Judy Klass
Nashville, Tennessee, United States
Music
Press
From its opening track “Drunk on one Corona” to “Rescue Me” Judy Klass is in a Klass by herself playing good ole country music. It’s rare to hear today such a great voice with such good backing music in the Country scene. This is not new country this is the real deal country the way it should be played. If you’re a lover of K.D or Reba this is a must have in your country collection.
http://www.kangarradio.com/Reviews.html - Andrew Allan ****
OK I am not usually a fan of country music, but I kind of fell for this CD when I heard the first song. Not only are the lyrics clever ("Now she's become her own cheap date/Now she's drunk on Corona/and it seems a fittin' fate") but the melody is catchy (though predictable) and cute. Your typical country song, though the sort you'd hear in a dive bar in a small town, not the kind Shania Twain sings.
Just look at the song titles and you get the idea. I mean, "Havin' Sex With your Ex"? Funny, no? Well, that's actually a pretty sounding ballad, which shows Klass' vocal skill.
"You Didn't Think" also showcases Klass' voice, though it's darker and smokier here and is really nice, matching the music perfectly. This is a true honky-tonk song.
The liner notes are hilarious. She gives a little description of each song and as her lyrics can attest, she is very witty. Judy Klass reminds me of a country version of Christine Lavin. There is a bit of humor, but also a sweet sensitivity and honesty.
I have to say if all country music were like this I might actually listen to it more often. So I guess there's a little country in me after all.
Stand out songs: "Alternate Universe" (not very country, in comparison), "He Done Her Wrong" (couldn't be more country-twangy but is quite loveable-which is high praise coming from me).
Interesting side note: After visiting her site, I learned she writes poetry, screen plays (a Salma Hayak movie) and has written a Star Trek novel! What an interesting woman!
Posted on August 26, 2005
http://www.collectedsounds.com/cdreviews/brooklyncowgirl.html - Amy Lotsberg, Producer of Collected Sounds
Judy Klass,"Brooklyn Cowgirl" (Warp & Woof)
Hot damn! Who woulda thunk a bona-fide classic country album would come from a “Brooklyn Cowgirl”? Judy Klass delivers a country magnus-opus of now less than eighteen (!) songs on this release, with nary a bad song in the bunch. From classic country tear-jerkers to boot-skooting boogies, this album is so strong I just believe it could turn even the most skeptical music fan into a country fan. There are no less than three classics on this disc: “Drunk On One Corona”, “Sex With Your Ex” and “Elvis Lives”. Judy Klass has the talent so spread the word!http://www.earcandymag.com/reviews43.htm - Scott H. Platt
Judy Klass has the cojones to create country music in the middle of New York City. And if you question the authenticity of he-done-her-wrong-songs penned in the midst of Irish bars, angry Bangladeshi cabbies, aggressive trustafarian bike messengers, and kindly Arab shopkeepers hawking $5 umbrellas, you'd be selling her short, indeed.
In fact, country has always been more about what goes on inside the human heart than what the human actually looks like or wears (Dolly Parton's epic "Why'd Ya Come in Here Lookin' Like That?" notwithstanding) so country can really come from anyplace a person is feeling good, bad, happy, sad ... or, in the case of Ms. Klass's lyrics, randy enough to hook up with her ex for a little hanky panky.
Which is a great segue to one of Brooklyn Cowboy's greatest strengths: its insouciant willingness to leverage the country genre to address non-traditional country themes. Oh sure, there's lost loves and lonely, rainy nights in the bar on this record -- but there's also a song based on the laws of quantum physics ("Parallel Universe"), a song about the restorative powers of Elvis Presley ("Elvis Lives") and a love song to country music and its stars ("He Done Her Wrong") written and sung so well that you hope country music gives Klass a big kiss right back.
There are 18 songs on this record, and some of them shouldn't be here -- not so much because they are poor recordings as they just don't seem country enough and thus stick out aesthetically.
