Cordelia's Dad
"Spine"
APR 1023 ï available on CD only
Cordelia's Dad plays uncompromising American traditional music with a "brittle
intensity infused with passion" (NPR). Tender and intricate, or minimalist and
almost brutal, this is music that is immediately recognizable as coming from
the heart--the hard core--of America's musical inheritance. Cordelia's Dad
taps into deep veins of American experience and musical tradition, forging a
sound that is just as surprising as it is familiar.
Fronted by Tim Eriksen, widely regarded as one of the finest ballad singers in
North America, Cordelia's Dad is Eriksen (vocals, guitar, banjo), Cath Oss
(vocals, mountain dulcimer, accordion), Peter Irvine (vocals, frame drum), and
Laura Risk (fiddle, vocals). Their spine-chilling performances of New England
and Appalachian songs and tunes have won them devoted followings throughout
the Western Hemisphere on college campuses, in the alternative rock scene, and
on the folk circuit. The power and appeal of their music transcends the
confines of any scene, and "rocks harder than anything on mainstream radio."
Cordelia's Dad has performed at many of the world's major acoustic festivals
and venues, as well as at its most notorious rock clubs. The music has been
called "vibrant," "transcendent," "transporting," "breath-taking," and
"scandalous;" the band has been called "more alternative than alternative,"
and "the best band in America." Cordelia's Dad has shared the stage with
Nirvana, the Lemonheads, Weezer, Uncle Tupelo, Jane Siberry, a Subtle Plague,
Waterson:Carthy, Peggy Seeger, Dwight Diller, Archers of Loaf, and hundreds
more. They've received top marks everywhere from National Public Radio and
"Rolling Stone" to Radio Prague and "TimeOut" magazine.
The long-awaited "Spine" is the band's most emotionally charged and ground-
breaking effort to date. Recorded by famed alternative rock producer Steve
Albini (Nirvana, PJ Harvey, Jimmy Page and Robert Plant), "Spine" embodies the
common ground between American traditional music and the hard-edged savvy of
the best contemporary rock.
Cordelia's Dad finds emotional and topical relevance in traditional ballads,
old popular songs, fiddle tunes and shape note harmonies, and, according to
NPR, "revitalizes these songs of love and death with passion, taste, and
talent." Or as the "Reading Times" puts it, "If you asked Beavis, he'd just
say they rock."
"Who else has played with both Nirvana and Peggy Seeger?"
--Montreal Gazette
"Semi-reformed punks turned shape-note singers, they've recently gone entirely
acoustic, but they buzz with (metaphorical) electricity."
--Village Voice
"reinterpreting America's musical heritage, and bringing it to the world in
all its raw beauty."
--Boston Globe
For more information contact: Josh Michaell -- 415-453-9356 --
APPLETWANG@aol.com
or Jim Musselman -- 601-701-5755 -- folkradicl@aol.com
Appleseed Recordings * P.O. Box 2593 * West Chester, PA 19380 * 610-701-5755 *
610-701-9599 (fax)