Search - Angel Band :: With Roots & Wings

With music rooted in country, bluegrass and gospel, the three women in Angel Band spread their vocal wings and soar on With Roots & Wings, their first CD for Appleseed. Their flight is breathtaking - founder/leader Nancy Josephson, Jen Schonwald and Kathleen Weber all possess wonderfully individual lead and harmony voices that combine in "boisterous, sad, sweet, goofy, glorious and angelic noise," as they describe it. Their love of the sound three female voices make together is at the center of the group. The chord rules the day; when all three voices hit "it," the hair on the back of your neck will rise. The trio's superb backing quartet ("Chum"), which includes Nancy's husband, Grammy-nominated virtuoso roots guitarist/multi-instrumentalist David Bromberg, provides equally uplifting accompaniment on a dozen alternately lively and moving original songs (by Josephson and Chum fiddler/guitarist Bobby Tangrea, separately and in collaboration) and a lovely version of Chip Taylor's country-pop standard, "Angel of the Morning." The rich mixture of voices, guitars, fiddle, mandolin, and other instruments was supplemented and produced by legendary Texas pedal steel guitarist and producer Lloyd Maines (Dixie Chicks, Jimmie Dale Gilmore, many others). The two-year-old Angel Band has been performing mostly as the opening act and backing vocalists for Bromberg in the last few years as he's emerged from a 20-year performing and touring hiatus. Their singing and high-spirited, sassy, brassy onstage presentation have delighted audiences at Merlefest, Bonaroo, the Philadelphia Folk Festival, and elsewhere, and astounded Linda Ronstadt when they sang with her on several occasions: "I love Angel Band's harmonies, wonderfully strong voices, and beautiful songs!" she proclaimed. On With Roots & Wings, after an opening Haitian Vodou (voodoo) incantation to open the door between the earthly and spirit worlds ("Hey Papa Legba"), the Angels stake their claim to Americana territory with the fiddle-led Cajun two-step "I'll Sing This Song for You." Equally boisterous are "I'm Coming Home to You" and the album's infectious closer, "Jump Back in the Ditch." "We Are Shepherds" is a protective hymn with lyrics by Josephson in response to President Bush's troop "surge." Other standouts: "Place of Grace," sung by Schonwald, about a couple staying together for the sake of their children; "Drown in the Fountain of Good," a slow gospel blues eerily ornamented Bromberg's mournful National steel guitar and Maines' distorted pedal steel; "Moon Over Montgomery," a sad portrait of the working class; and "Cold Lonesome Down in Blackbird Creek," a very blue bluegrass lament sung by Weber.