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1985:
Eugenia Lee Johnson said to Dana Kletter, "Do you want to be in a band? We have a gig in five days." Then they had to find a violinist to replace the one who couldn't play. Hollis Brown was discovered through an ad in The Spectator. Five days and five songs later they had their first show, a benefit for a rape crisis center held at the Brewery on Hillsborough Street. They had no name. The announcer took one look at them, all dressed in black, and announced, "the blackgirls." And that's what they were.
They put out their first single, Broken Leg b/w Procedure on the box set Evil I Do Not To Nod I Live, Palindrome Productions.
A first ep, Speechless, came out on Tom Tom Records.
Joe Boyd (Fairport Convention, Nick Drake, Nico, REM, Billy Bragg, Vashti Bunyan) called on the phone one day and asked if they wanted to make a record with him and sign to his label, Hannibal. An American deal was made with Mammoth Records and two Boyd-produced records, Procedure and Happy came out, respectively, in 1990 and 1991.
Washington Post: (review)
THE BLACK GIRLS' "Happy" opens with a middle-European violin figure and draws on Celtic airs, yet it's more twitchy than traditional, more punk than pastoral. The album, the all-women North Carolina trio's second, was supervised by longtime British folk-rock producer Joe Boyd, whose credits include R.E.M. and (more pertinently) the Incredible String Band. "Happy" owes more to the Raincoats, the English punk-folk group that arose shortly after the Sex Pistols, than to Joni Mitchell or even Sandy Denny.
"Strains my credibility/To think that maybe I am happy," sings Dana Kletter on the title tune, one of many notices that the band's "blackness" refers to mood, not pigmentation.
Rockpool magazine review of Procedure
The Black Girls - Procedure (Mammoth Records): Acoustically based trio featuring Eugenia Lee on guitar, vocals and mandolin; Dana Kletter ..s, vocals and guitar; and Hollis Brown on violin and backing vocals.
Back in 1987, North Carolina's Black Girls released a five song EP which, aside from college-radio airplay, went unnoticed. A shame, because the songs were very good in a serene and unassuming sort of way. Procedure is very good too, except that this time the songs don't always sooth. At times, they're unnerving. The songs are well-crafted and run the gambit between beauty, intensity, and ... erratic disturbance. It's about time a minimalistic band surfaced who can utilize the violin in such a versatile, non-pretentious way; sometimes invoking beautiful charm, other times causing agitation. Combine this with competent piano and guitar hooks, intelligent (often disturbing) lyrics, and beautiful harmonies -- and you'vegot The Black Girls. Every once in a while you'll be reminded of Kate Bush's style of Celtic-folk balladry, or The Raincoats' potent atonality. For a band that's been kicking since '85/'86, amidst the generic songwritings of a thousand garage/art-rock outfits, The Black Girls have found a niche. The trio's music feeds the head, the heart and the soul. Good stuff.
The band appeared on Mountain Stage, the BBC Women's Hour, at the Walker Arts Center, The Mean Fiddler and shared stages with X, Alex Chilton, The Swans, Cowboy Junkies, Leon Redbone, Chickasaw Mudpuppies, the Feelies, Camper Van Beethoven, Dave Bromberg, 11th Dreamday, Hugo Largo, Two Nice Girls, Cracker, and played countless New Wave Nights in every college town in America, running the pre-indie rock circuit. Susan Voelz (Poi Dog Pondering, Alejandro Escovedo, Charlie Sexton) and noted jazz violinist Tanya Kalmanovich sat in on two tours. Brian Eno once carried their equipment to their van. And Eddie Money once introduced them as, "some girls I love and I know you'll love too...the...uh....the....uh...black....girls."
They broke up in 1992.
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