PAMELA MEANS: Single Bullet Theory

Pamela Means

Single Bullet Theory

© 2003 Pamela Means, Phylorra Music/BMI (652497100529)

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Arguably the only Boston-based Out folkie whose punchy political songs have worn a hole in her guitar.

tracks

1 Two Halves
2 Augusta
3 Yours
4 The Devil's Henchmen
5 Amen
6 Mother's Day
7 Two Months Old
8 Restless
9 O.D.
10 James Cameron
11 Strange Fruit
12 Atoms

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notes

"If Black warrior poet/feminist political activist Audre Lorde had taken up folk singing, she might have attacked her guitar and wrapped her lyrics around it the way Pamela Means does."
-Valley Advocate, Northampton MA

Pamela Means is a Boston-based Out (spoken), Biracial, independent artist whose kamikaze guitar style and punchy provocative songs have worn a hole in her guitar. Armed with razor wit poetry and irresistable charm, Pamela Means' "stark, defiant songs" (New York Times Magazine) set the status quo and the stage afire.

Pamela's ardent commitment to interrogating social ills was fostered by her unique childhood experience. In Pamela's own words, "as the adoptive daughter of a white mother and black father, I learned about dismantling systems of oppression from the inside-out." Pamela received her first guitar at the age of fourteen, just after her mother died of cancer, and it soon became Pamela's primary vehicle for expression. It would also serve as a passport out of a life that consisted of poverty, foster homes, and the inner city life of hyper-segregated Milwaukee, WI.

Pamela Means re-located to Boston, busked in the subway, founded a record label, and started touring. She now performs some one hundred twenty shows a year at clubs, colleges, coffeehouses, theaters and festivals, where she has been known to set album sales records, nationwide. Pamela has shared the stage with Ani DiFranco, Neil Young, Joan Baez, and Violent Femmes among others. Pamela Means has also been the recipient of several music awards and nominations in Boston and in her native Wisconsin.

Pamela's 2003 tour took her nationwide, promoting her fifth self-released album, Single Bullet Theory (Wirl Records, 2003). A timely release, Single Bullet Theory confronts the USA Patriot Act, racial profiling, and the Bush Administration, while advocating for the rights of marginalized identities. Through the song "O.D.", "Means fires off what is easily one of the best musical summations of our current political situation.." (Bay Area Reporter, San Francisco, CA). Pamela also recorded a haunting version of "Strange Fruit". The album also showcases Pamela's innovative, expressive guitar style, evidentiary of her conservatory studies of classical and jazz guitar. The fruits of such discipline shine in her fleet-fingered fretwork, fluid phrasing, 'dizzying acoustic guitar riffs' (Boston Globe) and 'powerful songs' (Time Out NY) all of which place her at the vanguard of the new acoustic frontier. Spanning from Spanish-influenced rolling crescendos through the detuned growling guitar funk of an aggressive interrogation, Means is "redefin[ing acoustic] music.." (Washington Blade).

Pamela Means "exhibits a rare emotional fire in today's folk world" (Seven Days, Burlington VT), so much so that Ani DiFranco exclaimed "You've got such a deep, deep groove, I can't get out. And I wouldn't want to." With Truth as ammunition, Pamela Means brings the fight for social justice and human dignity to the forefront of a new generation.

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PAMELA MEANS: SINGLE BULLET THEORY
WIRL RECORDS
WIRL1005-D(42m 07)

Strolling through Harvard Square in Cambridge, Massachussetts recently, my ears were tickled by some very tasty acoustic guitar picking and an exceptionally passionate voice drifting through the midday air. The sound was emanating from busker Pamela Means, and I stopped to listen. Excellent buskers are ten a penny in Cambridge, which is one of the biggest centres of folk music in the States. Every 60s folkie worth his/her salt played the coffee houses here, and it's where Tracy Chapman emerged from in the 90s, so to be worth stopping for in Harvard Square, you've got to be very special indeed.

