Music
Press
Selected for the Utah Arts Council 2003/2004 and 2005/2006 Performing Arts Tour Sponsored in part by the National Endowment for the Arts
Montana State Fair
Kalispell Arts in the Park
McCall Folklore Society Presents
Boise Arts in the Park
Yakima Folklife Festival
Logan UT Summerfest
Park City Arts Festival
Utah Arts Festival
Weber County Fair
Chariots in the Sky Festival
Come Alive at Five Concert Series, SLC Utah
Founder’s Title Folk & Bluegrass Festival
Moab Folk Music Festival
Holladay City Music Festival
Gallivan Center Music Festival
Utah State Fair
Oyster Ridge Music Festival, Wyoming
Springdale Arts Council, Zion National Park
Colleges and Universities:
University of Montana, Missoula
University of Montana, Dillon
Carroll College, Helena
University of Idaho, Moscow
Boise State University
Clark College, Vancouver WA
Peninsula College, Washington
Idaho State University, Pocatello
Weber State University, Utah
Westminster College, Utah
University of Utah
Others:
Bright Angel Lodge, Grand Canyon
Stein Eriksen Lodge, Deer Valley
Goldener Hirsch, Deer Valley
Snowbird Ski & Summer Resort
Park City Mountain Resort
Snowbasin
Riverhorse Cafe
Mammoth Ski Resort
- References upon request
It shouldn’t be long before a label looking for another solid acoustic troubadour stumbles upon Stacey Board. The songs are crisply strum, with well-crafted melodies and tender, often stark lyrics. There’s a helping of Joni in there, a smidgen of Laura Cantrell and a side salad of Rickie Lee Jones. - Leicester Bangs, UK
Board has a way with an image, whether it’s “the rearview mirror that sees right through me” or the “shivering finger tattoos on my arms”. If it is the quiet ones you have to watch out for, Stacey Board is as good a demonstration of that as you could wish. A cut above the torrent of female singer-songwriters out there - Americana UK Magazine
Creating true folk rock is a challenge that only those who understand can attempt and conquer. Stacey is one such artist and can compare herself to the likes of Wilco with a straight face. She has won Utah's Best Folk/Acoustic award three years running, as well as accolades in local and national press. Having received national and regional praise for 2003's Drive, she plays in many prominent music festivals and regional events. - Salt Lake Underground Magazine
This material pulled from past albums and live shows highlights Board's evolution as a now fearless artist. The singer/songwriter won City Weekly reader's hearts, earning her a three year reign as best Folk/Acoustic act. Hybrid reaffirms past praises, cherry-picking tunes that define Board's confident vocals and lyrics neither cliche nor sappy. She's got one hell of a voice and is one of the most beautiful and talented women to grace the field. - Salt Lake Weekly
Here is the sound of the open road, courtesy of earthy folk rock artist Stacey Board and a 1955 Thunderbird she borrowed from a couple of friends. At least she claims she just borrowed it. If I ever got behind the wheel of that beautiful sky-blue baby and hit the gas pedal, the last y’all would ever see of me would be a cloud of dust. Especially if I had Board’s latest CD, Drive, in the stereo.
She opens the CD with the sound of the car door closing, the engine revving up, and the tires hitting the road. She also throws in a clever way of promoting the music of her fellow songwriting friends – throughout the CD, we hear snippets of their music on the car radio.
Board has a smooth voice with a wide range, hitting beautifully high notes without warning before sliding back down to her usual warm, conversational singing style. At times, that voice is laced with heated attitude. On the title track, she sings like someone familiar with the desert sand, the dry air, and the heat shimmering off the road. I like the faint chorus of “miles and miles and miles” in the background.
Acoustic guitar-driven, catchy, and full of the hot sun, this CD made me forget about the slushy snow still covering my yard. She’s got some very talented friends helping her out, especially high-energy percussionist CJ Burton, who punctuates certain lyrics and gives the music a heartbeat of breathless anticipation. In “Invisible Girl,” the cymbals create the sound of the summer wind.
“Invisible Girl” also has some great lines. “You seemed like a good idea at the time....Love is some wadded-up paper left out in the sun, can’t be bothered to pick it up now.” Board also puts a bluesy wail in her voice in the sensual “Half of It”: “You don’t see the view from where I sit. Don’t knock it ‘til ya tried it.”