Klass is at her best when she's honky-tonking and calling forth the strong women of country she clearly idolizes such as Loretta, Tanya, Dolly and others. "I Do Know What I'm Gonna Do With You" is exactly one such number. So is "If It Was Me Leaving You."
Aside from her strong, clear, enjoyable voice, Klass brings to bear the New Yorker's sense of irony. Perhaps too arch for Nashville, you could see how her witty lyrics would do well in urban country scenes. No song illustrates the artist's strength in this area better than "Drunk on One Corona." After a century of country music extolling the ability to drink all night long, here's a song honest enough to celebrate the lightweight in all of us.
"She was dry as Arizona, now she's become her own cheap date cuz she's drunk on one Corona." Country musicians (and salsa companies!) might scoff at the idea of New York City as a hotbed of authenticity, but when country music lyrics are as witty as Klass's -- and as well sung -- I reckon she's doing something pretty darn impressive, and perhaps more real than some of the corporate country that's on the radio today.
http://www.indie-music.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=4695 - Todd Beemis
Her voice is strong and good and very convincing with the material she has chosen to present to us on this disc. It is definitely more a Nashville sound, and the references are more from that locale than from the land further west where the cowboys and cowgirls frolic. She has a very sharp wit and some of the songs have good insights into common problems no matter the locale, Sex With Your Ex, and He Done Her Wrong, stand out. She is someone to take note of because the songs are so good. http://www.acousticmusic.com/fame/p03402.htm - Bob Gottlieb
Only a handful of country singers from New York have made it big, Jerry Jeff Walker and Hal Ketchum immediately spring to mind. Will Judy Klass join them? That is entirely for you to decide though I think this album takes a step further on in her career. The generous 18 tracks are varied; ‘Drunk on One Corona’ will appeal to dance floor addicts, ‘You Didn’t Think’ is honky tonk swing and ‘If It Was Me Leaving You’ is a beautiful heart ballad.
[Country Music Round-Up is a hard-copy magazine in the UK] - Pete Smith's Rock Pile
Discography
Drunk On One Corona seems to be my signature song, and Sex With Your Ex is a close second. You can go to www.judyklass.com and myspace.com/judyklass to hear full songs and shorter clips -- both with me singing and songs I pitch to others. You can go to www.cdbaby.com/judyklass to buy my CD, and you can search for Judy Klass at the iTunes store to hear (and possibly buy!) any song on Brooklyn Cowgirl. I've had many songs cut by other indie artists. The duo GeorgeBlack did a beautiful job on my song "Wherever I Go," published by Jeff Walker's company on Music Row. The duo's soulful version of it can be heard at myspace.com/georgeblackmusic. The band Coyote Crude in Texas recently recorded my song "Out of the Blue" co-written with Rob Taube; it can be heard on their cdbaby page. Tommy Jones and I co-wrote two songs: "TMI" and "Keep Your Truckin' Hands Off My Girl"; you can read a review of them on his myspace page. Anne L. Ryan in the UK has CDs for sale on-line. She opens her Moving Tone CD with my song "Cleave Together, Cleave Apart." http://www.movingtone.com/anne/cd.php Comstock Records has promoted my CD abroad; I was pleased that songs of mine got airplay and entered the country charts in many European countries, as well as Down Under.
Photos
Bio
I was growing up in New Jersey in the '70s, heard Tanya Tucker, Waylon and Willie, Loretta Lynn and Tom T. Hall on the radio, and went in a different direction than my academic family of writers. I do teach and write in other genres and I've done other things, but I go to Nashville to pitch songs and play out, and I co-write with people in both cities. I guess Nashville is "the third coast," and if so, that makes me kinda bi-coastal, with a great appreciation for a huge spectrum of artists. I called my CD Brooklyn Cowgirl 'cause I'd rather be in on the joke and have them laughing with me. However unlikely I am, as a person to be doing country, it's a life-long love and it's real.
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