Means is, quite simply, superb and, if there's any justice in the world, I won't see her on a street corner next time. Her guitar playing is very tasty indeed, her songs are powerfully melodic and beautifully constructed, her lyrics kick hard, and her voice ranges from tender to seething to outraged, depending on her subject matter. "O.D.", about how American oil policies precipitated the wars against Afghanistan and Iraq, is a must-hear; "Restless" is a gorgeous love song set to ridiculously speedy picking and her version of Billie Holiday's "Strange Fruit" is heart-rending. The album isn't widely available here yet, but you can get it through Amazon or, better yet, via her website, www.pamelameans.com

Johnny Black A:1* HiFi News Magazine, UK

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reviews

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  • hi from tom jacobs
    author: tom jacobs

    you are a gifted and talented writer guitarist and singer. i used to hear you at the coffee house in Milwaukee

  • Life changing music
    author: Talitha Maria Chavis-Clore

    This cd takes the listener on a wild ride through love,hurt,pain,peace,anger and fear-but through each of those there is a string of hope and it is wounderful. I felt that this music was important enough to share with friends, family and some clients and some have now begun purchasing their own copies. "The price of freedom is constant vigilance."-and this music really drove that home for me-hats off to Pamela Means

  • AMAZING!!!
    author: michigan festi-sistah

    First off- lyrics are amazingly prolific and wonderful...inspiring to say the least:) Pamela is simply amazing - all of her stuff ROCKS!!!

  • Pamela Means is totally awesome. love it.
    author: Trevor

    pamela means is totally awesome. this is art full of passion, rage, and heart. her very skilled guitar playing accompanied by her beautiful, often charged up, poetry, combined with her unique voice makes for a great album. what an artist. love it.

  • PAMELA IS ON FIRE!
    author: Natalie

    Pamela's "Single Bullet Theory" is a mix of soft, sweet and beautiful folk music and and politically-charged lyrics. Not to miss!

  • This bitch is on fire!
    author: David T.

    Pamela rocks! I was lucky enough to get to see her perform in person & DAMN!!! she's a wicked guitarist! Couple that together with her sassy voice & you got one great sounding CD!

  • I love it!
    author: Meighan

    I met Pamela Means when she came to play at UWM a few years ago for an intimate crowd, and was immediately attracted to her music. Single Bullet Theory has been added to my collection, no questions asked. It's great.

  • Excellent....I can't stop listening to it!
    author: Kim Rhoades

    Easy on the ears. Funky at times, sexy and soft at times. I love this womens voice and her guitar. This is the kind of CD you can leave on all day and never get sick of it. It has versatility, without having to adjust the volume every other song.

  • Wow, Wow, Wow
    author: Molly Fuentes

    This woman gives me outrageous energy and infectious political go-attamism... She's ridiculously talented, not to mention gorgeous... see her live, her smile will melt you first and then her fingers, values, and voice will make you come alive.

  • Boston Women- Gotta Like them
    author: Kate M

    I was just introduced to Pamela's work recently and it's good stuff. She has a way of fearlessly putting things on the table and making some incredible noise with her guitar. It's a cd filled with depth, comfort, and talent. Rock on!

  • a strong CD from an uncompromising artist
    author: Will Branch

    The world needs more musicians like Pamela Means - musicians who make sounds that are centered and strong. This CD builds on her strengths and adds new ones - the great melody and smart poetry of tracks like "Two Halves," for instance. The song "O.D." captures the dread that's spread across the United States in the past few years, and that's what a folk song should do - tell a true story. She's one of the best guitar players of any songwriter out there, with just the right mix of precision and passion in her playing. On this CD, the sounds she gets out of her guitar range from funky, detuned riffs to frailed, almost freetime, ballads. Plus, she can play really damn fast when she wants to - listen to the hidden track on her CD "Cobblestones".

  • amazing!

    This CD is so incredible. She's so brilliantly talented and interesting. It's all I've listened to since I got it and I've had her songs in my head all day.

  • author: erica

    intelligent, elloquent lyrics, phenomenal vocals and quitar... this exceptionally beautiful and talented woman has done it again.

  • Simply a beatiful record, the best she has ever done!
    author: John

    This is the Pamela Means album I have heard the most, it has never left my CD player since I bought it, and I had it May 1, 2003, the first day it was available [smile]. Some of the songs I knew for two years at live shows, it is good to finally see these on CD, and what a release it is. The high-quality production values, the arrangements, the small devoted circle of side musicians, the especially exotic version of Billy Holidays "Strange Fruit", several touching love songs, and of course the strongest politics she has ever had, from racism to world politics, it is simply a beautiful record, the best she has ever done... definitely a CD for fans of Pamela Means!

