Ana's working on a new record of originals with co-producer Jason Mercer/bass, Michael Jerome/drums, Steve Moore/piano, and many special guests.
"Lazy Days" Released 11/07 features:
JASON MERCER
TONY SCHERR
ANTON FIER
TEDDY KUMPEL
CHRIS BROWN
SHANE ENDSLEY
JANE SCARPANTONI
TIM BOVACONTI
ROB HOOPER
SOUTHPAW JONES
EMILY SPRAY
and
DANIEL MARCUS
Influences
Records: 'Vietnam Blues'- JB Lenoir, 'Capitol Years'- Lonnie Johnson, T Bone Walker- 'Complete Capitol', 'I can't Stand The Rain' and 'Straight From The Heart'-Ann Peebles
I've been inspired by the amazing songwriters and musicians that I've worked with on the road over the past 11 years. Iris Dement, Lucinda Williams, Ron Sexsmith, John Prine, James McMurtry, Steve James, Eliza Gylkison, Richard Thompson, Terry Allen, Joan Armatrading, Shawn Colvin, The Flatlanders, George Jones ....
Other musical influences - Randy Newman, Kris Kristofferson, Bob Dylan, Elliot Smith, Patty Griffin, JB Lenoir, Willie Nelson, Townes Van Zandt, David Byrne, Dolly Parton , Mississippi John Hurt, Ray Charles, Stevie Wonder, Tracy Chapman
Favorite Writers- Ralph Ellison, Anne Carson, Philip Roth, Flannery O'Connor, Larry McMurtry, Wislawa Szymborska , Annie Proulx, Louise Erdrich, Willa Cather, Cormac McCarthy, "Gravity and Grace" -by Simone Weil
POP MATTERS reviews Lazy Days by Steve Horowitz 2/08
The Virtues of Indolence
It’s hard work being lazy. Life without a purpose or reason can be a drag. If you’re gonna do nothing, do nothing right. That’s the lesson of Ana Egge’s latest album, a 30-minute tribute to Lazy Days.
Egge covers 10-fairly unknown odes to indolence originally recorded by a roster of wonderful and diverse artists: The Kinks, Stephen Stills, Arcade Fire, Gene Autry, Ron Sexsmith, Belle and Sebastian, Sandy Denny, Zombies, Le Tigre, and Harry Nillson. This list indicates the depth and breadth of the Brooklyn/Texas musician’s ambitions and suggests that being lazy ain’t easy.
Despite the difference in styles of the original material, Egge makes them her own through her distinctively laid-back approach. She drawls out the lyrics like a yawn, but the kind that settles in your soul like a sigh. Egge knows that lethargy itself is a symptom of sensual passion. One delights in the ability to take it easy.
That’s an important point to make in these hectic times of presidential politics, world conflicts, and environmental degradation. Egge implicitly tells the listener to slow down. She uses the words of others, but the point is the same. Life is short. Relax. Appreciate the here and now.
You don’t have to be a Zen Buddhist to know how to breathe. Egge gives a master class on the process on such tunes like Belle and Sebastian’s “Summer Wastin’” and Sandy Denny’s “Crazy Lady Blues” that are imbued with the deep warmth of just being. The songs work as mantras for letting go of one’s thoughts and inducing meditation.
Some songs, like the Zombies’ “I Could Spend the Day”, promise of more active search for nothing. The Arcade Fire’s “In the Backseat” takes the perspective of the passenger who observes the world without participating in a way that promises the joys of the open road. What’s better than letting a trusted friend do the driving? Just watch the view outside the window and hang loose. In all selections, Egge’s delight in her chosen mode of laziness comes across clearly.
Let’s face it. Lazy people are rebels. They make terrible slaves, lousy students to indoctrinate, bad spouses to shape after marriage, etc. They can be pains in the butt to everybody but themselves. What some people consider lazy others may call independent.
And they can make marvelous lovers, those individuals that take things easy and slow. That’s the kind of person Egge aspires to, in her own dawdling way.
She backs up her singing with some nimble guitar picking. The production makes the instrumentation on the record seem sparse, but always in a big way. Whether it’s Egge’s letting her strings reverberate or its the work of guest musicians like Anton Fier (Golden Palominos) Tony Scherr (Willie Nelson), Jane Scarpantoni (R.E.M.) and Jason Mercer (Ron Sexsmith), the music forms a sonic landscape that’s cinematic in its grand scope. It creates the illusion of big distances in an intimate setting.
This may just be a covers record, another tribute to something, but Egge transcends these limitations. She makes you want to spend all day in bed, waste time, or just spend the day in the sunshine. We’d all be better off if we listened to her.
