Jane Kramer’s ‘Carnival of Hopes’ Out Today! New Music Video

Jane Kramer Makes a Full Voiced Return to Her Roots with Mountain-made Second Solo Album,
Carnival of Hopes – Out TODAY Fri, Feb 26, 2016

ASHEVILLE, NC — Vocalist and songwriter Jane Kramer independently release her gutsy and ambrosial second solo album entitled Carnival of Hopes on Friday, February 26, 2016. With deep ties to the area, Carnival of Hopes boasts a sparkling cast of Ashevillian producers and players. Kramer’s longtime friend Adam Johnson of Sound Lab Studios, whose portfolio of clients includes such names as Alison Krauss and Yo Yo Ma, produced and engineered the album. You can now pick it up at iTune: https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/carnival-of-hopes/id1071615103.

The ten-song album was recorded at the award-winning Sound Temple Studios in February of 2015, while she still lived on the other side of the country in Portland, Oregon. A few months later, after a four-year run spent writing and reflecting on the West Coast, Jane Kramer pulled up stakes and returned to Western North Carolina with a renewed energy to share her new music with the world. The sense of homecoming that rings through was a conscious effort, Kramer says. “I did that because Asheville is my dirt. It’s my home and my culture, musically and otherwise. I missed it and knew somewhere in my bones I would be coming back to stay soon,” she says.

Kramer is backed by Chris Rosser on piano and harmonium, Eliot Wadopian on upright bass and River Guerguerian on drums and percussion, the virtuoso trio that comprises Free Planet Radio, as well as master Georgia-based bluegrass musicians/ multi-instrumentalists, Pace Conner (steel string, high string and baritone guitars, ukulele, mandolin, and backing vocals) and Michael Evers (Dobro, banjo, mandolin, and backing vocals) who arranged the songs for recording and perform and tour with Kramer regularly. Virtuoso players, Nicky Sanders of Steep Canyon Rangers and Franklin Keel of Sirius B play orchestral fiddle and cello, respectively, on “Good Woman.” The New Orleans jazz-influenced “Why’d I Do That Blues,” features a horn section comprised of JP Furnas on trombone and Ben Hovey on trumpet.

Jane Kramer. Photo By Sandlin Gaither.

She credits her songwriting hero and mentor, Mary Gauthier, with helping her reach for, and express, everything she hoped to communicate with the album. Carnival of Hopes aches and soars with her connections to Appalachian balladry, a force she first encountered at Warren Wilson College and honed while performing with the Asheville-based all-female trio, the Barrel House Mamas, who helped reintroduce Americana music to the Blue Ridge Mountains a decade ago. However, it is as a solo artist where the power of Kramer’s songwriting and world-class vocals truly shine. The songs on the album were all penned by Kramer with the exception of one cover, “Down South,” written by Tom Petty.”

Kind Words About Carnival of Hopes

“Pulling from her roots as a mountain-made musician, she zeroes in on Americana elements like folksy instrumentation while giving her lyrics center stage… Kramer’s voice is so smooth it melts into her own guitar-playing and violin overlays.” —Elmore Magazine’s Savannah Davanzo
WATCH World Premier of Music Video for “Carnival of Hopes.”

The Bluegrass Situation premiered a stream of the title track here.

“Kramer’s vocal glides between sorghum-sweet low notes and a breathy upper register, maintaining a wink the whole time. But even with its moments of levity and meet-cute two-steps, Carnival of Hopes is sincere.”
—Mountain Xpress, Alli Marshall

“[Jane] embraces songwriting that runs through a gamut of emotions, with heartache, regret, fear, and hope resounding deeply in her lyrics, and each tune is delivered with a voice that only be described as one of the purest in modern Americana… Carnival of Hopes is a steady stream of beauty.”
—Blue Ridge Outdoors, Dave Stallard

“… you can tell Kramer is having fun singing these songs and that feeling endearingly transcends to the listener. Kramer’s vocals are soulful and textured allowing for a range of emotions to illustrate each beautifully poetic song.”
—That Music Mag, Jane Roser

“Jane Kramer says her new album Carnival of Hopes is about facing down inner demons while still clinging to ‘that tiny chirping of light in your bones that somehow keeps you tethered to keeping on.’ And if that sounds like the sort of perseverance Tom Petty writes about, well that might not be a coincidence… Jane Kramer Brings Appalachian Past Into Cover of Obscure Tom Petty Song”
—Ray Padgett, Cover Me Songs premiered “Down South.” Stream it here.

