Singer-Songwriter Ember Swift

UPDATE: The Ember Swift interview has been rescheduled for 5/26. I’ll still play some songs off the new album for those of you hoping to hear it, and tune in on the 26th for the interview!

One of my music loving friends brought the indie Canadian musician Ember Swift to town several years ago and I was blown away by her show, (including the talented multi-instrumentalist Lyndell Montgomery, who is also someone you should check out!) which was vibrant, lively, passionate, quirky, informative and fun.

When I went home that night to find out more about Ember online I was even further inspired as I learned more about her empowering and generous attitude toward her independent career.

Blessed with both an artistic AND a business mind, Ember’s  website for her Few’ll Ignite Sound label was a testament to her clearly defined mission and ethics.  Phrases like “Independent by identity, not by default”, and the following paragraph so inspired me and gave me hope as an artist: “In keeping with our ethics, we believe it is very important to share the knowledge we acquire and to keep information FREE for everyone. The hoarding of information and the defensive, fear-based idea that we must keep this power from others is still rampant in this industry. We are not in competition. We can all live here together. It is Few’ll Ignite Sound’s goal to promote a more cooperative approach to the world of independent art.”

Though the large database of venues and other musical resources on the site was removed when they lost their main administrator and could no longer maintain up-to-date information, that spirit of cooperation and sharing of knowledge is perhaps more evident than ever in Ember’s newest project – Lentic.

After completing a degree in East Asian Studies at the University of Toronto, Ember had always expected to travel to China, but her music career took a life of it’s own.  For 10 years Ember toured internationally, and released 9 albums plus a DVD project in that time.  In 2007 she finally realized her goal of traveling to China and has been splitting her time between Canada and China ever since.  (For a good read, check out her travel blog about one of her stays in China.  While she no longer updates that particular blog, the writing and insights are both exquisite.)

As she spent over 12 months in Beijing, Ember’s music began to take a new direction, and as a result she needed a new name to represent the new body of work.  Looking for something that was the opposite of the speed and fire in her given name, she came upon the term lentic, which is a word meaning “of or related to or living in still waters”.  As new project, Lentic is a musical expression of Ember’s experiences in merging East and West – everything in Lentic, from the lyrics to the packaging to the instrumentation, is a beautiful collaboration of languages and cultures, allowing the two to learn from, inform and celebrate each other.

Another fascinating element to Lentic is how it was produced.  Ember connected with a Canadian musician and producer named Tim Rideout through the internet, and he immediately understood the new sound she was going for in the project.  They created the album by sending each other the pieces back and forth over the internet from across the continents!  The result has been dubbed “Folktronica” and I for one, love it!

Have a listen yourself at the Lentic website or on her MySpace.  You can purchase the CD, including the option for a special limited edition silk book with all the lyrics in English and Chinese, Ember’s photos of China and each one is signed and numbered by Ember as well.

You can also tune in to KRUU-LP 100.1 FM here in town or kruufm.com online anywhere on Tuesday from 9-10 AM Central time to hear some tracks from Lentic, and an interview with Ember that will start at 9:05.

Singer-songwriter Lori Diamond

A few months back  I interviewed Carrie Rowan about the release of her album.  I remember her mentioning something about Lori Diamond being at her CD release party, but at the time I didn’t have a chance to check her out properly.  Well then a few weeks ago I got a note from Carrie saying that Lori had just released a CD of her own!

I asked Lori to send a copy of her new album to the station.  When I got Mystery last week I found out what I’ve been missing – beautiful, lush piano, her crystal clear voice, and lots of beautiful songs about love, family and life’s beauties and mysteries.

Lori is no stranger to the music scene, Mystery is her second album!  Besides being a singer-songwriter, Lori is has also played piano both for groups in New England since the 90′s and as a soloist since 2003.  Lori can also be found backing up several musicians in her local scene, both live and on their recordings.

To preview (and buy!) Lori’s music, check out her official website or her MySpace.

Join me Tuesday morning for an interview with Lori and to hear some of her songs!  I’ll also play a short set of Celtic inspired songs by female singer-songwriters in honor of St. Patrick’s day.

