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"This is an incredible band that presents its music, lyrics and arrangements in a totally original manner. The balance and range of instrumentation linked with ever so tight vocal work is unsurpassable" ~ Phil Brown, BBC Inside Entertainment February 2007 “Folk-festival sensations, thrilling audiences with their homespun musicianship and back-porch harmonies.” ~ Nicholas Jennings Rolling Stone Online Magazine September 16, 2003 "With enough sultry ambiance to be at home in either cocktail lounge or New Orleans street corner, Po' Girl features a simple, polished production of wistful, plaintively slurred vocals over a sparse yet warm jazz-folk accompaniment of guitar, stand-up bass, harmonica, banjo and clarinet. Americana can seem like a language from a forgotten era, but Po' Girl's sentiment never feels forced, the lyricism never cliche or false. They manage to maintain that traditional and nostalgic sound while the breathing fresh life into an old-fashioned genre." ~ Christina Saraceno "Their uplifting take on American folk music, combining it with Jazz, roots and a little bit of pretty much everything else, has the ability to put a smile on anyone's face." - Glasgow Americana Festival, May 2009 "Po' Girl is rough and smooth, sweet and tart, and would be huge stars in that super-cool alternate universe I've always wanted to live in." - John Schlotfelt, Little Village Magazine, Iowa City, February 2009 "As the brand new 'Deer in the Night' attests, their cozy harmonious amalgam of jazz, Americana/roots string music and European folk just keeps getting better." - Iowa City Press Citizen, 2009 "'Deer in the Night' sees Po' Girl bring a fresh clarity to their self styled urban roots music, distilling the seemingly instinctive interplay and magical chemistry between Allison and Awna into life affirming and soulful jams." Alan Pedder, Where's the Trousers Magazine Evanston Review February 2007 “...a veritable force of nature with a sound that alludes to country, blues, jazz, gospel and folk without falling squarely in any one of those categories” ~ Jeff Wisser Music Box February 2007 “the band’s poetic ruminations have continued to mature and evolve, and in concocting a narrative arc that binds together the collection’s components, Po’ Girl has crafted its most sophisticated and resonant outing to date” ~ John Metzger The Silhouette February 2007 “At first, Po’Girl is quite reminiscent of groups such as the Dixie Chicks. But as the album unfolds, a greater degree of experimentation, a wider array of influences, and simple-yet-complex lyrics make Po’Girl a group that more people need to hear.” ~ Chris Martin The Morning Call Online February 2007 “naturally soulful vocals; neatly paced, neatly spaced instrumentals, and a clinging bittersweetness that can’t be bought or bottled” ~ Paula DeAnda Ithaca Times February 2007 “Although Po’ Girl is inspired by traditions of past decades…they deftly sidestep the trap of sounding nostalgic or revivalist.” ~ Natasha Li Pickowicz Boston Herald February 2007 “what makes the group’s frisky, soulful sound remarkable is its convincing embrace of old-time jazz and blues” ~ Daniel Gewertz No Depression February 2007 “Po' Girl has the same womanly (not girlish, mind you) croon of the 1920s and '30s blues mamas - yet their music isn't of another era” ~ Katy June-Friesen Reviews Live At Blue Rock Studios Po' Girl - DVD review DVDs of live concerts tend to be makeshift affairs, but this one is different. Filmed and recorded in Wimberly, Texas, the Canada based Po' Girl quartet offer real insights into their music with an hour-long show. The Blue Rock setting is homely and candlelit, the audience mature and sympathetic. The performers are featured largely in close up, and shots were obviously plotted to pick out the natural focal point of each moment. The 2004 debut album - of which Allison Russell is the band's only survivor - yields the powerful opener Malaise Days. Introducing No Shame, a personal reflection on child abuse, guitar ace Benny Sidelinger gently explains why it became the theme of their 2010 tour. The audience clap and chant with a will in the penultimate Who All Is Here. I first saw Po' Girl in Britain two years ago. For me they have been a gradually acquired taste. First there is the mixture of genres (summed up by No Depression as "jazz speakeasy collides with poetic urban grit"). The ?lm brings out the contrast between Russell's passionate jazz style, where she uses her voice instrumentally, and ballads where the words are paramount. Then there are the unusual combinations of instruments. Singer songwriter Awna Teixeira is first seen swaying on gutbucket; in Deer In The Night she rings a bicycle-bell, and she also relates the story behind her accordion. But the novelties are incidental - what counts is the music's expressive richness, individual parts blending with seemingly miraculous ease. What's more, although Po' Girl are a long way from home, their rapport with the local musical community is palpable. No other DVD performance has moved me so much. Peter Palmer Po' Girl: Follow Your Bliss - Album of the Month - September 2010 Follow Your Bliss is the 5th studio album from the much venerated Canadian roots band Po' Girl and is packed with songs of love, longing and desire that swing from Americana to jazz and folk to pop with all the usual flair that you have came to expect from this talented four piece. From the very first moment you put this record on you know that you are in for something special. Opener Kathy is the perfect vehicle for the wonderful vocals of Allison Russell, resplendent