New Music 2014 - Part 6 - Harriet Jones

Barely a week after I discovered one new act from Plymouth (WHOANOWS) as I was listening to Kathryn Tickell's show, on Amazing Radio this evening, along came this statement of intent from 20-year-old singer-songwriter Harriet Jones also from Plymouth.

The track Dealin' Man Blues is released as a single today and is as good a slice of soul-blues as I have heard in some time. It is remarkable for, amongst other things, the minimal accompaniment to her vocal and that works because it simply doesn't need more. Another one to watch in 2014 and I would love to see her play live.

If I were to meet her I should be very wary: If I am reminded by this of any one other song in particular then it is a cautionary tale, with a moral ending - 'The Ballad of Frankie Lee and Judas Priest' and I'm not convinced that I would come out on the right side of this.
It may seem a curious comparison but it works for me. What she might conjure up next is anyone's guess but hers. I'm fascinated by the possibilities.

Cover Versions 2011 - Thea Gilmore - John Wesley Harding

Song lyrics and cover versions put a great deal of traffic here and I have intended to address more of both for a while now. I'm going to start with the latter as it happens and this is released in the UK today.
It is a dangerous thing indeed - not an album of covers but the cover of an entire album - and is a tribute to one of the most inspiring and widely covered artists in honour of his seventieth birthday, on May 24, by one of the most prolific singer-songwriters that the UK has and, very importantly, one to whom sticking with traditional music industry conventions is quite alien.

Including 'Loft Music' (2004), which was an album of covers, this is only her second venture into such territory but between 1998 and 2010 she has also released nine studio albums, a live album and several (often limited edition) EPs.