This is Barbara Kessler's fourth CD, produced by Boston-based guitarist Adam Steinberg (Patty Griffin, Dixie Chicks). Songs from this recording have been featured on numerous national TV shows on major networks, including NCIS, Ed, Jag, All My Children, One Life To Live, The Young and The Restless, MTV's Undressed, Felicity and others.
The song "Angels Are Crying" won 1st Prize/Folk Category in the 2001 USA Songwriting Competition.
Some Quotes:
"Sporting 11 original songs distinguished by their melodic strength and tight execution, Kessler's self-titled fourth CD might well be the one that puts her on maps outside the Northeast...lightly soaring, hook-riddled pop rockers... think a less strident Alanis Morissette, with a dash of [Liz] Phair." Performing Songwriter, November 2000
"Great artistry and good fun... Barbara Kessler has put them together brilliantly with one of the best records this year!" Rob Reinhart, host of nationally syndicated A3 radio show Acoustic Cafe
"Lyrically moving and beautifully sung with Kessler's identifiable airy vocals. Her adult subjects propel her far beyond any mere teen idol." Sing Out! Spring 2001
"Pigeon holes, categorization, style characteristics...all convenient tools when describing an artist, yet some just don't fit your typical classifications. Barbara Kessler is generally a "folkie" but she can and does rock and roll with a nice Beatle beat. Her songs are sensitive barometers of emotional beauty accentuated by an expressively warm alto voice. Not offering a mono-groove or mono-feel, Barbara Kessler writes autobiographical works that span a wide range of emotional content and all are fine ear candy. Why else listen if it isn't?"
Music Matters Review
"Barbara Kessler is a fine singer-songwriter on the harder edge of folk. [Her eponymous new] CD is a fun and spirited bunch of songs that are solid and hummable too and actually had me wishing for a lyric sheet. Brought to mind Jonatha Brooke, but much less full of shit. Listen to Kessler rock out on 'Confession' and 'Bridge Mix,' perhaps violating some rule of the Boston folk scene." Eugene Weekly
"Combine Shawn Colvin's reedy, achy soprano, Sheryl Crow's catchy pop-rock melodicism, and a bit of Paula Cole's white funk and you have an approximation of the sound on Barbara Kessler's eponymous new CD....'Persephone' is one of several songs that address Kessler's newfound motherhood... 'Soundtrack' is a funky bit of nostalgia, a paean for 70's radio aptly cloaked in a pulsing bit of jazz-rock that recalls Steely Dan." Seth Rogovoy, The Berkshire Eagle
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Thanks for reading this far!
there are Way too many quotes about me on the page for my album, "notion" so I'll keep it short here.
Thanks for coming to CDBaby, and for checking out "independent music." It's always so cool to hear about new people buying my record, even though I no longer tour or get much radio airplay.
Whoever reads this, Thank You!
If you still want to read more, here goes:
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Some history:
BK entered Rounder's first and only Songwriter's Contest at Great Woods Performing Arts Center (1st runner up!) and met judge Christine Lavin who invited her to stop by the first Martha's Vineyard Songwriter's Retreat. Here one of her earliest songs, "The Date" was recorded at an open mike and selected for the Rounder Records release documenting the retreat, Big Times in a Small Town.
Encouraged by the enthusiastic response and national airplay the song received, BK recorded her first CD Stranger To This Land and starting playing coffeehouses and colleges around the country. Recorded live at the intimate Kendall Cafe (BK's first performance with a band!), Stranger brought Kessler national attention and acclaim, including a Boston Music Award for Outstanding Debut.
The album was picked up by Eastern Front Records and was spun on hundreds of stations across the U.S. and Canada, was picked as one of Performing Songwriter's top 12 DIY releases, and landed her appearances on Mountain Stage, Acoustic Cafe, and WFUV's Required Listening at The Bottom Line.
One of the cuts, "Kathy," was selected for a Time-Warner artist compilation callled Grooves Magazine which also featured Matthew Sweet, Linda Ronstadt, John Lee Hooker, Jeff Buckley and others. "Songs like 'Kathy' showcase Kessler's flair for poignant detail and understatement, qualities that lend her tales of ordinary folks their extraordinary emotional weight." Vin Scelsa, WNEW -NY "Her strength lies in understatement and a blessed aversion to preaching...Many try, but few succeed like Kessler." Providence Phoenix
"Barbara Kessler is a lyricist of uncommon economy and grace." Dirty Linen
She recorded her follow-up studio album with Jerry Marotta producing after he heard her band one night at CB's Gallery in New York, where he was playing with Dan Zanes. A fan of Marotta's drumming and percussion with Peter Gabriel (and countless other artists), Kessler jumped at the chance to record her songs with world-class musicians along with her own backing band. The resulting CD, notion, furthered her reputation with critics and audiences, and yielded the haunting title track, which was chosen for Putumayo's classic 1996 compilation Women's Work.
The arrangements "refuse to lurk in the background" says The Washington Post. "Fortunately Kessler's words and music are tough enough to hold their own." "Now we have the follow-up studio album to her acclaimed Stranger ToThis Land to satisfy our insatiable appetites. Notion is a wonderful collection of songs that is brimming with stellar musicianship. Songs like 'That Hurricane,' 'Sister Mary Madeline,' 'Big Sky'and the title track are simply brilliant."The Album Network 'At My Age' is a brilliant song." Sing out! Magazine
"It's not the hooks, the Froom-like production, or even the songs that make this album one of the best by any contemporary singer/songwriter in years. What puts her over the top is her voice, a smoothly subtle and sometimes jazzy, versatile soprano full of surprises." The Boston Phoenix
Kessler's eagerly-awaited third album, Barbara Kessler, is due out August 2000 after a four-year hiatus during which she gave birth to her daughter Emilia. Produced by Boston guitarist Adam Steinberg (Patty Griffin, Dixie Chicks, Laurie Sargent) with the intention of creating live-feeling, timeless song settings, the recording perfectly captures Kessler's voice and energy and talent for performance.
Arrangements range from spare and haunting to full on pop-rock, letting each of the tightly crafted songs "dotheir own thing." Even before its official release, the track "Bridge Mix" has been used on the national daytime television drama "Passions." Several of the cuts were featured in-progress as part of her strikingly original "CD Single of the Month Club," which helped "keep Kessler in the spotlight" (Billboard) and in touch with fans while touring only occasionally with her daughter. "On her pop-catchy, folk-smart new CD, she wanders between intimate reflection and wry, girlish reminiscence, sung in an airy voice brimming with personality." The Boston Globe
Barbara Kessler's songs have appeared on nearly a dozen compilations, including Rounder's Follow That Road, Black Wolf's This is Boston Not Austin, and Signature Sounds' Respond. She recently produced a benefit compilation CD featuring singer-songwriter moms called Hope: Mothers Helping Mothers that includes Tish Hinojosa, Sara Hickman, Suzzy Roche, Lori McKenna, Ashley Cleveland and others. She has been selected for official showcases at the North American Folk Alliance and NxNE conferences in Toronto, Canadian Music Week, CMJ New Music Marathon in New York, NEMO in Boston, and the Atlantis Music Conference in Atlanta and has won songwriting awards at Kerrville, Telluride, Rocky Mountain Folks, and from the National Academy of Songwriters.
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