ANA EGGE/Lazy Days: Building her own career much the same way she built her own guitar and built her own house, Egge takes time off from writing her own material to play tribute to chilling out. Fittingly, this covers album took three years to make as she left the comforts of the southwest and headed off to Brooklyn where this set took shape. Pulling songs from diverse sectors and making them all her own, this is the kind of set that could give the rest of the world time to catch up with this under the radar folk superstar. Enjoyed by the heavy hitters she rubs elbows with already, if you don't know her yet, this is a fine entry for you and to stop to her pals from knowing something you don't know. Wouldn't you like to hear something that sounds like the middle of summer now that winter's moving in? Check it out.
http://www.midwestrecord.com/2007/12/18/121807/
Volume 31/Number 48
December 18, 2007
MIDWEST RECORD
CHRIS SPECTOR
Ana Egge, Out Past the Lights (catching up, out some time ago): I liked Egge's tribute album to sloth, Lazy Days, so much that I bought this older album of originals, and it's consistently excellent as well. One of the things that drive me crazy about critics in general is the blizzard of press raves and blogorrhea devoted to undeserving, ultrasensitive or quirky female singer/songwriters such as Regina Spector, Fiona Apple, Nellie McKay, even Colbie Caillat while there are hordes of female s/s's that can write and sing rings around them and get little or no attention. This cranky resentment of mine goes back to the neglect of Aimee Mann or Barbara Manning, but applies equally well today to Egge or (see below) Missy Higgins. I would love to demonstrate solidarity with my beleaguered critical brethren, but not when their tastes are so persistently lame. -Ken Barnes, USA TODAY http://blogs.usatoday.com/listenup/reviews/
Here's what USA Today says about Ana Egge's new CD "Lazy Days"
Ana Egge, Lazy Days : Not your everyday concept album -- a collection of songs celebrating laziness from celebrated songwriters. Covers of Sandy Denny's Crazy Lady Blues and Stephen Stills' Johnny's Garden add new luster to the originals, and it's consistently good -- no lazy filler. -Ken Barnes, USA TODAY 11/8/2007
"Ana has the rare gift of being so eloquent and simple
that she takes your breath away. I just love her."
-SHAWN COLVIN
"Ana's an exceptional songwriter, listen to the lyrics...the folk Nina Simone!"
-LUCINDA WILLIAMS
"Ana has one of the prettiest voices I've ever heard
and her songs are beautiful and refreshingly original."
-RON SEXSMITH
Many talented musicians have recorded Ana's songs, including Slaid Cleaves "Fairest Of Them All", Bayou Seco "Fierro" and Laurie Lewis and her band recorded a bluegrass version of "River Under The Road" -cowritten by Ana Egge, Jimmie Dale Gilmore and Sarah Brown.
A folk singer with the guts for the job:
Folk music has long enjoyed a powerful association with social consciousness. A lot of gifted folk singers seem too fragile or precious for the burden of their work. Not so with Ana Egge, confessing loneliness without shame in the melodious Sailor, tackling patriotism without pride in the symphonic country of City of Liberty, and nailing Red-State/Blue-State disconnect on rollicking gem, Wedding Dress on her self-made guitar.- PASTE Magazine
Ana has sung harmony on records by Ron Sexsmith, Eliza Gilkyson, Joel Plaskett, Tandy, Aimee Bobruk and others.
ANA EGGE'S RECORDS ARE AVAILABLE
ON HER MUSIC STORE @ http://www.indiekazoo.com/anaegge
"RIVER UNDER THE ROAD" - 1997
featuring Asleep At The Wheel as her backup band
"MILE MARKER" - 1999
Live Solo, released the year she won Best Folk and
Best Singer-Songwriter at the Austin Music Awards
"101 SUNDAYS" - 2000
Recorded in London, Produced by Martin Terefe
and Claus Bjorkland
"OUT PAST THE LIGHTS" - 2004
Featuring harmonies from Ron Sexsmith
"I love everything about 'Out Past The Lights' -the
songs, the playing, the production, the way it was recorded...wonderful record...beautiful work."-BUDDY MILLER
- AWARDS AND RECOGNITIONS:
Winner Austin Music Awards '98-'99 BEST FOLK
Winner Austin Music Awards '98-'99 BEST
SINGER-SONGWRITER
Winner Mountain Stage New Song Competition Regional Finals 2007 One of Ana's heros- JB LENOIR-
There was only one review of your Out Past the Lights on Amazon. com so I had to add another. Don't worry, it is a 5 star review. That album is awesome.
Ana, I'm headed down to play The Living Room next Tues. 29th 10 p.m.with Chris and the gang as well as my pals The Kennedys. Come on by if you are around. Love ya, Rocky
I watched the new one on You Tube about a dozen times - Its Been Too Long - love it - always nice changes - great melody lines that mean something - congrats
