Bevin Caulfield

"If you're not familiar with Bevin's music yet, check her out immediately. Her voice is a sultry, smooth melange of molasses and honey that oozes sinfully in syrupy sweet silhouettes across the room and ensconces you in her enchanting enigma." -The Music Barista (http://themusicbarista.blogspot.com/2007/10/bevin-caulfields-car-broke-down-brian.html) - The Music Barista

12/11/2008

Bevin Caulfield is the ubiquitous presence haunting the Philadelphia music scene. I first met her in New York, the night I met Norah Jones. Taking cues from her friend Amos Lee, and her now former roommates Barbara Gettes and Adrien Reju, she will release "The Living EP" on Dec. 12 at World Café Live Upstairs.

She plays guitar and teaches piano, yet her musical family didn't know she was even interested until a couple of years ago. She explained why the secret came out over coffee at the Gleaner Café in the Italian Market.
"Maybe I didn't really play yet. I had sung some backup in college. I grew up playing the piano. I didn't really play guitar yet, and I didn't write any songs. In the back of my head I thought it was something I would like to do. I had an excitement about going to shows, and in a way, I was picking things up. I wanted to be in the middle of the scene."
Over the summer she toured California as part of feeding the Birds, an ensemble including Anna Cristie of Sisters Three, and Alison Polans of Papertrees. This is her second recording, although the earlier attempt was more a demo/promo for getting gigs and led to shows at the Tin Angel, MilkBoy Coffee and the Fire - all respectable locations indeed.
Amos Lee might be her biggest influence. She stated, "The first time I saw Amos was at the Bitter End in New York. When he was still playing in town, it was amazing. He played at a party when I was in college and I don't think I took notice. Then, it was like wow!"
For a time, she worked the Amos Lee merchandise table at his shows. Then she had a revelation.
"Pianos are very heavy. One summer, I stayed at my mom's and played guitar on the porch all summer. You just can't show up at an open mike and expect there to be a piano. I am self-taught on guitar."
Though she can be quite the idealist on topics ranging from peace to vegetarianism to whether or not we can communicate on higher levels of consciousness, she brandishes some straightforward thinking about her career.
"A lot of time we are competing with each other's shows, so open mikes bring everyone together. We are all in the same boat with getting albums out and shows promoted. I don't compare myself to anyone because I am always trying to be the best that I can be. I would like to make a living at music. I am not against making money."
Caulfield has quite the education behind her and used to ace calculus tests. Her family thought she would go into science or math. She explained, "I have a really expensive education from Villanova. It was liberal studies with a concentration in cognitive science, psychological philosophy. These are things that make me who I am. I am looking out for the big picture.
"I think I took one music class at Villanova and I dropped it. It was so anti-creative that after school I just wanted to do what I wanted to do, so it threw me into a different direction."
Regarding family, she commented, "Once they realized that I was serious, they became accepting of it. I got some blank looks at first."
Caulfield charted the course of her creativity and the making of the music. "I just start to strum and melodies are always there to grab. My favorite time to write is after getting up with a cup of tea and just a warm quiet environment where I can be by myself.
"I was surprised at how expensive studios are. I am a music teacher and I baby-sit, and I do all of these odd jobs to pay my bills and I didn't really have surplus thousands of dollars for a major project.
"Comparatively, the prices are actually good. Two songs were songs that I liked and other people liked, and two were songs that I had recently written. They were my favorites at the time. 'What's She Got' we recorded at Turtle [Turtle Studio in Old City, Philadelphia] and Adrien told me that it was the perfect song for me, and Freddy [Berman of the Amos Lee Band] told me to record it.
"'What's She Got' has a bigger sound with electric guitar. That sent me back to working with Ish Quintero. He has equipment in his apartment and four of the six songs were done there. One song at Turtle and one at Kawari in Glenside. Adam Winoker and Matt Muir [Kawari Studio, Glenside] had a free day up there and they played with me."
Although the CD/EP is solid local product, one can't help but wonder how it would have excelled if two songs had been cut, and the savings put into the remaining four tracks. Caulfield's voice can sound like a cold version of Billie Holiday. She tends to use a walking pace timeline, and even though Phil Nicolo mastered the mixes at Studio Four in Conshohocken, one wonders how he would have tinkered with them in his old Butcher Brother remixer days. Ultimately, these tracks show a burst of creativity, combined with impatience
http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=20218946&BRD=1306&PAG=461&dept_id=567519&rfi=6
. - David Wanop

Took a stroll down Ninth Street for a sandwich, a canolli, and some people watching and found myself at the Connie's Ric Rac stage close to Pat's and Geno's (and near the great Rim Cafe). Caught the second half of a quality set by the Great Unknown, a rocking local acoustic outfit based in West Philly. They are fronted by the enthusiastic Todd Henton, who has a great voice and real skills on the mouth organ but the annoyingly affected style of playing with a trouser leg pulled up like he's about to ride a bicycle. The band is tight and rootsy, and they always seem like they are having fun, which is pretty infectious. A good outdoorsy band. Their next Philly show is June 27th at the Gorgas Park Festival in Manayunk.

The Great Unknown were followed by an act I hadn't heard before but will be sure to check out again: Bevin Caulfield and her band. Bevin is a beautiful singer, with a sexy and emotive voice and a good backing band. The drummer kept almost a hip hop beat that suited the songs. Bevin played a solid acoustic guitar and another pretty girl, perhaps her sister judging by looks, added some well considered backing vocals. I see from her myspace page (which has a link for a good cover of the admittedly over-covered l.cohen song "hallelujah") that she has a show May 22nd at the Tin Angel. I have a gig that night or I'd be there. There are also some other area shows on her calendar.
http://phillyacoustic.blogspot.com/2009/05/great-unknown-and-bevin-caulfield-at.html - Philly Acoustic