THE PROVIDENCE PHOENIX – Positive “Editors’ Pick” show preview.
The word “sprawling” certainly applies to We’re From Here, the new album by Miss Shevaughn & Yuma Wray. The duo spent the year on the road (29 states, 125 shows) and the new songs reflect their experiences and evolution. “We discovered so many wonderful people and places in our travels,” Shevaughn said. “We also discovered that there was a rock band inside of us waiting to come out.” Drummer Ben Tufts will help propel their luminous and lively folky-rock at AS220, 115 Empire St, Providence. VaveBlume and Them Damn Kids open at 9:30 pm | $6 | 401.831.9327 | as220.org
http://providence.thephoenix.com/Events/183766-Miss-Shevaughn-and-Yuma-Wray/
THE VERMONT CYNIC (VT college weekly) – Positive Burlington show preview.
Sunday, Sept. 30,
Miss Shevaughn and Yuma Wray at Radio Bean, 7:30 p.m.
Based in Chicago, Miss Shevaughn and Yuma Wray have made a habit of stopping in Burlington, much to our town’s delight.
Featuring an eclectic mix of instruments including – but not limited to – guitar, banjo, mandolin, percussion, glockenspiel and lap steel, this duo has a bigger sound than most listeners dare to imagine.
Strength in voice and instrumental ability drives their songwriting excellence.
Catch them in their first Burlington appearance following the release of their new album “We’re From Here,” released earlier this month.
http://www.vermontcynic.com/arts/this-week-in-live-music-1.2769914#.UGRT4RjORFQ
DAILY EASTERN NEWS (Charleston, IL daily) – Positive feature/show preview.
Musical guest duo find common ground at city coffee shop
By Alex Hill/Staff Reporter
Jackson Avenue Coffee will be featuring the duo “Miss Shevaughn & Yuma Wray” as its weekly musical guest at 7 p.m. Saturday.
It will be the second time the pair has played at the café, and owner Dan Reible said he was happy to invite them back for another show.
He said the two were an entertaining act and their music was upbeat and energetic.
“The guitar work and vocals are superb,” Reible said.
The duo started making music together in 2009 while living in Chicago.
Erin Frisby, also known as Miss Shevaughn, said they were both in bands at the time, but found that it was easier to write and work together.
“In the beginning, we were so excited to be working with each other because we were so much more serious than the other musicians we were working with,” she said.
The two were living in an apartment together and working steady jobs when they decided to make music their main focus, saving up for almost an entire year before quitting their jobs and leaving their old lives behind.
“There’s a lot of swallowing of your pride,” said Chris Stelloh, who goes by Yuma Wray.
He said they realized that it is more important to play music than be comfortable.
Frisby and Stelloh spent most of 2011 touring the country, playing 125 shows in 29 states.
“We’ve played every possible venue you can imagine,” Stelloh said.
Frisby said they both love living on the road, and they would often have to camp.
“It was very liberating,” Frisby said.
They are currently touring in support of their debut album, “We’re From Here,” which was released on Sept. 11.
The album is reminiscent of their eclectic mix of influences and ranges from upbeat punk songs to country ballads.
“The whole idea of songwriting is to do something new, but is also to pay tribute to the stuff that we like,” Stelloh said. “To keep it interesting, we have to jump between styles.”
The two said they have met great musicians and great people along the road and advocate interacting with their audiences.
“You should always be able to go and talk to your musical heroes,” Stelloh said.
http://www.dennews.com/news/musical-guest-duo-find-common-ground-at-city-coffee-shop/article_f23a3940-141b-11e2-91c8-001a4bcf6878.html
AMERICANA UK (UK music site) – Album review with album art
Miss Shevaughn & Yuma Wray “We’re From Here”
An exciting duo lay down the result of a 2011 road trip
‘We’re from Here’ is the debut album of Miss Shevaughn and Yuma Wray, a duo hailing, in their words, from…“Well, Miss Shevaughn was born in Arkansas and grew up in Louisiana, Yuma grew up internationally. We met in D.C. then again in Chicago…” So, after being asked by a multitude of people while on their road trip round the U.S: ‘Where are you from?’, the simple answer became: ‘We’re from Here.’
They’ve both imprinted differing styles onto the songs which can be heard more clearly as they are a duo rather than a band. Miss Shevaughn has a wonderful voice taken from the country tradition; and song writing fitting into the acoustic folk mold. This is juxtaposed alongside Yuma Wray, who plays a lot of distorted guitar bringing to mind 60’s and 70’s blues rock (amongst many other instruments). The combination is an interesting one, and it works well in some songs (‘Go Hang’ is one), and not so well in others. This is, after all, their debut, and this is reflected in the songs; they seem to be finding their sound rather than refining it at this moment.
Other highlights include track two: ‘Mi Burro Esta En Fuego’. It starts with a sparse acoustic guitar part, along with electric guitar feedback and some harmonics provided in the background, a small indication of what is to come. As the song hits 1:11 it explodes with a great riff driving the rest of this catchy instrumental track. Yuma Wray takes the lead vocal on ‘Cloin’s Lament’, a song with a great start thanks to some howling harmonica which re-appears throughout the song. The album has some great songs and an impressive range of instrumentation and styles, but is by no means perfect. Whilst the stories told in the lyrics are interesting, the style is inconsistent and needs some further refining and exploration. It will be interesting to see what more they have to give with coming releases.
http://www.americana-uk.com/reviews-cd-live/latest-cd-reviews/item/miss-shevaughn-yuma-wray
YOUNG MANHATTANITE (NYC A&E site) – Positive show preview with and video.
Do not miss Miss Shevaughn & Yuma Wray at Red Hook Bait and Tackle tonight. Here’s why.the duo’s unique, honest and compelling storytelling.
http://youngmanhattanite.tumblr.com/post/32940651582/do-not-miss-miss-shevaughn-yuma-wray-at-red-hook
BROOKLYN NIGHT OUT (Brooklyn A&E site) – Positive show preview with band photo and video.
Miss Shevaughn & Yuma Wray @ Redhook Bait & Tackle
Friday, October 5, 2012 at 9:00pm – 10:00pm
Miss Shevaughn & Yuma Wray play American music. They’ve traveled the country following the threads that tie the American narrative together and they’ve woven those threads into a sound all their own. Miss Shevaughn & Yuma Wray multi-task on guitars, banjo, mandolin, organ, glockenspiel, lap steel and more to bring to life the urgency of Southern Soul, the earthiness of classic country and the pioneering spirit of 60’s and 70’s Blues Rock. Miss Shevaughn has a truly powerful voice that ignites, roars and flickers and Yuma Wray has at his disposal an arsenal of instrumental talents that underscore the duo’s unique, honest and compelling storytelling.
http://www.brooklynnightout.com/events/294715/miss-shevaughn-yuma-wray-redhook-bait-tackle
SUN JOURNAL (Lewiston, ME daily) – Feature story with band photo to preview local show.
