Zoe Muth — World Of Strangers [2014]

 

        Zoe Muth — World Of Strangers
•••      I am so happy and proud to announce that my third full-length album, World of Strangers, will be officially released by Signature Sounds on May 27th. Produced by George Reiff, this album features some of Austin’s finest: Bruce Robison, Martie Maguire, Brad Rice, Sweney Tidball, Brian Standefer, Mike Hardwick, Geoff Queen, Beth Chrisman and Jenn Miori of the Carper Family, Brandy Zdan, John Ginty, Eric Hisaw, and Lost High Rollers drummer, Greg Nies. Once again, my sister Phoebe, did the cover art.
Location: Seattle, Washington ~ Austin, Texas
Album release: May 27th, 2014
Record Label: Signature Sounds
Duration:     43:27
Tracks:
01. Little Piece Of History       4:29
02. Mama Needs A Margarita       4:07
03. Make Me Change My Mind       3:25
04. Annabelle       5:42
05. April Fool       2:55
06. Somebody I Know       5:10
07. Too Shiny       3:53
08. Waltz Of The Wayward Wind       4:53
09. Taken All You Wanted       3:26
10. What Did You Come Back Here For?      5:27
Songs written:
•  Ronnie Lane 5
•  All others Zoe Muth
CREDITS:
•  Beth Chrisman  Vocals
•  Steven Christensen  Mixing
•  Geoff Queen  Pedal Steel
•  John Ginty  Organ
•  Mike Hardwick  Guitar (Electric), Pedal Steel
•  Andrew Hernandez  Engineer
•  Eric Hisaw  Guitar (Electric)
•  Fred Kevorkian  Mastering
•  Ronnie Lane  Composer
•  Martie Maguire  Viola, Violin
•  Jenn Miori  Vocals
•  Phoebe Muth  Cover Art
•  Zoe Muth  Composer, Guitar (Acoustic), Vocals
•  Greg Nies  Drums, Percussion
•  Genevieve Pierson  Photography
•  Philip Price  Layout
•  George Reiff  Bass, Engineer, Mixing, Percussion, Producer, Vocals
•  Brad Rice  Bass, Electric Mandola, Guitar (Ac.), Guitar (El.)
•  Bruce Robison  Vocals
•  Brian Standefer  Cello, Engineer
•  Sweney Tidball  Accordion, Keyboards, Organ, Piano
•  Brandy Zdan  Vocals
••    “Turn it all upside down,” Zoe Muth sings on the opening track of her third full-length album, World of Strangers. “See the stars when we’re looking at the ground, shining all around.” Muth brings us ten heartrending tales of the leaving and the left behind in her trademark style of infusing moments of despair with hope and levity. This time around she has made some changes, channeling a wider array of influences ranging from classic country ballads to early folk-rock.
•  First making her name in the Pacific Northwest, where she’s been called “Seattle’s Emmylou,” and heralded as one of the best songwriters to come out of Washington State, Muth has spent the last three years touring across the U.S. and Europe. Playing bars and cafes as a young pre-school teacher, she saved up her minimum wage earnings and beer bucket tips to pay for her 2009 debut album, Zoe Muth and the Lost High Rollers. That album, along with her 2011 follow up, Starlight Hotel, went on to garner praise from the international press, and landed on No Depression’s “Top 50 Albums” list in their respective years.
•  “Many of these new songs had been in my head for a long time, and I needed a change of scenery and sound to let them find their way out,” says Muth when asked about the writing on World of Strangers. On New Year’s Day 2013, she uprooted herself from Seattle, and set out for Austin, Texas. She was soon introduced to producer and bassist George Reiff, who assembled a studio band of some of Austin’s most talented musicians, including Brad Rice (Keith Urban, Son Volt), Martie Maguire (Dixie Chicks) and Bruce Robison. Grammy-winner Steven Christensen assisted in mixing.
•  “This was a whole new studio experience for me, more experimental,” says Muth. “We agreed from the start that we wanted something different, more ethereal, but George took these songs in a direction I wasn’t expecting. It worked so well because we have so many common influences. It was really exciting, how the musicians would jump from one idea to another without hesitation. We were able to capture all the emotion you hear in the songs because the band could get them down in just a few takes. I knew this was why I had come to Austin.”
•  You’d hear “Mama Needs a Margarita” and “Waltz of the Wayward Wind” in any booze-soaked saloon, but Muth’s grandest departure from her earlier sound can be heard in the decidedly un-honky-tonk, “Annabelle,” where the conversation between cello, piano, and violin are subtly underscored with indie organ effects that twinkle like electric stars. The influence of early Fairport Convention echoes in the Ronnie Lane cover “April Fool,” and bits of the Byrds and Burritos shine through in Mike Hardwick and Geoff Queen’s pedal steel. In “Taken All You Wanted,” Brad Rice’s finger picking falls and weeps, bringing to mind the prettiest picking of John Fahey or Leo Kottke.
•  With a voice unadorned and almost conversational, Muth makes the every day more clear and compelling: “I don’t want to die where the sleeping dogs lie, and the silence is stronger than stone. If I have to wander, through the lightning and the thunder, must I always go alone?” she sings on “Somebody I Know”, a standout duet featuring legendary Texas songwriter Bruce Robison. It’s an end of the world lament beckoning the listener to follow along: “We’ll haunt the hidden places, like the embers in the afterglow.”
•  World of Strangers is slow building and spacious, often dream-like and fearless in its demand of your time and attention. Muth has taken risks for the sake of the song, asking the listener to let go of expectations. And while the album sometimes begs you to two-step and waltz, more often than not, what it wants is for you to turn up the volume, turn the lights down low and just listen.
Discography:
•  2011 Starlight Hotel    Signature Sounds  
•  2014 World of Strangers     Signature / Signature Sounds  
•  -----  Old Gold     SIGNATURE SOUNDS  
•  -----  Zoe Muth and the Lost High Rollers   Audio & Video Labs, Inc.
In french:
•  La sortie de cet album est prévue pour la fin mai. Il est dans la continuité des précédents, les amateurs d'alternative country devraient apprécier.
Website: http://zoemuth.com/
Label: www.signaturesounds.com
For publicity requests, please contact Flora Reed: 413.665.4036

