#leyla mccalla

[obscene-beans]

Shout out to Black women in folk music! Gotta be one of my favorite genres.

From left to right, top to down: Sunny War, Joy Oladokun, Lilli Lewis, Rhiannon Giddens, Kaia Kater, Amethyst Kiah, Alison Russell, Leyla McCalla

[paintingsandrecords]

a mourning dove; ink and watercolor

last seventeen days listening:

leyla mccalla - vari-colored songs

lava lava - hey fragile

janis ian - janus ian

the lentils - take it easy the hard way

ella fitzgerald - the cole porter songbook

sonic youth - rather ripped

weird al yankovic - straight outta lynwood

amon/the dumb fat kids - world made us crazy

nofx - the war on errorism

alkaline trio - maybe i’ll catch fire

stricken for catherine - on the dark

loretta lynn - you’re looking’ at country

lifetime - hello bastards

alice in chains - sap

korea girl - korea girl

the coup - sorry to bother you

[krispyweiss]

Song Review: Rhiannon Giddens - “The Ballad of Sally Anne”

The banjo is great.

The drums adds extra heft.

The fiddle is simpatico.

But when Rhiannon Giddens tosses in layers of piano, horns, cello and backgrounds to the arrangement, her version of “The Ballad of Sally Anne” winds up too busy for its own good.

Giddens’ track is out to announce the April 12 arrival of My Black Country: The Songs of Alice Randall, which also includes contributions from Allison Russell, Valerie June, Leyla McCalla, Sunny War and others.

“Because all the singers of my songs had been white, because country has whitewashed black lives out of country space, most of my audience assumed the stars of my songs were all white,” Randall said in a statement.

“I wanted to rescue my black characters. This album does that.”

Giddens’ number serves the purpose well, but has too much going on. This is particularly disappointing as the sparse beginning reveals just how much more her version of “The Ballad of Sally Anne” could’ve been with fewer collaborators.

Grade card: Rhiannon Giddens - “The Ballad of Sally Anne” - C+

2/21/24

[lauraepartain]

The lovely Leyla McCalla | Feb 2023

[eye-of-the-purricane]

Leyla McCalla & Cedric Watson - "Pa Janvier"

[soundgrammar]

Listen/purchase: Le Bal est Fini by Leyla McCalla

[deadassdiaspore]

[nonesuchrecords]

It was 10 years ago today: Carolina Chocolate Drops' Leaving Eden—an album of original compositions, covers, and traditional songs produced by Buddy Miller—was released on Nonesuch. "It's plain terrific," said the BBC. Rolling Stone gave it four stars. You can hear it again here.

Founding band members Rhiannon Giddens and Dom Flemons expanded their lineup to include multi-instrumentalist Hubby Jenkins, and cellist Leyla McCalla joined the band on the record, along with beatboxer Adam Matta.