Ana Egge: Home
ROLLING STONE
Lucinda Williams once called her "a folk Nina Simone." But Ana Egge is more country than that. Raised by hippies who grew wheat in North Dakota, the Brooklyn singer–songwriter crafts homespun hymns on her sixth disc to sing with your bare feet on the dashboard. "Bully of New York" recounts a sad late–night conversation between Egge and a park ranger whose hours broke up his marriage (best part: She met him while hitchhiking). Egge's rootsy pedal–steel pop recalls singers like Shawn Colvin, but her sharply observed tales of the overlooked and underpaid feel utterly of the moment. *** Melissa Maerz
CHART MAGAZINE
In The Dead Of Winter Festival, Halifax NS 1/29/09
"...But New York's Ana Egge stole the show, and perhaps the entire festival. Egge throws back a shot of tequila with the same effortlessness she delivers her stunning melodies with her breathy, sultry voice and towering stage presence. -Shannon Webb-Campbell
OOR MAGAZINE, The Netherlands
“The Nina Simone of Folk” That’s how Lucinda Williams praises her. This doesn’t say everything yet because Lu tends to sound the praises of a million obscure names. But if only one of these singer-songwriters deserves to step out of obscurity it should be this tall blond farmers daughter that went to find her happiness in Austin. Egge apparently allready made have a dozen of records and can be heard as a background singer on albums of Ron Sexsmith and Nels Andrews rightly jubilated Off Track Betting. Both her songs and her lyrics are elusively deceiving. Deceiving in a way that they are not Americana, not folk, not pop and not jazz but flowing smoothly in between those genres. Joni Mitchel during the Court And Spark period could function as a direction besides the fact that I couldn’t find any musical direction in this highly personal impressionistic love and life story. Except for Ana Egge’s own direction. Everything is hold together by her remarkably beautiful voice that flows like an unstoppable stream of honey over sanding paper and hypnotizes you into one spot. Road To My Love reveals it’s secrets bit by bit but never completely. This tells you a bit of this singular talent. -Herman Van Der Horst
POPMATTERS
Ana Egge has such a fresh voice and outlook on life that it’s hard to believe she’s been making music for more than 17 years. On her sixth album, Egge looks at her history as a way to move into the future. The autobiographical material doesn’t hold her down. She’s not reflecting on the past as much as refracting it: altering the course of a wave of energy in the way water does to light as enters from the air.
The dozen original tunes here tell of the secrets we share with strangers, the special landscapes we see with squinted eyes, the relationships we know we should resist but just can’t. Egge’s ably aided by the instrumental assistance of Steve Moore (Sufjan Stevens), Michael Jerome (Richard Thompson), Adam Levy (Norah Jones) and Tony Scherr (Feist) and the harmony vocals of Frazey Ford and Trish Klein of The Be Good Tanyas. These musicians are great, but Egge’s front and center. She doesn’t overpower. She let’s the material speak for itself. This approach works well for her, even on her one cover, the spiritual “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot”, which Egge performs acoustically like a folk song rather than take the more conventional big gospel approach. -Steve Horowitz
DISCOGRAPHY:
River Under the Road- Lazy SOB Recordings, 1997
Mile Marker- Grace Records, 1999
101 Sundays- Grace Records/Sodarock 2001-out of print
Out Past The Lights- Grace/Parkinsong, 2004
Lazy Days- Grace/Parkinsong, 2007
Road To My Love- Grace/Parkinsong, 2009
COMPILATIONS:
Uprooted: The Best in Roots Country Singer-Songwriters- Shanachie, 1998
Forever Dusty: A Tribute to Dusty Springfield- R&D, 1998
My Old Man: A Tribute to Steve Goodman- Red Pajamas Records, 2006
Before The Goldrush- A Nest Of Eggs, 2008
ANA SINGS ON:
'Wandering Eyes Songs of Forbidden Love' - Various Artists, Lazy SOB Recordings,1998
'You Know How It Is' - The Barbers, Grace Records, 2000
'Blue Boy' - Ron Sexsmith, Cooking Vinyl, 2001
'For A Friend' - Tandy, Megaforce, 20'05
'Paradise Hotel' - Eliza Gilkyson, Redhouse Records, 2005
'Off Track Betting' - Nels Andrews, Reveal Records, 2008
'Three' - Joel Plaskett, Maple Music Recordings, 2009
CRITICAL PRAISE FOR ANA:
"Ana has the rare gift of being so eloquent and simple that she takes your breath away. I just love her." -SHAWN COLVIN
"Ana's an exceptional songwriter, listen to the lyrics...the folk Nina Simone!" -LUCINDA WILLIAMS
"Ana has one of the prettiest voices I've ever heard and her songs are beautiful and refreshingly original." -RON SEXSMITH