Category: Callery, Allysen
Allysen Callery at Local 121
with Kim Lamothe and Kristina Jung
Local 121 Taproom
Providence, RI
10pm
Allysen Caller ‘Mumblin’ Sue’ review at No Depression
You can read the review here.
If you’re in Austin this week, one performer to check out at SXSW is “ghost folk” artist Allysen Callery. Hailing from tiny Rhode Island, she was just selected as one of 40 “intriguing” artists to watch at SXSW by NPR critic Bob Boilen. Although she is pretty well known in New England (2012 Providence Phoenix Singer-Songwriter of the Year), and has a dedicated following in Europe and Australia, she’s yet to break out on the national scene. Her recent release, Mumblin’ Sue, could change that.
Callery lives by the ocean in Bristol, Rhode Island, across the pond from Bristol, UK. Her style is heavily influenced by the British Folk Revival of the 1960s and early 70s. In an interview she noted, “I grew up listening to my father’s old Steeleye Span, Incredible String Band, and Fairport Convention records. When I started writing music of my own, it was noted in some of the first reviews that the ‘ghost of British Isles Folk’ was in my music.”
She’s recorded several albums that show that influence, most recently, Mumblin’ Sue, released in June of 2013. The collection of songs is notable for its intricate guitar work – no overdubs here – just pure melodic magic. In fact her fingerpicked guitar feels more like her singing partner; sometimes leading her, other times, seemingly answering her lyrics. The interplay between her voice and her guitar is unique.
Her lyrics are just on the edge of surreal, slightly off center, and intensely passionate. Her voice is unique, but not unfamiliar. Sounding a little like early Joni Mitchell, with a voice airy and mystical, she’s a fairy whisperer. But her words speak to the human experience. In “The Hollow,” she asks…
In Your Hollow
Do You Collect the Sunlight
In Your Hollow
Lonely
On the brilliant “Lily of the Valley,” her nuanced guitar work equals her understated delivery.
Someone had to be the hard headed hammer
Well let me be the part that pries the nails out
When all of the walls built between us are gone
We’ll lie in the grass
In the warm sun
She has some fun on this album too. On the delicate “I Had a Lover I Thought Was My Own,” the narrator falls for the town gigolo. In “My Carolina,” whimsical lyrics match an upbeat tempo…
Meet Me Midnight
Soft step candlelight
And I’ll slip inside
I’m on fire driving down your highway
Callery’s warmth and delicate delivery comes through in concert; her “look” is reminiscent of early Joan Baez. There’s a lot going on in her music, and it’s well worth a listen. No doubt, there are many talented artists deserving of more widespread recognition – Allysen Callery is one of them.
Allysen Callery at Stephen F’s Bar
Stephen F’s Bar
Austin, TX
9pm
Allysen Callery at Koop Radio 91.7
You can listen to the performance here.
Koop Radio 91.7
Airport Blvd Austin, TX 78723
11am CST
Allysen Callery at the Columbus Theater
with Marissa Nadler, Alec K. Redfearn & Orion Rigel Dommisse.
Columbus Theater
Providence, RI
8pm
Allysen Callery at The Stomping Ground
The Stomping Ground
132 Main St Putnam, CT 06260
8pm
Allysen Callery on BSR Radio
2pm EST.
You can listen to the performance here.
Allysen Callery at Club Fete
with Leyla McCalla and The Sugar Honey Iced Tea
Club Fete
Providence, RI
9pm
Allysen Callery at Boheme Artspace
Double set of Traditionals & original folk tunes, cheese & wine.
$10 suggested donation.
Boheme Artspace
504 Main Street
Warren, RI 02885
8pm
The Noise reviews Mark Cutler, Allysen Callery, Haunt the House, and Dan Baker.
You can read the article here.
MARK CUTLER – Dreamland
Singer/songwriter Mark Cutler is in Rhode Island’s Men of Great Courage and in this side project, he is more coffeehouse then nightclub. This side of Cutler is more folk and more introspective, but the passion still prevails in every song. “Circle to a Square,” a slow Americana ballad, “I’ll Play for You,” “Soul Flame,” and the title tune, “Dreamland” with a nice harp, are all very personal confessions of a very talented artist to his audience; and his gentle voice is well suited for this intimacy. There is even some banjo on this Americana flavored CD. Mark Cutler delivers some nice acoustic ballads. This is a good listen. (A.J. Wachtel)
DAN BAKER – Pistol In My Pocket
Got misery? Dan Baker does, in spades. His latest CD speaks of lost love, mournfulness, and general-type unhappiness. I mean, when an album contains tracks titled “She’s Not Gonna Call” and “Threw Me Down a Well” you’re kind of clued in early this is not going to be a compilation of cheerful, danceable ditties, and this isn’t.
Recorded live in the vast, echoing space of an empty Masonic temple, Baker and band have at it, down, dirty… and good. The arrangements are lean and spare, with sometimes-skeletal acoustic guitar carrying the load alone. For others, his band adds the right shades of angst. Dan’s voice yowls and growls in a manner that echoes early Neil Young, but like Neil’s, it’s a voice that delivers pain perfectly. (Tim O’Brien)
ALLYSEN CALLERY – Mumblin’ Sue
While the hypnotic intertwining of Callery’s fancy finger-picking lulls you into a meditative state, it’s her petal-soft lilt that really does a number on your heart-strings, plucking them with the same fervor as she does her guitar. The music is stoic yet still yearningly bitter-sweet. The lyrics, poetic and steeped in country wisdom, relate stories of heartache seen through sadder-but-wiser eyes. The power isn’t only in the words themselves, but in they way they’re sung—in a melancholy, reverberating sean-nós style. Something tells me she could be singing in Swahili or Cantonese and anyone with ears would still have some idea of what she was singing about. (Will Barry)
HAUNT THE HOUSE – Rural Introspection Study Group
Will Houlihan’s solo foray is a modest collection of guitar ballads and blues. There’s no gainsaying his personal approach to the material, of which the best of show is the bluesy “Vampyre,” along with the heartfelt “Eden.” (Francis DiMenno)