Heyo. I’m bringing my band (Michelle Willis, Jason Burger, Adam Iredale-Gray) to Boston for the first time —-!!!
June 8, Club Passim, doors 7/show 8. with Dave Richardson opening
and then
we’ll play in Brooklyn the next night:
June 9, The Owl Music Parlor, doors 7:30/show 8. with Jean Rohe on the bill.
photo by Joni Lohr
Oops, I’m a little late to the game on posting this —- was supposed to be in the UK right now but… it’s not happening. :( :( :(
Hi all,
Writing to you from my cabin in Tofino, BC. Hope everyone's having a good fall. I've been chopping wood, practicing bass, teaching piano to little kids, surfing, mushroom picking & working out logistics for next month - see below!
1. Tour dates! I am psyched to head back to the US next month, and to the UK in January to play with some of my favourite musicians. (click band name for artists' website - click venue name for ticket link & showtimes etc)
MICHAEL WINOGRAD & THE HONORABLE MENTSHN
Nov. 4 - Jalopy Tavern, Brooklyn NY
ELEANOR BUCKLAND CD RELEASE SHOWS
Nov. 5 - Rockwood Music Hall, New York City NY
Nov. 7 - Club Passim, Cambridge MA - Two seatings for this show - 5pm and 8pm
LAURA CORTESE & THE DANCE CARDS
Nov. 12 - Hopewell Theater, Hopewell NJ
Nov. 13 - Philadelphia Folksong Society, Philadelphia PA
Nov. 14 - Rockwood Music Hall, New York City NY
Nov. 16 - Cafe Nine, New Haven CT
Nov. 18 - Riverwalk Cafe and Music Bar, Nashua NH
Nov. 19 - One Longfellow Square, Portland ME
Nov. 20 - Club Passim, Cambridge MA - two seatings, 5 and 8pm
ZOE GUIGUENO (my stuff! yes.) with Alec Spiegelman - woodwinds, Jason Burger - drums, Michelle Willis - keys (dream band)
Nov. 22 - Pete's Candy Store, Brooklyn NY
RACHEL BAIMAN
Jan. 19 - Shetland Islands somewhere - don't quite have the info yet
Jan. 21 - Bardsea Malt Kiln Village Hall, Bardsea UK
Jan. 22 - Gullivers, Manchester UK
Jan. 23 - The Hive, Shrewsbury UK
Jan. 24 - The Wardrobe Theatre, Bristol UK
Jan. 26 - Green Note, London UK
Jan. 27 - The Musician, Leicester UK
Jan. 28 - The Live Room at Saltaire, Shipley UK
Jan. 29 - Selby Town Hall, Selby UK
Jan. 30 - Kitchen Garden Cafe, Birmingham UK
Feb. 1 - Celtic Connections, Glasgow UK
***All US shows require proof of vaccination for entry.***
2. I made my album Secret Admirer into a CD. I was on the fence about making CDs.... who even buys 'em? Isn't it wasteful? Do I really want to get these made, sell a handful and then schlep boxes of them around the rest of my life? Turns out yes, I do. Mariel Vandersteel designed it - highly recommend! Her company is called Sirkel Sirkel. The cover art is by Jeremy Herrmann; he makes such weird wonderful stuff.
If you'd like one, or ten (give to yr friends!) you can order it here.
3. I put up a couple videos on Youtube from a live-stream I did last spring in Victoria, at my high school sax teacher's house. I got Sam Tudor to edit these for me... thanks Sam! The songs are Firefly, from Secret Admirer, and this new song Light Under the Door which will be on my new album.
That's all for now, thanks for reading -- maybe see you out there?