“Jane Kramer is writing and playing classic folk with mountain influences, her strong voice lilting through honest expressions of life, love and the human condition.” —Asheville Citizen Times, Carol Rifkin

“Enchanting and accessible song-crafting; country, honky tonk, blues.”
—Rapid River Magazine

“Well produced, highly melodic and beautifully accessible”
—Northern Sky, Allan Wilkinson

“Like the title implies, Carnival of Hopes presents a festival of emotions from a woman who is cognizant of the fact that life isn’t all sunshine and rainbows, but one who embraces hope, knowing that through hardship often comes something of beauty.” —The Daily Country, Tara Joan

“…this album has the feel of a country record from the late 1980s, similar to Patty Loveless or Kathy Mattea.” —WNC Magazine, Tim W. Jackson

“Jane Kramer makes gorgeous music. With sensual magnetism in her voice, honesty in her lyrics and elegance in her melodies, her songs cast a wonderful spell. Give this record a listen; you will be taken on a lovely ride deep into the mystical world of an artist on the rise.” —Mary Gauthier, American songwriter and performer

Learn more about Jane Kramer and her music at www.JaneKramer.net and stay up to date with news at www.facebook.com/janekramersongstress.

 

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Jane Kramer Releases Mountain-made Solo Album, Carnival of Hopes, Feb 26th

Vocalist & Songwriter Jane Kramer Makes a Full Voiced Return to Her Roots with Mountain-made Second Solo Album,
Carnival of Hopes – Due Out Feb 26, 2016

Produced and Engineered by Adam Johnson of Sound Lab Studios,
The album features backing band Free Planet Radio as well as guest appearances by Nicky Sanders of Steep Canyon Rangers and more

ASHEVILLE, NC — Vocalist and songwriter Jane Kramer is set to independently release her gutsy and ambrosial second solo album entitled Carnival of Hopes on Friday, February 26, 2016. Carnival of Hopes feels both celebratory and frank. It is filled with songs of regret and insight found after deep and gritty self-reflection. At its core, the album tells the story of facing down dark inner demons while still clinging to “that tiny chirping of light in your bones that somehow keeps you tethered to keeping on,” Kramer says.

Throughout the album, it is Kramer’s unvarnished honesty and searching, powerfully sweet and heartrending voice that carry the well-crafted and arranged songs and tie both elements of loss and healing cohesively together. “I’m not great at making stuff up,” she says, “so I sing what I lived and what I know, without any sugar or fluff.”

“Anyone who has stared down the barrel of themselves and their failures and fears and shipwrecked loves has scraped up against the bottom of their own capacity for hoping,” says Kramer, a social worker and musician by trade. “My carnival of hopes is busted and hideous and rusty and somehow still brave and sparkly,” she says, “like the image of the forgotten Ferris wheel printed on the disc – half taken over by trees and time, but still standing.”

With deep ties to the area, Carnival of Hopes, boasts a sparkling cast of Ashevillian producers and players. It was recorded at the award-winning Sound Temple Studios in Asheville in February of 2015, while she still lived on the other side of the country in Portland, Oregon. A few months later, after a four-year run spent writing and reflecting on the West Coast, Jane Kramer pulled up stakes and returned to Western North Carolina with a renewed energy to share her new music with the world.

