Vladimir Vissotski, Alan Price, Big Joe Williams, Blind Blake, Blind Lemon Jefferson, Blind Willie Johnson, Blind Willie Mctell, Bessie Smith, Blind Boy Grunt, Bob Dylan, The Band, Bruce Springsteen, Huddie Ledbetter, Beethoven, Dave Van Ronk, David Blue, Dead Kennedys, Django Reinhardt, Dock Boggs, The Doors, Dvorak, Elvis, Frank Zappa, Fred Neil, Hank Williams, Lefty Frizzell, J.B. Lenoir,
The Jonah Kit, Leonard Cohen, Lightnin' Hopkins, Lou Reed, Meat Puppets, Mississippi John Hurt, Muddy Waters, Neil Young, Nico, Nirvana, Odetta, Otis Redding, Patti Smith, Phil Ochs, The Pogues, Ramblin' Jack Elliot, Rev. Gary Davis, Sister Rosetta Tharpe, Skip James, The Staple Singers, Townes Van Zandt, Ted Hawkins, Vic Chesnutt, Woody Guthrie, Pete Seeger, Jimmie Rodgers, Coltrane, Benny Goodman, Artie Shaw, Billie Holiday, Gene Krupa, Stravinsky, Sol Wajchman.
Sounds Like
The Unkindness Of Ravens came today
in the mail. I'm listening to it now.
And I love it, the songs, the good
sound of it, the intimacy of it, old
spirits joined in its newness.
I will introduce your music to my
show's listeners on March 1st.
Thank you for sharing yourselves in
music, and for getting a copy of
this beautiful recording to me.
Duke Lang
Better Days Radio
coopradio.org, 102.7FM
Vancouver, BC
" . . . these ten tales explore the darker side of life with word play that is evocative of a quiet desperation, a cool loathing of unavoidable situations or perhaps a pitiful yearning for redemption. Take this as an example: “There’s something in the night/even when you’re blind/taking drugs to cancel time/that keeps your eyes wide open/and your heart clenched tight” (‘There’s Something In The Night’) or the near genius of: “Marie was born in Santa Fe/with saxophone and pretty lace/she’d play for food or spread her thighs/depending on the moon/and on its hollow bones of solitude” (‘Marie’). There’s plenty more where these gems came from and with scarcely a track less than five, six or seven minutes long there’s plenty of scope for developing the themes."
Paul Villers, Americana UK
I cannot urge fans of all sorts of folk music enough that they should not miss out on The Unkindness of Ravens. The opening track alone is sufficient to pay for this debut CD, but there are nine other gems just waiting to be discovered.
Jennifer Patton, Editor
Delusions of Adequacy
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Blind Willies perform If You Was A Good Pimp, 6/22/07:
If the Devil went down to San Francisco where Blind Willies are located and challenged Annie to a fiddlin' contest it would be no contest because you cannot fiddle like this without divine intervention. Blind Willies prove once again that traditionally styled folk music can sound aggressively modern.
Blind Willies is Annie Staninec, multi-genre fiddler, and Alexei Wajchman, guitarist/singer/songwriter. They met and began playing together in the halls of San Francisco School of the Arts. They're both recent graduates of University of California at Santa Cruz.
Annie has been playing bluegrass/old time fiddle for more than a decade. She's also a consummate gypsy jazz violinist. In 2006 she toured with David Grisman and the Gypsy Caravan. The highlight of those performances was a full orchestra playing David Grisman’s “Gypsy Medley” from his soundtrack recording for the film, King of the Gypsies. As the featured fiddler, Annie electrified audiences in solos that honored the late Stéphane Grappelli who originally recorded the piece with David. She has also played with Darol Anger, Mike Marshall, Stephane Wrembel, and Crooked Still. Annie was Djangofest Northwest's 2006 recipient of the Dudley Hill Award for exceptional young artist. In 2008 she was named Fiddler of the Year at the inaugural Northern California Bluegrass Awards.
