kettle members Julie Lee and Sarah Siskind, Americana/pop duo The Bittersweets and former Nashville indie-folk standout Jennifer Niceley — who's spent the last year or so in East Tennessee — will join Snow and Krauss on separate shows.

The residency will also let Snow and Krauss show off the musical products of the six months they've spent collaborating. The pair were introduced by Viktor's sister, Alison Krauss.

Shows will take place on Sundays at 6 p.m. starting on November 29 and running through December 20. Here's the full schedule:

November 29 — with Julie Lee
December 6 — with Sarah Siskind
December 13 — with The Bittersweets
December 20 — with Jennifer Niceley
- Dave Paulson

Reference points for this second release from longtime Lyle Lovett bassist Viktor Krauss are plentiful - Daniel Lanois, Bill Frisell and Ennio Morricone all spring to mind - but somehow Krauss comes off as more original than derivative. Employing effects laden guitar & synthesizers as their primary instruments, Krauss & his small ensemble craft jazz-tinged, soundscape-ish arrangements weighted with substance. Instrumentals comprise half the disc, and that's where Krauss shines brightest. The radiant No Time Like The Past finds Krauss and fellow guitarists Dean Parks creating the antithesis of the prototypical guitar duel, weaving their six strings instead into a thrilling tapestry. Likewise, the loopy space-jazz excursion Pinky Ring sounds like something from Jeff Beck's Blow by Blow, had Beck been accompanied by a twin brother.
- by Russell Hall

Reference points for this second release from longtime Lyle Lovett bassist Viktor Krauss are plentiful - Daniel Lanois, Bill Frisell and Ennio Morricone all spring to mind - but somehow Krauss comes off as more original than derivative. Employing effects laden guitar & synthesizers as their primary instruments, Krauss & his small ensemble craft jazz-tinged, soundscape-ish arrangements weighted with substance. Instrumentals comprise half the disc, and that's where Krauss shines brightest. The radiant No Time Like The Past finds Krauss and fellow guitarists Dean Parks creating the antithesis of the prototypical guitar duel, weaving their six strings instead into a thrilling tapestry. Likewise, the loopy space-jazz excursion Pinky Ring sounds like something from Jeff Beck's Blow by Blow, had Beck been accompanied by a twin brother.
- by Russell Hall

The long-time bassist for Lyle Lovett and session player for others in prog-country and contemporary Americana has crafted another fine solo effort. Imagine a soundtrack to a rootsy, somewhat shadowy indie flick that hovers between rural wandering and suburban quests for the real, and you’d hire Krauss in an instant to give you the score. He decks out his simple folkish melodies with intricate guitar parts and keyboard textures that envelop the multiple voices of Dean Parks’ session axe and rock backbeats. Shawn Colvin’s girlish guest vocals give an innocent, dreamy turn to the pscyhedelia of Pink Floyd’s Shine on You Crazy Diamond.

- by Bill Levine

Angel Snow w/Viktor Krauss at Mad Donnas
Snow on the Horizon

By Michael McCall
Published on November 25, 2009

Angel Snow’s winter opening in her new hometown comes wrapped in prestige and bowed with high anticipation. Why such great expectations for a relatively unknown singer-songwriter?

The buzz comes primarily from word of her six months of songwriting and wood-shedding with Krauss, a bassist known for collaborating with the most estimable of artists. Recently on the road with Lyle Lovett, Krauss (who also has released two solo albums) has toured and recorded with Elvis Costello, Jerry Douglas, John Fogerty and Bill Frisell, among others.

But as of late he’s devoted himself to recording a new album with Snow; what they’ve created is delicate and experimental, with moody arrangements that allow for unexpected revelations.

The duo open a residency of four consecutive Sundays, each paired with a respected friend. Julie Lee opens the premiere night. ?Sun., Nov. 29, 6 p.m., 2009 - Nashville Scene

Monday, January 12, 2009

By:
Casey Phillips

Singer/songwriter Angel Snow said her journey from budding songstress to winning the prestigious Eddie’s Attic Open Mic Shootout in Atlanta was one of careful timing.

Taking first place at the event on Nov. 28 was the fulfillment of a long-term goal, the Chickamauga, Ga., native said.

