Jan Bell: News/Reviews

Pity the act who has to follow Jan Bell. Put aside any preconceptions you may have of sad-eyed ladies of the luxury highrises singing in an affected faux-Southern drawl at places like the Living Room: Bell is not one of them. She’s a true original, someone who seems to be right on the brink of something big. She reminded tonight how she got there, with uncommonly good original songwriting, smart guitar playing, a confidently swaying stage presence and a voice like hard cider, rustic and bittersweet but packing a knockout punch. Not bad for a “Yorkshire lass,” as the British expat bills herself. Imagine Kasey Chambers if she’d spent her teenage years hanging out after hours in bars with Loretta Lynn and her 1960s band instead of hunting kangaroos in the Australian outback with her dad, and you get a picture of what Bell is about. She got the chatty crowd to shut up, more or less, for the better part of forty minutes. Accompanied only by Luminescent Orchestrii violinist Rima Fand (who proved as brilliant at vocal harmonies as she is at gypsy music), Bell ran through several numbers from her latest cd Songs for Love Drunk Sinners (which is an IMA finalist for best alt-country album of the year). The high point of the set was her big audience hit Leaving Town, a haunting, fast Texas shuffle that wouldn’t be out of place on a Patricia Vonne album. Although Bell’s strongest suit is dark minor keys, she also held up her end on a small handful of slow, melancholy waltz numbers. Fand’s violin work was amazing: from start to finish, she stuck with blues, eschewing any traditional country fiddle licks. Although she often went for the jugular, she didn’t waste a note all night. They closed with a fetching, evocative love song for New York.

A fan of Barbes in Park Slope, NYC stumbles upon our Valentines Day show, with special guests Samantha Parton and Jolie Holland.

4 STARS - Now Toronto
A mighty fine album - Americana UK
Beautiful...exquisite - 3rd Coast Music
Completely won me over! Sing Out!

THREE THAT SHOULD BE ON EVERYONE'S LIST:
Levon Helm - Dirt Farmer (Vanguard) nominated for a Grammy.
Jan Bell & the Cheap Dates - Songs for Love Drunk Sinners (Little Red Hen) - Jan Bell comes from South Yorkshire and lives in Brooklyn, NY but she writes and sings like she has just ran away from some poverty stricken southern farm. The album is produced by Samantha Parton of the Be Good Tanyas. Favourite song: "Miners" adapted from a poem by Wilfred Owen.
The Barker Band - The Night Ain't Over (Self) The music is old and new at the same time with beautiful harmonies from brothers Jake and Sam (twins).

Songs for Love Drunk Sinners
"What a great album title! Opening with the genial 'January Morning' - where the rural chill and distance from urban areas is never a problem when there's togetherness in a home - the blend of banjo and pedal steel here establishes the sound that defines the album. 'Birds of many Colours' is a fond recollection of a past love. Next the rocking 'Leaving Town' ups the ante with its urgent melody and violin and percussion joining the banjo and steel. At this point Jan Bell and the cheap dates had completely won me over, and I settled in for the rest of the ride.
Jan wrote nine of the album's songs. Her lyrics are virtually devoid of urban imagery, refreshingly so. Her melodies are rich and meaty. 'Snowbird' melodically reminds me of 'I Still Miss Someone'. The impressive 'Carpenter's Arms' limns a brief, steamy encountergrabbing the now with a traveler passing through.
The two covers are an excellent spare but spooky take of Townes Van Zandt's 'Snake Song'; and Wilfred owen;s 'Miners' an ode to those who wait for their men to return from the pits everyday.
One of the coolest aspects of The Cheap dates, is how they don't all play on every song. Thus the album's sound has unexpected variety which keeps the listener engaged and a bit off-balance.Besides Jan's acoustic guitar the group sports Rima Fand's violin, Hilary Hawke's banjo, Bob Hoffnar's pedal steel, and Nathanial Landeau and Greg Schatze alternating on upright bass.
It took a couple of spins for me to really get this one. But once I did the charm of Jan Bell and the cheap dates totally got me. Hope to ear from them again soon. Songs for Love Drunk Sinners is an album of deceptively layered depth, really fine songs, creative arrangements and crisp playing. Hard to ask for anymore than that!"
Michael Tearson, Sing Out! Winter 2008.