Alexei grew up in San Francisco's Mission District. After learning to play clarinet and sax, he taught himself to play guitar and began writing songs at 15. He was awarded the Blue Bear Celebrity Scholarship to study guitar and voice in 2002 and 2003, and he was a 2003 California Arts Scholar in sax. His early influences included Nirvana, Bob Dylan, Woody Guthrie, Velvet Underground, Robert Johnson, Leadbelly, Hank Williams, Jimi Hendrix, The Doors. His music is a soulful mix of folk, country, rock, and blues, and his lyrics are an intimate exploration of America's psycho/social landscapes. Writing in the popular online zine Delusions of Adequacy, editor Jennifer Patton wrote "Blind Willies play incredibly wonderful music. Alexei is a remarkable songwriter."
Blind Willies made their professional debut at San Francisco's Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival in 2004. They've also played Berkeley's Freight and Salvage, SF's Great American Music Hall, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts Zeum, and the SF Folk Festival. In 2007 they performed with Peter Stampfel(Holy Modal Rounders, The Bottle Caps) in New York, and opened for Penelope Houston(Avengers) in San Francisco.
Their albums were recorded and mixed by Lemon DeGeorge(Jolie Holland, Sundance Audience Award documentary Genghis Blues) at Crib Nebula in San Francisco, and mixed and mastered by Paul Carlsen(Nirvana's Nevermind, Neil Young, John Prine) at Paul Carlsen Productions in Guerneville on the Russian River.
Radio play includes Better Days Radio, Vancouver, BC; Pirate Cat Radio, SF; KPIG, KRSH, WXPN, KPFA, WFDU, KALW, KZSC, KZSU, KUSP, KYOU, KQED, KDVS, KKUP, WOBC, WTJU.
Listening to this album is like reading a book
of stories in a Greyhound terminal in the
middle of the night. There are a few people
sleeping in chairs around you, the
fluorescent lights are spooky and warm at
the same time, and one stark and poignant
story after another--of loss, redemption,
love, hope and no hope--leaves you
somehow elated to be alive and on your way
anywhere. I love these songs.
Sean Adams, CD Baby review
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We got this in the mail a couple of weeks
ago and really like the stripped-down folky
sound to Blind Willies . . . "Marie" reminds
me of "Hobo," a very old Tim Buckley tune
that I have on vinyl on a Linda
Ronstadt/Stone Poneys compilation. "Hobo"
has a cold and blustery sound to it, like a
Northeastern winter by the ocean. "Hobo"
and "Marie" share a similar, repeated
descending melody, but "Marie" sounds
more like the blown-out desert, a cold wind
howling as the sun descends on a scrubby
landscape of rock and cactus. The song's
tragic teen storyline reminds me of Ben
Ehrenreich's novel,The Suitors.
KQED December 2006 Mix Tape Dark X-mas
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Blind Willies 6/22/07, Sha Shtil/Shadows Everywhere, a sinners medley:
The new CD sounds great. It's like Dylan, Waits, Springsteen and the Wandering Stranger stripped to their skivvies, singin' and shoutin' for their souls, while racing through the reeling Mission district night with the Devil cracking whips of fiddle strings at their heels, and bowing dark holler anthems with forked tongue and tail. Well done!
Love the songs so much I got on I tunes hunted you down and bought them I hope you guys come to Aus one day I am a big fan keep me updated on any new stuff.
Howdy! Followed my nose here from Saga... I caught a few of Annies SUPER performances at NAMM so I had to stop in. Wow! Blind Willies is (are?) brilliant!!! Thanks so much for bein' a friend! Chuck Crowe
sf SCHOOL OF THE ARTS high school reunion! at the old campus behind sf state university this friday January 18th
start: 9pm end: 6am venue: the old sota campus behind the humanities building of sf state university around 1600 Holloway Avenue host: class of '04 who?: anyone and everyone who wants to have fun this friday night! i'll bring the boos and music - you bring yourself! my number: (415)794-6694 jaffra@sfsu.edu
Thanks for the add. I saw you open for Rick and Aireene at the Freight.I was in the front row, right in front of Annie's Fiddle which caught on fire through out the set.I tried to fan the flames but there was no puttin it out. You two were smokin and I loved it. I hope to see you around.