in its breathy dusky tones, and shows a progression in the band's sound from last album Deer in the Night which is carried on throughout the other 13 tracks contained here. The country blues of When We Are Love is a soulful and joyous affair brought to life by the dobro of Benny Sidelinger and the guitar of Dan Abu Absi. A great deal of the credit for the likability of this album must go to the outstanding production of Zack Goheen who has provided a warmth to the new found maturity of the bands songwriting. Highlights are many. From the accordion and brass driven title track to the Parisian zydeco of Maudite Guerre and the understated beauty of Go Easy to the haunting Benediction, this is an album that delivers constantly with each listen drawing you in further. There are many other bands playing similar stuff out there but few manage to capture the emotion and joy that Po' Girl have etched into their soul. This is a great record that the band may find hard to better. Po' Girl Another triumph by a great Canadian roots band. It's difficult to visualize a form of roots music that on this most recent offering from this incredible band. From Allison Russell and Awna Teixeira's beautifully expressive lead or harmony and their dominance of various instruments such as accordion, clarinet, guitar, banjo or even gutbucket bass, everything blends into a seamless melange of beautiful, never overstated folksy, countryish, jazzy, bluesy sounds. Yes, all of these titles can be ascribed to their music, but they display their mastery by blending the styles seamlessly. Add to this Mikey "Lightning" August's understated drumming and the incredible string virtuoso Benny Sidelinger on his beautifully hand built (by himself) variety of guitars, Dobro and banjo, and you are close to having a virtually unsurpassable blend of talent and musical abilities. Their self written songs are not bad either. Whilst both women alternate on lead vocals with their easily distinguished voices, their harmonies are never coyingly but always have a beautiful edginess to them that helps give their music a rawness that very few others can match. There is also their ability to experiment with the instrumentation. When I first heard them I thought the clarinet was in a totally wrong setting, but listening to their albums it becomes apparent that this is just as much an essential part of their sound, as say, banjo, Dobro or gutbucket! It's been said before that their vocal styles and timbers are so different that they shouldn't work as harmonies. Yet, it is that very 'edginess' that gives this, as well as their other offerings, the unique sound and atmosphere that they are able to conjure. Their music always has a slight tension to it that transforms itself into a totally uplifting experience. There are not many in any form of roots music that can achieve their mastery whilst also experiencing with sounds. An example of this is the title track Follow Your Bliss, an exuberantly uplifting sound underpinned by Mikey's excellent drum playing, but with brass, Dobro, and beautiful accordion pushing the song deep into the memory. You could quite easily argue that all the aforementioned styles are included in this one song. Then there is the gorgeous Western Skies in which both women alternate on verses and harmonise on the chorus. The instrumentation, again has Mikey on drums, but Benny's beautiful Dobro playing gives the song its whole spacey feel, but then playing around the song is the banjo and the high lonesome sound of a harmonica! Then there is the gorgeous Go Easy, with Alli's expressive lead vocals and Benny's Dobro again. And so it goes on! One excellent song after another. Maybe it is not supposed to work but it most certainly does and long may it do so! --Mike M Po' Girl Live - Review - Maverick Magazine www.maverick-country.com/#/po-girl-live/4541798622 Both of these excellent Brighton Fringe Festival gigs deserve a mention because of the contrasts in what the, pretty much, full houses witnessed. On the performance side the wonderful Po' Girl were their usual spellbinding selves at each of the gigs, but huge credit should also go to the hard work and perfect blend of voices by all concerned in the Hullaballoo choir at Shoreham. The event kicked off with the Brighton based choir of approximately eighty local people singing songs, written in the main, by members of the Natural Voice Practioners Network. Their entirely accapela singing was as good as anything that I've heard and it was easy to get lost in the emotional impact they generated. Po' Girl arrived on stage after a short break and as with Hullaballoo played a half dozen or so songs. The two womens voices are entirely different, with Allison Russells beautifully exuberant vocals dominating the hall. Awna Teixeira's vocals, on her self penned songs, have less power but just as much impact with the feeling she is able to generate. Add this to their multi instrumental talents, beautiful harmonies, Benny Sidelingers brilliant playing of his own manufactured dobro & guitars plus Mikey August on drums and you have a band that anyone with a love of American Roots music would happily pay to see several times in a week; which was exactly what I did! Following Po' Girls short set the Choir & they got together to perform four more songs, two of which were written by members of the aforementioned NVPN. All in all, an evening of beautiful uplifting music. The Hove gig didn't have a full choir but it played with the emotions just as much. Opening was Alexia Chellun with her beautiful pure vocals on self penned songs and with her own acoustic guitar backing. She really