Heather was our Grand Prize winner in our Sonic Bids/Fresh Produce contest.
Her song, "Turn" was picked by our panel of judges over 322 others.
The
Boston Globe said she "couldn't hit a sour note if she tried." The L.A.
Daily News declared her voice, "as evocative as Emmylou Harris'." And
No Depression called her music "smart...honest...stirring." Now, roots-music
aficionados who keep hearing the name Heather Waters can at last discover for
themselves what has inspired the ongoing buzz.
shadow of you, Waters' first
full-length album, fuses elements of bluegrass, stone country and the singer-songwriter
genre into a brew that is at once a timeless evocation of indigenous American
music and the distinctive expression of a singular artist. Bassist Sheldon Gomberg
(Rickie Lee Jones, Warren Zevon) stepped in as producer with pedal steel player
Eric Heywood (Son Volt, Alejandro Escovedo) and drummer Craig Macintyre (Josh
Groban) anchoring the band. A number of in-demand players also contributed, including
Wallflower Rami Jaffee, Don Heffington (Bob Dylan, Emmylou Harris), Tony Gilkyson
(Lone Justice, X) Greg Leisz (who hasn't he played with?) and David Kalish (Rickie
Lee Jones). Legendary Americana artists David Rawlings and Gillian Welch also
helped out by lending two songs to the mix. The band connected naturally with
the earthy material and Waters' captivating voice. As Jaffee puts it, "Heather
turned L.A. into Big Sky country!"
From the moment she hits the first
chorus of the opening "Brown Jacket," half-singing, half-sighing the
words, "And there's no sleep for the wicked," with Heywood's pedal steel
rising behind her like a blue moon, it's readily apparent that Waters doesn't
shy away from hard truths. Her unforgettable voice seems to rise out of the American
soil, melancholy yet resilient, immediate yet timeless, as she inhabits the frayed
vines of the dead-end relationships so heart-wrenchingly recounted in "Turn"
("You don't turn unless you turn on me, then you turn it off"), "Hush"
("Life's a little bit sweeter without you in the way") and "Alone
in Tennessee" ("You're bound to break me and my eggshell heart").
In her songs, she's Dylan's sad-eyed lady of the lowlands come to life.
Waters
grew up on the outskirts of Chicago, the daughter of a steelworker and a corrections
officer. Her father showed horses and played acoustic guitar but both parents
always had a steady stream of Outlaw Country playing in the house. Their spitfire
daughter had an epiphany during her junior year of college after a chance jam
session with Buddy Guy. "After meeting Buddy, I thought…hmmm, paper
on Kafka or jam with Buddy Guy? Kafka lost out," she says with a laugh. "I
quit school right after that. My parents were livid."
She said goodbye
to the City of Big Shoulders and set out for Boston, where she cut her teeth opening
for such esteemed artists as Queen Ida, Toni Lynn Washington, Kelly Willis, Bruce
Robison, Tim O'Brien, and Darrell Scott. Her seamless blend of blues, bluegrass
and traditional country caught the attention of veteran Bonnie Raitt bassist,
Hutch Hutchinson, who went on to produce Water's debut EP.
After touring
all over the East Coast, Waters packed her bags and headed south. She landed in
Nashville, where she found a champion in Delbert McClinton, who tapped her to
sing back-up on Room to Breathe, his Grammy-nominated album from 2002. The Room
to Breathe sessions found Waters working alongside Emmylou Harris, as well as
Guy Clark, Steve Earle, Jimmie Dale Gilmore, Joe Ely, Rodney Crowell, and Butch
Hancock. McClinton, however, was not alone in his affinity for the songbird; Anders
Osborne, Gillian Welch and David Rawlings also started calling her for session
work.
Waters left The South for Los Angeles in 2003 and in no time, picked
up where she'd left off in the Volunteer State. She credits either “fate
or dumb luck” for leading her to Gomberg. “We hung out a few times and
over a couple glasses of scotch found that we shared a love of vintage gear and
similar production values. Making a record together felt like the natural thing
to do.” The duo soon pulled Heywood and Macintyre into the fold and began
cutting the tracks that would form the backbone of shadow of you.
shadow
of you is awash in melancholy and Waters admits an undeniable kinship with high
and lonesome songs, an assertion revealed not only in her writing but also in
the outside material she's drawn to. "Townes van Zandt has been credited
with saying, 'There are two kinds of songs: blues and zippity do dah.' I definitely
don't do zippity do dah." Waters punctuates her words with a sprightly laugh,
as she's quickly finding out that there's much to be said for coming out of the
shadows and into the light.
Buy Heather
CDs