Duo will celebrate debut CD at The Beat Rust
LEWISTON — The duo Miss Shevaughn & Yuma Wray will perform Wednesday, Oct. 3, at The Beat Rust, in support of its recently released full-length CD “We’re From Here.”
Written and recorded over a year on the road, the debut album is a classic American road trip story.
“We discovered so many wonderful people and places in our travels. We also discovered that there was a rock band inside of us waiting to come out,” Miss Shevaughn said.
With the addition of a drummer, the duo was able to expand its sound from sparse folk ballad to psychedelic swamp stomp.
From the opening strains of “Go Hang,” the lamentation of a life wasted in a dead-end town, to the final soft note of “Anniversary Song,” the realization that one may have actually been home the entire time, “We’re From Here” serves as a map of sorts. It’s a suggested travel route exploring American music, identity and the concept of home.
“We challenged ourselves in putting this record together, but we also had a lot of fun. We hope that you can find a similar experience in these songs,” Yuma Wray said.
Miss Shevaughn & Yuma Wray will perform at 8 p.m. at The Beat Rust at 75 Maple St., an intimate performance space for independent musicians and performers. Shows, according to its website, feature artists ranging from “singer-songwriters to Appalachian to noise to rock to punk and to those artists who do not fit into labels.”
The Beat Rust is “an all ages, respectful, open-minded, gender neutral safe space and listening room.” Shows are held at least once a month at either 75 Maple St. or Trinity Church at 247 Bates St. Donations urged to support artists, with a more official charge at the door (though no one is turned away) at Trinity.
http://www.sunjournal.com/news/encore/2012/09/26/duo-will-celebrate-debut-cd-beat-rust/1256156
YOU HEAR THIS (Birmingham, AL music blog) – Show preview with older quote featured.
VENUE: Moonlight on the Mountain
TIME: 7:30 pm
BAND: Miss Shevaughn & Yuma Wray / Motel Ice Machine
COVER: $12
Miss Shevaughn & Yuma Wray
“Picture two musicians, resembling the hippiest versions of Jack and Meg White. They sport wide-brimmed Quaker hats, wear loose dresses, and between the two of them play percussion (stomps and glockenspiel too), guitar, organ, banjo, mandolin, lap steel, and harmonica. Can you even imagine that? Well, that’s Miss Shevaughn and Yuma Wray, an Americana duo that spends their life on the road. Therefore, “Americana” is not a lightly attributed category. They have seen the U.S. and they sing about it with heartfelt soul and just the right amount of indie charisma. There’s nothing stuffy or snobby about their music. It clearly shines through as honest and poetic. ”— John Powell (Angelica Music)
http://youhearthis.com/daily-dose-92212/
SHOW ME SOMETHING DIFFERENT (UK online music blog) – Positive album review with album art, artist photo and related link.
ALBUM REVIEW: Miss Shevaughn and Yuma Wray, We’re From Here
Having spent the last year writing the album and touring the length and breadth of America, they’ve picked up plenty of experience and stories. We’re From Here tells the back-stories of both artists and takes us on a journey into their pasts. Nostalgic and reminiscent, it’s packed full of personality. Talking about the album, Miss Shevaughn says:
“We discovered so many wonderful people and places in our travels. We also discovered that there was a rock band inside of us waiting to come out.”
Most of the tracks on the record have an acoustic blues theme, which is particularly strong on Go Hang, Martha Ann, Anniversary Song and Morning Is Breaking. Accompanied by a simple acoustic guitar and plenty of powerhouse vocals, these tracks do really get to you. A huge amount of emotion is attached to them, making them tearjerkers that you’ll never delete from your playlist.
It’s not short of great duets either. Make It Out Alive and Cloin’s Lament are both backed by electric guitars which give them a tough edge. Make It Out Alive also has an electronic element, which I’m not convinced adds all that much to the track. It certainly stands out from the other songs on the album but I don’t think it really fits with the song. Cloin’s Lament’s acapella first 30 seconds are incredibly powerful and the inclusion of the harmonica gives it a classical Latin feel. The harmonies make it a track that you know would be an amazing live performance.
There are also a couple of tracks, such as Pneumonia and Lost My Way, which have a mystical, ghostly feel to them. Quiet whispery vocals and resonating feedback from the guitars acting as beacons across dark moors make both tracks very haunting. The River Made Me Do It has a similar spooky feel to it, although it’s much more sinister. The ever-present country guitar continues through these tracks, as a kind of comfort and something to fall back on.
Two instrumental tracks feature on the album. Mi Burro Esta En Fuego, translated as My Donkey Is On Fire, is a classic Spanish guitar number, which climaxes in a flamenco-style riff. No Grave To Brush The Dust From is another haunting instrumental, which is the best track on the album for chilling out to. The smooth guitar almost sent me to sleep and it seems to really massage your mind. That sounds pretty strange but it’s true!
A wide range of genres make an appearance on the album. Jazz is evident on The Factory Clock, soul is embedded in the vocals on Keep On Wailin’ and No Surprise is a great pop power ballad. Miss Shevaughn and Yuma Wray are both masters at merging musical genres and as a result, the album is pretty original and full of songs that aren’t like anything else. Although they manage to experiment, they know that Americana country and blues is their strength and it would be wrong to not class them as that.
For more on Miss Shevaughn and Yuma Wray, visit their website at http://www.missshevaughnyumawray.com
http://showmesomethingdifferent.com/tag/miss-shevaughn/
JESTER JAY MUSIC (online music blog) – Mostly positive album review with album art.
Recording review – Miss Shevaughn & @YumaWray “We’re From Here.” Warm heart and fuzzed out soul come together.
Duos are often more revealing than a full band. In a larger group, one member’s vision can dominate. Or, by contrast, the personalities can smear together into an amalgamation without the rough edges. But a duo often presents a yin yang balance between two equals. If the match is close, it may emphasize the common ground, but magic can happen when two stronger visions come together. If the clash is not destructive, two perspectives can yield a rich sense of depth.
Miss Shevaughn & Yuma Wray don’t always succeed in smoothly merging her folky singer/songwriter sensibility with his harder edged garage guitar, but they do click often enough to create several special moments on We’re From Here. The two clearly come from different worlds, but the long time they’ve spent on the road together has granted them a strong mutual respect and border crossing spirit. Neither musician’s contribution can be summed up simply, but their strengths bolster one another.
Erin Frisby (Miss Shevaughn) has a fine voice that evokes the classic folk sounds of Linda Ronstadt or Emmy Lou Harris. When the tunes are more country, a touch of Patsy Cline comes out in her expressive phrasing. Confident yet vulnerable, she gives the material an emotional core. The opening track shows this off. From the simple folk start of Go Hang, her sweet but weary tone slides into your heart. Frisby carries her weight as a player, too. While her strength seems to be acoustic rhythm work, she has a nice touch at steel guitar and electric fills.
