Kristin Diable & The City

Extended Play (Speakeasy Records) is just the second album by Kristin Diable, a distinctive young songwriter and singer with an emergent reputation in both Louisiana and New York. Diable’s full-throated bluesy vocals invite loose comparison to fellow Louisianan Lucinda Williams, although Diable has broader range and a more mellifluous tone. Her unhurried phrasing savors each note with luxuriant sultry power and a dreamy abstracted quality. Diable applies this ethereal twang to original songs that draw equally on blues, gospel, country and swamp-pop aesthetics. Her lyrics likewise evoke a regional sensibility, as heard in particular, on “What We Mean”, and “Gypsy Queen”. At the same time, Diable’s verse structures are atypically elongated, taking unexpected yet pleasing tangents before reaching harmonic resolution. She is a budding talent to watch. - Louisiana Cultural Vistas - Ben Sandmel

Extended Play (Speakeasy)
01 December 2009 — by Briana Prevost

With a look and a sound that is far beyond her years, Kristin Diable tells her story in the purest of folk tradition on Extended Play. Each song showcases her contralto voice that sounds as though it’s been tainted by cigarette smoke and experience, a sound that suits her. You’ve definitely heard this type of voice before, most notably in one of her idols, Lucinda Williams, but Diable, a Baton Rouge native, has been branded with inherent Southern soul, a quality that separates her from the rest.

On the simple blues tune, “What We Mean,” Diable explains with a smirk, “I gotta lover who says he don’t need me. / I guess we don’t always say what we mean.” Her voice soars with extreme confidence over the simple two-chord melody of the guitar as the song takes you back to doo-wop ballads without the call and response.

Though most of Diable’s guitar melodies sound similar from track to track, the words are what make her songs great. On “Holdin’ On” she sings, “He was running down that road so fast / praying God was with him now / and he hoped to God that this don’t last / ’cause just one bad move could break his back.” It’s a simple yet powerful statement of a place all people find themselves at least once in their lives. On “Be My Husband,” Diable channels KT Tunstall on her breakthrough hit, “Black Horse and the Cherry Tree” with the drum as the driving force of emotion and rhythm in this stripped down song about the complications of a relationship. - Offbeat - Dec 2009

March 24, 2006

Remember that name, because one day soon you’ll be able to tell your friends, “Oh I was listening to Kristin Diable before she was ever famous.” It’s going to happen. Seriously, and I’ll tell you why after the drop.


In 2003 the Baton Rouge native took part in what was to be a one semester exchange program in New York. Her goal was not to live there permanently, but rather to check out the environment and expand her musical horizons. “By the summer after that semester,” Kristin said, “I had a pretty obvious epiphany.” The revelation would lead her down a difficult path. But she decided, “Staying in NYC, but more importantly, pursuing music fulltime was the only way.”

Her decision was met with outrage by her mother. “To say my mom was upset would be an understatement… I seriously thought my mom would never talk to me again,” Kristin said. It’s not difficult to understand her mother’s fury. An ideal student, Kristin abandoned a full scholarship at Louisiana State University in order to pursue her dream.

One might wonder how she could give up the certain comforts of home life and a full scholarship. To that Kristin responded, “I can get a degree anytime, you know? My wellbeing in music, or otherwise, isn’t dependent on a piece of paper. It’s dependent on my will, how hard I can work and how much I love what I’m doing.”

There were, of course, doubts. “Sometimes I get incredibly homesick, and just fed up of the lifestyle here. The expense of living is absolutely insane,” Kristin said. “There are few trees, no backyards, and no one has barbecues, or crawfish boils, and sometimes you wonder if your friends will still be around next week.”

But through her adversities, an unwavering love for music helped her endure. “It’s a very incredible joy to know that you are exactly where you’re supposed to be, and who you’re supposed to be, that you’re not lost in the world of options and expectations placed on you,” Kristin said, “[I’ve] lucked out.”

Eventually, Kristin gathered enough good news to assuage her mother’s fears. “It took some times, but once I got setup where I was living OK, and doing well with music, found a good manager, had major labels interested… she understood that this was going to be OK.”

