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Check Sharon out on imeem!
http://www.imeem.com/sharonlittle
Sharon Little released her debut album, Perfect Time For A Breakdown, on May 27th. Upon completion of her album, Sharon was chosen by Robert Plant, Alison Krauss and T Bone Burnett to open 24 shows on their upcoming Raising Sand North American Tour, which kicked off April 19 in Louisville, Kentucky for five shows, before picking up again on June 2 for a month of dates, including stops in New York and Los Angeles.
Little has earned critical kudos for her independent recordings, including this rave from Los Angeles area critic Roy Trakin: “[Little possesses] a sultry croon capable of soothing, arousing or exploding into a Janis Joplin-esque howl when you least expect it….By all rights, Little should be a big star.” Helen Leicht of influential Philadelphia radio station WXPN wrote of a recent live performance, “What soul! You always hope to be that moved by a concert.”
The songs on Perfect Time For A Breakdown were written by Sharon and her collaborator, Scot Sax, who co-produced with Mark Howard, noted for his work with Bob Dylan, Tom Waits and Lucinda Williams. The album’s 11 tunes were inspired in part by numerous cross-country train adventures Little and Sax have experienced over the past 2 years; those journeys further strengthened a musical and personal collaboration that began in 2006 with a meeting at Milkboy Coffee Shop in Philadelphia.
As Sharon explains, “We knew we had each met our creative match within minutes of sitting down with each other. Scot and I found that we brought different approaches to our songwriting, and discovered that each possessed what the other one needed. Before we met, we were two separate halves of a whole, and now, looking back, in each other we met ourselves.”
Sharon Little's musical passion and songwriting began as an outlet for her grief over the loss of a close friend at the age of 16. She sang backup for many Philadelphia bands and developed her style and burgeoning reputation while singing blues and jazz standards at local clubs to make ends meet.
While she was gaining fans and earning compliments wherever she sang and played, Sharon credits her partnership with Scot for putting her career on track. “Scot was the first person experienced in the business who didn’t just talk about what I should be doing – he actually did something about it.” From co-writing and recording, to taking pictures and traversing the country with Sharon for low-paying gigs, Scot helped plot a course to where Sharon needed – and deserved – to be.
Two independent albums and countless gigs across the U.S. brought Sharon to the attention of CBS Records who hotly pursued her after a brief performance at Hotel Café in Los Angeles in the summer of 2007. As CBS Records head Larry Jenkins explained, “It took all of 2 minutes of hearing Sharon sing and watching her perform for all of us to look at each other knowing that we would do everything possible to bring her to the label. We made it our mission to share her amazing artistry with the world.”
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