Georgia Straight review

Jill Newman travels back to a simpler time on Lovestruck Blues

Blame the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion. And, while you’re at it, the White Stripes, Black Keys, and every other act that at some point decided the only thing Robert Johnson’s old recordings were missing was a lethal injection of distortion and some serious tub-thumping on the back-end. Somewhere along the line, blues rock fell out of fashion, replaced by blues rawk that sounds more indebted to Led Zeppelin than Leadbelly.

Jill Newman dials back time on Lovestruck Blues, a record that features an unfussy and economical production job that’s retro-sounding without seemingly precious or coldly calculated. The singer has a voice that’s more well-worn country twang than back-alley blues, but that works to her advantage on numbers like the strutting “Too Hard to Handle” and the last-call shuffle “Without You”.

As for the playing, if you’re looking for obnoxious showboating, better to haul that old Stevie Ray Vaughan vinyl out of the crawl space. Newman’s unflashy but solid work always comes down on the right side of tasteful, so close your eyes and cue up the title track and you’re transported to a honky-tonk somewhere deep in Tennessee—the kind of place where there’s sawdust on the floor, cigarette smoke hangs thick in the air, and no one has ever heard of those overamped phonies known as the Soledad Brothers.

Mike Usinger on Twitter at @mikeusinger.

http://www.straight.com/music/653851/jill-newman-travels-back-simpler-time-lovestruck-blues#

Jill Newman Blues kicks off the summer festival season at the International Art Festival at Peace Arch Park- June 20th.

Jill and her blues trio will perform a set of original blues on Friday June 20^th from 2pm-3pm as part of the International Art Festival at Peace Arch Park.

This three-day free celebration features live music, visual arts and great food.

Friday is all about live blues music from noon – 5pm.

For folks in Canada who don’t want to cross into the US, just park your car on the Canadian side and walk into the park without any need to go through the border.

For more info about the festival check out www.peacearchart.org.

My new CD, Lovestruck Blues is finally ready!

I’m very pleased to announce that my new CD, Lovestruck Blues is hot off the presses and finally ready! Lovestruck Blues features ten original blues and roots tunes and showcases my lead and slide electric guitar work, vocals and songwriting. The CD was recorded over the past year in two of my favourite cities, Seattle, Washington and Vancouver, BC .

Lovestruck Blues features tracks with some great guests including Vancouver musicians, Keith Bennett – harp, Scott Smith-rhythm guitar and Seattle musicians Polly O’Keary- bass, Tommy Cook Jr.- drums, and Seattle Slim- rhythm guitar. It was a long time coming, but I’m delighted that it’s finally ready.

CD’s or digital downloads can be purchased at CD baby, Amazon or iTunes and samples of tracks can be found under the music tab.

Check out the new CD and let me know what you think or leave a review.

Washington Blues Show at the Muse

It was a lot of fun playing the Conway Muse on Saturday Night during this holiday long weekend.

The Muse is an eclectic venue that features original music and has hosted a lot of great blues and roots acts, most recently Karen Lovely and Margaret Wilder. Situated in rural Conway, WA just south of the tulip fields that envelope the Skagit Valley and on the banks of the Skagit River, the Muse was an old dairy barn from the 1900’s that has been converted into a two level arts/music venue. It’s got a warm and welcoming vibe, a funky atmosphere complete with lights and a soundman (Kevin). The boys in the band, Kelly Van Camp (drums and harmonica) and Rob Mitchell (bass) did a great job holding down the rhythm. I look forward to returning to the Muse.

Everything I Need

Jill-Newman-Love-Struck-02-Everything-I-Need

Got It Bad

Jill-Newman-Love-Struck-06-Got-It-Bad

Too Hard to Handle

Jill-Newman-Love-Struck-01-Too-Hard-To-Handle

New Album Update

It’s been a busy fall. I’ve been in the recording studio finishing up the final touches on my new album. We’ve finished all the overdubs with brilliant harmony vocals from Vancouver R & B singer, Cecile Larochelle , and some bluesy harp work from Keith Bennett. It was a great experience recording with my opera singing daughter, Michelle, as a harmony vocalist on two of my songs.

The new CD features 9 original songs and one a co-write with my former band mate and award winning songwriter, Lynna Goldhar-Smith.

With all the tracks recorded, the engineer and I have been working long hours on final mixes. This album has truly been an international effort with great players and engineers from the U.S. and Canada.

Special Thanks to Tommy and Polly, former Seattle based rhythm section for Too Slim and the Taildraggers and Conrad Uno from Egg Studios.

I’m looking forward to scheduling some CD release shows in the New Year.

So stay tuned.

Summer in the City @ Lions Park

Summer in the City at Lion’s Park in POCO was a blast. I had the great opportunity to kick off their summer concert series and played a bunch of my newest songs from my upcoming album with my blues trio.

My daughter, Michelle, an opera/musical theatre performer agreed to join me for a few songs and it was so fun having her up there.

The Lion’s Park venue was gorgeous with lots of trees and shade and a hardworking crew of volunteers and staff……an awesome way to spend a summer Sunday afternoon.

Now it’s back to the studio in Vancouver where I am busily doing guitar and vocal overdubs, with bed tracks finished and ready to go. Check back in for more news and updates on shows.

Category Archives: Music