Now, three years later, success is in plain sight. She recently signed to BMI. And in 2005 she released her first LP Shelter, an 11 track excursion through blues, rock and soul. An impressive feat for any young artist, made all the more impressive for Kristin who has no formal musical training. “I can’t stand to try to learn theory or read music, but I can sit down with an instrument and write all day.”

“Music just makes sense to me,” Kristin said, “I hear melodies and orchestrations and can convert that into songs and onto instruments.” It is this ability that fuels a songwriting process she describes as a treasure hunt. “Sometimes the melody comes first, sometimes it’s the guitar [or] words,” Kristin explained. “Usually it comes in pieces, then I have to sit down and find out how [they] are supposed to fit together.”

When asked what she looks for in music, Kristin responded, “I prefer music that, in its way is more Zen, little friction, smooth sailing. That doesn’t mean it has to be folky or soft—just effortless.” Her music is a testament to the assertion.

You have several opportunities in the near and immediate future to catch Kristin Diable professing her love:

3-24 - New York, NY – The Living Room – 10PM
3-29 – Hoboken, NJ – The Goldhawk – 8PM
4-13 – New York, NY – The Living Room – 10PM
4-20 – Princeton, NJ – Triumph Brewing Co. – 9PM
5-5 – New York, NY – The Living Room – 10PM
5-6 – Philadelphia, PA – World Café Live – 8PM

Also, you can find Kristin on the web at www.kristindiable.com

(article online at: http://www.audiomonger.com/2006/03/24/kristin-diable/) - Audiomonger.com

March 28th, 2006

Born in Baton Rouge, but currently residing in Brooklyn, singer-songwriter Kristin Diable is an artist who makes music to escape to a different plane, one where the constraints of routine day-to-day life are mere afterthoughts.

Diable’s is a blend of rootsy rock stirred with spoonfuls of folk, soul and blues and sung with passion and fervor. And although Diable cites artists like Jeff Buckley, Nina Simone, Etta James and many of the classics of our time as personal favorites, any influences one may ‘hear’ in Diable’s music are purely speculative. After all, no one sounds quite like anyone else.

Diable’s first solo recording came in the form of a six-song EP entitled As You Were in 2004. The tracks found here are the result of songs written between 2002 and 2003, a time when Diable was still adjusting to New York and all its surprising charms.

Predominately acoustic, the songs on As You Were are pleasant and easily absorbed for those willing to listen.
Songs like ‘Badly,’ with it’s hand-drum backdrop and warm delivery mark the album’s tone and the beginning of what is sure to be a long and steady career for Diable.

In 2005, Diable released her full-length debut, Shelter on her own Speakeasy label. The record possesses a much more robust sound and features Diable in a more focused, confident light. Backed by a full band, each of these songs are given the room to stretch.

‘Black Plague & Dynamite’ is the quintessential rock song and possibly the farthest Diable’s sound has traveled from the songs found on As You Were. Her voice purrs in and out of loud guitars and thumping drum beats. This is, undeniably, rock & roll.

Other songs shine too - ‘Sister Sadie’ provides further proof of Diable’s capable voice and testify to the genuine soul found in her songs.

The more I try to find exactly what I need
The more I realize I am just not ready
And I keep tryin’ to find just what I need
But maybe they’re not ready for me
–Kristin Diable
Diable is currently supporting the release of Shelter by regularly performing in and around New York.

To those interested in purchasing Shelter, Diable offers three copies for the price of two ($11.99 a piece) through the official site at Speakeasy Records. She’ll even autograph them for you.

Downloads:

Golden One
Badly
Black Plague & Dynamite
Sister Sadie

On Tour:

March 29, 2006 - 8:00pm
The Goldhawk
Hoboken, NJ

April 13, 2006 - 10:00pm
The Living Room
New York, NY

April 20, 2006 - 9:00pm
Triumph Brewing Co.
Princeton, NJ

May 5, 2006 - 10:00pm
The Living Room
New York, NY

May 6, 2006 - 8:00pm
World Cafe Live
Philadelphia, PA

WWW:
Kristin Diable - official site #1
Kristin Diable - official site #2
On The Bright Side Of The Road - Kristin Diable’s blog
Kristin Diable - official site at Speakeasy Records
Kristin Diable @ MySpace - official site at MySpace - Womenfolk.net

Online at: http://www.voanews.com/english/archive/2005-11/2005-11-21-voa60.cfm?CFID=26082063&CFTOKEN=89094493

By Katherine Cole
Washington, 21 November 2005

At the age of 22, Kristin Diable has already independently produced and released three CDs and undertaken two extensive solo tours, allowing her to play her music in clubs across the United States. VOA's Katherine Cole recently caught up with the Louisiana native, and reports on Kristen's newest CD, "Shelter."


