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Artist: Sara Shiloh Rae and Bluebird Junction
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Sara Shiloh Rae and Bluebird Junction:

The Sondheim Project

Creating a truly unique,original sound and a new musical vocabulary is a lofty goal for most bands. With their second album, The Sondheim Project, Sara Shiloh Rae & Bluebird Junction have done just that and more.

This is Stephen Sondheim as he has never been heard before. With five truly original arrangements of classics like “Send in the Clowns” and “Ladies who Lunch” the pandemic formed band has roared its way into the classical, jazz, americana and world music scene with a sound that is fresh, sophisticated and entirely their own.

The idea of arranging the music of Sondheim for an americana-bluegrass-informed stringband is the brainchild of Ms. Rae and her partner, banjo player Max Hoetzel.

“Our idea was to take the quintessential american quality that is Sondheim—the wit, the neurosis, the warmth, and sophistication— and marry it to the other quintessential american art forms, which are bluegrass and americana.” said Hoetzel, who also produced the album.

This five-track EP breathes new life into these beloved classics and gives a whole new perspective on some of Sondheim’s most brilliant songs.

Sara Shiloh Rae and Bluebird Junction:

Canola Fields

Sara Shiloh Rae thinks the world would be better if everyone to listened to more James McMurtry . “If you don’t already know him you are in for a treat.” she says. “ He’s probably my favorite living songwriter. When he says ‘ cashing in on 30 year crush, you can’t be young and do that’ it just hits you in the gut.”

For Ms. Rae, McMurtry is the sound of raw hard luck, pick-up trucks and poetry, rustic roads, love stories that start 30 years after they should have, and scenes that could be a Hopper painting, only rougher. 

In this stunning cover of a modern day americana classic, Ms. Rae lends her trademark sublime vocals and oozes soulfulness. Max Hoetzel on guita has just the right touch of simplicity and subtle cool. Mike Robinson on electric guitar, pedal steel, and background vocals, John Fatum on drums and Myles Sloniker on bass lend a swagger that make this cover truly one of a kind.

Sara Shiloh Rae and Bluebird Junction:

Bristlecone Pine

The first time Sara Shiloh Rae heard Hugh Prestwood’s “Bristlecone Pine” was driving with partner, Max Hoetzel, down the San Marcos Pass, in a pick-up truck.

As Ms. Rae tells it “When that song came on, we both got quiet. Max pulled over and we paused at the shoulder of that narrow mountain road, the Pacific Ocean on our left. Cars zoomed past us. We let them zoom, just sat and listened to Eliza Gilkyson singing about this ancient tree. We both had goosebumps.”

“Max, being Max, immediately started researching bristlecone pines when we got home. He told me that they are some of the oldest organisms in the world, known for their resilience, now threatened by climate change. And me being me, I opened Facebook. That’s when I saw the post by Eliza. Actually, it was a GoFund Me. “

The GoFund Me was for Hugh Prestwood. Hugh, in his own words, was elderly and drifting towards homelessness. Through a combination of medical emergencies, rising living costs, and the changing market around the business of recording royalties, he and his wife were threatened with losing their home.

Ms. Rae continued “I’ve been alive in this world long enough to know that America can do this to anyone who hits hard times. And that being unhoused is not more awful when it happens to someone gifted than it is to someone ordinary. But it ate at me, and so I donated.”

Sara Shiloh Rae and Bluebird Junction:

Leonard Cohen - Hallelujah arr.

In the rarified world of artists who defy genre (Bobby McFerrin, Norah Jones, and Rhiannon Giddens come to mind) Sara Shiloh Rae has emerged as a singular voice in the americana/folk/classical world.

Covering Cohen’s Hallelujah in 2022 might seem at first glance to be a bold choice. Is there anything left to say with one of the most well-known songs in the history of popular music?

It turns out, the answer is a resounding yes.

Sara Shiloh Rae’s is a Hallelujah that defies odds. It is a Hallelujah that does the impossible: namely, it makes the song sound fresh. 

The stunning Yiddish translation, penned by klezmer-punk artist, Daniel Kahn, plays a large part in that. 

But it’s also the uncanny ease of the Yiddish language on Ms. Rae’s tongue, her innate musicality and uniquely powerful voice, which are so arresting here. It also helps that she has a world-class group of musicians in her band.

Bluebird Junction, founded in 2020 by Ms. Rae and her partner Max Hoetzel (banjo/guitar) is a rotating roster of all-star talent. With Mike Robinson on pedal steel and John Fatum on drums ( Sarah Jarosz Band) Myles Sloniker on bass ( Jacob Joliff Band) and Mr. Hoetzel on acoustic and electric guitar, there is an urgency and drive to the band, which never loses its exquisite sensitivity.

It is a musical conversation one hopes will continue for decades to come.

Sara Shiloh Rae and Bluebird Junction:

self-titled

Sara Shiloh Rae and Bluebird Junction’s self-titled debut album is a homecoming. That’s true sonically, as the record’s ten original songs are deeply rooted in vintage Americana – with country rock, folk, bluegrass and hints of jazz woven through the tracks. It’s a homecoming in another sense as well: the album was conceived during the first phase of Covid-19 lockdown, while Sara, an L.A. native, was stranded in a tiny agricultural village in France.

During nearly ten months of isolation, a long-distance romance blossomed with California-based banjo player Max Hoetzel. The two began a musical collaboration, initially remotely, and ultimately in person, once restrictions were lifted, writing music together on a farm in Santa Ynez, CA . Their interpretations of standards such as Johnny Mullins’“Blue Kentucky Girl,”Townes Van Zandt’s “White Freightliner Blues,” and Peter Rowan’s “Walls of Time” landed them in Bluegrass Today, and received glowing reviews in indie music magazine Noteworthy Music.

Ms. Rae grew up in L.A. and North Carolina in a family steeped in American folk music. After studying guitar at McCabe’s and performing her first live show at the legendary Ash Grove, she discovered classical music and went on to devote herself to opera.

Sara Shiloh Rae returns to her roots in this record, showcasing astonishing vocals that shift effortlessly from the wry to the sultry to the plaintive. The songs tell stories rooted in heartbreak and hard-earned wisdom– shot through with humor and generosity.

The album features some of the genre’s most sought-after musicians, including Alex Hargreaves on fiddle (Kacey Musgraves, Billy Strings), Mike Robinson on pedal steel (Sarah Jarosz, Railroad Earth), drummer Chad Cromwell (Willie Nelson, Bonnie Raitt, Vince Gill), Myles Sloniker on bass, and Max Hoetzel on guitar and banjo. Special guests include like Ricky Skaggs-guitarist Jake Workman (Paper Piano), Jacob Jolliff on mandolin, and Molly Aronson on cello.