Chris Stelloh (Yuma Wray) balances Frisby’s sentimentality with his electric guitar work. He seems happiest turning up the distortion and reverb to create a rich retro tone. On the subtle end, he can support a lonely melancholia with a Sleep Walk slide fill, like his backing on Go Hang. At the other extreme, he can build that into a richer garage rock, like he eventually does on Mi Burro Está En Fuego.That instrumental evolves a moody acoustic line into a Spanish flavored rock jam. The progression stays interesting, with tight breaks and fuzzy, single-coil accents. Throughout We’re From Here, Stelloh’s electric sound proves to be a strong companion to Frisby’s rich vocals.
The centerpiece of the album shows off both players’ strengths. The River Made Me Do It begins with a heat shimmer of sun-baked harmonica, creating a plaintive, lonely feel. The banjo and fingerstyle guitar lay down a dark, folk blues sound. The threatening undertone of droning bass creates a shadow of the deep woods that can hide a world of secrets. Frisby’s voice is seductive, but a sense of doom clings to her words:
Well, the river made me do it
Waltzed right in
And made himself at home
And when I looked into his eyes
I fell right in
And I’m a thousand miles gone
With the sonic memories of House of the Rising Sun and Brother, Can You Spare a Dime driving the groove, the tune offers up its moral lesson like an old style murder ballad. About halfway through, the band borrows a page from the Doobie Brothers’ Black Water to lay down an interlocking a capella line (“Floatin’ on by a dry county”). This sets up the electric guitar to drive the song forward like Jack White on a tear. Then Miss Shevaughn & Yuma Wray drop back to the folk blues simplicity and take us around again for the second half. Frisby’s voice moans as the heavy guitar leads her to her fate to close the song.
We’re From Here’s failures aren’t fatal, but those strong tracks make songs like Make It Out Alive or Martha Ann sound weak and flawed. On the straight rocker, Make It Out Alive, Stelloh takes the lead vocal. Like The Replacements trying to write a Springsteen anthem, it feels derivative. Even though Stelloh gives his best, it lacks the chemistry of the duo. Similarly, Martha Ann’s folky epitaph is pretty and Frisby’s in her element, but it’s missing the moody edge that Stelloh’s guitar buzz adds elsewhere.
The closing track, Anniversary Song uses a different technique to show the duo’s complementary nature. The main push of the song stays in the acoustic realm. Frisby’s voice is full of longing and Stelloh’s acoustic fills are tastefully restrained, maintaining the essential Linda Ronstadt vibe. When the song seems to end, there’s a pause. Then we hear a brief sample of the band’s alternate take as a reprise. Stelloh wrenches a low-fi haze from his distorted guitar, which contrasts with the clean single notes of acoustic. This hint at what might have been is just another way for Miss Shevaughn & Yuma Wray to show off their dualistic nature.
http://jesterjaymusic.blogspot.com/2012/09/recording-review-miss-shevaughn-yuma.html
CONNECT SAVANNAH (weekly) – Feature/interview with band photo to preview Savannah show.
Road warriors: Miss Shevaughn and Yuma Wray
By Bill DeYoung
The title of Miss Shevaughn and Yuma Wray’s just-released first album is misleading. We’re From Here weaves influences from all over the place, and the album’s soulful take on traditional and non-traditional acoustic music is the result of a vagabond lifestyle, having spent a year on the road together, just the two of them and their instruments, in a little car.
They’re from everywhere.
“We went to 29 different states, we played 125 shows, and we met a ton of different people,” explains Erin Frisby, whose middle name happens to be Shevaughn. “We noticed that people really responded to our music in a way … it was new music they’d never heard before, but there was something really familiar about it.”
Yuma Wray is Chris Stelloh. Both musicians are proficient on several instruments, and the Wormhole bandstand at this week’s show will be covered with guitars, mandolins, banjos and the like. An a piano. And a guest drummer (his name is Ben Tufts).
Think back on the material Daniel Lanois produced for Emmylou Harris – this music is by turns ethereal, haunting, lonely, ferocious and bluesy, painting American landscapes in pure black and white.
The harmonies are smooth and go places you wouldn’t normally expect. Frisby, born into an Arkansan musical family, started singing the high stuff as a child. She grew up in New Orleans, studied opera and sang with rock ‘n’ roll bands, and the resulting seasoned alto has a world-weary and strongly emotional feel. She is, to be sure, a great singer.
We’re From Here, recorded in the couple’s Chicago basement, would have been a markedly different record had Frisby and Stelloh not embarked on that lengthy Kerouac journey last year. The songs, she explains, changed a lot as they road-tested them in each new town. “It’s a complex feeling, and I think that had a lot to do with the intensity of travel,” Frisby says. “It’s kind of lonely, but it’s exciting at the same time.”
The music, she adds, “also has sort of a long-distance element of mine and Chris’ musical journey, throughout our entire life, tied into it. A lot of the music we grew up with, a lot of the influences that we pull from, are types of American music that are inextricably linked to our identity.”
Miss Shevaughn and Yuma Wray perform at the Wormhole Wednesday, Sept. 19.
http://www.connectsavannah.com/news/article/107247/
THE DAILY TIMES (Maryville, TN daily)) – Feature/interview with band photo to preview Knoxville show
Happy vagabonds: Miss Shevaughn & Yuma Wray make the gypsy life work
By Steve Wildsmith
On paper, it seemed like a foolhardy decision for Chris Stelloh: Giving up a lucrative advancement as general manager of a Chicago bar and hitting the road with his fiancé after getting rid of all of their possessions except for what they could pack in their car.
In the end, playing the achingly beautiful folk blues he and Erin Frisby make as the duo Miss Shevaughn and Yuma Wray won out over stability and a career, he told The Daily Times recently.
“I had to ask myself, ‘Do I want to be a career bartender and bar manager?’” Stelloh said. “While it was a great opportunity, I had to look myself in the mirror and ask, ‘Do I want to be a bartender five or six years from now?’ Because if the answer had been yes, I wouldn’t have had any opportunities to pursue music. She and I both had this conversation, and we realized that if we didn’t try it then, we’d never get the opportunity to do it down the road.
“At first, we had to set a goal: Can we do this for six months? Can we give up all the comforts we’ve got, the stable jobs and nice apartment, and live in a car and play music? And then it became, can we do this for another six months? Can we do this record? Can we then try to show it to the world in a way that people are receptive to and do what’s necessary to make this a self-sustaining music career?
“That’s the point we’re at right now,” he added. “We know we can do it, so the question is, can we get to the point where we do this music thing and continue to do it and exist solely on the money from it?”