Carnival of Hopes aches and soars with her connections to Appalachian balladry, a force she first encountered at Warren Wilson College and honed while performing with the Asheville-based all-female trio, the Barrel House Mamas, who helped reintroduce Americana music to the Blue Ridge Mountains a decade ago. However, it is as a solo artist where the power of Kramer’s songwriting and world-class vocals truly shine.

Kramer’s longtime friend Adam Johnson of Sound Lab Studios, whose portfolio of clients includes such names as Alison Krauss and Yo Yo Ma, produced and engineered the album. Kramer is backed by Chris Rosser on piano and harmonium, Eliot Wadopian on upright bass and River Guerguerian on drums and percussion, the virtuoso trio that comprises Free Planet Radio, and by master Georgia-based bluegrass musicians/ multi-instrumentalists, Pace Conner (steel string, high string and baritone guitars, ukulele, mandolin, and backing vocals) and Michael Evers (Dobro, banjo, mandolin, and backing vocals) who arranged the songs for recording and perform and tour with Kramer regularly.

Carnival of Hopes as an album is full of sometimes-searing flourishes on the complexities of Kramer’s modern life. The title track clearly encompasses that, she says.

Jane Kramer. Photo by Sandlin Gaither.

“In the song ‘Carnival of Hopes’ and on the record as a whole, I talk about letting things die and being honest about it: the notion that I am a good woman, ideas for my future and success, a big love, and even parts of myself dying and being reborn in the letting go” she says. “I talk about laying down my hammer but leaving the light on in the window. While these are heavy concepts, I feel the take-away feeling of the album is one of hope.”

 

On this deeply personal album, Kramer’s favorite track is the ballad, “Good Woman.” While she says she’s not one who fits that description, listeners might disagree after hearing the lilting but earnest passion and regret in her voice.

“Good Woman” is the song you write when your lover kicks you out of the house and you’re half drunk on cheap box wine in a crappy motel room staring at yourself in the mirror under the fluorescent bathroom light,” Jane says. “You can’t help but be honest then.”

“Aside from the sentiment, the contributions of virtuoso players, Nicky Sanders of Steep Canyon Rangers and Franklin Keel of Sirius B, also help make the song a favorite,” Kramer adds. They play orchestral fiddle and cello, respectively, on “Good Woman”.

Other songs on the album offer clear hints to Kramer’s unflinching self-examination and ability to convey heavy subject matter through utterly palatable and even catchy song-crafting. The New Orleans jazz-influenced “Why’d I Do That Blues,” (which features a horn section comprised of JP Furnas on trombone and Ben Hovey on trumpet), the classic country honky tonking sass of the opening track “Half Way Gone,” and the banjo-driven, uptempo modern-day spiritual “My Dusty Wings” all speak to a talented songwriter laying herself bare. She credits her songwriting hero and mentor, Mary Gauthier, with helping her reach for, and express, everything she hoped to communicate with the album.

The songs on the album were all penned by Kramer with the exception of one cover, “Down South,” written by Tom Petty. “This tune just sounds like the mountains.” Kramer says,”I’m a huge Petty fan and love the poignant simplicity of his writing. Additionally, and probably what was most important to me was the message of the song thematically, about returning home to the south and it’s little idiosyncrasies.”

The sense of homecoming that rings through was a conscious effort, Kramer says. “I did that because Asheville is my dirt. It’s my home and my culture, musically and otherwise. I missed it and knew somewhere in my bones I would be coming back to stay soon,” she says.

“I didn’t want to make an album that didn’t sound like home,” Kramer adds. “I wanted Asheville musicians and Appalachian instrumentation – that wistful, southern dobro sound that hurts your heart a little.” Carnival of Hopes is indeed a homecoming album, and will take listeners through the enchanting and accessible emotional landscape of a woman who has climbed the mountain of her own failures and fears and learned how to be at home with herself.