“I still can’t believe I won. It was like a little dream that came true,” she said. “I’ve got much bigger dreams, but this is something I felt like I needed to accomplish, and I finally did.”

She outplayed about two dozen other singer/songwriters to win the judges’ nod.

The Shootout lasted five hours with four rounds of performances. By winning, Ms. Snow joined the ranks of previous Shootout victors, some of whom, like John Mayer and Jennifer Nettles, went on to become national touring artists.

Going into the competition, Ms. Snow, whose aunt recently had passed away, was financially and emotionally down and out.

Ms. Snow said her hopes sank even lower when confronted by her competitors, many of whom had flown in from as far away as California and Halifax, Nova Scotia.

“I was like, ‘I’m broke, what am I doing going all the way down in Atlanta? I can’t even afford gas money,’ “ she said. “I was so blown away by these talented musicians.

“I have a huge respect for anyone who flies all the way out from California to be part of it. It’s like, ‘Well, I didn’t drive out that far.’ ”

Although Ms. Snow said she never expected to make it past the opening round, winning was as much a result of passionate songwriting and her smoldering alto vocals as a philosophy of patience she’s applied to her career since she left for Nashville three years ago.

“I’ve taken it in long steps,” she said. “It’s been time-consuming, but everything is happening right on time. I haven’t rushed anything.”

Ms. Snow said just because she’s won the Shootout doesn’t mean she plans to seek out other contests or change her methodical approach to playing music.

Music should be about more than that, she said.

“Passion goes way deeper than just feeling that you have to get enough money to do this or that or have fancy stuff,” she said. “I feel like competing against these people is a miserable way to do things.

“We should all just be learning from each other.”

ABOUT THE COMPETITION

The Eddie’s Attic Open Mic Shootout is held bi-annually on the first Saturday in June and the Friday after Thanksgiving. The candidate pool consists of winners from weekly open mike competitions held every Monday night. During the Shootout, competitors are paired off and compete in front of a panel of judges who decide who goes on to the next round. The winner wins a prize of $1,000.

SOUND OFF

Eddie’s Attic general manager Eddie Owen had this to say about Angel Snow: “I love her to death. I don’t think it’s very easy to put in a style, which is cool. I really I think she’s a fine songwriter. One of my favorite songwriters who plays here was a woman named Rose Cousins from Halifax, Nova Scotia, but she didn’t win; Angel did.”

DID YOU KNOW

* The first song Chickamauga, Ga., native singer/songwriter Angel Snow learned to play was “Simple Man” by Lynyrd Skynyrd.

* When she was born, Snow’s mother wanted to name her, Daisy, until her brother stepped in and wanted the name, Angel.

* If inspiration for a song strikes Snow while she’s in traffic, she’ll record it on her cell phone.

WHAT’S NEXT

Singer/songwriter Angel Snow will start recording a new EP in April with an anticipated release date later that spring. Her next appearance in Chattanooga will be at JJ’s Bohemia (231 M.L. King Blvd.) on Jan. 31. Visit her Web site at www.angelsnow.net
- Chattanooga Times Free Press

06/02/08 by Josh O'Bryant

Singer, songwriter and musician Angel Snow will perform Sunday at 6 p.m. on the Unum Stage at Riverbend in Chattanooga. This will be Snow's first time playing her soft folk rock at Riverbend.

Snow lives in Nashville, but is originally from Chickamauga. She is a 1999 graduate of Gordon Lee High School. Snow attended Chattanooga State, where she earned a two-year degree in psychology and a two-year certificate in theatre.

"I have been singing my whole life, ever since I was a little girl," Snow said. "I have been playing guitar since I was fifteen." Snow perfected her singing at Elizabeth Lee United Methodist Church in Chickamauga.

According to Snow, she learned to play an acoustic guitar. "My brother Canon plays acoustic guitar. He influenced me, but I didn't learn from him really, I just kind of taught myself," Snow said.

Snow performed in local talent shows in high school and eventually started to take gigs playing at parties. Around the age of 18, she began playing shows in Chattanooga at the Blue Angel Cafe, The Mud Pie and The Attic.

During her summer leave from college, Snow worked at Yellowstone National Park and Yosemite National Park. Snow spent a year working at Hunter Museum in Chattanooga and then moved to Philadelphia.