It’s not an easy lifestyle, but it’s a liberating one, and that freedom is boxed up and packaged nicely on the duo’s most recent album, “We’re From Here.” It’s an intentional geographical misnomer, because the combination of folk, moaning blues, Latin-tinged stomp-rock and country seems drawn from a patchwork of postcards from far-flung cities and photos from American landmarks. It draws from wherever the couple happens to find themselves at the time, inspired by the simple things in life that so many others take for granted.
“I remember in Savannah, Ga., we showed up four or five hours ahead of time, and since we didn’t want to spend a lot of money on food to keep our budget low, we ended up sitting in this beautiful park, cooking beans and rice on a camp stove,” Stelloh said. “The only people we were sharing it with were a couple of crazy people, and we realized, ‘We’re kind of living like hobos now. And we can do this. We can dispense with comforts, cook out of a camp stove, wash dishes with Handi Wipes and then take a ‘shower’ in a public restroom, using the same Handi Wipes, if necessary.”
It hasn’t been easy, and there’s been a learning curve involved, he added. When they first hit the road, they had everything crammed into their 2003 Honda Element (they drive a van today), and to keep from having to buy a trailer, they built a plywood loft bed in the back. And taking the songs they heard in their heads and presenting them as a two-piece with only the instruments they could carry with them proved challenging as well.
“We had a tall order to fill live with just the two of us — singing and playing percussion with our feet and playing organ with one hand and cowbell with the other,” he said. “There were all sorts of things we did, and at first it looked like the songs were limited, but once we got into those limitations, we were able to figure out all sorts of wacky things we could do with them.
“A lot of what we write about comes from just being exposed to things. At first, we had the feeling like maybe we didn’t belong, but if you get past the idea of feeling out of place because you’re a tourist, you’re getting to take in something new every single day.”
IF YOU GO
Miss Shevaughn & Yuma Wray
PERFORMING WITH: Guy Marshall, Sons
WHEN: 8 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 25
WHERE: The Longbranch Saloon, 1848 Cumberland Ave. (“The Strip”), Knoxville
HOW MUCH: $5
CALL: 546-9914
ALSO: Miss Shevaughn & Yuma Wray will perform at noon Tuesday on the WDVX-FM “Blue Plate Special,” broadcast live from the Knoxville Visitors Center at 301 S. Gay St., downtown. It’s free to attend as part of the in-studio audience.
Related Links
www.missshevaughnyumawray.com
http://www.thedailytimes.com/Weekend/story/Happy-vagabonds-Miss-Shevaughn–Yuma-Wray-make-the-gypsy-life-work-id-027780
BEACHWOOD REPORTER (Chicago music site) – Brief show preview.
Show watch: Miss Shevaughn and Yuma Wray at Quencher’s on Friday, October 12. From the press materials:
Miss Shevaughn & Yuma Wray spent all of last year on the road, and without fail at every show, someone would ask, “So, where are you from?,” which would always lead to a bit of stammering, “Well, Miss Shevaughn was born in Arkansas and grew up in Louisiana, Yuma grew up internationally. We met in D.C. then again in Chicago . . . ” To further complicate matters, Miss Shevaughn & Yuma Wray had to leave behind their lives and apartment in Chicago in order to be able to afford to be on the road full-time. That left the duo living in their Honda Element for most of 2011.
http://www.beachwoodreporter.com/music/local_music_notebook_lupe_fias.php
ATLANTA EXAMINER (online music site) – Positive show preview with album art, band photo and related links.
Miss Shevaughn & Yuma Wray hit Atlanta on their never ending tour of America
By Chris Martin
On a never ending quest to bring their live music to anyone who wants to listen, Miss Shevaughn & Yuma Wray have made the road their home. Their travels have taken them on a course through a myriad of classy joints, dark backrooms and dive bars as they offer up the music from their debut record We’re From Here.
A fifteen song collection of Americana music, We’re From Here seamlessly jumps from sparse folk tunes (“Martha Ann”) to fuzzy guitar filled garage rock (“Make It Out Alive”). Miss Shevaughn’s haunting vocals weave through the sonic landscape provided by Yuma Wray, and when it is his time to sing the contrast is powerful. The songs “Pneumonia” and “Anniversary Song” show off the beauty of their music and her vocal abilities and when they switch gears on the tracks “Keep On Waitin’” and “Cloin’s Lament” they dive head first into the world of dirty guitar riffs and angry rhythms. Their music is more than just songs, each tune is a story and as story tellers it is up to Miss Shevaughn & Yuma Wray to bring these tales to life. After listening to this record, that is exactly what they have done.
Miss Shevaughn & Yuma Wray – We’re From Here
Video: Miss Shevaughn & Yuma Wray – We’re From Here
One stop on their non-stop road trip is right here in Atlanta. As they make their residence here this weekend, they will be sharing the bill at the Peachtree Tavern with Atlanta artists Levi Lowrey & Hawkeye Pierce. On Friday night, Sept. 21st, Miss Shevaughn and Yuma Wray will be in charge of kicking things off and getting the crowd ready for a great night of music, and with the power and emotion of their live shows this should be an easy task.
So go check out their album, then once you are hooked make plans to be at the Peachtree Tavern to experience them live. They are first up so get there early, then stay for the rest of the night of tunes. Sounds like a good Friday night to me.
WHO: Miss Shevaughan & Yuma Wray with Levi Lowrey and Hawkeye Pierce
WHEN: Friday, Sept. 21st, 9:00 p.m.
WHERE: Peachtree Tavern
http://www.examiner.com/article/miss-shevaughn-yuma-wray-hit-atlanta-on-their-never-ending-tour-of-america
HUFFINGTON POST (online A&E site) – Brief DC show preview in Sep 10th ‘Top 5 For Monday”
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/09/10/monument-to-the-unelected_n_1870628.html
FEARLESS RADIO (Chicago internet radio) – News post (from press release) with photo, tour dates and related links.
http://www.fearlessradio.com/component/content/article/36-press-releases/6743-miss-shevaughn-a-yuma-wrays-debut-lp-qwere-from-hereq-out-today#
UNDERCOVER (online music site) – Positive album review with The River Made Me Do It mp3, album art and related links.
WHAT WILL BE YOUR’E NEXT RECORD PURCHASE?
By Sally Bailey
I know what my next record purchase is going to be, the debut album ” We Are From Here” by Miss Shevaughn and Yuma Wray. It’s out today and if you love inspiring and talented people, you are gonne love these guys and what they do.
Miss Shevaughn & Yuma Wray spent the whole of 2011 on the road, and without fail at every show, someone would ask, “So, where are you from?,” which would always lead to a bit of stammering, “Well, Miss Shevaughn was born in Arkansas and grew up in Louisiana, Yuma grew up internationally. We met in D.C. then again in Chicago…” To further complicate matters, Miss Shevaughn & Yuma Wray had to leave behind their lives and apartment in Chicago in order to be able to afford to be on the road full-time. That left the pair living in their Honda for most of last year.