Album: Carnival of Hopes Track listing:

1. Half Way Gone  3:45
2. Carnival of Hopes  5:25
3. Your Ever~Green Heart  3:21
4. Good Woman  5:29
5. Down South (by Tom Petty) 3:30
6. Truck Stop Stars  4:31
7. Why’d I Do That Blues  2:38
8. Highways, Rivers & Scars  4:25
9. Truth Tellin’ Eyes  4:19
10. My Dusty Wings  2:57

Learn more about Jane Kramer and her music at www.JaneKramer.net and stay up to date with news at www.facebook.com/janekramersongstress.

 

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Shannon Whitworth & Barrett Smith Release “Bring It On Home” on Nov 20th

Shannon Whitworth & Barrett Smith’s “Bring It On Home”

A Duo Album Featuring:
The Songs of Paul Simon to A.C. Jobim to Sam Cooke

“Bring It On Home is that hidden diamond that may be the best recording to cross this desk all year.” —C. Michael Bailey, All About Jazz

“From start to finish, Bring it on Home is crafted with love… a timeless collection” —Alli Marshall, Mountain Xpress

National Release Date: November 20th, 2012

(Asheville, NC)– Shannon Whitworth and Barrett Smith are thrilled to announce the release of a new duo album, Bring It On Home. Independently recorded, it is set for National release on November 20, 2012.

In Bring it on Home, Shannon Whitworth and Barrett Smith offer up a collection of their favorite songs by their favorite songwriters. From Paul Simon to A.C. Jobim to Sam Cooke. All About Jazz writes, “Relaxed and confident, Whitworth and Smith work their way across an almost 100-year landscape of music that is the crowning achievement of the song writer’s craft. They do so with quiet percussion and carefully chosen accompaniment that makes this perfect listening music: appealing to both nostalgia and the appreciation of fine music making.”

In this eclectic album, Shannon and Barrett take turns singing lead, backing each other on harmony vocals, and playing various instrumentations with Shannon on ukulele, banjo and Barrett on electric and acoustic guitars, upright bass, and piano. From the jazzy elegance of “Moonglow”, to the mystic folkiness of Paul Simon’s “Duncan”, to the Latin groove of “Corcovado”; this album pays tribute to the art of great songwriting, with fresh arrangements that make for a truly great listen.

Bring It On Home started as a brainstorming session on a late night, cross-Canadian road trip with the Shannon Whitworth Band, which Shannon had been touring and recording with since her days of leading the The Biscuit Burners and Barrett had later joined in 2010 after swapping places with a member of the acclaimed bluegrass band Town Mountain. In this particular tour, Shannon and Barrett were an opening act for Chris Isaak, and they spent the long slow drive from Winnipeg to Saskatoon trying to compile the perfect mix tape. Somewhere in the late night hours, they realized that this mix-tape was actually a compilation of the cover songs that they had both dreamed of someday recording – their own random dream tribute album.

Two months later, Shannon and Barrett were in Asheville’s Echo Mountain Recording Studio with a team of talented friends and musicians from the area who helped to breathe the album to life. Legendary drummer Jeff Sipe (Aquarium Rescue Unit, Leftover Salmon) and master multi-instrumentalist Mike Ashworth formed the core rhythm section, and Justin Ray and Jacob Rodriguez took a break from touring with Michael Buble to contribute on trumpet and saxophone. Virtuoso bluegrass fiddlers Nate Leath and Nicky Sanders (Steep Canyon Rangers) added violins to Melissa Hyman’s cello lines while Michael Libramento, of Grace Potter and the Nocturnals, played keyboards.

In recording Bring it on Home, the Shannon and Barrett looked to songs that inspire them, and hope to pass that inspiration on.

