When Canadian songstress Melanie Doane wrote “Happy Homemaker” for her breakthrough album Adam’s Rib in 1998, she couldn’t have known how the song would eventually take on a whole new meaning in her life a few years down the road. With the birth of her first child in 2001, and a second in 2003, the poignantly poetic lyrics describing one woman’s struggle to balance a career and a home life became Melanie’s reality - one which would prove to be both chaotic and tranquil, and ultimately the inspiration behind her breathtaking new work, A Thousand Nights, available in stores and online today.

While many singers-turned-moms find themselves so fixated in their home life that their music becomes an extension of it, Melanie was determined not to follow that path per say. “I had this idea to record songs that could be the perfect bedtime music,” Melanie reflects. “Being in “kid zone” makes you think of things like this, but I was worried about labeling the album as a ‘lullaby’ record, as I wanted it to be more than that. In the end, I figured if I simply recorded great music, it [the album] could be played at bedtime for kids, or it could just be a great album for anyone, anytime.”

Sharon Little had been making ends meet as a waitress in a Philadelphia-area when she scored a record deal with CBS Records in early 2008 . Now it’s time with her debut album, Perfect Time For A Breakdown, released on May 27. Having just completed her album, Sharon has already been chosen by Robert Plant, Alison Krauss and T Bone Burnett to open 24 shows on their upcoming Raising Sand North American Tour.

Little has earned goods critics for her independent recordings, including this rave from Los Angeles area critic Roy Trakin: “[Little possesses] a sultry croon capable of soothing, arousing or exploding into a Janis Joplin-esque howl when you least expect it….By all rights, Little should be a big star.” Helen Leicht of influential Philadelphia radio station WXPN wrote of a recent live performance, “What soul! You always hope to be that moved by a concert.” Such, Sharon has the most incredible voice you have heard in a very long time. Modern, eclectic music that covers every type of genre imaginable. Bluegrass, country, soul, pop, you name it and she covers it.

With Don’t Do Anything, Sam Phillips‘ third album for Nonesuch Records, the songwriter has struck out on her own with a work that’s among her most challenging to date, and it reveals that she’s held on to the gifts that have made her one of the most rewarding singer/songwriters of her generation while adding fresh accents as she follows her muse with commendable courage and clarity.

Musically, these 12 originals slot in neatly alongside the intimate grooves of Fan Dance and 2004’s A Boot And A Shoe, they introduce an important new wrinkle. Written entirely by Phillips, for the first time since 1987, Phillips went with a producer other than her longtime creative foil (and now ex-husband) T Bone Burnett: Herself.

“Like the microphone to your heart,” is how Emily Asen’s music can best be described, and so she sings on her first full-length record Proof LP released on her own Violet Maiden label.

23 years old from Fairfield, Connecticut, Emily writes tightly crafted, folk-pop vignettes that listeners from all walks of life can identify with.
Of the album’s eleven songs, ten are Asen originals, including ‘Play With Fire’, ‘Treading Water’ and the title track, three of the album’s standouts. Asen also gives Coldplay the folk treatment, presenting a noteworthy cover of ‘Yellow’, and delivering it with her smooth and pleasing voice revealing Emily’s evolution as both musician and producer.

Agnes Milewski, 25 years old, born Knurów, Poland, but based nearby Vienna in Austria is a magical female voice, as can be compared to Canadian songwriter Sarah Mclachlan. Agnes’s music is a fantastic melancholic world with a fine sens of composition. People from Austria and all over the world have been impressed by the singer/songwriter Agnes Milewski within the last years. This year she has won the Austrian Newcomer Award 2008. Now it’s time to present her first album “pretty boys and ugly girls“, which this young artist will present live on her tour this year. Agnes Milewski has been recognized as fine composer and leads the audience simply to another world with this wonderful music. With some celtic musical influences, the lyrics show a melancholic, deep and fantastic world in her soul. Her beautiful voice together with a powerful liveband create nothing but an emotional and highly energetic musical experience. Agnes Milewski is a fine state of art like you’ve ever heard in your life.