Tune in to to KRUU-LP 100.1 FM here in town, or kruufm.com on the world wide web! 9-10am central.  Interview at 9:10 am.

I love how a lot of artists these days are actually encouraging people to cover their songs. I think it’s a great way to engage the fans AND spread the word about your music! The latest tutorial I’ve seen is this one by Amy Kuney for her song Thank You For Last Night. She actually created the video for a contest she’s running to promote the remix of her single and in honor of Valentine’s day – if you win she’ll send you a Valentine in the mail!  She says you can do any sort of version of her song as long as you don’t lip sync. 

The single is available now on spinmoverecords.com for $2.50 and will be up on iTunes soon.  It includes the remix, the Spanish version and a cover of “Little Love Affairs” by Nanci Griffith.  I’m personally interested to hear what Thank You For Last Night sounds like in Spanish (Gracias Por Anoche).

Check out the video on its YouTube page for more details about the contest and for the HD version.

Singer-Songwriter Amie Penwell

Once again, I am left to marvel and bless the powers of the internet and the way it can connect people with common interests across the country or around the world even!  Nusi and I started bumping into each other on all the same MySpace musician pages, and I finally checked out her own page to find an amazing blog full of detailed reports  and photos of her experiences at house concerts around the Bay Area in California.  There seems to be quite a good network of house concerts out there that I would be a little more jealous of if Nusi wasn’t so good at making me feel like I was there!  Plus she introduces me to all sorts of neat and talented performers.  One musician Nusi tipped me off to late last year was Amie Penwell.

The Marin County singer-songwriter just released her debut full-length album King in a Temple in November.  The first thing that hits you on hearing the album is Amie’s voice.  Many a reviewer on her website tries to capture the essence in writing, but I think my favorite description is:

“Take the voice of an angel and drop it an octave.  Amie Penwell’s voice has that odd mixture of grit and polish that makes for great gospel singers. The first time you hear it, if you are sitting down, you will want to stand up. If you are standing, you may want to sit down. Her songs remind us of where we are perfect, and tell us the truth about where we are not.”
Mark Langton, Marin Independent Journal

It’s an apt description.  People often associate angelic voices with a high, pure soprano, not so much with a smokey alto.  But to listen to the lyrics is to discover that Amie is an earthly angel, one who has experienced pain and confusion and hurt and found a way to move through to the other side.  The songs let you know you’re not alone in your dark places, her voice extends a hand to help you cross over too.

So it makes perfect sense to find out that many of the songs on King in a Temple were inspired by Amie’s time spent as a caregiver for Master Artist JB Blunk during the last 6 months of his life in 2002 as he was dying from Alzheimer’s Disease.  Says Amie,  “It’s a record of our time together, our conversations, our walks, our silences. The record follows all of the emotions one goes through when they are forced to adapt and let go of all that is sacred to them, and of being a witness to someone who has no other way to go but through. When all you can do is listen, love them, help them let go, and zip up their jacket.”

King in a Temple is both lush and sparse, the rich piano and vocals balanced and lifted in all the right places with occasional touches of drums, guitar, viola and mandolin.  But as another reviewer points out, it’s really best to just hear the music for yourself.  Which you can do on Amie’s website or MySpace, or by purchasing her album on CD Baby or .

You can also hear Amie’s music by tuning in for the interview on KRUU!  Tune in Tuesday from 9-10 am for new songs from the new Catie Curtis and Meg Hutchinson albums, plus the interview and songs with Amie at 9:30. 100.1 FM here in town, kruufm.com on the world wide web!

Singer-songwriter Kate Graves

Kate Graves is another one of the amazing and talented artists I met at Song School last August.  The whole experience was a bit overwhelming, with so many people to meet and things to learn in such a short time, but as I follow up on the connections I find my heart ever expanding in appreciation and awe that I actually got to hang out with these people!

Kate was in a writing class I took with Melissa Ferrick.  Melissa showed us a fun free-writing exercise that helped bring out a lot of neat ideas we could possibly develop into songs.  When I contacted Kate later on MySpace about doing an interview, she told me that she was working on a new album and would be able to schedule something for early 2009 after the recording was done.