Bring it On Home ~ Track Listing

1) Bring It On Home To Me (Sam Cooke) 3:50 Soulful & Rockin
2) Moonglow (Delange, Mills, Hudson) 3:24 Jazzy & Mellow
3) You Can Close Your Eyes (James Taylor) 3:40 Folky & Mellow
4) Duncan (Paul Simon) 4:13 Folky & Beautiful
5) I Get Ideas (When We Are Dancing)  (Sanders, Cochran) 3:01 Jazzy & Sultry
6) Louise (Paul Siebel) 3:29 Folky & Funky
7) Sway (Molina, Ruiz, Gimbel) 2:52 Saucy & Latin
8) Bird On The Wire (Leonard Cohen) 3:49 Intense & Beautiful
9) Corcovado (Quiet Nights) (A.C. Jobim, Gene Lees) 4:31 Latin & Mellow
10) Green Grass (Tom Waits, Kathleen Brennan) 3:47 Ethereal & Jazzy
11) I’ll Be Your Lover, Too (Van Morrison) 4:59 Rockin Ballad
12) You Are My Sunshine (Jimmie Davis) 3:59 Folky & Mellow

 Recorded at Echo Mountain Recording in Asheville, NC
Engineered by Julian Dreyer
Mixed by Neilson Hubbard
Mastered by Jim DeMain
Produced by Barrett Smith
Released November 20, 2012

BarrettSmith.com
ShannonWhitworth.net

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Shannon Whitworth & Barrett Smith’s CD Release Party @ The Altamont Theatre on July 26th

Shannon Whitworth & Barrett Smith
Local Release Party for “Bring it on Home”
The Altamont Theatre
Thursday, July 26th

$12/$10adv
7pm door/  8pm show
18 Church St 28801
828-348-5327
myaltamont.com

(Asheville, NC)– Shannon Whitworth and Barrett Smith are thrilled to announce the release of a new all-covers duo album, Bring It On Home. To celebrate, a local release date is set for Thursday, July 26th at the Altamont Theatre in downtown Asheville. They will release the album nationally this fall.You can listen to and purchase the album at BarrettSmith.com.

In 2010 Barrett joined The Shannon Whitworth Band after swapping places with a member of the acclaimed bluegrass band Town Mountain. Shannon had been touring and recording successfully with this solo project since her days of leading the The Biscuit Burners. Barrett’s contributions quickly developed into a full time touring and recording job, and he and Shannon have been making music  with one another ever since, whether in the band or just for fun… which is how this duo project came into being.

In Bring it on Home, they have taken a departure from their original music to offer up a collection of their favorite songs by their favorite songwriters. From Paul Simon to A.C. Jobim to Sam Cooke, the album features beautiful arrangements of great tunes which are all performed by an all-star cast of musicians from Asheville, NC.

Bring It On Home started as a brainstorming session on a late night, cross-Canadian road trip.  Shannon and Barrett were on tour as an opening act for Chris Isaak, and they spent the long slow drive from Winnipeg to Saskatoon trying to compile the perfect mix tape. Somewhere in the late night hours, they realized that this mix-tape was actually a compilation of the cover songs that they had both dreamed of someday recording – their own random dream tribute album.

Two months later, Shannon and Barrett were in Asheville’s Echo Mountain Recording Studio with a team of great friends and musicians, bringing the album to life. Legendary drummer Jeff Sipe and multi-instrumentalist Mike Ashworth formed the core rhythm section. (Sipe and Ashworth will also be performing at the album release show amongst other special guests.) Justin Ray and Jacob Rodriguez took a break from touring with Michael Buble to contribute to the album on trumpet and saxophone. Virtuoso violinists Nicky Sanders and Nate Leath added string parts to Melissa Hyman’s cello lines. Michael Libramento, of Grace Potter and the Nocturnals, stopped in to add keyboard parts.

The result is an eclectic collection of great arrangements. Shannon and Barrett take turns on the lead vocals, backing each other up with harmony vocals and instrumental support. The performances are superb. From the jazzy elegance of Moonglow, to the mystic folkiness of Paul Simon’s ‘Duncan’, to the latin groove of ‘Corcovado’, this album pays tribute to the art of great songwriting, with fresh arrangements that make for a truly great listen. Enjoy!