"Bell's dreamy, beautifully modulated and exquisitely arranged folk country blues material, nine originals....is pretty well positioned by the presence of Samantha Parton of The Be Good Tanyas as producer. Marvellous banjo player - Hialry Hawke....outstanding playing by gypsy fiddler Rima Fand.
Sept 2007.

Americana UK – Phil Edwards
Laid back songs about love, death and life.
Jan Bell was born in Nottinghamshire and now resides in Brooklyn, NY. She lists New York City, New Orleans, Yorkshire, The Brooklyn Bridge, The Rocky Mountains, the Memphis Minnie, the Mississippi River, Loretta Lynn, Lucinda Williams, Emmylou Harris, Dylan Thomas, The Waterboys, Billy Bragg and Enid Blyton as her influences. She also likes campfires and old porches, and being off the beaten track in the morning'. I wouldn’t have thought there were many tracks to wander down in Nottinghamshire each morning, so maybe that’s why she’s ended up in New York State.

When I first saw this album in my letterbox I thought it was someone called ‘’Jam Bell’’, which I thought was an interesting name, and I was expecting a mans voice to start singing. But I’m pleased I’d misread it, as Jan’s voice is sweet, soulful, sparse and at times ‘old-timey’. Which is pertinent as she als tours with old-timey country Trio The Maybelles.

‘Songs for Love Drunk Sinners’ is produced by Samantha Parton of the Be Good Tanyas and is a mighty fine album. But don’t expect to get it the first or second time round. This album didn’t really grab my attention until track seven, the third time I played it. ‘Miners’ is a Wilfred Owens poem set to music. Owen was a prolific poet who was killed in the Somme, one week before the Armistice was signed in 1918, He was 25. What caught my attention was the use of Elyas Khan on backing vocals which gives this song a native American feel. Which is intriguing, as Khan is a British born south Asian who also resides in New York City.

So what sets Jan Bell apart from the run of other lady folkies? And there many of them. Maybe it’s the fact that she’s not afraid to show her vulnerabilities and let the songs speak for themselves. She doesn’t feel the need to over produce and sometimes it’s what’s not being said that makes all the difference.

This album features slide guitars, harmonicas, mandolins, glockenspiel, accordian and banjos, along with upright bass, recorder, violin and pedal steel – they’re all here. All used to good effect I might add.

Stand out tracks include the opener ‘January Morning’ a slow melancholic ballad, the more up-tempo ‘Leaving Town’, ‘Snowbird’, ‘Carpenter’s Arms’ - about a one off encounter with a “travelling man” - which includes the wonderful opening lines “I knew what I wanted when I took down my hair, I wanted you right then and there, played it cool like I didn’t care”, The cd also includes a cover of Townes Van Zandt’s ‘Snake Song’, and of course the aforementioned ‘Miners’.
Winner of many awards – too numerous to mention here – Bell has opened for Emmylou, Ray Charles and has been on the same bill with many acts including The Be Good Tanyas. In addition she’s also played Manhattan Women's prison Christmas party with her band, one cold December day, when “everyone wound up dancing”.

Don’t expect any histrionics or over the top drama. This cd contains simple well sung songs. Just the way it should be.