“We’re From Here ” is a simple answer to that complicated question. Written and recorded over a year on the road, this debut album is a classic American road trip story, unfolding both the personal and family histories as well as the musical influences informing both songwriters.
Rock Guitar Daily described the album thus ” We’re From Here is a stunning and audacious debut – this record sounds like they’ve made an Oscar winning movie based on the Great American Novel. Miss
Shevaughn joins Emmylou Harris and KD Lang in the realm of the great female American storytellers. She is a force of nature, and Yuma Wray provides the perfect home in which to raise her stories. Forget about
genres and categories, this is great music.”
This commentary coupled with a listen to the album track “The River Made Me Do It” have convinced me that I need this record. For all info Miss Shevaughn and Yuma Wray head to the following site http://www.missshevaughnyumawray.com and make sure you listen to “The River Made Me Do It”. You’ll have dust on shoes at the end of the listening journey as these guys snake a highway around Americana, folk and good old rock & roll. It really is fabulous music making and bursting with talent, imagination and character, I could listen to it all day. http://www.undercover.fm/news/16991-what-will-be-your-e-next-record-purchase
ADOBE & TEARDROPS (online music blog) – Positive album review with The River Made Me Do It mp3, album art and related links.
Miss Shevaughn and Yuma Wray — We’re From Here
Thanks to The Civil Wars, the alt-Americana scene seems to have seen a resurgence (or at least a renewed interest) in male-female duos: Shovels and Rope and The Parlor Soldiers, to name two, have started to garner critical acclaim. But they should all step aside for Miss Shevaughn & Yuma Wray.
I earmarked the duo a couple of months ago after watching their video on Couch by Couchwest. I kept pushing them to the back of the queue — fortunately, yesterday’s release of their debut album, We’re From Here, has given me the impetus to tell you all a little more about them.
The crackling intimacy in the above video is expanded a thousandfold on We’re From Here. If I had a million dollars, I would pay Miss Shevaughn to sing me to sleep every night for a year. I’m not picky — she could Skype or phone it in while she’s on tour.
This album is many things: despairing, contemplative, vengeful, loving, personal, political. There is one thing it is not: lazy. There are musicians who have worked all of their lives to produce the perfect album, but Miss Shevaughn and Yuma Wray have pulled it off in one shot. Though the first track, “Go Hang” is a stunner, once the duo hit the electric guitar crescendo in the middle of the third track, “The River Made Me Do It,” We’re From Here never looks back. Every beat, every note from Yuma Wray’s off-kilter licks, every distinctive moan and tremble delivered by Miss Shevaughn is carefully, beautifully placed. Expect to see We’re From Here again at the end of the year — it’s one of the best albums that’s come my way this year.
Plus, they have a truly amusing Twitter feed. How many people can you say that about?
Go Hang
Cloin’s Lament
Anniversary Song
http://adobeandteardrops.blogspot.com/2012/09/miss-shevaughn-and-yuma-wray-were-from.html
WHEN YOU MOTOR AWAY (daily) – Positive album review with band photo, The River Made Me Do It mp3, videos and related links.
REVIEW: Miss Shevaughn and Yuma Wray – We’re From Here
Miss Shevaughn and Yuma Wray have put together a debut record that is simply stunning in its scope and in the sheer size of its sound. We’re From Here is a title that apparently grew out of an answer to the question, often asked, “Where are you from?” Shevaughn grew up in Arkansas and Louisiana, and Wray internationally, but their most recent permanent home was Chicago, as good an American music melting pot as you could think of. In working out the songs that comprise We’re From Here, they apparently took up residence in their van and travelled the country. Similarly, they imposed no limits on their music.
On beginning to listen, I am reminded of Gillian Welch and David Rawlings, but that’s probably too easy a comparison – after all, anybody can see that the band consists of a female folk/country/rock crooner and an ace guitar player. Although it would appear Shevaughn’s an ace guitarist herself… Another comparison that came to my mind in listening to this record a few times over was “kd lang fronting Uncle Tupelo”. But then, there are those guitars…
“Make It Out Alive” is an amazing song, one that owes as much to Springsteen as to, say, Emmylou and Gram. It’s roots rock with some big-time guitar slinging. Similarly, “Lost My Way” reminds me of Eleventh Dream Day or Sonic Youth, just some tremendous guitar work.
But on songs like “The River Made Me Do It”, Wray provides some fairly restrained picking over the first two or three minutes, which allows Shevaughn’s voice to stay right on top. She’s an excellent country-rock vocalist, seemingly comfortable with any type of song… and Wray’s always ready with some wicked, ragged electric guitar to punctuate things in between choruses.
There’s not a bad song on the record – Wray’s a good vocalist, too, and he takes lead vocals on a few of the songs here: “Make It Out Alive”, “Keep On Wailin'” and “Cloin’s Lament”.
Mostly, though, this record is recommended if you like guitars. Whether plucking and bending the strings, as on the pretty “No Grave To Brush The Dust From”, or shredding, as they do throughout most of the rest of the album, the quality of the fretwork is uniformly excellent… this is a tremendous debut. It’s out today (9/11) and you can learn more at their website, or buy it directly from the band here.
http://whenyoumotoraway.blogspot.com/2012/09/review-miss-shevaughn-and-yuma-wray.html
SAVANNAH MORNING NEWS (daily) – Positive feature/interview with band photo.
Miss Shevaughn & Yuma Wray to promote new album at The Wormhole
By Linda Sickler
It was in Savannah last year that Erin Frisby and Chris Stelloh discovered they could live at a bare minimum to be able to take their indie folk music to America.
The duo, who perform as Miss Shevaughn & Yuma Wray, are playing The Wormhole on Sept. 19. “Savannah was the place we pulled it together and said, ‘We can do this,’” Frisby says.
“We were in a beautiful park and were cooking beans and rice on a little stove,” she says. “We had such a good time.”
The two, who have been a couple for several years, literally lived on the road for a year, traveling from city to city to perform. “Savannah was the town we realized we were good at living like hobos,” Stelloh says.
“We were pretty lucky,” he says. “We managed to keep our squabbling to a bare minimum, even though we spent so much time with just the two of us for the majority of the year.
“We actually had a lot of people ask us how we did it,” Stelloh says. “People asked if it was the end of our relationship.”
People also ask how they got their quirky stage names.
“Shevaughn is my middle name,” Frisby explains
“We were on Route 76 in Colorado,” Stelloh says. “We had another show booked as a duo, but I didn’t have a band name.
“There’s a highway sign along that road that says if you take this exit, it takes you to Akron, Yuma and Wray,” he says. “Yuma and Wray — that sounds like a country singer’s name.”
The two met in 1999 at a Washington, D.C., hip-hop club where they had friends in common. “We had a brief fling,” Frisby says. “Fast-forward several years when we moved to Chicago independently.
“We ran into each other, and then would see each other every six months or so,” Stelloh says. “Around 2008, we decided to start working on our music together as side projects to other bands we were working with.”