Zoe
p.s. Fans of the late great drummer Paul Motian - there is a new documentary out about his life, called Motian in Motion. It's on Vimeo. And this is so bizarre, but me 'n Taylor Ashton make a split second cameo in it - busking in Central Park! (I miss busking with you Taylor!)
p.p.s. interested in upright bass lessons? or getting some as a present for someone in your life? My bass course over on Peghead Nation is geared towards beginners. It goes through some simple country and folk songs, then gets into a few easy jazz standards. Also some Roches, Talking Heads and Mary Margaret O'Hara thrown in for good measure.
p.p.p.s. My musical alma mater, Della Mae, put out a new album recently, called Family Reunion. It's so good! it's grassy and driving and the lyrics are bright and alive and fun and heartbreaking... all the things.
performing w/ Rachel Baiman in Crossville, TN, July 2021. Photo by Jared Searcy
Laura Cortese & the Dance Cards. Photo by Beth Chalmers
Michael Winograd & Dan Blacksberg, Brooklyn June 2021. photo by me
Thistle seeds. Not related to this post . photo by me
Hi all,
I have a new music video out for my song "Change of Season".
I spent the first couple months of the pandemic upstate NY with my friend Tom Krueger. We went for a hike every single day. It was non-negotiable. The routine was dialed in: water bottles, a clementine each, pants tucked into socks to deter ticks (are there really ticks even in the snow? We weren't taking any chances.)
Tom started taking all these short iPhone videos of me walking on the trails, at first for no particular reason. One day, on what was supposed to be a more ambitious outing, we were delayed for at least an hour by an irresistible ledgeful of icicles. Tom asked didn't I have some kind of snowy song that needed a music video...
The chorus goes "A change of season brings a change of heart / what was getting me so down, I do not know / January hides the dirty parts / underneath the snow". Alec Spiegelman (who produced this song, and the album that it's from, Secret Admirer) helped me finish writing the lyrics, walking around Ditmas Park on a studio break. I remember debating with him - wasn't January a little late for the first snow? But then that year (2019?) January DID end up bringing the first snowfall, in NYC... and besides, it was a month that rolled off the tongue and had a fitting number of syllables. It doesn't matter: we all know how it feels. How when the seasons change, and things look different and smell different and sound different, it has the power to shake you out of - or at least temporarily relieve - whatever funk you might be in.
Whichever month is bringing you this transformation, in this song, it's January, and here we are. I got my friend Sam Tudor (who is also a great songwriter, and he has a live-stream this Sunday) to edit together Tom's footage, and I think he nailed it.
This song features the flugelhorn playing of Nadje Noordhuis, who I discovered playing duo with James Shipp at a house concert in Brooklyn some years ago. Also we have the most-excellent Robin MacMillan on drums (I think we restricted him to just floor tom for this song), who's all over the album. He's also on Alec's latest album Airplane Mode.
This video wouldn't exist were it not for TK's boundless enthusiasm, creativity, initiative, see-it-through-ness, love and support. Miss you pal.
Thanks for reading, and I hope you're all doing alright and getting outside as much as possible, wherever you live!
Love,
Zoe
My album “Secret Admirer” was released in June 2020. Check out this great review by Montreal-based composer Nick Teehan.
SECRET ADMIRER
I’m excited to dig into this work from Zoe Guigueno. Zoe is a Humber College alumnus from British Columbia who moved to Brooklyn and has lived there for the better part of decade as a touring bass player with a load of US groups and artists. I know her best for Canadian groups Words Around the Waist and Fish and Bird. I mention this brief bio because it’s a big step when an artist decides to step out on their own as a leader with this much experience on the road. This is Zoe’s debut full length as a singer/songwriter.
I really like this new development. Zoe writes in this great mixture of Joni Mitchell-esque prose and shortened frenetic phrases that remind me of Lucinda Wiliams or Patti Smith. Zoe’s experience and calm washes over this whole recording, the steady hand is now leading a tiny orchestra. It’s illuminating. Deeply personal and exposed narratives amid warm, and present arrangements. A measured economy of words which give them the weight and breadth that eminently reminds me of her skillful support of other musicians for all these years.
Gettin Away with It is a fun and simple song with this really nicely crafted arrangement that feels like a rent party full of high-art minimalist pop musicians. Changing Seasons tells a meticulous and small inner story infinitely relatable; vivid equinox walks powered by deep whiffs of wet and brittle leaves. Zoe’s style has a smirk that always seems to lead back to a little piece of childhood wonder. When I heard Shoreward, I recalled that Zoe told me she used to commute to school by boat as a child. I feel the same pagan nostalgic quietness in Firefly and In the Water.