From the cool, sad “Joey” to the old fashioned rock and roll of “White Churches,” these songs feel outdoorsy and will bring on summer in February. The only downside is that my 1999 Saturn SL2 is going to be kinda boring now that I’ve seen the pictures of that Thunderbird inside the CD cover. So unfair. - Jennifer Layton, Indie-music.com
“Look To The Sun is a consistently fine release that balances thoughtful lyrics with shimmering, engaging music. It’s a textbook example of how a talented independent artist can compete with major label budgets by emphasizing vision and creativity” - Barry Scholl
- Catalyst Magazine
“Its easy to find adjectives to describe singer-songwriter Stacey Board's voice: clear and crisp, soaring, easy and resonant. But Board has more going for her than a pretty voice and a pretty face… letting simple drumming and vocal back-up build each song into something layered, restless and insistent” - The Missoula Independent
SLC’s hardest-working folkie has ditched the rockier edge of 2002’s Drive for a softer, sparer vibe that feels straight out of the sunny summer of ’72. Board’s bell-pure voice is the constant, but, even more than before, this one’s about the songs. - Salt Lake Weekly
Discography
Look To The Sun 2006
Hybrid 2004
Drive 2002
Not Love Art 2000
simple thing 1999
Photos
Bio
Stacey performs at colleges, festivals, coffeehouses, living rooms and music venues throughout the region. She performs 250 shows a year in Utah, Colorado, New Mexico, Nevada, Californa, Oregon, Washington, Montana, Idaho, Wyoming and more.
“The most important thing is that this is who I am. Writing music is an integral part of whatever else I choose to do with my life. It starts with that.” Stacey Board
With six CD's under her belt, Stacey Board has been critically acclaimed by reviewers and adored by fans coast-to-coast. Their bodies are set into motion by her rhythms, their spirits carried high and low by the range of her voice. They are - in a word - moved.
Stacey was born and raised in the South and began teaching herself guitar and writing music at the age of 13. At 16 she got her first shot at public exposure when a Pensacola radio station let her perform on the air after she accepted a dare. Soon she was singing lead for area bands, regarded for her vocal ability. After making her move to Athens, Georgia for college, Stacey became a composer in her own right, working with bands that were happy to play her melodic, meaningful songs.
At 21, marriage slowly pulled her away from a life of performing. The songs kept coming - scribbled on scraps of paper, played for friends, then put away on a shelf. When divorce sent her reeling, falling in love with hang gliding sent her soaring. In flight her body could experience the freedom and mobility he voice had known all these years. Her love of hang gliding brought her to California.
There, a fellow pilot with a home studio encouraged her to record some of her old songs. Other studio owners further urged her to put material on DAT. Once she started recording, the writing began to pour out, and soon she was performing around town. Club managers booked Stacey regularly, and devoted fans followed her around the LA Circuit.
The hype of LA wearing thin, and her mortality touched by a close friend's death, Stacey looked for a place where she could afford to make music her focus, integrate it into her life, and delve more deeply into the creative process. Considering Utah, she sent a CD to the Salt Lake radio station KRCL, which immediately put it into rotation. Within months she made the move and in 1998 she made Utah home.
Also in 1998 Stacey released her first CD, simple thing, from the LA recording sessions. The disc was given four stars by Bill Frost of the Salt Lake City Weekly, who praised it as "an 11-song emotional freefall that's as beautiful as it is wrenching." In 1999, her second CD, Not Love Art, followed to greater success and a wider audience. In 2000 she completed her first nationwide tour, ending in Sonora CA as a finalist in the Sierra Songwriter's competition. Two more CD's were to come as well as hundreds of performances across the entire western region and more songwriting awards.
Utah has taken her to heart and for three consecutive years voted her "Best Folk/Acoustic" in the Salt Lake City Weekly's Reader's Poll. She continues to tour and perform almost nonstop across the west.
In October 2006 Stacey released her latest studio recording, Look To The Sun. It includes contributions from Dylan Schorer's lapsteel and guitars as well as Kate MacLeod's fiddle and production expertise. Mixed by James Anderson at The Bit Farm, the CD was mastered by Mark Hallman of the Congress House Studio (Patty Griffin, Eliza Gilkyson, Jimmy Dale Gilmore). It has Stacey poised on the brink of a much greater audience and much greater exposure.
Its not often that we are given a lift out of our lives, and know the range of our own emotions more fully by glimpsing the heights and depths of someone else's. Stacey Board's performance both on stage and on her recordings gives us that chance. Her poetic lyrics, clever chord progressions, and soulful vocals are unique in this world, and should not be missed.
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