Then the romance began. “It became obvious to us that we both really had a gigantic crush on each other and that we both were really serious about music,” Stelloh says.
“Our writing styles are complementary,” Frisby says. “We spent a lot of time trying to impress each other with our writing.”
The two played their very first show together in July 2009. “We said, ‘Gosh, wouldn’t it be nice if we could keep going?’” Frisby says. “In 2011, we went on the road for a year.”
“We managed 125 shows in 2011,” Stelloh says.
“In 29 different states,” Frisby adds.
They had to give up their apartment in Chicago to undertake the journey, which wasn’t always easy. “We wouldn’t have been able to do it without the help of our families,” Stelloh says. “There were times when we were literally sleeping on a couch at our parents’ house.”
The couple lived in their car for a time. “We built a bed in our Honda Element,” Frisby says. “We built it out of plywood. We took the back seats out and pushed the front seats forward. There was very little room to move, but it was cozy and it was home.”
“There’s a certain point where you hit a threshold where you dispense with any notion of comfort,” Stelloh says. “By then, it doesn’t bother you to be waking up in the back seat of a car. “
Currently, the two are touring in support of their new album, “We’re From Here,” which was released Sept. 11. The songs are a result of their year of travel.
“We got a couple of friends to record with us,” Stelloh says. “At least two-thirds of the songs have full rhythm sections. We liked the way it sounded so much, we had to find a drummer.”
“Now we have two drummers,” Frisby says. “There’s one on the East Coast and one on the West Coast.
“Our songs grow and change, so we brought a lot of that into recording the album,” she says. “It’s almost a travel journal. It shows where all our influences come from and how we brought them together.”
“That record couldn’t have happened if our parents hadn’t let us take over their basement and turned it into a recording studio,” Stelloh says. “We’ve been lucky so far.
“One of the concerns we had in this day and age of people downloading music is that there’s not much of a market for full albums,” he says. “There are a lot of people out there who write bang-up singles.”
Stelloh says their songs tend to be longer than most singles. “Still, we have gotten a lot of response from people who say they like the entire record.”
“We set out to write a full album that had a beginning, middle and end with a narrative feel to it,” Frisby says. “We even agonized over the order of the songs.”
“We sat down in a bar in Omaha with a notepad,” Stelloh says. “We hadn’t recorded a single note yet.”
Each writes about half of the music they’ve recorded and perform. “At least half of the amazing lead guitar parts — that’s Miss Shevaughn’s doing,” Stelloh says proudly.
The current tour means more hours on the road, but they don’t mind. “We had to get a new vehicle,” Stelloh says. “The Element has been retired.”
“We’re really excited about getting back to Savannah,” Frisby adds. “It’s a beautiful city.”
IF YOU GO
What: Miss Shevaughn & Yuma Wray
When: 8 p.m. Sept. 19
Where: The Wormhole, 2307 Bull St.
Info: wormholebar.com
http://savannahnow.com/accent/2012-09-14/miss-shevaughn-yuma-wray-promote-new-album-wormhole
METRONOME CHARLESTON (Charleston music blog) – Brief show preview
Miss Shevaughn & Yuma Wray
When: Back to Calendar September 18, 2012 @ 9:00 pm – 11:45 pm
Where: Home Team BBQ (West Ashley)
Cost: Free
Chicago-based indie trio led by Miss Shevaughn and Yuma Wray. Their latest is We’re From Here.
http://metronomecharleston.com/ai1ec_event/miss-shevaughn-yuma-wray/?instance_id=
CHARLESTON CITY PAPER (daily) – Positive show preview with (old) photo.
americana | Miss Shevaughn and Yuma Wray
Tues. Sept. 18
9 p.m.
Free
Fiery Ron’s Home Team BBQ, West Ashley
We’re From Here, the upcoming album from Miss Shevaughn and Yuma Wray, is a folk-drenched look into questions of contentment, laments over new beginnings, and self-acceptance, with Miss Shevaughn sounding an awful lot like Joni Mitchell as she tells her passionate tales. The disc’s opener, “Hang On,” discusses everything from self-destruction to convincing yourself that you belong in a particular place. After that, the duo gets down to their rock roots on “Mi Burro Esta En Fuego,” channeling Jefferson Airplane at times. But perhaps the most notable track on the album is “The River Made Me Do It” which opens with an intense harmonica/banjo combo and later sports some seriously heavy guitar. Although this particular song is largely instrumental, the harmonizing is beautifully done. As they embark on a 30+ city tour, Yuma and Miss Shevaughn might say, “We’re from here” and point to the Honda Element they’ve been living in for most of the year. Musically however, they’re moving from folk to psychedelic rock. As Miss Shevaughn herself says, “We discovered so many wonderful people and places in our travels. We also discovered that there was a rock band inside of us waiting to come out.” —Katie Kimsey TUESDAY
http://www.charlestoncitypaper.com/FeedbackFile/archives/2012/09/12/soundchecks-supersuckers-galactic-guttermouth-miss-shevaughn-and-yuma-wray
EAST TENNESEAN (college weekly) – Feature interview to preview Johnson City, TN show (per Adam Morrell – phoner with Chris Wed Aug. 29th at 1pm east)
Band to perform this Thursday
By Adam Morrell
Miss Shevaughn, and Yuma Wray will be playing at the Acoustic Coffee House this Thursday, Sept. 13. Having played here before, they are excited to revisit the Johnson City crowds.
Miss Shevaughn and Yuma Wray are unusual names, and the band says that’s the point. Their real names are respectively Erin Frisby (Miss Shevaughn) and Chris Stelloh (Yuma Wray).
“We knew a band called ‘The Kills’ once. They had a great turn out for their first show,” says Stelloh, “until everyone got angry and left because they thought they had bought tickets to ‘The Killers,’ (a popular band formed in 2001) and we wanted to avoid that kind of confusion.”
They used Frisby’s middle name “Shevaughn” as her alias.Stelloh’s name was a bit trickier.They saw a highway sign while en route to their first show that said “Yuma Wray” and he used that as his name.
Frisby and Stelloh met in a night club in Washington, D.C., in 1999, but their band wasn’t formed until much later. They were introduced though mutual friends and, “had a brief swing that cooled off pretty quickly,” Stelloh says.
Later, as fate would have it, they both independently moved to Chicago, and were in different music projects.
After seeing one another around town and with their other music projects at a dead end, they decided to reunite both in music and in friendship in 2008.
They worked as a duo, until the past year, when they added a drummer to their band for a bigger sound.
The trio is currently crossing the country, performing their soulful ballads and indie rock songs.
Originally, the band was classic country until they “graduated from that and began to think outside the genre,” Stellow says. Now their music, while still pulling from old school country, has been heavily influenced by blues and 90’s rock.