What a treat it was to get a sampling of 3 of her new songs in my inbox a few days ago!  I’ve been on vacation the past 10 days, so I loaded the songs on to my iPod for listening to on the plane ride home.  I listened to them over and over and over.  Delightful, sweet, sticky and raw little songs I couldn’t get enough of – I had to be careful not to sing along too loud to the choruses so as not to disturb my fellow passengers!  I can’t wait to hear the whole album.

I’m not sure which part of Kate’s songs has crept under my skin more, the melodies, the lyrics or her voice.  I’m clearly not the only fan, Paul Godbout, lead singer of Secret Sobriety says, “Kate’s voice is the Long Island Ice Tea of voices. It’s One part Lucinda, two part Emmylou, with a twist of Norah Jones.”

Tune in to Lyrical Venus Radio on Tuesday from 9-10 am Central for music by female singer-songwriters, the interview with Kate (starting at 9:30) and to hear her brand spankin’ newly recorded songs before you can even get them online or in stores!  KRUU-LP 100.1 FM in town, kruufm.com online anywhere!

Check out Kate’s website and MySpace for more info and updates on when the new album Love Songs for the Neurotic will be available.

Singer-Songwriter Shannon Hurley

Named one of the top 25 artists on MySpace by Rolling Stone Magazine, LA-based songwriter Shannon Hurley was born in Indiana and grew up in a family of singers.  Her alt-pop style has drawn comparisons to artists like Aimee Mann and Sarah McLachlan, which are well deserved, what with her well crafted songs, smooth soaring vocals and talented piano playing.

Shannon’s voice is definitely her own though, and she is loved by many, as evidenced by the fact that over 400 people chose to remix songs off her recent album Ready to Wake Up and that she was chosen as KGRL.FM’s Flower Powered Artist of the Month for August 2008, among other honors.

I met Shannon on Twitter (@shannonhurley) and quickly found my way to her MySpace page to listen to her awesome tracks.  I was also inspired by the discovery that Shannon helped found a collective of female singer-songwriters called “Don’t Call Us Tori“, with the idea of showcasing great talent at group shows together in LA.  Definitely worth checking out!

Shannon wasn’t available for a phone interview but she did take the time to answer some questions I sent her over email.  Tune in to KRUU-LP 100.1 FM or kruufm.com tomorrow from 9-10am Central to hear tracks off Ready to Wake Up!

1. Where is your favorite place to sing?

I spend so much time driving around Los Angeles, so I would have to say my car. I have an ever expanding collection of cds that I love singing to..My current favorites are Chantal Kreviazuk’s “What If It All Means Something”, Carole King’s “Tapestry” and Dusty Springfield’s “Dusty in Memphis”.

2. What are you most proud of about your new album?

I am proud that I was able to create and complete a full album of meaningful songs. I know that other musicians get what I’m saying- It takes a lot of patience, a lot of writing, and tons of organization to make a record. You have to have a vision of where you want it to go, and you need to trust the producer and the other musicians who play on your songs. Sometimes I think that non-musicians are feeling like, “When are you putting out your next album?” If you haven’t done it, you don’t know the time it takes, or the sheer force of the planets aligning in the right way. Also, you have to be really decisive about how you are going to go about it. Song choice is important. It’s hard work!

If anyone is interested, my album, called “Ready to Wake Up”, is here:
http://www.cdbaby.com/shannonhurley3

3. What’s the one thing you can’t leave for a tour without?

My tennis shoes! If I don’t work out, I feel like crap. I have to get moving every day. I try to find a little time each day to go for a walk, which is a really nice way to get to know the cities you visit!

4. What are your 3 most played tracks on your iPod? (if you have one, or, What music are you listening to these days?)

I am an “album girl”. So the tracks I’ve listened to most on my ipod are all the songs from “Sam’s Town” by the Killers. That album was criminally overlooked.

5. Do you get most of your inspiration for your songs from your own life or other people’s stories or both?

If another person’s story affected me, then it touches my life and I feel like it does become personal. I write from all kinds of experience..I try to write about situations that I’ve been through personally.

