traditional rock and roll, old blues, vintage anything,Old negro spirituals, sinners and saints, folks who sing with their entire selves, front porches, dancin with the devil, Lumbee grandmothers, jook joints, creole angels, taverns,reformed bad boys,leather boots and resurrected souls, southern charm, Sippie Wallace, Mississippi John Hurt, Susan Tedeschi, Lucinda Williams, Mahalia Jackson, Bonnie Raitt-especially her old stuff, Leontyne Price, Ann Wilson, Paula Cole- the woman is an incredible live performer-saw her at Lilith Fair,
Emmylou, Dolly, Pat Benetar-the gal made the transition from classical training to rock, very difficult, Live, CCR, Morrison, Tina Turner,Gillian Welch
The Leigh Glass Band -
Even Southern Gothics
Get the Blues
Asheville-based blues troubadour Leigh Glass put the
first lineup of her band together in 2003, but her own
musical history goes back much farther. "I took piano
lessons when I was little...but it didn't stick," she
laughs. With deep roots in Western North Carolina --
her family is from Bethel (Cold Mountain) in
Haywood County -- she proudly notes her musical
pedigree. "My great aunts and uncles and my
grandfather were big-time bluegrassers; in the 1940s
they played in the Carpenter Family Band, and they
performed in Asheville at the venue that was here
before the Civic Center was built. For herself, Leigh
didn't pick up the guitar until about ten years ago ("I decided I needed an instrument I could take
around with me," she quips).
Leigh's original songs are built upon an electric blues musical foundation, with healthy ladles of
country (and country-blues) influences added. A list of her musical heroes covers a wide spectrum of
American artists and genres: Ann Wilson (rock), Gillian Welch (Americana), Tina Turner (blues and
soul), Emmylou Harris (country) and Leontyne Price (opera). Leigh's style distills all of these and more
into the blues idiom, but her lyrics are always prominent in the mix. Leigh offers, "My songs are all
stories that run the gamut of emotions and characters." Though it wasn't planned this way, Leigh
observes that "seven of the new tunes are about men -- or told from the viewpoint of male characters!
And," as Leigh notes, "I'm a female." Yet these are not your standard love-gone-wrong tunes; the lyrics
chart more of a Southern Gothic path. Audiences follow her lyrics closely, and onstage Leigh delivers
them with gusto: "I tell people, if you sit in the front row, you're gonna get (accidentally) spit on!"
“If you sit in the front row,
you're gonna get spit on!” Leigh Glass
The songs being recorded for the as-yet-untitled follow-up to 2007's The Saints and the Creole Angel
have been road-tested by Leigh and her band over the last six months. Yet, as Leigh explains, "We find
ourselves in the studio asking, 'Wouldn't it be cool if we added something here?' and things like that."
Moreover, while Saints was essentially a live-in-the-studio outing that aimed to recreate (as best as can
be done in a studio) the band's onstage sound, on the new disc Leigh plans to bring in "extra
instruments that we don't normally use -- banjo, keyboards -- because onstage, we're just a four-piece.
We'll get a little more creative, pull in some local musicians, and see what happens there." And instead
of simply hitting "record" and playing, the Leigh Glass Band is taking time to overdub (lay down some
individual instrument and vocal parts one by one) to get things exactly right.
On songwriting: "Several pieces, I'll have an idea right away," Leigh reflects. "I'll say to the band,
'okay, here's the vibe, here's the imagery. Now help me create this.' Sometimes I might ask (lead
guitarist) Dwayne Dodson to play long, sustained notes, or something like that. And for other songs, it's
more like, 'here's the basic song; let's play and see what happens to it.' I'm open to both approaches,
really. It's all about the organic evolution of the songs."
In June the band plays the prestigious Orange Peel, made famous by Smashing Pumpkins and Beastie
Boys. July live dates in WNC for the Leigh Glass Band include Jack of the Wood (July 10) and the
WNC Ribfest (July 12). And when the album comes out, a CD release party will be scheduled locally.
Audio selections from the group's energetic live show are available at www.leighglassband.com; look
there also for updates on the album-in-progress. Current plans call for an August release date. -atricle by Bill Kopp
The Leigh Glass Band:
Leigh Glass - singer/songwriter/guitar
Bryan White - bass
Patrick Wells - drums
Dwayne Dodson - lead guitar, vocals.....
Not only is she an accomplished songwriter, she is an incredible musician and singer. Leigh has a way with the crowd. Bold and free in spirit, she has the power and finesse of an amazing soulful and rocking voice that brings an overwhelming gift of discovery to her songs.
The Leigh Glass Band formed in 2003. They have a huge following the southeast. She is the lead singer and plays rhythm guitar. In 2007, the band released their CD The Saints and the Creole Angel. Leigh produced and wrote all of the songs. They have received radio play across the southeast and have performed live radio shows at their local radio station. Press reviews have quoted, "Leigh has a husky voice of an early Cher, and a Nancy Sinatra attitude." The Mountain Xpress describes Leigh as “a heartbroken troubadour, using her acid-etched voice to weave tales of loss, lament and love.”
(Kelley Corwin)
"Leigh has an Elvis thing goin' on when she sings.".......
"Distinctive and powerful vocals deliver haunting, provocative lyrics amidst a landscape of soul-stirring, ass-shaking grooves."
-Michael Farr........
"Fronted by bluesy songstress Glass...reminiscent of serious alt. country artists like Gillian Welch and The Jayhawks with a lot of jazz thrown in."
-Music Chick ....... "She's got the raspy voice of an early Cher, and a Nancy Sinatra
attitude to boot."
-Take 5.......
"Glass is a heartbroken, blues-infected troubadour, using her acid-etched voice to weave tales of loss, lament and love."
-Mountain Xpress......
Asheville Music!!!!
All photos courtesy of Frank Merenda www.mindblowingphotos.com (and Patrick took a few as well)
Contact The Leigh Glass Band at leigh@leighglassband.com
I wrote a song 3 nights ago, it was a night trip I never had before.. overwhelming beauteous and weird.. Imagine you cant sleep for days, and than listen to this song, it`S called I read you 5 Remarkable inspired by someone, didn`t know this would be possible this way.
Gorilla Productions presents The Battle of the Bands Sunday November 29th @ The Muse
Click on the link to check out the band & get your tickets. Come down & support your local scene while these bands battle it out for a spot in our finals!
Gorilla Productions presents The Battle of the Bands Sunday November 29th @ The Muse
Click on the link to check out the band & get your tickets. Come down & support your local scene while these bands battle it out for a spot in our finals!
Online Now!
