Octavia
Down In The Hollow
© 2003 Octavia (639589008024)
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For Wicked Haunting blues harp with unnaturally long notes (no studio tricks), packed with the emotion a woman can portray, coupled with Powerful and textured vocals, in mostly original material with meaningful painted lyrics you can relate to.
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When was the last time you heard a Woman Play Mean Blues Harp?
Octavia performs both Blues & Jazz!
Octavia's shows differ from most in that, she plays with the emotions a woman can bring. Octavia's style renders music rarely heard from other harp players. In one of Octavia's songs, she holds one note throughout an entire verse. The audience becomes "uneasy" waiting for her to turn blue and drop, but she just continues in with powerful textured vocals. This is a show stopper! Octavia is noted for playing two instruments besides her wide vocal stylings "Wicked" harmonica, sultry & powerful textured vocals, plus "old style" finger style guitar. Octavia's blues shows perform originals, traditional, classic blues, selected Bessie Smith, and Koko Taylor gems.
Short Bio:
Octavia: Born and raised in Phila. PA. On a stage at five yrs. of age. Started guitar in 1963, and harmonica in 1966. Octavia studied painting and sculpture at the Penna. Academy of Fine Arts.
Octavia toured with Etta James, opened for BB King, Delbert McClinton, Dr. John, Shamekia Copeland, Elvin Bishop, The Muddy Waters Blues Band, Taj Mahal, and Mavis Staples. Octavia has had several return bookings at the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts in Phila. and The House Of Blues in Atlantic City. Octavia headlined at Longwood Gardens, opened at the Whitaker Center for Science and the Arts in Harrisburg, played at: B.B. Kings Club, NYC, Don Hills NYC, Village Underground NYC, The World Cafe Live in Phila. Lancaster Jazz and Blues festivals and first nights, and the Keystone in Berkeley, and Bimbo's in CA. Ebbits Field in Denver, CO. Octavia toured extensively in the UK for two years, and performed at the Cambridge Folk Festival, Kings Palace, Silky O'Sullivan, W.C. Handy Park, Blues City all on Beale Street in Memphis, TN, Ground Zero (Morgan Freeman's club) in Clarksdale, MS, Kingston Mines Blues Club, and Buddy Guy's Legends in Chicago Ill., Festival International Du Blues De Tremblant, Canada, Piccolo Spoleto Festival, Charleston, SC, Rehoboth Bandshell Concert Series, Delaware, Tremblant International Blues Festival, Canada.
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Down in The Hollow
author: Brady BoothThis lady is the blue's lady she is hot as you can get this great raw music should be heard everywhere what a great talent , seldom heard .
Unique harmonica player!!!
author: SuperbeeBlues is alive and well with Octavia. Saw live peformance at Tremblant Quebec blues fest 2006... Amazing! As is the CD.
this is the real deal.21st Cen. blues
author: white lightnin'hopkinsyou gotta get this disk.smokin'harp and down home vocals.Simon wouldn't get it.a real double threat on the blues scene.
singing like late great Janis, harmonica, down, greasy, dirty, nasty
author: ShawnOctavia, your singing is just like the late great Janis Joplin, and your harmonica playing is so down, greasy, dirty, and nasty like the female version of Charlie Musselwhite, and the late great Paul Butterfield. Thank you and God bless! -Shawn
Great Harmonica
author: The GarrettIf you like harmonica then check this out. It's got a great eerie feel to it.
kick ass
author: Bluesfan60Bluesharp is my favorite instrument.This is really good.I hope to see her on this summers Festival circuit.
Her phenomenal harp playing, her songwriting is also exceptional.
author: KEITH MORGAN, 107.3 HERITAGE FM RADIO, PERTH, W. AUSTRALIA"Octavia's best recording to date. If you can't get to see her Live, (which you should definitely try to do), this CD is the next best thing! It gets better with every play. As well as her phenomenal harp playing, her songwriting is also exceptional. 4 and a 1/2 Stars"
Holds note so long, almost gives listener a pulmonary embolism!
author: Alex Greenberg, from Pennsylvania Musician MagazineDecember 2005: Octavia & The Earthblood Blues Band - "Down in the Hollow" Let's get it out of the way, right away. Octavia's blues harp playing is freakishly good. She holds a note on "A Cold Day in Hell" so long it almost gives the listener a pulmonary embolism, then ends it with a blues wrap around right into the next verse. "Down in the Hollow" is a collection of original blues compositions, with the exception of a cover of "Unchain My Heart," and showcases most of the skills of this singular Lancaster talent and her excellent band. Her vocals are a sultry combination of velvet and gravel, capable of morphing from a hushed vulnerability into an indignant, bellowing roar. Beyond the brilliance of Octavia's mastery of the blues idiom through her instrument, her writing, and her vocal interpretation, the CD is also a guitar album, with Bill Wasch's blistering solos standing toe-to-toe with the harmonica pyrotechnics. Octavia's lyrics not only span the typical blues subjects, including the hilarious sexual metaphor in "Service Call," but also cogent, thematic subjects such as altruism ("The Village Will Provide"), and the purgatory into which military families are cast by war ("Indelible Days"). Octavia also has a studied knowledge of jazz, and has put together a live album of jazz standards with her band Infusion entitled "Infusion With Octavia Live At Lancaster Jazz Festival" that is also worth a listen. This is a wonderful collection of original material by a serious, gifted artist that has been immersed in blues for decades and has shared the stage with the likes of Etta James, opened for B.B. King, and Dr. John. Suffice it to say this ain't some 22-year-old limping through Muddy Waters and Robert Cray on a Japanese Stratocaster copy. www.octaviablues.com.