"A MAJOR FIND" ROBERT CHRISTGAU
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Thank you so much to ROBERT SIEGEL and everyone at NPR's ALL THINGS CONSIDERED for having me on to talk about "The Garden of Love -Songs of William Blake" Hear the interview here
HUGE THANK YOU TO ALL WHO'VE BOUGHT THE ALBUM, BECAUSE OF YOU WE MADE IT TO #24 ON THE BILLBOARD MAGAZINE HEATSEEKERS ALBUM CHARTS and as high as #3 on the AMAZON FOLK CHARTS!
"A delightful surprise...terrific album" ROBERT SIEGEL, NPR-ALL THINGS CONSIDERED
"In a brilliant collision of cultures, the powerful blues and soul singer Martha Redbone has recorded an album called “The Garden of Love: Songs of William Blake,” which was produced by John McEuen, of the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band. In it, the mystical, humanistic words of the eighteenth-century English poet are fused with the melodies, drones, and rhythms of the Appalachian string-band music that Redbone absorbed as a child from her grandparents, in Black Mountain, Kentucky.” THE NEW YORKER
"(Martha Redbone's) voice held both the taut determination of mountain music and the bite of American Indian singing." JOHN PARELES, NEW YORK TIMES
"Martha Redbone's music chronicles the crossroads of the American experience. Born in Kentucky and of Cherokee, Choctaw and African-American descent, Redbone combines folk, Appalachian, soul and Native tradition in a group if settings of poetry by William Blake - a startling idea, perhaps, but on that brims with potency and freshness." ANASTASIA TSIOULCAS, NPR
"An organic, gorgeous feast for ears and mind" DUSTY WRIGHT, HUFFINGTON POST
"A truly hypnotic and eloquent roots Americana exploration. The Garden of Love: Songs of William Blake beautifully and unexpectedly matches two powerful voices; two centuries, continents, and cultures apart. The mastermind is Martha Redbone, an Independent Music Award winner renowned for blending Native American vibes from her Cherokee and Choctaw background with R&B grooves, blues and dashes of Appalachian folk." JONATHAN WIDRAN, ALL MUSIC
"..one of those meeting of minds and culture that comes along once in a while that literally takes your breath away." RICHARD MARCUS, BLOGCRITICS
"Visionary'..definitely one of the best folkroots albums of 2012." PIETER WIJNSTEKERS, POPMAGAZINE HEAVEN (THE NETHERLANDS)
“The manner in which Martha Redbone has stamped her own personality all over Blake’s work is both masterful and courageous and should really make her name synonymous with the old cockney proponent of the American revolution for as long as people make music and read poetry.” TIM MERRICKS, AMERICANA UK
5 STAR review! “‘The Garden of Love’ has pleasing radiance. You can’t ask much more than to have your music served up raw, rootsy and full of such emotional depth.” JOE ROSS, ROOTS MUSIC REPORT
"Apart from the fact that this is a remarkable recording in terms of Redbone’s liquid vocals and the harmonious blend of McEuen’s instruments (banjo, guitar, dubro, fiddle, mandolin, autoharp, dulcimer),the combining of music with William Blake’s “songs” is an amazing achievement. It is as though this 18th century poet’s work has been quietly waiting for Martha Redbone. After all, Blake always called his poems “songs,” suggesting that they were meant to be sung. Here they are then! After over two centuries, finally, exquisitely complete." GARY CARDEN, SMOKY MOUNTAIN NEWS
"Martha Redbone's new collection The Garden Of Love sings of the earth, skies of blue & grey, hard birth & easy death. It sings a poem of prophecy whispered by the oldest tree in the farthest corner of the valley. It sings of leaving & returning & of the equanimity of Angels. Martha's voice itself is the very sound of the dreams of hills and rivers- Homebound & Restless; interpreting the hauntingly lovely words of William Blake with the power of a storm & the gentleness of a breeze."
VERNON REID-Living Color, Spectrum Road
"Martha invites us on her powerful new odyssey where poetry, folk and soul meet naturally. Here in The Garden of Love-Songs of William Blake she bares her soul...wide open, simple and vulnerable; it's everything she truly is." MINO CINELU - Legendary Jazz Percussionist & Multi-Instrumentalist, Miles Davis, Sting, Weather Report
"Martha Redbone's journey back to the source of American music — and to her own heritage — has conjured up an artistic triumph. The Garden Of Love poignantly reveals a musician at the top of her game, vocally, intellectually, and spiritually. One not only hears the voice of the Bard, in this case William Blake's legendary prose arranged and phrased brilliantly, but also the very origins of American music arising from the blend of American Indian, African American, and English folk music traditions. It's the dawn of a new day for this fascinating artist, and we're all the beneficiaries of her confident, and yet sensitive, quest.
from a review by TIM JOHNSON, DIRECTOR of the SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTE: NATIONAL MUSEUM of the AMERICAN INDIAN