I really like the production on this record. There’s a clearness not to be mistaken for ‘clean’. I feel like I can hear the hairs on the bow and the wood in the reeds. Alec Spiegelman produced and engineered this album. All the details feel very present in the best way.
There’s this tacet theme here of Zoe the Explorer; untethered but with strong roots searching for “more places to walk, people to love, this is what we live for.” I wonder where Zoe’s calm curiosity will lead next.
https://zoeguigueno.bandcamp.com/album/secret-admirer-2
I am thrilled that the Bluegrass Situation is premiering “Shoreward”, a song from my upcoming album Secret Admirer, out June 5th.
https://thebluegrasssituation.com/read/listen-zoe-guigueno-shoreward/
This song is about nature stopping us in our tracks; it’s about not taking our resources or way of life for granted. Taylor Ashton wrote the lyrics and I wrote the music — originally it was a commissioned piece for his grandparents, about the fishing industry in Newfoundland. In the current global situation, however, we can ask the same questions: Do we push forward, or do we wait out the storm that forced our boats shoreward?
Musicians:
Zoe Guigueno - guitars, bass, vocals
Taylor Ashton - harmony vocals
Alec Spiegelman - synth, alto flute, nylon string guitar
Adam Iredale-Gray - fiddle
Robin MacMillan - drums
Produced & engineered by Alec Spiegelman
Hey everyone,
I hope this letter finds you well. I just spent a couple weeks on the west coast, hiking in the woods and visiting family and friends around Vancouver Island and the Gulf Islands, where I’m from. We always do a polar bear swim on New Years Day down at Campbell Bay on Mayne Island. It is one of the best feelings, a cold water plunge. We walked out to Edith Point afterwards which is where I took the above photo (on my recently acquired K1000!! I am new to cameras and photography and am eager for feedback, criticism, advice, lessons?)
But I’m back home in Brooklyn now and I’ve got lots of music things coming up to share with you.
Today, January 17: Della Mae's 4th album on Rounder Records, Headlight, is now released! So many people were involved in bringing this album to life, too many to list (many featured in this new video!), and there's so much I could say describing the album's themes and inspirations - but I just want to say this: Celia, Kimber & Jenni Lyn - you guys are such hard workers, such incredible musicians, such inspiring people. I'm proud to have made this album with you all.
January 18th: This Saturday night (tomorrow!) I am playing a show in Brooklyn at Pete’s Candy Store, 8pm. This is a “Zoe” show of the songs on my upcoming album. I’ll play guitar and will be joined by Jason Burger on drums (check out his creation, witchduck), Andrew DiMola on bass, and Alec Spiegelman on perhaps bass clarinet and synth (Alec produced my two albums, & has a solo album coming out soon, too!). I'm working on nailing down a release date for my album, and am generally working on booking shows, getting the layout done (I'm working with graphic designer Benedict Kupstas, check him out, he's great). The cover art is gonna be a piece by Brooklyn artist Jeremy Herrmann (check out his instagram: @gerrmtheworrm)
Later in January: Folk Alliance down in New Orleans. I’ll be there with Laura Cortese & the Dance Cards, showcasing the material we recorded last spring in Belgium. That album is coming out very very soon too! On Compass Records! I'll also be doing a solo set at FAI on Wednesday night (at midnight in the Mavens room.)
February 1: I’ll be playing with Elana Brody at the Way Station, up on Washington in Crown Heights (Brooklyn). Elana is a helluva singer, piano player, songwriter. I’m thrilled to play with her again. 8pm. (Also ---- come with us after to the book launch (of photography!) /album (of music!) release of Jeremy Gustin / The Ah, at STEP BONE CUT Bar, on Cook street in Williamsburg. I’m not part of this show, just plugging because I’m a big fan.)
