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Laura Love and Orville Johnson at Mama Hillybeans

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Laura Love and Orville Johnson at Mama Hillybeans
By: Jennie Jeffus

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Posted by jenniebooking Tue Apr 22, 2008 20:09:40 PDT
Viewed 98 times
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Start: May 15, 2008
End: May 15, 2008
Time: 7:00pm
Price: advance $12 $15 door
Contact: jennie | jenniebooking@yahoo.com | 750-3261
Location: 426 E Tehachapi Blvd, Tehachapi, CA 93561A

McFaul Management • POB 46318 Seattle WA 98136 • USA • 206/938-5754 • marymcfaul@comcast.net


Laura Love and Orville Johnson

Return to Southern California

May 14 – 17

 

…her music is exuberant…she conveyed the fervor of someone reaching out with an almost frenzied joy to seize the strands of a confusing life and weave them into a coherent, life-affirming vision.           
                                                                   New York Times, Stephen Holden
 
 
 
 
When the legendary Hollywood folk/blues nightclub and gathering spot for political activists, The Ash Grove, presented their first concert in 1958, Laura Love had not yet been born.  By the time the Melrose Avenue rabble rousing hot spot burned down and closed for good in 1973, Laura was a young teenager in Nebraska, obsessed with The Jackson Five and trying her best to survive a chaotic and dangerous childhood. 
 
Fast forward 23 years to 1996:  Danny Goldberg was named president of Mercury Records and he signed Laura to the major label.  That same year, The Ash Grove rose like a phoenix and reopened its doors on the Santa Monica Pier.  The West Coast was abuzz with Laura’s fresh “folk/funk” band and Ed Pearl invited her to perform twice at the new Ash Grove during the brief re-emergence as Los Angeles’ premiere roots music venue.  The new Ash Grove only lasted a year on the Pier and Danny Goldberg was canned when Mercury was swallowed whole by Universal.  Without her champion, Laura was ignored by the mega-label and was dropped after releasing two critically acclaimed CDs which were criminally under promoted.
 
Laura didn’t skip a beat and returned to her roots to record and tour the world as an independent artist.  When she was invited to fly in from her home in Seattle to perform this year at UCLA as part of the commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the opening of the original Ash Grove, she jumped at the chance to help honor this seminal cultural phenomenon.
 
On April 18, Laura appeared with her country/blues guitarist, Orville Johnson, at Royce Hall.  Also on the bill that night were Ben Harper, Ry Cooder, Dave Alvin, Ramblin’ Jack Elliot, Mike Seeger and Holly Near.  Most of the folks in the audience were not familiar with Laura, as they were the older fans of the original club and had never seen her perform at the Ash Grove on the Pier.  As soon as she began to sing in her astonishingly clear, soulful voice, the audience was hooked and by the end of her 15 minute set, she had gained a new legion of fans.  Laura performed a handful of short sets throughout the rest of the weekend and was mobbed by her new fans who were amazed to learn that this “new” musician has released 10 CDs since 1990, has appeared on PBS’ Sessions at West 54th Street, and has toured extensively throughout the U.S. and Canada as well as Europe and Australia.
 
And, those new fans will soon have several chances to see Laura perform a complete show with her favorite guitarist/vocalist, Orville Johnson, at the following California venues:
 
Wednesday, May 14:  The Cerritos Center, Sierra Room Cabaret, 12700 Center Court Dr., Cerritos, CA.  7:30pm.  800/300-4345.  www.cerritoscenter.com
 

Thursday, May 15: Mama Hillybeans, 426 E Tehachapi Blvd.,Tehachapi, CA. 661.822.BEAN.  www.mamahillybeans.com

 Friday, May 16:  Musica Del Rio House Concert, Atascadero, CA. http://musicadelrio.org.

 Saturday, May 17:  Russ and Julie’s House Concert, Oak Park, CA.  www.houseconcerts.us.

Laura released her 10th CD last year on her own label, Octoroon Biography.  The theme of the new CD, titled NeGrass, is Laura imagining what life might have been like for her great grandparents as they were freed from slavery in Texas and making their way north after the Civil War.  Laura recorded NeGrass in Nashville with fiddler Barbara Lamb producing.  Barbara assembled a cast of acoustic superheroes to back Laura on this project to give her collection of traditional and original field hollers, spirituals and bluegrass inflected songs an historic and sepia tone to the recording.  NeGrass is a lovely piece of work.  Powerful, joyous and haunting, it includes tracks by Tim O’Brien, Tracy Nelson, Rob Ickes, Scott Vestal, Jeff Autry and Barbara Lamb.  NeGrass has been named one of the Best CDs of 2007 in the Alt Country category by the Indie Acoustic Project.

Orville Johnson is a perfect accompanist for Laura.  He is an accomplished and respected multi-instrumentalist and is regarded as a master of country blues and slide guitar.  He is a sought after side man for many headlining artists and is busy with his own recording, performing and teaching career.  Orville is a big man with a big voice and a sly, clean playing style that looks effortless in his hands.  When Laura underscores Orville’s guitar with her slinky bass playing and their powerful voices intertwine, it creates a potent moment not soon forgotten.  Just ask any of the 2000 people who witnessed a tiny bit of Laura’s and Orville’s performance last week at Royce Hall.  They will likely concur.

 
 
 www.LauraLove.net,  www.MySpace.com/LauraLoveMusicOfficialSite, www.OrvilleJohnson.com.


 


 
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