Kristin Diable
You only have to listen to a few seconds of Kristin Diable's "Sister Sadie" to hear that she sings songs that have roots in the blues, folk, and soul. Just 23, Kristin's been writing her own songs for about six years now.

"I wrote somewhat when I was younger, but more seriously in the past five or six years," she said.

And when did you decide that this was something she had to do?

"I guess probably when I dropped out of school, and started playing music full time," she said.

In 2003, Kristin Diable uprooted herself, and moved to New York City. She felt that to succeed as a songwriter, she had no other choice than to drop out of university.

"There was no other way," she said. "I needed the time to be able to write, and perform. And just practice and work on it. You know, it [songwriting] is a craft, an art, and a job, just like anything else."

Not long after the move to New York, Kristen gained both a manager, and a regular place to play. Her home base became a club called "The Living Room." That same venue has recently nurtured and supported the careers of artists such as Norah Jones, and Amos Lee. Having a regular time and place to perform is important to Kristen Diable, as she believes honing her performance skills is just as important as working on her writing. She can't imagine doing one, without the other.

"It would be hard for me to not write," she said. "I really don't think I could just perform, and not ever write. But the performance brings everything to completion. Writing is only half of the process. Having it relate to other people, and be something a little bigger than just yourself, and your room and how it relates to you is part of what I love about it."


Shelter
What's next for Kristin Diable? Since Shelter is more of a band record than a solo singer-songwriter project, she plans to spend more time touring with a group. Was it different writing songs with a band sound in mind?

"Yeah, absolutely," she said. "I think, structurally, songs are much more simple when you're going to have three or four other people, and orchestrate parts around them. I prefer simple songs. I think, particularly when starting out, a lot of artists want to write the most intricate songs possible, and use the most chords possible, and little cool tricks that you learn along the way. I want the essence of the song to come through, and the message of the song more than anything else, rather than showing technically what I can do on guitar, or vocally."

Kristin Diable's songwriting and performing is strong enough to have established her as one of New York City's more promising young artists.

- Voice of America

New Orleans, LA – May 13, 2009

Musician Kristin Diable, who recently made New Orleans home, pre-released her new record, “Extended Play”, during Jazzfest at the Juneau Penthouse of the Ritz Carlton. She also recently wrote and performed the music for a Jeep commercial now running nationally on all the major networks as well as on cable channels. Among the 400 plus people in attendance at the CD release reception was Mayor Ray Nagin, who presented the artist with a proclamation from the city of New Orleans for making NOLA home and contributing to it's incredibly vibrant arts & culture scene. New Orleans own, musician Irving Mayfield, was in attendance to show his support and performed during the event as well.

Diable was joined on stage by her band with Joey Peebles (Trombone Shorty & Orleans Ave) on drums, Casey McAllister on guitar (Bingo Show, Happy Talk Band), Josh Charles on keys & Justin Hilbun on bass.

Additional guests included Jeremy Davenport, Dan Packer (President of Entergy New Orleans), Terry Williams, Richard & Willi Fiske (The Bombay Club), numerous record label representatives including Basin St Records’ Mark Samuels, and event hosts, photographer Bernardo and Stewart & Juli Juneau.

Kristin is a native of Baton Rouge and has spent the past 5 years working as a musician and songwriter in New York City. Diable has returned to her native Louisiana, settling in New Orleans where she is rapidly building a name for herself in the burgeoning Crescent City singer/songwriter scene. She has toured extensively throughout the US performing at music venues, colleges & universities (from UPenn's infamous Spring Fling event to acoustic coffee-house series and Carnegie Hall). She has also showcased at South by Southwest, CMJ Music Conference, & Dewey Beach Music Festival. She has shared the stage with John Mayer, KT Tunstall, Amos Lee, Norah Jones and Shawn Colvin, to name a few.