Stelloh describes their music as, “having all components of popular music from America in 1970s.” They accomplish this by using a variety of instruments from electric guitars to bell sets.
The band wants to meet and connect with the crowd, and at the Acoustic Coffee House this Thursday. They will be selling men’s and women’s T-shirts, as well as their newest album self titled, “Miss Shevaughn, and Yuma Wray.”
http://www.easttennessean.com/the-scene/band-to-perform-this-thursday-1.2895966#.UE83BRjORFQ
A! MAGAZINE (TN arts monthly magazine) – Show preview w/ photo
Miss Shevaughn & Yuma Wray in Johnson City
Date(s): September 13, 2012
Venue: Acoustic Coffeehouse
Johnson City, TN 37604
423.434.9872
www.acousticcoffeehouse.net
JOHNSON CITY, TN — Miss Shevaughn and Yuman Wray will appear at The Acoustic Coffeehouse in Johnson City, Tenn., Monday, Sept. 13 at 10 p.m. They are on a national tour in support of their recently released debut album “We’re From Here.”
Miss Shevaughn & Yuma Wray spent last year on the road, and at every show, someone would ask, “So, where are you from?,” which would always lead to a bit of stammering, “Well, Miss Shevaughn was born in Arkansas and grew up in Louisiana, Yuma grew up internationally. We met in D.C. then again in Chicago…” To further complicate matters, Miss Shevaughn & Yuma Wray had to leave behind their lives and apartment in Chicago in order to be able to afford to be on the road full-time. That left the duo living in their Honda Element for most of 2011.
“We’re From Here” is a simple answer to that complicated question. Written and recorded over a year on the road, this debut album is a classic American road trip story, unfolding both the personal and family histories as well as the musical influences informing both songwriters.”We discovered so many wonderful people and places in our travels. We also discovered that there was a rock band inside of us waiting to come out,” says Miss Shevaughn
From the opening strains of “Go Hang,” the lamentation of a life wasted in a dead end town to the final soft note of “Anniversary Song,” the realization that one may have actually been home the entire time, We’re From Here serves as a map of sorts, a suggested travel route exploring American music, identity and the concept of home.
http://artsmagazine.info/calendar.php?view=detail&id=201209092315571883
THE RECORD STACHE (online music site) – Positive review with album art
Miss Shevaughn & Yuma Wray – We’re From Here
Miss Shevaughn and Yuma Wray met in Washington D.C back in 1999. Fast forward to 2011 and they spend the majority of the year travelling across America soaking up all of the experiences that the country has to offer. The duo took their travels to the studio in January and recorded an album inspired by the journey of the previous year, We’re From Here. Ever since I have gotten my ears on this excellent work of Americana and folk, I haven’t been able to stop listening. A voice that captivates, Miss Shevaughn has to be one of the most passionate vocalists I’ve heard. Add in the mysterious Yuma Wray and his magical guitar skills, these two seem to be the perfect mix for creating music that has the power to make the burliest of men weep. A selection tracks from this meaningful album are below. We’re From Here releases next week on September 11th. For now, check out Miss Shevaughn and Yuma Wray’s select track off of the album, The River Made Me Do It, and my favorite track, Go Hang. Keep up with Miss Shevaughn and Yuma Wray’s adventures on Facebook. While you’re there, give us a big thumbs up at The Record Stache.
http://www.therecordstache.com/2012/09/miss-shevaughn-yuma-wray-were-from-here.html
FEARLESS RADIO (Chicago Internet Radio) – One hour unplugged session with interview on Tue. Sep. 4th at 2pm.
MUSIC. DEFINED. (online music blog) – Positive review with album art, two live at Double Door mp3s and related links.
Miss Shevaughn & Yuma Wray-We’re From Here
A couple weeks ago one of my favorite tweets of the year got posted by Chris Stelloh, who makes up the Yuma Wray half of this duo. He said, and I’m paraphrasing here, “Please stop referring to us as a country band. We are a rock band.” I found it funny and accurate, as well as something that needed to be said. By referring to the group as a country act, music writers and twitter enthusiasts are immediately alienating more than half of the audience that may have otherwise given them a chance. It also needed to be said because, at first glance, Miss Shevaughn & Yuma Wray does kind of sound like a country band.
It’s not like they sound similar to Rascall Flatts or Brooks and Dunn, but they don’t go out of their way to hide that there are country influences. I’d say they’re more like The Refreshments, who were most definitely a rock band but played cowboy songs with a south of the border twist. On the first song off of We’re From Here, “Go Hang,” there’s a potent twang in the vocals of Erin Frisby (the Miss Shevaughn half). It doesn’t mean the music is bad, quite the contrary. It fits the song perfectly and more importantly it is completely sincere-no affectation.
Not too long into the record we get a taste of some of that rock music that was promised to us. There’s a great dynamic at play where most of the rocking comes on tunes that are sung by Yuma Wray while the slower, folk-leaning tunes are sung by Miss Shevaughn.
The most electric song, or at least the one that I dig the most, is the seventh track, “Lost My Way.” It’s introduced with a slow guitar riff and Miss Shevaughn’s wailing voice. Yuma Wray takes over from there and what we get is a six minute masters course in changing tempos, guitar efficacy, and the use of wordless vocals as effective instrumentation. Oddly, this song reminds me of something Foo Fighters would have put out (and it doesn’t get much more rocking than Foo Fighters).
For the first time, maybe ever, I actually agree with the song they chose to make their first single for the record, “The River Made Me Do It.” This one has a little bit of everything that Miss Shevaughn & Yuma Wray like to do, and it’s a great piece to put on and say “If you like this then you’ll like everything else we do.” It’s also the strongest song on the album lyrically. I’m not sure how their songwriting process works, but Miss Shevaughn sings it with the conviction of its author.
“When I looked into his eyes I fell right in, and I’m a thousand miles gone. A thousand miles gone, a thousand miles gone from where I began. Down in the basin I went and saw the old woman with the idle eye. She gave me a gold coin to keep me from the law and two silver coins to carry me home.”
The thing I like best about Miss Shevaughn & Yuma Wray is their authenticity. They don’t make any attempts to be something they’re not. When they say they play American music, they’re not just playing to our crazy nationalism. They mean they play music that couldn’t come from anywhere else. After spending a long time traversing the nation in their Honda Element, I think they have a better idea of what America is than most of us. Their blend of country, folk, rock, and blues is a thing of beauty, and I think they should be applauded for making the music they love.
The absolute jewel of We’re From Here comes in the form of a ballad called “Morning Is Breaking.” It’s got Connie Francis written all over it, and that makes it all the better. “Did you ever feel so lonesome you wanna pull the shades? And you pray for the sweet dark night time to carry you away carry you away?” Miss Shevaughn’s voice shows a great range here. Often within the same line she hits something very low and very high. There’s also a great little guitar solo reminiscent of Gary Moore’s more somber tunes.
