Release
March 4th, 2008
Caroline Herring’s
Lantana Reestablishes Singer as Preeminent Storyteller
Austin Music Award Winner for "Best New Artist" Returns
with Album that Re-images the Gothic South
Nashville,
Tenn.—Caroline Herring confidently returns to the forefront
of the American roots music scene with her new album Lantana,
due March 4th, 2008 on Signature Sounds Records. The Mississippi-born,
Atlanta-based singer/songwriter took the producing helm for the
first time on the new record, co-producing with long-time collaborator
Rich Brotherton (Robert Earl Keen).
Intimate,
powerful and honest, Lantana is a masterpiece of understated intensity
and in many ways an artistic re-birth for Herring. After making
a name for herself in Mississippi as band member and co-founder
of the now renowned Thacker Mountain Radio music series, Herring
moved to Austin, TX. Herring quickly took the town by storm, releasing
the critically acclaimed debut album, Twilight. She won "Best
New Artist" at both the 2002 SXSW Austin Music Awards and
also from the Austin American Statesman. Herring soon after released
an equally impressive follow-up, Wellspring.
Though Herring
had established herself as an authentic, original voice, Herring
paused to focus on marriage and motherhood as she continued to
tour and play festivals nationally and internationally. The insights
she gained over these few years are profoundly apparent in the
songs of Lantana. Herring’s songs represent the experiences
of women who have not only faced the challenges inherent in a
rural South childhood, but also the heartrending and often complex
experiences of adult women who feel pressured to choose between
tradition and career ambitions. The songs show that the results
can be both awe-inspiring and sometimes even devastating.
“I just
got to the point where I knew I had to write songs again,”
Herring says of re-launching her career. “Music is my life-blood,
even as the career of the singer/songwriter is most unusual, especially
in the South where the jobs of women are often mother first, wife
second. There’s a line in one of my songs about a woman
who lives in a backroom and begins to disappear. I didn’t
want that to be me.”
With a new
batch of songs in hand, she returned to Austin to record Lantana
with Rich Brotherton, who had produced Wellspring. The album is
made up entirely of Herring originals, save her artful interpretation
of two traditional songs. Because Herring had the chance to sit
with the songs for a while, she developed clear ideas about the
overall feel of the album. Lantana is clearly grounded in the
acoustic traditional sounds of her early work. With Brotherton
behind the soundboard, his and Herring’s collaboration made
for a quiet masterpiece.
In many ways
Lantana is Herring’s re-imaging of the Gothic South, with
a rich alto voice that soothes the listener even as she addresses
difficult subjects. Herring has a journalist’s eye for detail,
a poet’s sense of scale and language, and a life-long Southerner’s
understanding of the issues that shape the culture below the Mason
Dixon line. Herring tackles poignant themes of womanhood in “Fair
and Tender Ladies”, “Stone Cold World” and “Song
For Fay.” Herring also expertly throws her hat in the ring
of the long-standing murder ballad tradition, this time representing
Susan Smith in the song “Paper Gown.” Herring’s
commitment to uncovering the truth in her songs led fellow artist
Dar Williams to call Herring “the elusive real thing.”
There is no
artifice on Lantana. It’s an album full of delights, lyrically
and musically. And just like Caroline Herring, her new album is
the real thing.
###
Praise for
Caroline Herring:
“Caroline's
deep musical roots add resonance to the voice and songs of this
gifted and good- hearted musician who already draws impressively
from a coming of age in the deepest South. I just wanted to get
her name out to all who are listening for the elusive "real
thing". - Dar Williams
"I think
Caroline has a freshness in her voice. She has a fresh approach.
She was coming up with a literary style in her songs and I encouraged
her. It's nice to hear a fresh new voice with new songs. There's
a lot of people out there with songs, I just think she has some
of the good ones." - Peter Rowan
“Mississippi’s
dense history and the shackles of its past are vividly present
in Herring’s songs. Characters come of age knowing something’s
not in tune with their soul or conscience, but they can no more
figure out where their own vices of race, class, gender, religion
and politics came from than they can comprehend the roots of bigotry,
social disdain or codes that keep women from realizing their potential.”
- Craig Havighurst, Tennessean
"Caroline
Herring sings folk songs with a country edge. Or maybe it's the
other way around. Either way, the gifted songwriter... knows her
way around a tune. Her slightly honeyed twang, lilting and lovely,
shapes the Southern slices of life that make up many of her story-songs."
- Joe Heim, Washington Post
"A Southern-
music traditionalist with a soothing, twangy voice. Herring crafts
songs with a decidingly red state slant. "Mistress"
is quite spare, zeroing in on its authors vivid croon. like a
lot of Herring's work, it benefits from its intimacy." -
Jay Ruttenberg, Time Out New York, NYC
"Herring
specializes in stark, quiet tales of rural strife and romantic
insecurity, as well as the occasional character study, which isn't
surprising, given her master's degree in Southern studies from
Ole Miss. Her deft acoustic finger-picking underscores an easy
charm, and her deep-voiced resonance brings a gravitas to her
mostly straightforward lyrics, which might seem trite coming from
a higher-pitched performer."
- Bob Ruggiero, Houston Press
"Combine
Joan Baez' stately vocal eloquence with Lucinda Williams' distinctly
Southern literary bent and Gillian Welch's timeless Appalachian
echoes and you've got singer-songwriter Caroline Herring's captivating
second album." - Mike Thomas, Acoustic Guitar Magazine
Caroline
Herring's Website
Caroline Herring's
MySpace
For more information
contact:
Patrick Steven Patterson
Lotos Nile Media
P.O. Box 90245
Nashville, TN 37209
615.298.1144
patrick@lotosnile.com