09.16.05 (MusicPortal.com) A new album from vocalist SINEAD O'CONNOR, "Throw Down Your Arms," is scheduled to be released on October 4th. Thirteen years after she stepped back from the brink of superstardom, O'Connor has finally made the disc toward which she has been building her whole career. In April of this year, she traveled alone to Kingston, Jamaica to record "Throw Down Your Arms" at world famous Tuff Gong and Anchor Studios. A collection of roots songs which have inspired SINEAD O'CONNOR in her life and work for the past fifteen years, the legendary Reggae rhythm section of Sly Dunbar and Robbie Shakespeare produced the album, and many of the musicians who played on the original album were enlisted to give added authenticity to the sound. The title comes from one of the tracks on the disc, originally written and performed by Studio One legend Winston Rodney, a.k.a. "Burning Spear," who also contributes four other cuts: 'Jah Nuh Dead,' 'Marcus Garvey,' 'Door Peep' and 'He Prayed.' Burning Spear's recurrent themes - the living God on earth, the role of pan-Africanist Marcus Garvey, and personal and social redemption - were a huge influence on O'Connor, and echoes of his earthy delivery can be heard in her own vocal style on "Throw Down Your Arms." However, the tracks are tributes - not imitations. Just as the Irish songs on "Sean Nos Nua" were subtly "Jamaicanized," so SINEAD O'CONNOR has added in her own Irish style to certain tracks on the album. While staying true to the composer's vision, O'Connor has also stamped each of the tracks with that distinctively soulful roar that has electrified her fans all over the world for nearly two decades. As Robbie Shakespeare observed to nobody in particular after hearing O'Connor lay down a particularly goose bump-inducing vocal: "forget the originals baby, these ARE the originals." O'Connor will put out "Throw Down Your Arms" this October on her own label. That's why there's Chocolate and Vanilla (a favorite expression of her deceased manager Steve Fargnoli). As she pulls together the threads from over a decade of work, SINEAD O'CONNOR will -- for the first time in eight years -- tour North America this Fall. "The shows are the whole point," she says. "I can't wait to be onstage with Sly and Robbie. I want to pass on the teachings of the Rastafarai movement, sing the songs and have fun. It will be better than mass." Since she first came to prominence as a teenager in the late 80s, the world had never seen or heard anything like quite like SINEAD O'CONNOR. In the midst of so many big-haired Pop ingenues that made their name in that decade, she stood out: a shaven-headed waif with bambi eyes, bovver boots and a soaring, acrobatic voice. Her daringly eclectic debut album, "The Lion And The Cobra" (1987), blended influences from Hip-Hop, Punk and traditional Irish music, and won her widespread critical acclaim and an international following. It should have been the most joyous small-town-girl-makes-good success story. Before many of her peers had left school, SINEAD O'CONNOR had... [full story]
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09.12.05 (AP) CLARENCE "GATEMOUTH" BROWN, the singer and guitarist who built a 50-year career playing Blues, Country, Jazz and Cajun music, died Saturday in his hometown of Orange, Texas, where he had gone to escape Hurricane Katrina. He was 81. Brown, who had been battling lung cancer and heart disease, was in ill health for the past year, said Rick Cady, his booking agent. Cady said the musician was with his family at his brother's house when he died. Brown's home in Slidell, La., a bedroom community of New Orleans, was destroyed by Katrina. "He was completely devastated," Cady said. "I'm sure he was heartbroken, both literally and figuratively. He evacuated successfully before the hurricane hit, but I'm sure it weighed heavily on his soul." Although his career first took off in the 1940s with Blues hits 'Okie Dokie Stomp' and 'Ain't That Dandy,' CLARENCE "GATEMOUTH" BROWN bristled when he was labeled a bluesman. In the second half of his career, he became known as a musical jack-of-all-trades who played a half-dozen instruments and culled from Jazz, Country, Texas Blues, and the Zydeco and Cajun music of his native Louisiana. By the end of his career, Brown had more than 30 recordings and won a Grammy award in 1982. "I'm so unorthodox, a lot of people can't handle it," Brown said in a 2001 interview. Brown's versatility came partly from a childhood spent in the musical mishmash of southwestern Louisiana and southeastern Texas. He was born in Vinton, Louisiana, and grew up in Orange, Texas. Brown often said he learned to love music from his father, a railroad worker who sang and played fiddle in a Cajun band. Brown, who was dismissive of most of his contemporary Blues players, named his father as his greatest musical influence. "If I can make my guitar sound like his fiddle, then I know I've got it right," Brown said. Cady said Brown was quick-witted, "what some would call a 'codger.'" Brown started playing fiddle by age 5. At 10, he taught himself an odd guitar picking style he used all his life, dragging his long, bony fingers over the strings. In his teens, Brown toured as a drummer with Swing bands, and was nicknamed "Gatemouth" for his deep voice. After a brief stint in the Army, he returned in 1945 to Texas, where he was inspired by Blues guitarist T-Bone Walker. Brown's career took off in 1947 when Walker became ill and had to leave the stage at a Houston nightclub. The club owner invited Brown to sing, but Brown grabbed Walker's guitar and thrilled the crowd by tearing through 'Gatemouth Boogie' - a song he claimed to have made up on the spot. He made dozens of recordings in the 1940s and '50s, including many regional hits - 'Okie Dokie Stomp,' 'Boogie Rambler,' and 'Dirty Work At The Crossroads.' But he became frustrated by the limitations of the Blues and began carving a new career by recording albums that featured Jazz and Country songs mixed in with the Blues numbers.

[Ethnic News: August 2005]
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