Bring it On Home ~ Track Listing
1) Bring It On Home To Me (Sam Cooke)
2) Moonglow (Delange, Mills, Hudson)
3) You Can Close Your Eyes (James Taylor)
4) Duncan (Paul Simon)
5) I Get Ideas (When We Are Dancing)  (Sanders, Cochran)
6) Louise (Paul Siebel)
7) Sway (Molina, Ruiz, Gimbel)
8) Bird On The Wire (Leonard Cohen)
9) Corcovado (Quiet Nights) (A.C. Jobim, Gene Lees)
10)Green Grass (Tom Waits, Kathleen Brennan)
11) I’ll Be Your Lover, Too (Van Morrison)
12) You Are My Sunshine (Jimmie Davis)

Recorded at Echo Mountain Recording in Asheville, NC
Engineered by Julian Dreyer
Mixed by Neilson Hubbard
Mastered by Jim DeMain
Produced by Barrett Smith

BarrettSmith.com
ShannonWhitworth.net

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The Honeycutters Release New Album “When Bitter Met Sweet” CD Release Show at The Grey Eagle on May 5th

The Honeycutters Release NEW Album “When Bitter Met Sweet”

The Grey Eagle

Saturday, May 5th

Moses Atwood Opens

Doors 7pm, Show starts at 8pm

$8 adv/ $10 at door

185 Clingman Ave. 28801

828-232-5800

www.thegreyeagle.com

www.thehoneycutters.com

In a world that is becoming increasingly digitalized and impersonal, the Honeycutters are building a reputation based on live performance and songs that tend to stick with you. Fitting into Americana realm, Mountain Xpress’s Alli Marshall calls The Honeycutters’ sound, “Old school country in the truest sense… free of twang and ten-gallon hats but full of real emotion, family history, quick wit and strong liquor.”

In an interview with the Folk to Folk Blog, Amanda says that part of the Honeycutters appeal is that their sound harkens back to simpler, more honest times. “In times like these, people want something real,” she said. “They’re just really craving something that’s just going to connect them to that basic human pool of emotion.”

The Honeycutters are excited to introduce their second full length studio release, When Bitter Met Sweet on June 5th, 2012. They are hosting their Asheville CD release show at the Grey Eagle on Saturday, May 5th. Copies of the album will be available at the show. Moses Atwood opens the show, which starts at 8pm sharp. The Honeycutters will also be making an appearance on WNCW’s Studio B during the 11 o’clock AM hour on Thursday, May 3rd… tune in at http://wncw.org.

Like their first release, Irene, When Bitter Met Sweet features singer/songwriter Amanda Anne Platt, who has been hailed as “one of the best songwriters coming out of WNC these days” by WNCW programming director Martin Anderson. Peter James accompanies her on lead and rhythm guitar as well as harmony vocals. They are backed up by Tal Taylor’s signature mandolin playing, Ian Harrod on bass, and Jon Ashley on drums creating an original brand of Americana that has proved equally appealing to both the musician and the music lover, the country and the city, and the old and the young.

Platt’s songs are shaped by a raw honesty that comes straight from the heart and emits a sort of melancholy happiness. The album features 11 tracks that touch upon childhood and loss of innocence, finding a sense of belonging and one’s voice, truth, love and patience, traveling and embarking on new life-journeys (and the fears that go along with these), and the understanding that comes about when life’s circumstances come full circle.

The title track, “When Bitter Met Sweet” is a song about the end of love looking back at the beginning.  Platt says, “I think it’s important not to lose sight of what was good about something even if it is ending.” “For Eleanora,” was inspired after reading a biography of Billie Holiday and reflects on a similar thought of polarities that, “It seems like so often the partners of extreme talent and specialness are self-destruction and doubt.”