"That was when I really knew I needed to pursue this music thing, living up there," Snow said. Snow decided to travel to New York on the weekends to continue her musical aspirations.

According to Snow, playing the open mic nights in Philadelphia was not the best fit for her and her genre of music due to the huge hip hop scene.

After moving around quite a bit, Snow located to Nashville in 2006. "The first year was really hard," Snow said. "So I just started from the bottom and just started playing open mic nights and writers' nights and stuff like that and just trying to get in the rounds, playing with just whoever."

A lot of Snow's songs were written around this time. Songs like "California" and "Coals and Water" are about a lot of her personal experiences and her take on other's experiences.

After a while, Snow started to get booked performing at the Blue Bird Cafe in Nashville, The Basement and The Mercy Lounge. During this time, she started to form her band with Jason Goforth, who plays lap steel guitar for the band. The two met at a Gillian Welch show, which is a well-known Americana singer. Prior to performing with Goforth, Snow played some shows with LaFayette native Ben Scoggins.

After a while in Nashville, Snow ran into an old friend and LaFayette native Sarah Gilbert Skates.

Skates, a 27-year-old 1999 graduate of LaFayette High School, had heard that Snow was living in Nashville and looked her up on craigslist.org and myspace.com, where she found her contact information. Skates caught up with Snow at one of her shows and the two re-connected with each other.

Skates attended Middle Tennessee State University, where she studied in the music business program and graduated in 2003. Skates had moved to Nashville in 2004, where she lives with her husband Burney Skates of LaFayette.

After Snow and Skates re-connected, the two decided to join forces and Skates became her manager. Skates juggles managing Snow while working for Music Row magazine in Nashville, where she is the news editor. "We have done some cool stuff lately," Skates said of her collaboration with Snow. According to Skates, Snow will perform at Night Fall in Chattanooga on August 29.

"I am really excited about it (playing at Riverbend)," Snow said.

As Snow continues to reap the benefits from her hard work on her musical dreams, she gives big thanks to her family and friends for being her inspiration. "Through the music, I want to inspire people," Snow said. "I want it to be therapeutic." - Walker County Messenger

December 26, 2008

Indie-folk musician, Angel Snow, is likely to join the list of breakthrough musicians with the amazing talent that scored her the victory at latest Eddie's Attic's Bi-Annual Open Mic Shootout XXIX. The Shootout, started by founder, Eddie Owen, provides a rare opportunity for up-and-coming talent to showcase their music in front of a sold-out room of music industry professionals and avid music fans. In spite of the competitive premise of the event, it has actually proven to be a profound community building experience for all the songwriters involved. Great friendships as well as musical collaborations have grown out of this exciting night. The names that have competed in past Open Mic Shootout events, over the years, have gone on to national acclaim, with past winners including John Mayer and Sugarland's Jennifer Nettles. It is unmistakable that Angel Snow's ability to woo her audience with intensely brilliant lyrics and a smoldering alto will earn a place for her next to these worthy predecessors.

Eddie's Attic, located in Decatur, Georgia, is a popular live music venue for aspiring and accomplished songwriters. Not only is Eddie's Attic the premier venue for singer-songwriters in the Southeast, but also boasts the list of alumni that have passed through their doors. In its first 16 years Eddie's Attic has been the springboard for an amazing number of local Decatur artists who have gone on to receive national recognition - names like Shawn Mullins, Josh Joplin, Billy Pilgrim, Kristen Hall, Caroline Aiken, Michelle Malone, and Matthew Kahler. - PerformingSongwriter.com

Friday, April 16, 2010
Snow, Krauss pair up for Barking Legs show

By: Casey Phillips
(Contact)


Father may know best most of the time, but on occasion, a sister knows her stuff, too.

If that sister happens to be a 26-time Grammy winner like Alison Krauss, it pays to take her advice, especially when it comes to music.

Last year, when Alison advised her older brother, bassist/composer Viktor Krauss, that she'd found the ideal songwriting partner in songstress Angel Snow, he was ready to give her a shot.

The resulting partnership has since bloomed into a full-fledged performing duet that Viktor Krauss said is the best collaborative exerience he's ever had.

