Marcy Baruch
Hathaway Smiles
© 1998 Marcy Baruch
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The beautifully raw lyrics on Baruch's first CD are passionate and honest as they emerge from a place of brokeness and healing that exists within each of us. Hathaway Smiles offers a fullness of truth that comes from a deep place within the heart.
tracks
- 1 Better Now
- 2 Every Time
- 3 Hathaway and Jimmy
- 4 Eyes Fly Open
- 5 The Tide
- 6 Breakdown of the Wall
- 7 23 Tears
- 8 I Saw The Wrecking Ball
- 9 First Love
- 10 Black Velvet Hush
- 11 You
- 12 One Night
- 13 I Want You
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About Marcy
"If you ask me what I did yesterday," she laughs, "I may not be able to remember. If I hear an even remotely familiar song, however, dozens of little memories start popping back - where I was, who I was with, what I was feeling. So many experiences throughout my life have stuck with me because of the music that captured them and helped me feel connected." And so, from the heart of a shy 4th grader who related to her world through the writing of poems and simple songs, a fiercely observant and tenderly compassionate storyteller has emerged. At home with singing about both the complexities of experience as well as the lighthearted and peaceful "coming home" moments, Marcy Baruch (Bah-ROOSH!) delivers striking, catchy and well-crafted, adult-pop songs.
Her 2 CDs, "Hathaway Smiles" and "Clearly" (released in 1998 and October of 2001 respectively), invoke the likeness of a range of influences. Baruch has been compared to Shawn Colvin, Emmylou Harris, Amy Grant, Tori Amos, Joni Mitchell, Sinead O'Connor and Chrissie Hynde, to name a few. A graduate of Wittenberg University in Ohio, her exquisite appreciation for harmonies, theory and soundly structured works was cultivated through her study of classical and choral music throughout high school and college. Her studies of literature, emphasizing humanities' relationship to the Divine and who we are at our core, greatly inspired her articulate expression woven through her lyrics. These influences, plus her love of good pop, folk and country music, have resulted in an easily accessible, sophisticated range of contemporary songwriting that her diverse music-loving audiences have come to appreciate.
A native of suburban Philadelphia who now resides in Denver, CO, Marcy Baruch is receiving much critical acclaim as well. Landing a spot in FEMMUSIC.com's Top Ten list of independent songwriters from across the nation for the year 2001, Editor-In-Chief Alex Teitz writes, "Her new CD, 'Clearly,' is one of the best CDs I've heard this year... a work of genius and art that should be known nationally." Allen Foster of Songwriter's Monthly wrote of his choice for album of the month, "Marcy Baruch strides confidently through her kick-up-the-dirt songs with steeel-toed vocals and a carefree, reckless zest for life. She is more fun than spiked punch at a barn dance... many show-stopping, breath-taking, goosebump raising moments." Judy Brady of Go-Go magazine remarks, "Baruch... has carefully crafted an inviting record and a tight band that reflect her talent for songwriting, lyrical phrasing and melody." Exclaims Steve Avedis, engineer for Baruch as well as many notable artists such as Kenny Rogers and N' Sync, "You've got to hear this woman. She has a heart and an emotional quality that portray themselves through her lyrics, but even more so in her delivery. Her silky-smooth and powerful voice drew me in right up front. She is like no one else I have ever heard."
Baruch's performances have captivated audiences time and again. She has been part of The Lillith Fair opening act auditions, has played for Red Rocks ampitheatre's 60th anniversary celebration, has opened for Sonia Dada and has played at The Bluebird Theater, Swallow Hill, The Little Bear, The Denver Botanic Gardens, The City and County building and many other Front Range area venues. Whether her shows are geared for a 300 person CD Release Concert, a 5,000 person concert venue or a standing-room-only packed coffee house, Baruch's shows feel tailor-made. An audience is as likely to hear her six-piece band as they are a paired down trio, depending on the size of the venue and the ambience that Baruch feels compelled to create. Either way, her music ultimately takes the listener on a journey that leaves her audiences feeling like they have been a part of something beautiful, fun and meaningful. With cello, pedal steel, banjo and lap steel accents complimenting electric bass, drums, keys, guitars and harmonies, the flavor of the arrangements provides a delicate strength that cohesively runs its way through the variety of styles. There is celebration of raucous punch and enthusiasm for life in up-tempo pop songs such as "Mercy Mercy," "Crazy," "23 Tears," "I Saw The Wrecking Ball" and in the blues-filled "Road To Westcliffe." There is also much space for audiences to exhale as they are embraced into the intimacy of Baruch's strong piano ballads such as "Wait For Me," "Black Velvet Hush" and "For Purnel Goode," as well as the acoustic guitar, folk-twinged "London Bridge," "First Love" and "Thank You." Baruch and her band have also arranged a number of popular cover tunes as well, arrangements which allow her listeners to feel at home in their own memories of those songs as well as to be inspired at the remarkable new renditions she offers.