"It's remarkable to learn that Kristin Diable is only 22-years of age. Having only started writing songs six years ago everything she embodies screams of a time since passed and her music is the perfect example - her 60's Folk/Blues/Soul influence is immediately distinguishable. Each beautifully conveyed line spills forth from her lips like sweet strawberry wine. A resplendent story-teller without fault, every song is like a hammer-blow to your senses, evoking images of Louisiana traditions and tales. You can take the girl out of the South but you can't take the South out of the girl- and what a wonderful thing that is." - Joel Crane 2006 (NME, Q, Mojo)
- Top 40 Charts

One game that all sound seekers, culture vultures and Jazz Fest aficionados like to play is “First!” The point being to lay claim as the first among your friends to “discover” a new act at the Fair Grounds, to stake proprietary interest upon a heretofore unknown.

It’s a local version of what, perhaps, was one of the most famous of such boasts, when famed music critic Jon Landau, upon witnessing the stage and antics of a gruff young ax slinger out of the Jersey Shore, proclaimed, “ I saw the rock and roll future and its name is Bruce Springsteen.”

And so, we play the game ritualistically at Jazz Fest. No suture Bosses here, but still, there’s always a Eureka moment or two to be had. (Of course, what generally happens is that you lay such claim and everyone else tells you they’ve been a fan of so-snd-so for years.)

With that that risk in mind, I call “First!” on Kristin Diable.

I was simply looking for a place to sit down for a few minutes to chill out after rocking to the heavens in the Gospel Tent, and wandered into the Fair Grounds paddock, location of the Lagniappe Stage at the festival.

OK, I’m not pronouncing the arrival of a new rock messiah, but I am telling you, there’s a young woman out of south Louisiana who has got some serious chops, a peroxide, leggy crooner with the a soul like Lucinda Williams, the confidence of Grace Slick and the voice of a decades-ago Bonnie Raitt.

Yeah, those are big shrimp boots to fill out here in the muddy fields of play. But that’s my story and I’m sticking with it. Says me: First!

This Kristin Diable, strapped in a hollow body electric, laid out a mix of ballads, heart-breakers, travelin’ tunes and the barn burner - a slow burn a capella number started slow and rose to gripping crescendo and I think it was about love, but aren’t they all.

The song – don’t ask; each tune was new to me – brought the famously chatty Lagniappe stage to a silent stand-still; one of those “moments” we all seek at Jazz Fest, where everyone stops speaking and cell phones ring unanswered and the she belts and wails and breaks your heart, a lamentation of love and sex and hope and dreams and then everyone just stares and then……and then looks over at the sign on the side of the stage to tell them just what it is they’re witnessing.

It was Kristin Diable. Devil in a white dress. The biggest thing out of Baton Rouge since rush hour. - Chris Rose TV 8 Jazz Fest Blog

Leaving the Allison Miner Heritage Stage after Elvis Perkins' interview, I was only going to stop for a second at the Lagniappe Stage to check out Kristin Diable. It turned into almost the whole set.

Diable is a bluesy country songstress with a touch of Lucinda Williams' chewy delivery. She's also armed with a killer organ player - who sometimes double-teams with the pianist for a layered, semi-psychedelic two-fisted keyboard groove - and guitar chops of her own, plus rhythm from Happy Talk Band bassist Steve Calandra.

Diable has the raggedy, long-limbed sexiness of Laura Dern in "Wild At Heart," with a messy blond mop of hair and short white lace dress that were almost a bit Riot Grrl. As the wind picked p, she commented, "Well, at least I wore nice underwear today. But it's not that kind of show, is it?" (When the band left the stage for Diable to shimmy alone through a "Black Betty"-like a cappella, accompanied only by hambone-like handclaps and foot stomps, it almost became that kind of show.)

Diable led the band on spooky, dense, organ-and-guitar waltzes and honky-tonk romps that wouldn't have been out of place coming from a roadhouse band in a David Lynch movie. More and more fans wandering through the heavy-traffic Lagniappe Stage area, roped in by her slightly skewed, slightly dark country rhythms, took seats.

