Karla Anderson

ANDERSON'S GOT THE REAL GOODS


After an extended period of anticipation, Karla Anderson's sophomore album has finally turned up in select music stores around Edmonton, just in time to find its way into a few stockings for Christmas.
Titled Brand New Day, the album is another step forward for the singer-songwriter who didn't rush things when it came time to follow up her debut disc The Embassy Sessions.
Anderson has a career outside the industry and a family to take care of, so it's no wonder she hasn't completely turned her life over to music, instead opting to pick her spots for performing and recording.
She took a long look at whether she was willing to commit herself to a life of making music. Now, Anderson has decided this is a chapter in her life that will allow her to travel and step onto more stages around the country.
One listen to Brand New Day and there is no debate about whether she's got the goods. Songs such as Don't Waste Your Breath, Glory Bound and Love Sweet Love are perfect combinations of verse and chorus, balancing melody with subtle instrumental shadings, courtesy of a crew of musicians who reacted to the emotion running through every piece.
Anderson and her manager Neil MacGonigill decided to make a record that was a little more band-like than The Embassy Sessions, so they drew on the talents of guitarists Gary Koliger and Tim Leacock, and the bass-playing Mike Lent, all of whom have worked with Anderson at folk club and festival dates.
Along with 10 originals, Anderson covers Jeffrey Foucault's I Dream an Old Lover and Bye Bye Love, which was a major hit for the Everly Brothers in 1957. Anderson took Bye Bye Love and put the brakes on the tempo, then cradled the lyrics, making the song an emotional tour de force.
At a performance in the basement of Megatunes on Saturday afternoon, Anderson delivered a handful of tunes from the new album, to an audience that snapped up copies of the new disc following the abbreviated show. Bye Bye Love and Glory Bound were two tunes that left listeners completely focused on the artist, who performed on a makeshift stage. "I am ready to devote the time needed to take this music to larger audiences," she says.
Brand New Day is available at Megatunes and other independent record stores around the city. - Edmonton Journal-Peter North

I was first introduced to Karla Anderson on the opening night of the 2005 Americana Music Conference in Nashville while waiting in line for one of the many live concerts/free buffets (Burrito Deluxe at the Mercy Lounge... if I remember correctly) the conference had to offer. It was there that I first met Karla's manager, Neil MacGonigill. We started talking, and by the time our conversation was over, I had in my hands a copy of Karla's 2005 debut album, The Embassy Sessions.

At this point, Karla's music had already been featured in the CBS television series Joan of Arcadia, but her album was brand new and had not yet been released in The States. As far as I know, I was the first DJ in America to be given a copy of the CD*. I played it in my hotel room that night (I always traveled with a portable CD player to music conferences), and found it to be quite the enjoyable late night listen. A few weeks later, I became the first American DJ to play Karla's music on the air*.

*(Note that I cannot actually verify either of these claims other than to say that I really believe them to be true. Either way... if I wasn't THE first, I was certainly in near the ground floor.)

The Embassy Sessions was recorded over the course of a few short days at the Red Motel Embassy in Calgary in early 2005. The resulting album was a warm and quiet affair that helped Karla earn recognition as the Best New/Emerging Artist at the 2005 Canadian Folk Music Awards. Her career looked to be off to a promising start.

That was five years ago though, and Karla's been relatively quiet since then... choosing to focus more on her family than her career. She played some shows and recorded sparsely, but did not record the follow up to The Embassy Sessions until now. It seems to have been worth the wait.

Like her previous record, Brand New Day was banged out in a brief, two day recording session. That's where most of the similarities end, however. Unlike Embassy, which was essentially a solo acoustic record with little additional accompaniment, Brand New Day has more of a full band sound in places. Karla expands her sound by adding various electric and steel guitars along with keys and increased percussive elements.

The biggest evidence of this comes on the album's second song, "With Tenderness." The track is kicked off with a shuffling drumbeat and a rolling bass line topped with electric guitar flourishes. The result is an ominous sounding track that contrasts nicely with Karla's lyrics about lethal levels of kindness and love. Similarly, "Glory Bound" branches out a bit as well. This time, however, it's a wash of acoustic guitars that build the tempo and elevate the song.

Fans of Karla's previous work will be happy with the record as well, as this disc also holds its share of quieter moments. It's bookended by two short tracks ("Prelude" & "Reprise") that essentially serve as the album's title tracks and revisit that haunting Embassy Sessions sound. Then, sitting right there in the middle of the album, are two heart stopping covers in "Bye Bye Love" (Felice & Boudleaux Bryant) and "I Dream an Old Lover" (Jeffery Foucoult). She boils both songs down to their most essential elements by slowing the tempo and finding the emotion in each word.