Pretty Boys and Ugly Girls
by Agnes Milewski
Original Release Date: 2007
Number of Discs: 1
Buy Album: Click Here
http://www.myspace.com/agnesmilewski
http://www.agnesmilewski.com

Frozen Clouds
Falling From Grace
Chasing The Wind

On her newest effort, self-released digital EP Savannah Drive, Maria Taylor collaborates with former band-mate Andy LeMaster (Bright Eyes) to create a warm collection of introspective lullabies, a mix of favorite tracks from 11:11 and Lynn Teeter Flower, as well as new songs, all performed acoustically. Tracks include “A Good Start”, “Leap Year” and, “Tell Me”.
Before her turn as a solo artist, Taylor landed a major label record deal at age 15 with her band Little Red Rocket (which became Azure Ray, which became Now It’s Overhead). Taylor has also contributed vocals to projects by Moby, Bright Eyes, and Crooked Fingers, and her recordings appear frequently on the popular TV series.

Savannah Drive is available on iTunes

Song Beneath The Song
Birmingham 1982
Lady Luck
A Good Start
Leap Year
Time Lapse Lifeline
Tell Me

Maria is also in the midst of a tour of the US, please come out and say hello if she’s in a city near you!

Charlotte Sometimes’ enchanting debut album, “Wave & the Both of Us“, is kind of hard to define in style–edgy, funky, singer/songwriter meets rockergirl meets pop diva–but it’s easy to define in quality–amazing, topknotch, kickass. Although only 20, Charlotte (not her true first name–she was adopted) has been performing for years and her experience shows. Her lyrics are mature, dark, romantic and edgy but with a strength punchy and spunkiness that suggest she’s no navelgazer but a fighter. Tthe record tells a story of the currents that pass through our lives, some more uplifting or traumatic than others, Charlotte says. “It’s about all the different waves that live inside my head and heart, and how they affect others, myself, and the person I want or pretend to be.”Far from being bitter or cynical, however, the end result is positive and engaging; kind of “life can really suck but, screw it, lets go have some fun.”

No Jewel hasn’t been reconverted into Neutrogena products advertiser… (though) but this is her biggest setback : Jewel’s life has always sounded like a country song: Raised by her cowboy dad and discovered while she was homeless, she went on to sell 12 million copies of her debut, only to become the butt of countless zingers. So Perfectly Clear, her first proper country record, should have been her true calling to an art that’s one part twang to two parts self-mythology. But the album’s biggest setback, other than the fact that its title sounds like a Neutrogena product, is that Jewel doesn’t call upon the gritty storytelling of a real Nashville star. Co-producer John Rich of Big and Rich provides plenty of slide guitar, banjo plucks and fiddle, but no memorable melodies. The title track strikes a raw nerve with its slow, stripped-down arrangement. But the album is overcrowded by placid soft-rock tunes like “Two Become One” and “Anyone But You” with schmaltzy choruses and flavorless piano-laden verses. Jewel contributes bland pickup-truck philosophy about relationships in cutesy little-girl vocals that rarely show off her voice’s texture (though, yes, there’s some yodeling). On “I Do,” she says, “Love is a game” — one track later, “Love Is a Garden.” Even the girl-power anthem “Stronger Woman” doesn’t promise much: “I’m going to love myself more than anyone else.” Jewel, prepare to be zinged again. CARYN GANZ (RollingStone)

First thing very impressive is Jo Williamson’s warmfull and rich textured voice, a wide vocal range and crystalline which reminds me Mandyleigh Storm’s lovely voice. Born in Fort Leavenwort, Kansas, Jo Williamson spent her childhood moving all over the United States and Europe (Germany and Belgium) living on different military bases with her family.

Chandelier is the eigth album by New York songstress and MPress Records founder Rachael Sage. Self-produced by Sage, recorded by John Shyloski and mixed by Grammy Wiinner Kevin Killen (Elvis Costello, U2), the album is filled with what MOJO Magazine describes as “warm, intelligent…indie New York charm” and centers around the theme of fragility.

Backed by her regular touring outfit The Sequins (Dean Sharp on drums, Russ Johnson on trumpet and Dave Eggar on cello), Sage shines amidst a slew of additional special guests, ranging from Adam Levy on guitar (Norah Jones), to Todd Sickafoose on upright bass (Ani DiFranco).

With her wildly expressive, moody, edgy folk, this New York City songstress and producer continues to inspire with her eighth album of originals. 13 strikingly honest songs that feature Sage’s elegant piano-playing. Chandelier is her most ambitious, and soul-baring effort to date. (CDBABY)