© 2010 NOLA.com. All rights reserved. - nola.com / Times Picayune - Alison Fensterstock

MUSIC
The Drive and Tao of Kristin Diable
by Marissa Frayer

(07/06/04) In a dorm-sized studio apartment in Manhattan’s East Village, a 21-year-old transplanted Baton Rouge native is causing quite a racket. Forced by the sardine-tight practice space, the commotion from the room escapes through the door and down the grimy staircase to mix with the smog on Third Avenue. It’s practice time for Kristin Diable and everyone in her building knows it, but nobody seems to mind.
“The guy next to me works during the day,” Diable says. “The guy across the hall is a DJ and he’s cool. Really, since we practice during the day, it hasn’t been an issue – yet.”
With practices spanning two to three hours at least twice a week, Diable may eventually encounter some opposition to her noise level, but for now the band performs unabashedly. Having played in dozens of states and with almost every major record label nipping at her heels, Diable has reason to make some noise. With a computer at his back, Stephen Chopek, former drummer for Norah Jones and John Mayer, bangs on his full drum set all the while trying to avoid knocking his head on the bed above him. Jared Engle wraps himself around his upright bass, wedged between the drums and a table. On the other side of the drums is Ben Davis, playing guitar by stacks of CDs and books. Diable stands next to Davis, nestled between microphone stands, amps, cables and the occasional piece of scattered clothing. The band has just added bassist Engle to their line-up and is practicing for a show in two days. Extra guitars are mounted on the walls, surrounded by posters of Jeff Buckley, Jimi Hendrix and painted quotations from Diable herself.
Diable’s present occupation as an aspiring singer/songwriter is “undeniably laced,” as one of her wall quotations states, with a series of dreams, choices and actions. At 19, the business management major decided to leave the Red Stick and spend her junior year testing her mind and music in the Big Apple. Through LSU’s National Student Exchange program, she lived in the city and made the hour and a half commute to William Paterson University in Paterson, New Jersey. “I wanted to get the hell out of Baton Rouge and explore myself and everything else,” Diable said.
What started out as an experimental school year evolved into a major life change. With only one year left to graduation, Diable put her degree on hold to focus her efforts entirely on her musical aspirations. Her decision came during a phone conversation with a friend. After complaining about her woes and having to return home to Baton Rouge, she said her friend suggested she simply quit. “In that instant, it made sense,” she said. “A light was switched on, and without having to consider, it was done. I was staying and pursuing music full time.”
Initially, her friends and family voiced their concerns about her decision. Her mother, Laura Rich, said she was not supportive at first because she wished her daughter had done both, pursuing music and earning her degree at the same time. “Mostly I was angry because she knew she was not going back to LSU and she came to visit me and got money from me. She didn’t tell me she wasn’t going back to LSU until she got back to New York, even though she knew all the while,” Rich said. Even though Rich wasn’t completely supportive of her daughter’s decision, she knew Diable couldn’t shake her entrepreneurial spirit. “If she weren’t playing music, she’d probably be running her own company,” she said. Diable’s younger half-sister, Erin Miley, agreed with their mom’s initial response, citing the importance of having a bachelor’s degree. In retrospect, however, Miley said the decision seemed rather natural. “It didn’t seem like a definitive change. It seemed like the next logical step,” Miley said.
Diable said the actual process of leaving Baton Rouge was harder than she expected. Despite spending her life dreaming and plotting to leave Baton Rouge, she had finally found some comfort and inspiration from new people in the city right before she moved. “I cried my eyes out driving away from Baton Rouge. Just me in that awful Ford Taurus filled to the brim with mainly music stuff, going to the big city and leaving the first bit of happiness I’d found in Baton Rouge so soon after finding it,” Diable said. “But life must go on.”
During her years in New York, she has spent a lot of time going through the motions of creating mailing lists, updating Web sites and re-tracking vocals. The important, yet dull tasks, Diable said, are redeemed by unpredictable, fleeting sparks of truth and relevance found during band practice, through heart-warming e-mails, or while performing a live show. “That’s why I do it, for those few and far between precious moments that give me a little peek at the stellar and make me think that there’s so much more to discover and document through words and music.”
Diable’s fascination with life and music began with her firs - JetBunny Magazine

http://www.bmi.com/musicworld/musicpeople/200410/kdiable.asp

KD @ South by Southest 2005: http://www.bmi.com/special/sxsw2005/photos/acoustic_brunch.asp
- BMI