In all, Brand New Day is a solid sophomore effort from Karla Anderson and one that should please her old fans while also reaching out to new ones. I just hope we don't have to wait five more years for her next release. - A Fifty Cent Lighter and a Whiskey Buzz-Nelson Gullett

Hi Karla~~I thought you'd enjoy knowing that you made my Top Ten list.
Today I played "Don't Waste Your Breath" and "Bye Bye Love."

Happy New Year!
Tamara

Sunday Folks: KBCS 91.3FM
Sundays from 9AM-12PM
Host: Tamara Lewis

1. Darrell Scott; Crooked Road
2. Karla Anderson; Brand New Day
3. Louise Mosrie; Home
4. Lynn Miles; Black Flowers
5. Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingu; Gurrumul
6. Mary Gauthier; The Foundling
7. Ellis Paul; The Day After Everything Changed
8. The Living Sisters; Love to Live
9. The Once; The Once
10. Crazy Heart Soundtrack - KBCS Tamara Lewis-Passionate Folk

“That new Karla is absolutely stunning! The wait was well worth it! She nailed this one and I keep playing it over and over (okay, I only got it about three hours ago but apparently cannot get anything else done!)”. - Barnes Newberry-WUMB Boston

- I just received the new cd by Karla Anderson, "The Embassy Sessions." I hafta tell you that I am blown away by Karla's music. The simple direct honesty of the lyrics, her beautiful voice, the understated but powerful instrumentation all combine for a moving listening experience. It's such a pleasure for me to open a package and find such artistry from a complete unknown. I can't rave enough about Karla.

Luke Nestler MD KDNK Carbondale, CO.

- LUKE NESTLER

Norah Jones meets Rosie Thomas. Karla loves singing. Everybody wins.

"What Else Can I do", heard on my car radio, got me right home to buy this album, and it delights more the more I play it. The intimacy of the performances, the dialed down, relaxed accompaniment keep pulling me back. You can hear an artist (and backup band) dripping with musical talent discovering how much they love making music together. Brava; keep making this sound, and thanks.

- RICK DROST

Check out the Press/Reviews tab on Karla Anderson's website for TONS of great reviews!!! - karla anderson's website

"There the song goes, playing us again" is such a touching observation on the liner notes of Karla Anderson’s The Embassy Sessions. The music was recorded between musical friends coming together under the roof of a creeky old house called the Red Motel Embassy in Calgary, AB. The recording was meant to be imperfect, yet beautiful, drafty and interrupted by their surroundings, yet flowing in unison continuously, which seems to say a lot about life as we know it and how the recording perfectly captures “life in the process”.

"Cathedral" and “Out from Under” are excellent, with the thumping toe tapping effortlessness, are as many of Anderson’s conversational tracks, worth listening in on. Her vocals are soft and smooth like Norah Jones on “Enough Love”, but with vocal styling all her own matched with an unparallel story behind each set of lyrics that makes it a completely personal album clearly not produced just for the sake of it, but for the journey she's been on, and as "Shinin'" states "there's a sense of destiny wherever she goes".
Lindsay Whitfield - Soul Shine Magazine - Lindsay Whitfield

ANDERSON GETS U.S. AIRPLAY

It was a almost a year ago that Karla Anderson's Embassy Sessions recording started making a large audience sit up and take notice of her talents, and the same thing is starting to happen in pockets south of the border.
The latest market to feel Anderson's breeze of a voice is Boston, via the substantial airplay she's receiving over WUMB, an FM station devoted to folk music that broadcasts out of the University of Massachusetts.
"We've been told that Karla is No. 1 this week on WUMB and we're waiting to have the chart sent off to us. The proof of the exposure is in the sales that it's generating on the Net," says Anderson's manager, Neil MacGonigill.
A quick glance at a few playlists confirms that WUMB disc jockeys are hot on the album and see it favourably stacking up against new entries from Bruce Springsteen, T Bone Burnett and Bruce Cockburn.
Named Emerging Artist of the Year at the inaugural Canadian Folk Awards, Anderson plays the Standing Together book launch on Monday night at the University Extension Centre. CBC's The Fuse will also be airing the concert that teamed her with guitarist Jack Semple at the Yardbird Suite earlier this year on Saturday, June 17, at 9 p.m.
Anderson will also be playing two festivals of note this summer.
On the weekend of July 7, she heads to Comox to play the Vancouver Island Music Festival, then follows that with shows at the Canmore Folk Festival on Aug. 5 and 6.
Peter North - The Edmonton Journal - Peter North The Edmonton Journal