  • THE PASSION AND POLITICS OF PAMELA MEANS
    author: Jed Ryan

    Pamela Means' fourth CD is named "Silver Bullet Theory". The artwork on the cover of the CD is shadowy and cryptic. Yet, her music is direct and provoking. The first time I heard and saw Pamela Means was at the Knitting Factory, where she played the guitar so aggressively that the audience was worried she would bust her strings. I later found out that her electrifying style of acoustic guitar playing is her trademark. ONE of them. The second trademark is her wild hair, which she calls the "Sapphro". Pamela Means is a singer/songwriter from Boston, and she incorporates three powerful elements into her music: her voice, her guitar work, and her lyrics. All three are powerful in their own right (Just read he lyric sheet, or listen to her stunning acoustic guitar-only tracks, "Mother's Day" and "Atoms", if you need proof.) Combined, the effect is no less than astonishing. Pamela Means' music is bold, passionate, and meaningful. She covers so-called "controversial" territory-- most prominently, racism and war-- with a realism that more so-called "mainstream" musicians wouldn't touch. Pamela Means is a voice for the groups that have been marginalized in America, with her observations on prejudice so simply yet perfectly summed up on "Two Halves", the first song on her CD "Silver Bullet Theory": "Though there are two halves of me/There's only one half they will see." On her CD's, Pamela Means captures a great deal of the of the intensity of her live performance. Her style has been described by both herself and her fans as folk, but one admirer described her music as "deeper than folk." and added, "Her head is in the future. She's got a respect for the past but doesn't get lost in it." She speaks up about racial profiling and police brutality on the brilliant, bold opening track "Two Halves": "I don't need to be pulled over/ by a big dick cop with a billy club boner... To a racist cop out on the beat, just another black bitch is what I'd be." In "Two Halves", she also incorporates spoken word by one of her role models, poet/activist Audre Lorde: "Hey that's right. Here I am. Deal with me". For several of the tracks on "Silver Bullet Theory", she uses a stripped-down, guitar-and-vocals sound which showcases the more delicate aspect of her voice. As effectively as Ms. Means can bring politics to light through her music, she can deliver intense emotion with her love songs, including "Augusta", "Yours", and "Restless". In "Augusta", she's ostensibly singing an ode to a lover who's not quite at ease with their relationship, with some genuinely heartfelt lyrics: "Well the main difference between them and me/ I love you for all you are yet to be/ Every fiber of your entire identity/ You are my happiness, you're inspiring." We get a similar effect in "Restless" ("You're like open sky, I am like the sea/ Take me in every drop and fall back into me.") Means uses the same minimal style for "Yours", a another intensely personal love song which adds some flawless piano work. The result is soothing and ethereal. Ms. Means returns to a more aggressive vocal and guitar work to match in "The Devil's Henchmen", which explores the scar on American history that lynching in the South has left. She warns about how, apparently, the struggle for civil rights in its purest form-- safety and survival-- is still going on. Means dedicates Lewis Allan's haunting classic "Strange Fruit" to Dr. James Cameron, founder of America's Black Holocaust Museum in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Recorded previously by legendary singers Billie Holiday and Nina Simone, the song-- also about lynching in the South-- is a good choice for resurrection. Means marches head-on into other serious issues with "Amen" and "O.D.", two keen war-themed songs. She has said about "O.D."("Oleaginous Diplomacy": government initiatives made on behalf of oil companies.): "It 's about standing up and saying what you have to say when you have time to say it." With provocative lyrics, she convincingly explores our leaders' motivations for war in Iraq ... which, most likely, go beyond just "keeping the peace". "O.D." is bolstered -- with help of electric violin and drums-- by an pounding beat that turns frenzied and intense. With "Single Bullet Theory", Pamela Means explores both universal human emotions as well as vital American and world issues. There are aspects of African-American identity and old-style activism in her lyrics and vocal delivery that date back to the days when music was less about image and packaging... and more about the underlying message and breaking rules. Pamela Means, her music, and her message are ripe for mass discovery. The sooner, the better

  • Like Nothing Else!
    author: Parry

    In a time of political crisis, Pamela Means stands up for herself. In her own words, "truth is ammunition" and I load myself with "Single Bullet Theory" time and time again.

  • Unbelievable
    author: Matt

    Amazing album from start to finish!

  • excellent
    author: cs

    This is great music. Meaningful and thought provoking. Love this CD.

  • moving, poetic, enervating

    Inspiring mix of insightful, edgy political rants and insightful, edgy introspective explorations.

  • sexy, smart, neccesary.

  • Edgy, heavy, singer-songwriter grooves and meditations
    author: Eric Mauer

    Pamela shatters the walls of the singer songwriter box with Single Bullet Theory, somehow managing to fit hip-hop street chants, political commentary, musings on love, meditations on race, and a whole lot of phenomenal guitar work into one coherant soulful voice, which she rams straight down your sensibilities. Sweet and scary, plus a wicked reading of "Strange Fruit"

  • author: malina

    this cd makes my pulse race. it is haunting and poetic. be sure to have a copy and one to send someone you care about!

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