has talent but is in a field where so have many others also have and it really needs something different to grab public attention. This duly happened when Rhi Johns arrived on stage to play three songs with her. Of the songs they played they had each written one and there was also the Moustaki/Monnot penned (for Edith Piaf) Milord. The whole gig was transported to a different level with their beautiful harmonies and sheer pleasure in singing. Their performance of Milord almost made you forget anyone else had ever sung it. Maybe they should give serious thought to continuing their dueting? Santa Barbara News-Press Po' Girl, the Canadian roots-and-thensome band, is a work in progress, like any band with its creative lights on. We've seen said progress unfold nicely, right here in Santa Barbara, in the comfy confines of Lobero Theatre. Two years ago, the band played there, and it returned Saturday in a more refined and reassured glory, headlining the Sings Like Hell series. In a local angle once-removed, the band stayed at the home of (the now) Austin, Texas-based Sings Like Hell hostess Peggie Jones, while recording its most recent album, "Deer in the Night." In the band's current line-up, the spotlight is on co-leaders Allison Russell and Awna Teixeira. For the occasion of this show, the two bolstered the rhythm section with guest drummer Michael Lightning August, part of the Chicago band JT and the Clouds, who also is in the same circle of musical allies. Saturday's two sets included older material and covers by veteran folk-blues legend Elizabeth Cotton and present-day alt-country cult heroine Julie Miller. But, most encouragingly, the tunes from the new album -- including the title track "Bloom" and "Gasoline" -- were some the strongest songs of the night. The band seems to be in an upwardly evolutionary state at the moment. Ms. Russell, in particular, is singing with more confidence and expressive chutzpah, and she's honing her songwriting skills along with Ms. Teixeira. Not to put too fine a point on it, but the beautiful Ms. Russell adds refreshing twists of soulfulness and bluesy nuance not often heard in the current world of Americana or the general singer-songwriter scene. Ms. Teixeira's own voice, an ideal harmony foil in cahoots with Ms. Russell, mixes sweetness and salty-doggedness, to great effect. Both are handy multi-instrumentalists, Ms. Russell breaking out her clarinet, guitar and banjo, and Ms. Teixeira handling the bass, washtub and accordion (although that tool was used all too rarely). Yet the real multi-instrumentalist award had to go to the latest addition to the group, Benny Sidelinger, a handy side man who played claw-hammer banjo, guitar, keyboard and some tasty dobro, and is a luthier (guitar maker), to boot. Some of the instruments onstage were his. On this night, billed as "Po' Girl and Friends," the faction included Michael Jerome, who added percussion textures on the cajon, and Huck Notari, who joined the stage late in the show, singing a couple of impressive Townes Van Zandt-like songs before fleshing out the ensemble sound on keyboards. Another friend was Glen Phillips, Santa Barbara's own pop star-cum-sensitive and witty singer-songwriter, who stopped by for a couple songs early in the show, before moving on to other engagements. It was warming to find Mr. Phillips playing guitar, after his being deprived of that activity by a recent arm injury, and his music benefited from the Girls' touch on harmonies and good, hip vibrations. Mr. Phillips' dark -- but not caustic -- wit emerged in an original song "Solar Flare," a happy and hooky end-of-the-world number he introduced as a "little radiation poisoning song." It opens with the line "Goodnight, moon" and runs through other cosmic victims in a solar flare incident, ending up in a cheerful wordless chant. The song, from Mr. Phillips' recent EP "Secrets of the New Explorers" (made with former Santa Barbaran John Askew), is an unlikely pop anthem and should be a hit single. As Po' Girl and friends wrapped up the evening with a rousing clap-along a cappella tune and a socio-politically charged song, the stylistic pendulum swung even further in the final stretch. Moving from folk to bluegrass to soul, folk-jazz and Acadian sounds, Po' Girl is finding its path on many roads at once. It's about much more than accordions and banjos. Universality in music is hard to avoid at times. While it might not have been a holiday show, by dint of the songs, the concert's spirit seemed seasonal in its own way -- warm, willing and embracing of diverse perspectives. And to all a good night. ALBUQUERQUE JOURNAL Po' Girl may be a quartet, but in any given concert you're likely to hear them playing a dozen instruments. Po' Girl is a gender twist on the name for New Orleans' Po' Boy sandwich. But being female is no requirement for membership in the band.
Men have been in the band, and recently Benny Sidelinger replaced Trish Klein. "We've clicked so well. It's such a natural fit," Russell said. The others in the band are Diona Davis, who plays violin, acoustic guitar and Wurlitzer, and Awna Teixeira on electric bass, washtub
bass, harmonica and acoustic guitar. "That happens on a regular basis," she said. "People invite us to their homes and we have friends for life. A lot of bands get caught up in the road and forget to stop and smell the flowers." Po' Girl does plan to take a break in December and January before returning to the road in February with renewed energy. **Diona Davies has since left the band (in 2008). Po' Girl is now Allison Russell, Awna Teixeira, Benny Sidelinger and Mikey Lightning, our fabulous drummer! |