Miss Shevaughn & Yuma Wray will be here in Chicago on Labor Day, September 3rd at Martyr’s. The album technically comes out a week later at their official release show in Washington, DC at Black Cat, but I hear they may have some advance copies available. I’ll be seeing them for sure, as I’ve missed the last three opportunities to catch them live. They also have shows currently set up for Johnson City, TN and a few shows throughout the Carolinas. Try to make it out and hear what real musicians sound like.
http://music-defined.com/tag/miss-shevaughn/
BEAT SURRENDER (online music blog) –Positive post with The River Made Me Dot It mp3 & video, album art, band photo, live Double Door mp3 and related links.
Miss Shevaughn & Yuma Wray – We’re From Here
By Simon, on August 28th, 2012
Miss Shevaughn and Yuma Wray’s 2011 was spent on the road living out of their Honda Element, searching out their sound and cataloging their experiences and thoughts, distilling them to answer a question posed to them muliple times on thier travels “where are you from”, the answer We’re From Here is released on September 11.
Their time on the road was not wasted as the result is Americana personified – an amalgamation of elemental roots music into songs of real substance a soundtrack for a journey on the rural routes and black tops.
Live album Home Is Where You Park It (live @ Double Door) on a pay what you want basis from Bandcamp.
http://www.beat-surrender.com/2012/08/28/miss-shevaughn-yuma-wray-were-from-here-2/
ROCK GUITAR DAILY WITH TONY CONLEY (online music blog) – Very positive review with album art, band photos, “We’re From Here video, link to The River Made Me Do It mp3 and related links.
Miss Shevaughn & Yuma Wray – Between Bakersfield and Outer Space
We’re From Here is one of those debut albums that you hear for the first time, scratch your head, smile, and then listen again. It’s a ‘did I just hear what I thought I heard?’ moment – brilliance is like that. Sometimes it takes you a minute to realize that you’re in its presence.
I came to this record with a bit of trepidation – I’ve generally been less than thrilled by much of the alt-country/indie rock that has crossed my path, as the singing is usually out of tune and the instrumentation is something less than inventive or adventurous. Miss Shevaughn dispels my negative notions immediately with a voice that is powerful, pitch perfect, and filled with passion. Her performance on the opening track, Go Hang, is soulful and sultry as she unfolds the tale of a woeful woman who’s stayed too long in the wrong place. Her phrasing sounds as if she spent a good bit of time with the soul shouters, jazz queens, and country wailers who established the ground rules for how a woman should sing over fifty years ago. She’s not lazy, she doesn’t slide by, she hits it head on, and she hits it hard.
Yuma Wray mystifies me – he provides the musical tapestries over which Miss Shevaughn wails, and he combines smooth country bends and slides with shimmering, tremolo chords, then thinks nothing of firing off salvos of Jimmy Page approved shards of jagged howls and power chords. Mi Burro Esta En Fuego follows Shevaughn’s opener, and it’s an amazing three minutes and forty-six seconds of south of the border guitar bravado that while by no means is technically perfect is perfect none the less. He gets bolder and bolder as the tunes progresses, combining harmonized leads, brutal chord stabs, and melodic statements that suggest, indeed, his burro may just be on fire. OK – take a little Robert Rodriguez soundtrack, add some Neil Young frenzy, throw in a dash of Beck’s Bolero, and serve it up with a frentic drum track, and you’ve got it. Get it?
These two are some kind of empathetic – it’s like there’s one musical being divided between two bodies. Swirls of steely slides chase the melodies as casually as a walk through a wavy field of flowers on a summer morning. Shevaughn has an amazing set of pipes, and her vibrato is strong and true. Reverberated slide guitars are the silk wrapping of this record, and they give some softness to the chaunteuse’s lyrics, which often are less than comforting (much like these times in which we live).
The River Made Me Do It has the marks of an instant classic. It could have been written a hundred and fifty years ago as easily as last year, and the plucked and strummed banjo (just as likely a capo’d guitar) accompaniment is appropriate underpinning until some seriously heavy power chords hijack the proceedings, and announce the tune’s second act. It all kind of makes me wish this album had been released in 1969 – Levon Helm and Robbie could have used the competition. World weariness never sounded so hopeful.
Dynamics figure heavy on this disc, and never so much as on the stop/start action between the electric violence and smooth melody of Lost My Way. This sounds like Jefferson Airplane meets Blue Cheer, but it works. The juxtaposition of dark and light flickers repeatedly, but not so much as be jarring – somehow they make it sound very natural. So much so that I keep finding myself smiling at their clever musicality.
Lyrically, this isn’t the most pleasant street you’re going to find yourself on this summer, but it has the gripping ring of the Truth. Shevaughn is cast in the mold of the classic Southern songcrafters. Her tales sound like she’s listened closely to a lot of sad tales, and maybe shared a few of her own.
Morning Is Breaking is a mournful meditation that is driven by a gospel tinged, modulating organ that hangs over the tune like a thunderstorm, only to be interrupted by a very brief, but very cool lo-tech, lo-fi guitar solo. Mind you, these terms only describe the techniques – musically it is sublime and perfect for the song. Miss Shevaughn sings this one like there might not be another, and she milks it so sweetly.
Yuma takes the microphone on Cloin’s Lament, and he evokes visions of The Band if they had been produced by Jimmy Page – heavy, heavy guitar blues mixed with a “throw me in the river” refrain that develops into a torrent of passionate wailing vocals, crashing cymbals, and careening chords that slam against your ears with charming aplomb. Holy hell this is great stuff.
No Grave To Brush The Dust is another instrumental, and the interludes give a pleasant respite from the dust bowls, and broken city lights as Miss Shevaughn and Yuma Wray ride the highways and byways of an American Dream gone nightmare. Mind you, for all the darkness and trepidation this album deals with there is never a shortage of hope that shines through musically. That may be this record’s greatest charm – in the face of life’s hardships and tribulations, you get the impression that these are not just the survivors, they are also the victors.
We’re From Here is a stunning and audacious debut – this record sounds like they’ve made an Oscar winning movie based on the Great American Novel. Miss Shevaughn joins Emmylou Harris and KD Lang in the realm of the great female American storytellers. She is a force of nature, and Yuma Wray provides the perfect home in which to raise her stories. Forget about genres and categories, this is great music.
http://soundcloud.com/pavement-pr/miss-shevaughn-yuma-wray-the
We’re From Here will be released September 11th, and Miss Shevaughn and Yuma Wray will be tour starting in September.
http://www.missshevaughnyumawray.com/missshevaughnyumawray.cfm
Thanks to Tony Bonyata at Pavement PR.
http://rockguitardaily.blogspot.com/2012/07/miss-shevaughn-yuma-wray-between.html
MUSIC INDUSTRY NEWS NETWORK (music industry site) – Press announcement posted with album art
http://www.mi2n.com/press.php3?press_nb=155338