The song “90 Miles (The Tennessee Song)” is featured on Blue Ridge Outdoors Trailmix for 2012 Merlefest Artists. It was written after her first trip to International Folk Alliance in 2010, an event that can be quite overwhelming at first. An admitted introvert, Amanda was faced with the challenges of how to be heard amongst all of the activity of events such as these. And make herself heard is exactly what she went on to do; becoming a finalist at 2011 Merlefest’s Chris Austin songwriting contest for her song song “Little Bird” (unrecorded). She was asked to return as a guest judge for the contest, along with Jim Lauderdale, for the 2012 Merlefest (Where The Honeycutters will also be performing a few sets this year). The same song won first place in the Great Lakes Song Contest in February 2012.

“All I Got, ” is a song Amanda calls, “a love song I wrote a long, long time ago, before I had actually ever been in love” and was selected for WNCW’s 2010 Crowd Around the Mic Vol. 14.

“Fancy Car” features Platt’s father on harmonica. He also sits in on “Not Over Yet”  which she says that when she sings it she imagines a child leaving home for the first time, wanting freedom but scared of what it might cost.

When Bitter Met Sweet was co-produced by Amanda and Peter with the assistance of Aaron Price, and was recorded at Echo Mountain Studios in Asheville, NC after securing funding through a successful Kickstarter campaign. Along with the full band, many special guests make appearances on the album including Matt Smith (pedal steel and dobro), Nicky Sanders (fiddle), Mark Platt (harmonica), Je Widenhouse (coronet), and on drums Mike Rhodes and Richard Foulk and for various songs. The album was engineered (and partially mixed) by Jon Ashley with the assistance of Julian Dreyer, mixed by John Keane and mastered by Dave Harris at Studio B Mastering in Charlotte, NC.

Their first full length studio release Irene, released in May 2009, has landed them in Ian Hughes’ NoDepression Podcast’s Top 20 of 2009, Fret Knot Radio Hour’s “Nine you need to know from ’09”, and #32 in WNCW’s listener voted Top 100 of 2009.

Since putting out Irene the Honeycutters have shared the stage with such Americana favorites as Tony Rice, The Greencards, Jill Andrews, The Steep Canyon Rangers, Donna the Buffalo, and The Seldom Scene.  They have been voted Western North Carolina’s favorite local Americana act (2011 Mountain Xpress reader’s poll) and delighted audiences from upstate New York to Seattle, Washington. They are currently touring around the release of When Bitter Met Sweet.

Stay tuned to thehoneycutters.com for more news about the album and their tour.

What the Press is saying about The Honeycutters:

“I can see a day when her name is mentioned alongside Lucinda Williams, Mary Gauthier and Gillian Welch.  She’s just that good.” —The Real Southern

***

“They’ve got a sound as classic as grits… I thought of those country songs that play on those diner jukeboxes you see in movies.” –Charlotte’s Creative Loafing

***

“Amanda Platt’s striking, timeless vocals form the cornerstone of her often heart-wrenching songs, while producer Pete James’ understated guitar and gentle harmonies round out the duo’s saccharine-sweet mix.” –Dane Smith, Mountain Xpress

***

“Amanda’s lyrics are both sardonic and sweet, which adds a contemporary element to their country twanged Americana sound [which] is more influenced by the harmonic tendencies of country singers like Johnny Cash and June Carter” —Folk to Folk Blog.

***

“I recommend the Honeycutters not only because they’re some of the best my hometown of Asheville, NC, has to offer. Their music embodies a very catchy, accessible, optimistic sort of spirit so frequently lacking in folk circles (where brooding, hyper-analytical music reigns supreme). What’s more, like Carolina Story, they’re a great band replete with tasty harmonies.” –Kim Ruehl, Folk Music About.com

***

“If anyone can make this old metalhead want to whip out the cowboy boots and hat, order a couple of Budweisers and spin my woman around the dance floor, the Honeycutters can.” –Brent Fleury, Bold Life Magazine

***

“Amanda’s voice sings like Carolina farmlands after a rainstorm” –Harvey Robinson, Monkeywhale productions

www.thehoneycutters.com

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