"A lot of the time when you write tunes with somebody, you think, 'That's nice, but it's not necessarily something I'd listen to all the time or listen to recreationally,' " he said.

"This was the first time I'd ever worked with somebody ... where I'd repeatedly want to listen to these tunes over and over again. That's been a really special thing for me, that it goes beyond being proud of something you had input into."

So far, Snow and Krauss have about 15 tunes completed or almost completed since they started working together last March. About eight or nine of those pieces will be part of their set when they take the stage at Barking Legs Theater tonight, Krauss said.

Krauss comes from a background of rock music influenced by the evocative imagery of film soundtracks. He has provided session backing for a veritable who's who of artists, from Lyle Lovett and Sam Bush to Elvis Costello.

Snow, formerly of Chickamauga, Ga., won over the judges with her sultry vocals at the prestigious, biannual Eddie's Attic Open Mike Shootout in Atlanta in November 2008.

Even if he's got a claim to seniority in their relationship, Krauss said he's already learned to trust Snow's creative judgment.

"The way she performs and sings, she has a very believable quality to it," he said. "It's almost like something she's lived herself.

"If I were to jump in ... that will feel like I'm watering it down a little bit."

RELATED LINKS

http://www.viktorkrauss.com

http://www.angelsnow.net

IF YOU GO

* What: Viktor Krauss, Angel Snow, Ryan Oyer, Flashbax and Alex Thompson.

* When: 8 p.m. today.

* Where: Barking Legs Theater, 1307 Dodds Ave.

* Admission: $12.

* Phone: 624-5347.

* Venue Web site: www.barkinglegs.org.

* Related links at fyi.timesfreepress.com.

FILM FANATIC

Viktor Krauss is a bit of a nut for film soundtracks. Here are a few of his favorites:

* "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" by John Williams

* "Taxi Driver" by Bernard Herman

* "American Beauty" by Thomas Newman

WHAT'S NEXT

Composer/bassist Viktor Krauss and singer/songwriter Angel Snow are working on an untitled project they hope to release by October. Krauss said he estimates they're 30 percent to 40 percent done.

WANT MORE?

Demo versions of "Loose Ends," "These Days" and "Lie Awake," all of which came from Viktor Krauss' collaboration with Angel Snow, are available on her MySpace profile (www.myspace.com/angelsnowmusic).
- Chattanooga Times Free Press

Apr. 16--Chattanooga Times Free Press entertainment reporter Casey Phillips spoke with bassist Viktor Krauss, brother of Emmy-winning bluegrass songstress Alison Krauss, about his latest collaboration, why he loves movie soundtracks and the power of the bass.

CP: Clearly, your sister, with all

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her Grammys, could be considered pretty musical, and you've made a career of it as well. Are you the exception to the rule in the Krauss family?
VK: It's just she and I. My parents both dabbled in music and enrolled us into anything we would possibly latch on to. It wasn't sports for me. (Laughs.) Alison was a little more talented at that than I was. At least, she wasn't picked last for sports. (Laughs.) To see what we took to, we were both encouraged to pick instruments. At age five, she started on violin. I was a little older and started on piano. My parents didn't necessarily playing the both instrument, and there are only so many instruments that can be played, physically, at that age.

CP: Is it tough being a musician with an sibling who has gained such notoriety? Do you find that her success works in your favor or against you?

VK: You know, that's kind of a hard thing to pinpoint. It can go either way. There is certainly an expectation, in terms of having the same gene pool. (Laughs.) Also, I think people are quick to pigeon hole, in terms of what one sibling does putting you in the same place musically or place expectations of the same thing on a family member. It's like J.S. Bach or C.B. Bach, not to compare myself to them. (Laughs.) I don't know how they're compared. Maybe I'm conscious of knowing that I'm compared to her a lot or that there's interest based on that. Sometimes, I have to hope that people are interested in me just because of what I do as opposed to the cachet of the more well-known sibling.

CP: You're currently in the process of collaborating with one of our area's singer/songwriters, Angel Snow. How did that collaboration come about? I know it had something to do with your sister, didn't it?