Press:
•  “Muth’s real appeal is how easy she makes it all seem: in a country landscape littered with too many try-hards, her casual delivery lends a heavy honesty to her words.”  —  Texas Music Magazine
•  “If your own favorite country singers came from the vinyl era, don’t let this one pass you by.” — CMT
•  “A magnificent songwriter.” — El Pais
•  “Whatever  “it” is, Muth currently possesses skip loads of “it.”  She sings Nashville country straight and honest with no frills . . .the real deal and with genuine widespread appeal.” — Maverick Magazine
•  “Muth has gifted the world with a collection of music that is straight no chaser.  Just when you start to believe that they just don’t make ‘em the way they used to, Zoe Muth and the Lost High Rollers come along to restore your faith.” — Country Standard Time
•  “I just can’t stop playing this.” — Bob Harris BBC Radio 2
•  “We rarely talk about country music as being "soulful" or having "soul", but thank god Zoe Muth is here to change this…the gentle truth of her songwriting and the softness of her voice lend a weight to the music [and] a true feeling of soulfulness… an astonishingly good songwriter.” — No Depression
•  “With a haunting voice that treads soul and country and can only be described as a cosmic Americana, Zoe Muth delivers songs that sound like vintage country classics.” — Twangville
•  “Starlight Hotel is one of those albums that you need if your first exposures to country music came from the static-y radio in the cab of your dad’s old pickup truck… essential listening.” —  ninebullets.net
•  “This is absolutely spine-tingling stuff. Not only does she sing like a hillbilly angel, but she writes instant classics. ? Remember the first time you heard Infamous Angel? Well, Muth is right up there with Iris DeMent as a singer-songwriter, though harder-edged and harder country.  Unreservedly recommended.” — 3rd Coast Music Magazine
•  “Her phrasing stands right beside Bob Dylan and Willie Nelson — two masters of an under-appreciated craft.” — Elmore magazine
•  “‘Our own Emmylou’.” — Seattle Weekly
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WORLD OF STRANGERS ALBUM RELEASE TOUR DATES:
05-03-2014 Seattle, WA Tractor Tavern
05-08-2014 Bellingham, WA The Green Frog
05-09-2014 Portland, OR Alberta Rose Theatre
05-10-2014 Bend, OR PaK-iT
05-15-2014 Santa Fe, NM Cowgirl BBQ
05-16-2014 Los Alamos, NM Summer Concert Series
05-17-2014 Dolores, CO Dolores River Brewery
05-18-2014 Taos, NM Taos Mesa Brewing
05-23-2014 Austin, TX The White Horse
05-28-2014 Ashland, VA Ashland Coffee & Tea
05-30-2014 Millheim, PA Elk Creek Cafe + Aleworks
05-31-2014 Bluemont, VA Shepherds Ford House Concert
06-02-2014 Vienna, VA Jammin Java
06-04-2014 Philadelphia, PA Tin Angel
06-05-2014 Northampton, MA The Parlor Room
06-06-2014 Fall River, MA Narrows Center for the Arts
06-07-2014 Cambridge, MA Club Passim
06-09-2014 Brooklyn, NY Hill Country BBQ
06-12-2014 New York, NY Hill Country BBQ

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Zoe Muth — World Of Strangers [2014]

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