Chuck Eddy – Senior Editor BILLBOARD, Previously Senior Editor The Village Voice

I'm preferring the new album by Jan Bell & the Cheap Dates, Songs For Love Drunk Sinners -- especially "January Morning" and "Given" so far....a doomy prettiness....Jan has a knack for dark melodies -- as demonstrated on both her 9-11 single from a few years back and her Maybelles album from a couple years ago. Now I wish somebody would explain to me why I'm liking this new Jan Bell so much when most of it is done at a near-funeral dirge tempo. (Though "Leavin' Town" is at least a midtempo gallop, and clearly about, well, leavin' town.) Anyway, you'd think I'd hate such stuff. Guess what I like is the melodies. Which I believe are largely minor key, though don't quote me on that. Most goth folk-mood moment: the spooky witchy background mourning howls and bats in the belfry thumpdy-bumping about in "Miners." Other favorites: "January Morning," "Given," "Ships in the Air."
And which are also largely beautiful, if I didn't get that point across. As is Jan's low-key singing.

NOW Toronto
With 450 artists heating up 40 clubs over four crazy nights, you wanna know where to go.
NXNE Features. CRITICS PICK – Tim Perlich , Senior Music Editor.
Songs For Love Drunk Sinners (Little Red Hen) Rating: NNNN - 4 Stars
When the Be Good Tanyas first got together, the sound they were aiming for was probably a lot like the creaky folk blues you hear coming out of Brooklyn's Jan Bell & the Cheap Dates.
So it's hardly a shock to find that their chiller-thriller of an album Songs For Love Drunk Sinners was produced by the Tanyas' Samantha Parton, and her former bandmate Jolie Holland is credited with adding eerie backing vocals.
Jan Bell and company - they're the real deal. Wonderful new album!

Concert Reviews
Toonage @ NXNE 2007

Friday, June 8, 2007 - The Cadillac Lounge

review by Steve Korsh

The Jamestown UnionFriday night at the Cadillac Lounge showcased some great up and coming folk/country/blues. This was a treat for me as I don’t really get exposed to this type of music very often, but I was ready for something different and the artists didn’t disappoint.

The first performance came from Jan Bell who is from Brooklyn, NY by way of the UK. I was immediately taken aback by Jan’s vocals. I was speechless that such soul and volume could come from such a small little lady. Jan really makes you feel each note of her music. Her style was really a throwback to early bluegrass and folk music. Her voice just had this way of resonating her passion to the audience. While her music was full of soul and spirit her set wasn’t the depressing sort of folk I was expecting to hear. Instead she had a fun energy about her, which is what I think really got me into her set. I also have to mention that her backing musicians were incredibly talented. Most notably Brooklyn’s Hilary Hawke, who usually plays with her band Hogzilla, provided some great banjo strumming and an engaging personality that, again, hooked me right into a style of music that I normally do not get into.

After Jan Bell came The Jamestown Union from Brighton, UK. These UK boys really delivered a diverse and entertaining set. They had a bit more a traditional sound that I was used to with a bit more of a country/rock feel to them. The musicians in this band are incredibly talented. Their songs are tastefully written and have a great amount of depth to them. It’s hard to nail The Jamestown Union down to one style of music as every song seemed to take something from another style of music than the one before. I definitely wasn’t ready for the sort of energetic performance that the Jamestown Union provided. They really helped me take off my blinders in terms of what to expect from their style of music.

Toronto’s NQ Arbuckle followed in what was again a fantastic set from one of Canada’s best balladeers. NQ’s songs resonate in much the same way the Jan Bell’s did. A fantastic voice filled with soul, a few tears, a couple of beers, and a pack of smokes. He really captures the heart with his music. You can see the emotion in his face as he wails his unique brand of Folk/Country. His songs take you to every place on the radar: sadness, happiness, regret, and forgiveness and more. NQ Arbuckle's performance, along with Jan Bell,ranks among the top that I saw at NXNE this year.

My night at the Cadillac Lounge definitely challenged me to look outside my normal box in terms of how I appreciate music. It was a great experience for me to see all these talented musicians put on performances that were surprisingly energetic, fun, dynamic and engaging. I’d go see any of these performers again if I had the chance.

Jolie Holland lists Jan in her Top 10 Songwriters for Magnet Magazine. - Jolie singing 'Right to Love' at the piano in New Zealand.