{"id":1281,"date":"2018-05-29T13:35:10","date_gmt":"2018-05-29T13:35:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/?p=1281"},"modified":"2018-05-29T13:38:02","modified_gmt":"2018-05-29T13:38:02","slug":"from-the-vaults-peggy-james","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/?p=1281","title":{"rendered":"From the Vaults: Peggy James"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Ever hear of <\/span>Peggy James<\/b>? \u00a0I am willing to bet after her new album Nothing In Between drops in late June, she won\u2019t be such a well kept secret. \u00a0James is a Milwaukee singer\/songwriter who has opened for the likes of <\/span>Iris Dement<\/b>, da <\/span>BoDeans<\/b>, and <\/span>Salt Creek<\/b>. \u00a0The album, her fourth, was produced, engineered, and mixed by <\/span>Jim Eannelli<\/b> who also provided guitar, bass, keyboards, percussion and backing vocals as only a veteran studio wizard could. \u00a0Our old friend <\/span>Gary Tanin<\/b> from <\/span>Daystorm Music<\/b> in Milwaukee mastered the recording and sent it along to us to preview in late April. \u00a0<\/span>Happy Growl Records<\/b> is planning to release the album on June 29, 2018.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The PR sheet accompanying <\/span>Nothing In Between<\/i><\/b> noted that she has drawn comparisons to <\/span>Emmylou Harris<\/b>, <\/span>Bonnie Raitt<\/b>, <\/span>Shawn Colvin<\/b>, and <\/span>Sarah McLachlan<\/b>. \u00a0I hear all of these influences in bits and pieces, but I would like to add a side of <\/span>Carol King<\/b> and a singer\/songwriter that I have listened to for twenty some years, <\/span>Amy Rigby<\/b> from New York state. \u00a0I hadn\u2019t thought much of Rigby in recent memory, but there was something in James\u2019 delivery that compelled me to look up Rigby again just to see if I was imagining the similarities. \u00a0I wasn\u2019t and there is a side bonus here because Rigby sent me a copy of her most recent CD <\/span>The Old Guy<\/b>s which we will cycle through in the near future.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Getting back to Peggy James\u2019 record, the first thing that jumped out of the headphones was the clarity of the production and the mix. \u00a0The instrumentation couldn\u2019t sound cleaner if one was sitting in the middle of the studio listening to James track the songs. The second and third bonafides here are the genre spanning nature of James songs and the genre hopping ability she possesses in both her writing and performance. \u00a0When she is in \u201cpop\u201d mode, she sells it just as well as she sells the more countrified tunes. Piano ballads? Piece of cake. It would be very difficult to put this LP in any one particular box because there are so many interesting elements here.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The clean sounding organ\/acoustic guitar intro of \u201c<\/span>We Had to Meet\u201d<\/i><\/b> pulls you right into the first track. \u00a0James voice alternates between a breathy, sultry feel and a semi-falsetto. \u00a0Perhaps it was the way she phrased the line \u201cForces of steel in a magnetic field\u201d<\/span> that sent me back to <\/span>Walter Egan<\/b>\u2019s 1978 hit <\/span>Magnet and Steel<\/i><\/b>, but the layered vocals that peak toward the end of the chorus took it to another level. \u00a0\u00a0The laid back drum grove, expressively deep lyrics, and the moving organ licks make this an ear-catching introduction to James\u2019 music. \u00a0<\/span>\u201c<\/span><\/i>We Had to Meet\u201d<\/i><\/b> is about the inevitability of two people meeting, but it is also a great introduction to James\u2019 story telling ability.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>\u201c<\/span><\/i>X-Files\u201d<\/i><\/b> could have come from the <\/span>Chris Isaak<\/b> \u201cinteresting guitar hook\u201d school of songwriting. \u00a0The tremolo-laced lick that precedes each line couples with a latin-influenced drum grove and outstanding background vocals to make this a catchy number. \u00a0The middle section changes the tempo, guitar figure and feel before dropping back in to \u201cChris Isaak\u201d mode. Walking away from this song humming the opening guitar figure means it is memorable, enough so that the haunting feel of \u00a0the whole song stuck with me a long while. Peggy doesn\u2019t just write songs, she records feelings transmitted in the form of songs. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Jame\u2019 music is certainly guitar based but the keyboard work throughout the album is just outstanding. \u00a0If I had been drumming on these sessions, I would be very happy with how the drums were presented in the mix throughout this album. \u00a0In the case of \u201c<\/span>An Hour With You<\/i><\/b>,\u201d the laid back beat holds things together under the piano and strings which are added to sweeten the feel. \u00a0The emotional quality of the lyrics, James\u2019 delivery and mood of the track as a whole definitely makes the listener feel something. \u00a0Whether it is yearning or wistfulness, the emotion is left up to you. