Over the course of her career, Jolie Holland has blended a century of American songwriting culture, consisting of jazz, blues, soul and rock and roll, into a stew that defies categorization.
Having all these songs from the last ten decades in her head and her heart is both her burden and her gift. She dives directly into the pathos of a song, following the example of singers like Mavis Staples, Al Green, or Tom Waits. At first, encountering her songs can be challenging, perhaps even unsettling at times, but as so many poets and rockers have shown us (from Dante Alighieri to William Blake to Sylvia Plath and Patti Smith), therein often lies the beauty.
As was clearly evident in her early recordings, Holland is evidently not afraid of the truth, and there is no emotional core she cannot reach in her singing. Indeed, she thrives in the blazing center of a musical composition, in all its strange and brutal details.
Jolie Holland's current album "Haunted Mountain" was created in close collaboration with her friend and fellow musician Buck Meek and contains five songs co-produced by the two musicians, including the breathtaking title track.
On-line
Website: https://joliehollandmusic.com/
Facebook: facebook.com/jolieholland/
Instagram: instagram.com/joliehollandmusic/
The LIVE ON STAGE concert series is a collaboration with
Bluebird Vienna and Standard
