Music
The best kept secret in music
Press
"You’d never know Leigh Ann sells mortgages for a living and does music on the side. It should be the other
way around! Her voice is clear and strong and her songwriting is as good as it gets, with great storytelling and vivid imagery."
We asked WFPK-FM on-air host Laura Shine, who’s also the point person for locally submitted music the station receives, to name her top five area-produced CD choices for 2006. Here’s what she had to say:
"We get so much great music that is locally produced; my biggest challenge is weeding through it all, deciding what should go on-air and what should not. These decisions are based on production quality (will it sound good next to major-label studio releases?), songwriting, musicianship quality (which needs to be way above average) and whether or not it fits our alternative format, which includes most genres of music except hardcore rap, heavy metal and classical. My top five picks answer all of these questions with a resounding ‘YES!’"
1. Louisville is for Lovers Compilation CD
2. Sound From the Ground, by Your Black Star
3. Basic Needs, by Leigh Ann Yost. Genre: Mostly original folk-rock.
"You’d never know Leigh Ann sells mortgages for a living and does music on the side. It should be the other
way around! Her voice is clear and strong and her songwriting is as good as it gets, with great storytelling and vivid imagery."
4. Tyrone Cotton, by Tyrone Cotton
5. Fegenbush Farm, by Johnny Berry & The Outliers
- Louisville Magazine
“…14 tracks of sparkling acoustic-electric pop and folk goodies. Behind that sparkle, a sound so clear and clean that it sounds like it would cut glass…..Yost sings in a honey-rich alto. The selections vary in terms of theme and tempo: the snap of “Jenny Brown,” the sacredness of “See Rock City,” and the reggae bounce of “Breathe,”….But it all ends with the graceful, rainy-day sorrow of the title track, a fitting period that ends the work with a long sigh…..Get more than your expectations met…”
Tim Roberts, Louisville Music News.
October 2006
- Louisville Music News
Here's an average day for Leigh Ann Yost: She rises early, gets herself and her two children ready, then drops them off at school. She works all day as a mortgage broker, goes home, eats dinner, spends a few hours with the kids and puts them to bed.
Then, and only then, is when she squeezes in anything related to her music, which includes putting together press packets, networking online and setting up gigs. Let alone playing gigs to promote her CD "Basic Needs."
It means that Yost is probably missing out on one of her own basic needs -- sleep. But as long as she can continue making music, possibly even make a living by selling her tunes, she's okay with that. Family is a priority, so life on the road is unappealing. "I don't want to tour," she said. "I'd rather shop my music to publishers. … I feel like some of my songs are very radio-friendly and would be a really great addition to (an established artist)."
Sound
Yost's musical influences are varied, so the tunes on her album range from Americana to rock to reggae to pop country. "My goal was to have each song be completely different."
And her topics are just as diverse. One tune, "Jenny Brown," is about Yost's best friend. "See Rock City" is a panorama, written during a road trip to Atlanta. Meanwhile, "Down" -- which is often played on WFPK-FM -- is a product of a bout with postpartum depression.
Background
Yost has always had a passion for singing -- she had been regular on the karaoke circuit -- but she didn't get serious about it until the late '90s.
Her hobby turned legit once she hooked up with local artist Hank Sinatra, with whom she sang covers for about three years. After that, she sang mostly covers with the band Gigolo Gypsy (which is where she met her husband, Martin) until finally branching out on her own in 2001.
"I started writing songs when I was pregnant, which is when a lot of women find way-crazy emotions that they're trying to deal with," she said.
She took guitar lessons from Louisville's Danny Flanigan and started writing tunes. She enlisted the help of local musician and producer Bryan Hurst, then recruited her band, which plays on "Basic Needs" and at some of her live shows.
Outlook
Yost is busy promoting her album, and has two shows set up this week. She'll perform at 8 p.m. Thursday at Gerstle's and at 7 p.m. Saturday at the Pink Door.
Her future is uncertain, but she doesn't plan to hang up her microphone any time soon. "There is nothing better than audience approval -- it's such a rush," she said. "Heroin can't be that good."
- Velocity Weekly
“Leigh Ann has emerged as a fine, new singer/songwriter with a beautiful voice. I’m happy I’ve gotten the chance to work with her on her new recording.”
- Tim Krekel, Bluewater Music, national recording artist, acclaimed singer/songwriter
"I have watched Leigh Ann Yost explode into the Louisville music scene over the past year. She's a talented writer and performer who engages audiences with great music and lyrics of substance. Keep an eye on this dynamic performer; she's going places."
- John Gage, host of Kentucky Homefront Radio Program
Discography
Full length CD, Basic Needs, September 2006. On rotation at WFPK 91.9 Radio Louisville are tracks DOWN, TIMEPIECE, JENNY BROWN, BREATHE, and EVERYTHINGS GONNA BE ALRIGHT.
EP February 2006, 3 songs -- Jenny Brown, You Know, Breathe. These three tracks are on regular rotation at 91.9 WFPK radio Louisville (KY). Full length CD release date August 2006.
Photos
Feeling a bit camera shy
Bio
It's not every day that a married mother of two toddlers decides to learn guitar and form a band. Especially when she's 35 and brokers mortgages for a living. Today is that day. Introducing Leigh Ann Yost.
Her songs can't escape her existence: loves gained, loves lost, lives lived and roads crossed. Each song it's own, her less-is-more approach to song writing results in the perfect marriage between melodies, catchy hooks, and memorable lyrics. Getting by with a little help from her friends doesn't hurt either. Louisville's music staples are all over this record. She is a lucky girl.
Singing has always been a part of Leigh Ann's life, whether in a choir as a child in Georgia, in the car as a teenager in North Carolina, or in a bar as a karaoke champ in Louisville. Tired of the monotony of karaoke, Leigh Ann took a chance at real live music. She and Hank Sinatra were a hot ticket in the late 90s as a cover act, and the she landed in a mostly original band, Gigolo Gypsy. It is there that she met and married fellow musician and drummer Martin Yost. From here, the family begins.
A much welcomed pregnancy pulled Leigh Ann from performing in the bar scene, and with that void came a compelling desire to play guitar. One phone call to arguably the best guitarist in Louisville, danny flanigan, and the rest is history. "I can't believe he said yes! He taught me how to play, literally by teaching me songs that I liked, and how to play them from start to finish. One at a time, eventually all of the chords in all of the songs provided me that groundwork I needed to begin composing my own melodies and songs. My husband heard those songs so many times, it is hard for him to hear them now!!"
What were the songs? Every song on Patty Griffin's 'Living with Ghosts' debut, Sarah Harmer's 'You Were Here, Pete Yorn's 'Music for the Morning After', Johnatha Brook's 'Steady Pull', Rufus Wainwright tunes, Wilco ("Shot in the Arm") and David Gray's "White Ladder". Those songs coupled with influences from the Cranberries, Fleetwood Mac, Al Greene, Sam Cooke, Sheryl Crowe, Peter Gabriel, Dave Matthews, the Indigo Girls, the Temptations, and yes, Led Zeppelin.
The next call came two kids and two years later to Bryan Hurst, musician and producer, Louisville's best kept secret. After Leigh Ann played her songs for him on her front porch, he was "in" and immediately began helping in arrangement and vision. The result? A powerful pop sound, laden with hints of Nashville, reggae, Motown, gospel, pop, rock....each of these songs goes there. This is a jewel waiting for discovery.
Finding the time to write more songs? Well that is a whole other story.
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