Recognized for her ease and ability in adding inventive harmonies to the projects of others, Marcy has contributed on a number of recordings and concerts, including those of Celeste Krenz, Dakota Blonde and Andy Ard. She also produced Denver songwriter Kate Gleason's debut CD, "Return To Me."
Baruch is slated to play at 2002's Cherry Creek Arts Festival as well as a number of other summer festivals and concerts. Her drive for authenticity and connected-ness is what makes her so refreshing and appealing to her ever growing audience. Spontaneous and inquisitive, down to earth and honest, this performing songwriter has a gift that is touches people in the sacred places of their spirits. Her work strikes that rare balance between being highly marketable and appreciatively authentic. She is a rare and brave artist whose gift should be shared with as many as who have the opportunity to listen.
reviews
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"Hathaway Smiles"...lures me into Marcy's lyrical intellect and true warmth.
author: Kelly MitchellMarcy Baruch's first album, "Hathaway Smiles" as it begins with the song "Better Now" lures me into Marcy's lyrical intellect and true warmth. I feel the "gentle darkness" she sings of and I relate to her description of "relishing memories" and the sweetness of "time alone." I appreciate her innate ability to articulate, to truly communicate her thoughts vividly in images that I find poetic and purely beautiful. When I first heard her perform live, about 3 years ago, I was completely drawn to the ironically familiar words she was singing in what felt like my innermost passions and quiet thoughts being drawn from within me and it felt like she was singing them back to me in her honest way, with such conviction. "Every Time" and "The Tide" (popular tracks from "Hathaway Smiles") were two of my early favorites. Marcy's original music grew on me like an old friend. It felt instantly familiar and jut got better and sweeter over time. I found myself thinking about her music fondly and singing her lyrics, her music, to myself over and over throughout the days. It was like thinking of an old friend and what that relationship meant in my life, how it enriched my life. I knew there was real thought and intent behind the arrangements, harmonies and lyrics in her music. Her lyrics were, and continue to be, like nothing I ever heard, along with a musical style that held it's own that continues to be authentic. Marcy's music possessed this fundamental strength and character that I needed to hear, wanted to hear more. After the first coffee house gig I looked forward to each and every one following. I became one of her biggest and truest fans. I eagerly absorbed the catharsis and the incredible feelings her music stirred in me. I feel so strongly about her latest album, "Clearly". Marcy has imprinted this album with her soul and has really tapped into some powerful, powerful emotions. She speaks truths' of the human condition in arrangements that are striking, thought provoking and simply present. "Clearly" also features some talented musicians (Joe Green, cello; Scott Surine, bass guitars, harmony vocals; Dave Shapiro, electric and pedal steel guitars, harmony vocals and more; Chris Filley, piano, harmony vocals; and Todd Moore, drums and percussion) known as "The Umbrella Band." I have spent a great deal of time with Marcy and these gentleman over the past 3 years and think very highly of their contributions to this album and to the Denver community. "London Bridge" from "Clearly" has been a long time favorite Marcy Baruch song of mine. I love Marcy's songs for the intimate, often painful worlds they are. I live in the song for the cherished minutes and moments she cradles me and holds me there. "This Road", also on "Clearly", is such an immediate song. Now that I have experienced the "Every Time" season of my life I am really in a place where "Funny how I'm so smart except for when it comes to you." and "Better yet don't keep in touch." really speak to me. "This Road" is so much fun to follow and gawd it feels great! It kicks ass! On a morea personal note, I fell in love a year ago. Deeply. Then I heard "Wait For Me" from "Clearly" for the first time at Marcy's CD release concert in October of 2001. This intoxicating song hits you where it hurts most. I heard and felt her voice that night calling to the deepest heartache I could ever imagine enduring. The truth of my own experience of love for a man really brought this song home for me. It was sheer poetic agony taking in the images Marcy's voice created that night - of the loss, the death of this beloved person - this beautiful, beautiful thing becoming misery's unwilling sponge. I felt the hopelessness. The ache. The song has such well-crafted musical timing - there is just enough "pregnant pause" between tender pleas and yearning that my heart breaks every time I listen. Marcy has crafted a deeply moving and tender piece we can all relate to on some real and personal level with "Wait For Me". Marcy's remarkable ability to write the beauty she sees in life alongside writing the unjust, the raw and the "brash" is one of her most notable strengths. I think that is why her music has such an accessible quality to it. I don't mean accessible in the empty, commercial sense, but in the rich, rare and simple human way she speaks the truth. Marcy is a truth speaker. Marcy has eyes to see. Marcy believes in music with her entire being and writes it with such integrity, grit and such striking lyrics that I know - anyone listening knows - she really wants us to open our eyes and to feel deeply and purposely, with purpose. She is the kind of singer/songwriter I savor. Marcy has a gift and we are the fortunate ones..she's sharing it with us - openly.