Marjorie Thompson
Right By Me
© 2007 Marjorie Thompson (660662919883)
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Suggestive and sultry one minute, ominous the next, then hilarious, then soul-searingly anguished: Marjorie Thompson brings the full range of life to her stunning new CD,
tracks
- 1 Don't Look Back
- 2 America the New
- 3 America the New
- 4 Come to the River
- 5 Watch the North Wind Rise
- 6 Ernie and Grace
- 7 How to Be
- 8 Dead or Alive Blues
- 9 Dignity
- 10 Light of Day
- 11 Weather Report
- 12 When I'm Sixty-four
- 13 Life of Me
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Suggestive and sultry one minute, ominous the next, then hilarious, then soul-searingly anguished: Marjorie Thompson brings the full range of life to her stunning new CD, Right By Me.
In its 11 original songs and two songs in tribute to musical heroes, Marjorie brings her special style to the country blues and folk traditions, from protest songs to love songs; from songs about lovers lost to songs of lust and even of murder.
The album opens with Don't Look Back, a homicide story. "This is the murder mystery centerpiece of my song collection," she says. "It is full of fun, spike-heel shoes and tainted spice."
America the New is, in Marjorie's words, "a nonpartisan, intentionally scathing political commentary that is ironic, rueful, and yet as deeply, proudly American as can be. Shame on the forces that would subvert our indomitable spirit."
The title song, Eat Right By Me, comes next. "Inspired by the imitable themes of Bo Carter, this one takes food to the ribald extreme," she laughs. "It is about as racy as a sausage can get."
Marjorie's take on religion is characterized in the syncopated, quirky Come to the River, which holds the view that those who are helped are those who help themselves. "It is about finding strength and salvation first by looking to oneself, no crutches allowed," she says.
In Watch the North Wind, Marjorie pays homage to and extends the work of her musical mentor, Jorma Kaukonen. "This, Jorma"s quintessential love song, speaks to me," she says. "Its bluegrassy feel is a departure from the original."
Ernie and Grace is "based on a steamy night in July, a few years ago. I was tuning a guitar before a show and the back lot was dark and seamy, a strip club across the way, a bar next door. A man was suddenly there; he kissed my hand and struck up a conversation."
The deeply touching How To Be sums up the loss and devastation that everyone has experienced at one time or another, "when one is uncomfortable in one's own skin, sad and scared to the deepest fiber."
High power and a sense of foreboding characterize the next song, Dead or Alive Blues, "a song that details the consequences of late loving times."
Slow, deep, stark, and ethnically influenced, Dignity is, in Marjorie's words, "the autobiographical piece that describes some inner strength that sustains even when mortification is paralyzing."
Light of Day addresses how easy it is to get lost and "recounts that feeling of being rendered invisible, in that confounding way that may give us pause about appearances and disappearances."
Another song that has nothing to do with its words, Weather Report, is a sultry "single entendre disguised in a lyric that is just plain fun. It smokes of summertime, and other seasons too."
Anyone who doesn't know When I'm Sixty-Four has to have been paying no attention for the last four decades, but Marjorie brings a fresh, new guitar rag flavor to it. "The ragtime progression suits fingerstyle just right," she says, "and I discovered a few runs that lent interest."
The final cut on the CD, Life of Me, is "a song to the rock of ages that sustains us, whoever and whatever it may be."
For Right By Me, Marjorie is joined by legendary instrumentalists that include Buddy Cage on pedal steel and mandolin virtuoso Barry Mitterhoff. The CD was produced by Michael Falzarano and engineered by Jon Marshall Smith. It was recorded in New Jersey and North Carolina.
Longtime Marjorie Thompson fans will be pleased -- and eager to spread the word. New fans will be quick to come back for more.