6. What has been your most exciting songwriting experience so far?

When I was asked to write a song about an exhibit at the Getty Museum last year. A curator contacted me and said that he wanted to see I would be interested in reading  the story of the Zuccaro brothers, which depicted an artist’s struggle in the renaissance.

It was an incredible story, and I was able to write a song that I felt paralleled my own life as a songwriter. It’s called “I’ll Turn It On” and I premiered it in late 2007 for a full house at the Getty Center, along with other LA singer-songwriters like Tom Freund, Priscilla Ahn, Libbie Schrader, and Jim Bianco. That was a terrific time!

7. Any new or current projects coming up you are excited about?

Yes- I just released a remix album of songs from my “Ready to Wake Up” full length debut. I announced that I was looking for remixes, and I received over 400 submissions from all over the world. It was fun listening to all these different styles they would shape my songs into. I was getting trip-hop, heavy rock, rap, trance, and ambient.

I selected eight songs to go on the album and you can find it here:

http://www.cdbaby.com/shannonhurley4

8. Let’s say you just won a big award for your music at a red carpet event – who do you thank in your acceptance speech?

My husband Ben. He has been with me since I started writing in 2001. At the time, we had met in a Duran Duran tribute band (He was the bass player and I was the keyboardist-I’m not kidding!) and I had a small handful of songs that I wanted to try out at some coffeehouses. He and I played the open mic circuit in LA (which is brutal!) but he always believed in me. He is also the best bass player I have ever played with!

9. If you could pick 5 or 6 people, (living or dead) to be in a super band, who would you pick and what would they play?

George Harrison is all I would need. I love his guitar playing..I think my mom played his music alot when she was pregnant with me so I came out of the womb knowing his songs..There is something about his slide guitar that just feels like home to me.

10. And the big question I’m asking everybody these days is: What’s your favorite sandwich?

Without a doubt, it’s PB & J!
It has to be the healthy kind…All natural fresh ground peanut butter, with the all fruit jam, on fresh whole grain bread.

There you have it!  10 questions with Shannon Hurley!

For more info on Shannon, check out the excellint in-depth KGRL interview with video and audio, her website and MySpace.

Once again, Ready to Wake Up is here:
http://www.cdbaby.com/shannonhurley3

And the Ready to Wake Up remix album is here:

http://www.cdbaby.com/shannonhurley4

Or if you prefer you can download from or Amazon.

Hooray! I’m in the process of switching over to WordPress for Lyrical Venus!  I’m very excited because it will be all new and shiny, but in the meantime I’m still working out a few things, so please go to http://lyricalvenus.blogspot.com for all my posts about female singer-songwriters.  (The old posts will shortly all be moved over here as well!)

Thanks for your patience!

Heather aka DJ Hum

There’s something kind of familiar to me about Marykate O’Neil’s music, even though I’d never heard of her till a few months ago. The experience of listening to her EP mkULTRA sort of reminds me of going to visit my relatives in California. I’ve been there enough times that I can find my way around fairly well, and I remember little knick-knacks or houses fondly, but the visits are also few and far enough between that there are plenty of new discoveries and surprises every time.

I think it’s the retro-pop musicality that provides the familiar base, because the Brooklyn-based Marykate is definitely an original. Her lyrics ensure that the songs are not bubblegum pop but more of a dark chocolate – that perfect combination of bitter and sweet. “The themes in mk-ULTRA are a bit of the morning after the party,” reveals O’Neill. “It’s a bit about the darker side of NYC downtown life… the moment in a relationship where you realize you can’t save it….and the moment in time when you realize you can’t save someone.”

For all of the darkness, Marykate is also super funny, as you can see in this video of her performing her song Green Street:

Feed and email readers may need to come to the blog to see the video

Find out more about Marykate on her official website or her MySpace page.

Her mkUltra EP is available right now on cdBaby and
Her full length album Underground will follow in February 2009, stay tuned.

And last but certainly not least, tune in to KRUU on Tuesday for a live interview with Marykate! The Lyrical Venus Radio Hour is from 9-10am Central Time on KRUU-LP 100.1 FM locally, kruufm.com for worldwide web streaming.