VK: Yeah, it did. (laughs.) It was interesting. It all happened really quickly. I showed some stuff to my sister that I'd been doing, and we had an animated discussion about how she felt it to be really important that I find a collaborator. I've written tunes with other people, and some work and some don't. She said, "Wouldn't it be great if you had somebody who you really respected what they did to work with?" Then, she said, "I really want to find you a collaborator or somebody who's a great lyricist."

For my solo record, she said a lot of my stuff was just screaming to have it be a song rather than just an instrumental. She said, "Well, let me call some people. I'll find a poet. You need a poet."

I was on this tour with Lyle Lovett, and within a couple of days, she called me -- actually, it was on a cruise where it was like $5 a minute -- and she said, "I've found your person." She told me how she met her. It was a friend of a friend of Alison's. She said I really had to hear her.

She called me a couple of times, and she said, "This is just unbelievable." She was reading the lyrics to "California" to me over the phone. Within two lines, she said she knew she was something special. I came back from the tour and she gave me the CD, and I said, "Wow, this is great."

My sister specifically wanted me to write a tune that was modeled after a type of song. On that same cruise, I had found something I liked and started writing a melody to it. I talked to Angel on the phone after hearing her record, and I thought it was really great. We ended up scheduling a time to get together, and I played her the song saying, "I had this idea, and this is a tune we're possibly looking to have my sister do." I don't think this had much bearing on Angel's frame of thought, at least that was my impression.

I played her the tune, and it ended up sparking something for her right away, lyrically. It seemed like within about 20 minutes, it was completely written. I had this melody where I was singing these nonsense words. I make these work tapes that are almost kind of arranged, so it was figured out.

I remember she left after we worked it out, and it was great, but we didn't record anything. I called my sister back, and I said, "Oh yeah, she was wonderful," and she asked if we recorded anything. I said, "No, actually we didn't." And she said, "Oh you should record it."

I called her back after we met later that afternoon, and she came back and we recorded it. It was terrific. I was able to send a recording back to my sister, and she just went nuts over it.

That pattern kind of happened a few times. Right now, we're in the middle of the record, so we don't necessarily write every time, but every time we do, almost that exact pattern happens where there's a spark of something I play or sh - Chattanooga Times Free Press-Casey Phillips

Nashville's Angel Snow was a complete (yet welcome) change from Dustbowl's swing-tastic shenanigans. It was as if all the oxygen in the room had escaped while Snow performed her yet-to-be-released single, "Magnetic." Her phrasing and subtle guitar work were one of the highlights of the evening, and the crowd responded with rapturous applause. Watch of for Angel in future -- she's definitely going places. - Cameron Matthews from The Bluegrass Situation

Sunday, April 6, 2008

New Artists, Old Songs:

Angel Snow, Sam Jacobs, and Jon Regen Cover Bob Dylan, Tom Petty, and Journey

Nashville singer-songwriter Angel Snow has recorded exactly one album, with but a single cover, but I've never been so happy to have finally been discovered by the industry as I was when I stuck Fortune Tellers into my CD player. Angel's promotional materials describe her sound as "classic Americana folk with a modern edge", and that's spot on, but it doesn't begin to capture the incredible emotive power that Angel can wring from spare, ringing guitarwork and a plaintive country vocal style versatile enough to go from the the open tonality of Natalie Merchant to the weary yet hopeful backporch intimacy of Caroline Herring.

In short, Angel Snow's music is wry and confessional, raw and open, and I've fallen in love with it. I was so eager to hear more that I asked her manager to pass along a few questions. Here's Angel's thoughts on Dylan:

"Bob Dylan is a favorite of mine not only because his music continues to transcend time, but also because it was -- and is still -- so profound. His music left some flabbergasted (I love that word) and others outraged, and yet still he did what he felt he had to do. Maybe it was because he had to get his emotions out. Whatever his reasons for pushing that envelope, he still managed to keep his storytelling talent intact. Dylan's train of thought -– now that's something I'd like to dig into."

Compared to the rest of Fortune Tellers, Angel's solo Dylan cover is sparse, but no less intimate. Add a bit more open-throated power, a light application of well-produced slow bass, kit drums, and gospel organ, and some vulnerable and introspective songwriting, and you've got a total package that's already on my Best of 2008 list. Download the Dylan, check out a few more tracks at Angel Snow's myspace page, and then pick up Fortune Tellers.
- Boy Howdy