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Another track with a similarly haunting quality is <\/span>\u201c<\/b>Lover<\/i><\/b>.\u201d<\/b> \u00a0There is just something about this arrangement that is very different from the typical lost love lament. \u00a0I am not sure what James was feeling when she wrote and recorded <\/span>\u201c<\/span><\/i>Lover\u201d<\/i><\/b> and I am not exactly sure what it makes me feel, but I know that she has again tweaked me on a deeper emotional level than simply Baby, Baby, Baby. \u00a0\u201c<\/span>Lover\u201d<\/i><\/b> sounds sonically and dimensionally huge enough to be used as one of those opening credit scroll songs in a <\/span>James Bond<\/b> movie. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The title track \u201c<\/span>Nothing In Between\u201d<\/i><\/b> opens with a simple drum and piano intro and as soon as James hit the first verse I thought <\/span>\u201cCarole King\u201d<\/b>. \u00a0Not an out and out homage or copy of King\u2019s work, but certainly a hint of her style both musically and lyrically. \u00a0The balance between the vocals, drums, bass, and piano is just right. By this fifth track, I thought I had a handle on the Peggy James\u2019 formula and boy, was I happily wrong! \u00a0If <\/span>Jimmy Buffet<\/b> or perhaps <\/span>Joss Stone<\/b> were looking for a song to cover, \u00a0<\/span>\u201c<\/span><\/i>Muscle Man\u201d <\/i><\/b>would not be a bad choice. \u00a0The Caribbean feel knocked me out of my seat because it was just not expected. \u00a0\u00a0It is a great tune performed with all the trappings of the islands and as \u201c<\/span>Muscle Man\u201d<\/b> faded out, I thought, \u201cOkay, \u00a0now what?\u201d How about a little country feel?<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/i>Gotta Have A Love\u201d<\/i><\/b> kicks off as bouncy and country as they come. \u00a0Not knowing a lot about James background, it leaves her inspirations open to conjecture: \u00a0<\/span>Juice Newton<\/b>? \u00a0<\/span>The Judds<\/b>? \u00a0Where ever she picked up her country chops, she learned them well. \u00a0The steel guitar and straight boom – chick drumming (with a little <\/span>Roy Clark<\/b> guitar thrown in\u201d makes this not <\/span>just <\/span><\/i>\u201ccountry\u201d but \u201c<\/span>great <\/span><\/i>country\u201d. \u00a0Continuing in the C&W vein, \u201c<\/span>In One Ear (and Out the Other)\u201d<\/i><\/b> adds some tasty fiddle and a little more vocal twang. \u00a0The background vocals and the story all but scream, <\/span>\u201cWe got both kinds of music here: \u00a0Country and Western!\u201d<\/span><\/i> and yes, I thought about Juice Newton again. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0After bouncy country, James dials things back with the slow burner called <\/span>\u201cGhost.\u201d<\/i><\/b> \u00a0This would be a great <\/span>Eagles<\/b> track had it showed up on <\/span>\u201cOn The Border\u201d<\/i><\/b> back in the day. \u00a0The vocals and shimmery guitar supported by the full sounding drums would only need a little stacked harmony from <\/span>Don Henley<\/b> and the boys to take it into full <\/span>Eagles<\/b> mode. \u00a0\u00a0This isn\u2019t a criticism or a backhanded compliment: \u00a0I love her arrangement and only make the Eagles comparison as a nod to the quality of the songwriting. \u00a0Once the lead kicked in, it was 1974 all over again for me! <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The Chris Isaak guitar effect reappears at the start of \u201c<\/span>Sound of Your Wheels.\u201d<\/i><\/b> \u00a0This is another example of a great story song arranged and performed with perfection. \u00a0This is probably why I listened to it a half a dozen times before getting on to the last couple of tracks. \u00a0This is an album filled with one great track after another. <\/span>\u201cFallen Snow\u201d<\/i><\/b> keeps things mellow and it is one of the tracks that really reminded me of Amy Rigby\u2019s work. \u00a0The lilting vocal weaves in and out of the piano and strings with yet even more tasty drumming. \u00a0Gary had mentioned that he hears a lot of<\/span> Emmylou Harris<\/b> in James\u2019 \u2018breathiness\u2019 and \u201c<\/span>Fallen Snow\u201d<\/i><\/b> is a pretty good example of what he meant.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The LP winds up with rimshot solid drums and more tremolo & twang guitar on<\/span> \u201c<\/span><\/i>I Wish You Well.\u201d<\/i><\/b> \u00a0The last thought that popped into my head was, \u201cI wonder if <\/span>Lucinda Williams<\/b> has a sister?\u201d because if she did, and if her name is Peggy, it wouldn\u2019t surprise me one bit. \u00a0\u00a0\u201c<\/span>I Wish You Well\u201d<\/i><\/b> is an accurate summation of my hopes for Peggy James and this record. \u00a0I can\u2019t wait until the drop date so I can start sharing this on air. Kudos to the production and mastering team for turning Peggy James songs into such a great sounding record. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Top Piece Video:\u00a0 Peggy and band with their live take on\u00a0In One Ear (and Out the Other)<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n