review of Pieta Brown

Folk/Americana - Acclaimed producer Don Was literally pulled off to the side of an L.A. freeway when he heard the voice of Pieta Brown live in the studio from trendsetting radio station KCRW. A few phone calls, emails and months later, Brown and guitarist Bo Ramsey met up with were at his home to play him some new songs. Wanting to capture her remarkable voice "unadorned", Was grabbed his bass and joined Brown and Ramsey in the studio, mixing the impromptu sessions live as they went down. The result is the wondrous Shimmer (November 10, Red House), a seven-track mini-album that captures Brown's poetic lyricism, wonderfully sweet and smoky voice and the intimate immediacy that comes from three skilled musicians plying their crafts with palpable inspiration.

Residing stylistically somewhere between Lucinda Williams' alt-country twang and the eclectic, boundary-blurring songwriting of Cat Power and Leslie Feist, Brown draws deep upon her slow-cooked rural roots but unlike most, moves ahead into her own quietly daring territory. Beneath her soft, folksy drawl lies an intensity -- what Was calls "major star power magnetism" and the BBC has termed "seductive simplicity." Songs such as "You're My Lover Now" drift and sway with easy, graceful moves as Brown's deceptively wispy voice is suspended in air, seemingly close enough to feel her breath in your ear. Highly recommended.



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