Jolie Holland - Escondida

Jolie Holland was born and raised in Houston, Texas; but describing where the artist is from does not explain her sound. A self-taught musician whose first instrument was the miniature piano, she wrote her first song at the age of six, and her first poem at the age of seven. She was 1st chair viola in junior high for two years, then quit and began to play violin outside of school on the best fiddle she could find in the pawnshop. Jolie picked up guitar at the age of 14 and was performing originals (and some Guthrie tunes) on stage by the age of 16. She figured out how to play some Syd Barrett songs, abandoned the concept of going to college to hit the road in 1994, and bummed around between Austin, Texas and New Orleans among visual artists, musicians, circus performers, puppeteers, etc. Jolie came to the West coast in 1996 and has been there since, mostly between San Francisco and Vancouver, Canada. She's sang and played in little orchestras of many diverse ilks, backed up lots of people with fiddle and harmonies, and has always sought to hear and support the living songwriters, as Jason Ecklund says, "the last of the Muszeekans."Jolie Holland's albums are a combination of blues, folk, and jazz, and of course pop. To open the album right out, Jolie first track is Sasha. It is a very relaxing song, with the blues guitar playing softly in the background.

In the early days, Jolie made a cassette tape of her songs, which her friends sold at shows, making it all around the world and back again she is finally getting the recognition she deserves.

TRACKS:

Sascha

Black Stars

Old Fashioned Morphine

Amen

Mad Tom of Bedlam

Poor Girl's Blues

Goodbye California

Do you?

Darlin Ukelele

Dame Shame

Tiny Idyll/Lil Missy

Faded Coat of Blue