Feb 6: My yiddish-klezmer-band Tsibele is playing at Barbès (Brooklyn), at 10pm. Among our new material is a Yiddish translation of one of my new songs! .. and I'll tell you that Tsibele's doing a three-month residency at Barbès - other dates are March 5th (this one will have a sub bass player) and April 2nd (i'll be at that one).
Feb 14: Valentine’s Day can mean free bungee jumping if you go naked, or a free drink on Southwest Airlines. In my life this year it means I am playing at the House of Love concert series in Red Hook (brooklyn), which is kind of like a mini Tiny Desk as far as my personal dream gigs go. I’ll be playing electric bass with Eau Claire, WI based artist Shane Leonard. Shane’s music is catchy, tight, emotional, direct. RSVP to houseofloveconcerts@gmail.com for a spot. It gets crowded in there.
Feb 23: I’ll be playing a solo set at the Back Room in Berkeley, CA, 8:30pm, on a co-bill with Colin Cotter. Please tell your Bay Area friends! I booked this show since I’m going to be in the vicinity to tape (just let me use that word, it sounds nicer) some more bass lessons for Peghead Nation. Peg what? Peghead Nation is a platform that offers music lessons on a variety of instruments. You pay about $20/month to subscribe and you get at least one new lesson a month and access to articles and various musical resources... and you can correspond with the instructors too. If you or someone you know has always wanted to learn bass, mandolin, guitar, fiddle… but don’t have access to a teacher in your area, or just want to do an online course, check it out.
(That said, I'm also getting more into teaching in general these days, in person or over Skype or whatnot, just putting that out there. If you want to send anyone my way.)
March 6-14: Going to Germany with Michael Winograd & the Honorable Mentshn (have you heard Winograd’s album, Kosher Style? It. Is. Fantastic.) to play a klezmer festival in Fürth! And then will be backing up Geoff Berner at the same fest, which is such a trip. I’ve been seeing Geoff around at Canadian folk festival stages since even before my Fish & Bird days. Geoff in his white suit, down on the stage at the main hall at ArtsWells, screaming about police and disease and religion and corruption and alcohol. One time Fish & Bird and Geoff were on a workshop set at Brandon Folk Fest, and Geoff played Elvis Costello’s scathing “Tramp the Dirt Down”, and afterwards we talked about Ondaatje novels, in the grass behind the stage. Michael Ondaatje wrote one of my favourite books ever, In the Skin of a Lion. He also wrote an amazing novel called Coming Through Slaughter, which inspired the lyrical approach to my song “Northern Ontario” (on my EP Five Songs).
And speaking of Fish & Bird – that’s a band I was in with my longtime BC pals Adam Iredale-Gray, Taylor Ashton, Ryan Boeur and Ben Kelly -- we made albums and toured the expanses of Canada in a Mitsubishi Delica converted to run on waste vegetable oil... both Adam and Taylor play on my new album, and I am playing some bass and singing on Taylor’s new album, The Romantic (coming out Feb 28 on Signature Sounds, that’s another February highlight!!!) and Taylor sings on Adam’s band Aerialists’ wonderful new album, Dear Sienna, which came out last week. I am so grateful for these deep musical relationships that, despite distance, time and turmoil, not only survive, but come out of the ground gloriously like mushrooms after a rain. And I really love this photo Taylor took of me (see below) another lifetime ago, on a F&B tour, while I made a coffee in a parking lot in Jasper National Park before taking a driving shift. This was the first time I’d been down highway 93 in the Rockies and I almost drove off the road for the stunning beauty. I remember that night or the following day writing most of the lyrics to “Columbia Icefield”, which is also on Five Songs, on the back of a WestJet boarding pass.
Ok!! Thank you for reading! More things to come sometime. Hope to see you out there.
Zoe
In Brooklyn there lives a most unique and compelling creator named Alice Bierhorst, who I've had the great pleasure of making music (mostly free-improv in her basement) with over the last few years. I am not on this recording, but I got to play a toy piano on a park bench in this magical music video for Alice's song "Not Like the Movies".
I am very proud to be part of Laura Cortese & the Dance Cards' new music video for their song "Pace Myself". The video celebrates female musicians from all around the world.
