Track Listing

1. Alley Flowers
2. All the Morning Birds
3. Roll my Blues
4. Black Hand Blues
5. December, 1999
6. I Wanna Die
7. Demon Lover Improv
8. Catalpa Waltz
9. The Littlest Birds
10. Wandering Angus
11. Periphery Waltz
12. Ghost Waltz

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #18096 in Music
• Released on: 2003-11-11
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .20 pounds

Album Description
Catalpa is the self-produced debut CD from Texas-bred, San Francisco-based singer-songwriter, Jolie Holland. Catalpa will appeal to fans of Billie Holiday, Bob Dylan, Gillian Welch, Cat Power, Will Oldham, Woody Guthrie and Rickie Lee Jones

Amazon.com
Among the most stunning debuts of 2003, Catalpa was initially self-released by Ms. Holland in January, but word quickly spread beyond her San Francisco home of this strikingly talented singer who sounds like Billie Holiday covering Cat Power versions of Appalachian folk songs. After a bidding war, the album was re-released on Anti--worth noting because it makes her the first up-and-comer to sign with the same label as Tom Waits, Nick Cave, and Solomon Burke. When Holland made these recordings, she hadn't set out to make an album at all; some tunes were demos and others were simply recordings made to teach her songs to potential accompanists. Holland helped found Canadian alt-folk act the Be Good Tanyas, and, although she left them due to creative differences, her music is similar to that of the Tanyas--just stranger, sparser, and more haunting. The most apt reference point might be the '60s folk singer Karen Dalton, but Holland's voice is so strong and sweet the nearest analog might actually be Van Morrison circa 1968. Her voice floats about like the loveliest bumblebee in flight on "All the Morning Birds," while the ghosts of Bessie Smith and Geechie Wiley are channeled on the acoustic blues stomp "Black Hand Blues." --Mike McGonigal

by Sheerly Avni -- Salon.com 7/03
She does for folk, fiddle and country what Billie Holliday did for the blues...

Customer Reviews

Half-assed perfection
Among the other rewiews I've noticed several comparisons between Jolie Holland's voice and that of Billie Holiday. In a sense, I disagree with such comparisons because Holland sounds as much like Will Oldham's broken larynx or Paul Simon's African inflections as she soes like Holiday. But the comparison is apt because her voice makes you feel the same way as Holiday's did -- like it should be hot outside, but you've got a nice spot in the shade -- like you're reliving a particularly vivid moment from the past.

Catalpa is a collection of stripped-down, low-fi songs that lie firmly in the hard-to-define crossroads of folk, country, blues, and jazz. The songs are as slow and as sweet as molasses. Holland's ballyhooed voice is typically accompanied by acoustic guitar with tickles of banjo, another guitar, drums, and some of the most delicious whistling I've ever heard slipping in occassionally. While the mediocre sound quality gives Catalpa a lovely patina, Amazon's song samples come off a bit tinny. You'll have to give Holland the benefit of the doubt. "Black Hand Blues" shows Holland's more energetic and jazzier side as well as some Holidayesque vocals. "December, 1999" is more demonstrative of the downhome fingerpicking that dominates the album. "Alley Flowers," though one of my least favorie tracks, shows some indie inclinations and helps explain why Holland has opened for bands like Low. Unfortunately, most of the best tracks lay outside of the first five. "The Littlest Birds," (for example) is a wonderfully happy song, reminding me of Paul Simon's "Diamonds on the Soles of Her Shoes," while "Wandering Angels" straddles musical space between Mazzy Star and Norah Jones.

The only reason I give this album four stars instead of five is that it's a little rough around the edges. I actualy enjoy it more with warts than I would without, but I could picture someone who likes perfect, big-studio production qualities being a little turned off (for example) by the slow, imprecise instrumental build-up leading into "Demon Lover Improv." If you're not scared by the production quality caveat, go out and buy Catalpa -- for all the comparisons I've made it's some of the most delightfully original music I've heard in a long time.

High promise from an unusal record...
Catalpa is an aberation in an age of slickly produced and packaged material: a murky, dim, low fidelity, home made confection, complete with the occasional cough from the musicians, off-harmonies, and tuning up jams. Out of this sere, almost inaudible background comes Holland's bright, lilting soprano and, well... that's quite some pretty Southern inflected skylark in there. The whole tone and sound is exactly as if you had wandered into the musician's garage or backyard and were evesdropping. This is probably the best voyeuristic musical thrill available on CD, reminiscent of spare Blue Note recordings from the Sixties.

So why only four stars? Well, like many freshman efforts, this disc has higher points and lower points, but it's very even in tone, lacking real peaks or valleys. Melodic, but never barn burning (or completely heart-rending). Compared to, say, Bonnie Raitt's 1972 opus "Give It Up" (recorded in a barn), it lacks the real zip that gives you a full-throttle peak. Neither does any particular song break your heart. There is plenty of beautiful, personal music here--even some of the best whistling since Bing Crosby warbled a tune. With some variation and maybe some more humor this would be a truly great find.

My money's on her next album, though, which promises to be shockingly good.

Lovely, to say the least.
I heard "All The Morning Birds" one lonely evening in June 2003 on listener supported/free form radio WFMU and immediately felt an overwhelming surge of comfort flow from mind to body. As I recall, I was actually stunned while listening to this most hauntingly beautiful, raw song. Immediately, as the song ended, I called the DJ and discovered that Jolie Holland was my new favorite lady songwriter/musician.

At that time, her cd was self-released and I purchased it from CD Baby that very night (management contact info. printed right on the disk). Since then, I have listened to Catalpa so many times that I now know every nuance of Jolie's vocal stylings on each song, from trills to whistles to coughs; but each time I play it, I still feel that haunting, tranquil comfort that I felt the first time I heard "All the Morning Birds" over two years ago.

I was lucky to see Jolie perform at NYC's Joe's Pub following the release of Escondida in June 2004. There I met her twin sister, a very lovely woman named Joy, and witnessed a captivating performance by Jolie that I, personally, will never, ever, forget. I sat through the whole performance nearly motionless as I lost myself in her musical ambiance.

Unfortunately, I wasn't able to catch Jolie at this years SXSW music festival due to over-capacity at her venue. Nonetheless, I'm proud that she has acheived that great a response in today's music scene.

What I find to be rare about Jolie is her ability to convey something real, so real that it can't be put into words, through her music. I think that's why people so often describe it as haunting. It haunts you in a way that it touches your soul and tickles your bones, so to speak. And Jolie's soothing voice just creeps into your ears so sweetly. . . .

I've never reviewed a CD before now, but here goes: Catalpa is an honest and raw CD made by a woman that dares to create a new genre of contemporary music by recreating sounds and styles of what has long since passed in american popular culture. Yet her music is not so much a nostalgic recreation of an older sound so much as it is an extension of it's evolution. That's my opinion, anyway.

Jolie, thank you for being who you are. I don't know you personally, but I love you spiritually. Your songs, at times, have been my best friends.