PAULA SINCLAIR AND UNCLE TUMBLEWEED: The Good Horse

Paula Sinclair and Uncle Tumbleweed

The Good Horse

© 2007 Paula Sinclair (634479549595)

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This CD has a diverse sound. From a country waltz to a uptempo tango romp to some rockers. But it's cohesive. It's my best work ever.

notes

The Good Horse a 2 disc set, is an intriguing combination of art forms that evokes Leonard Cohen or mid 60’s Bob Dylan. Here Paula Sinclair coaxed some of Oregon’s most revered poets to let her set their works to music. She’s brought on award-winning poet, playwright and essayist Jarold "Jerry" Ramsey, author’s Dorianne Laux and Joseph Millar and famed Oregonian William Stafford and Debbie West.

The first disc is the original acoustic solo tracks she played when she walked into 8 Ball Studio and said to Rob Stroup " I've got a new project I want you to produce, what do you think?". Disc 2 is the full blown band project. It's rare for the listener to see the transition of an album from start to finish. Sit back and enjoy.

THE GOOD HORSE STORY
After losing my band Bloodhoney, the love of my life, my creative life came to a grinding halt. I had insomnia, I couldn’t write, I couldn’t get gigs and for the first time ever my singing voice became unreliable. 4 notes in the meat of my range came out thin and raspy . I envied those at rest in the obituaries.
I decided to record some of the most prolific songs that I’d written while with Bloodhoney to pull myself out of this funk. Rob Stroup, an excellent producer agreed to work with me. I thought I would feel empowered to reclaim these songs in my own voice pushing them as far into “country” as I pleased. It was a roller coaster ride I hadn’t anticipated. At times I did feel empowered at others I felt unbearably lonely.
Then Langston Hughes entered my life. I’d written a song for his “Lament Over Love” and one morning I sat in my kitchen and played the song for a friend. She sat there stunned and moved to tears.
She told me the song brilliantly expressed the raw pain of the poem and I’d found a new musical voice one that drew me to a place of clarity, creativity and power. My friend encouraged me to drop the Avalanche project and focus entirely on writing a CD of poems.
I did not take my friend’s suggestion at that time, but a seed had been planted. I added “Lament Over Love” to “Avalanche”. And continued writing songs to any poem that struck me. This process became a soothing balm and allowed me to continue and successfully complete “Avalanche”. There was something about giving music to these poems that gave me what I always wanted from a band. This new discovery was very healing for me and by the time I finished “Avalanche” I had completed 7 new songs and my voice was back. It took another friend to point it out to me, ”Hey Paula- these poems are all by Oregon poets.”. And “The Good Horse” was born.
Until recently I , hadn’t found my place in the Portland music scene. My friends are writers, poets, actors, artist and dancers. They invite me to poetry readings, and performances that change the way I think about performing. They plop books of poetry in my lap (William Staffords “Stories That Could Be True), they introduce me to Dorianne Laux and Joseph Millar. They fish out of their purse a poem they’d copied for me Uncle Tumbleweed by Jarold Ramsey. Debbie West poetry about a recent loss reflected perfectly what I was going through.
I am grateful for being introduced to poetry it has become a dear reliable friend, one who even likes to jam with me.

reviews

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  • Great voice, melody and imagination.
    author: Dr. Steven Blomerth

    Paula Sinclair's "The Good Horse" captures her great voice, her gift for melody and reveals her wonderfully artful imagination. As a singer Paula has few peers. Her voice can have that emotionally evocative quality of Mary Chapin Carpenter, and at other times she can unleash a powerful rockin' and bluesy quality. It's a great voice that is always melodic and moving and it draws the listener inside the songs. The songs on this CD span a stylistic range from country inflected rock, to a circus waltz, to a Spanish/Flamenco flavored love affair, to a gentle ballad of lost love touched by a string quartet. The tremendous gift of Paula's imagination comes into play when you realize that these songs were written from the poem's of an award winning group of poets. Paula has been able to see inside these poems and give them the gift of melody and emotional tone. Her voice, inflection and delivery provide the listener far more than the average reader could ever glean from the printed page alone. (Much like a well written play still needs the magic of the gifted performer to bring it to life.) Paula has lifted these poems up off the dry printed page; and through the music and the melody she has brought these vignettes home to you. The accompanying band and the recording itself are also first rate. They very powerfully reinforce Paula's efforts and bring you a powerfully musical experience, which is something more than just a collection of songs. This is a first rate piece of art. Steve Blomerth

  • Yes!
    author: Dorianne Laux

    I am amazed, Paula, with how you found just the right phrasing for every word and line of each poem. A joy to listen to. Creative, innovative, meticulous, fabulous. Thanks from both of us. Dorianne and Joe

  • GITTY UP
    author: Bazza - Bobbin Shop Recordings

    The sound of hovering beauty. A golden Palomino standing on a hillside at sunset. A voice that could launch a thosand horses. It's all here in a two disc set. One: Stark and true. Two: Blown up lovely by a sweet mix of great musicians. Kentucky therobred melodies fed by the pen of Oregon's finest poets. Closer - let me whisper in your ear - Gitty Up and get this CD. The Good Horse will love you for it. Euphoric

  • Hly Shit this is good
    author: Lisa Lepine

    Paula It is rare when an album strikes me at first listen. Even rarer for me to go "HOLY SHIT this is good - this is something different," Your treatment of these poems - the musicality, the way each song/poem lives in its own environment is extraordinary. A real genius work. So congratulations to you on your master works. Dream. Do. Dazzle. Lisa Lepine ProMOTION Queen

  • Paula I was brought to tears by your work.
    author: Kim Stafford

    Paula. Thank you. You see clear to the heart of the words, and your way with a phrase, a brief plateau of recognition, a knowing slide into the inevitable-these are humbling to me. Thank you for so purely being who you are with the words of my father. The other songs are similarly wondrous Thank you for this gift and I trust we’ll have a chance to cross paths when the time is right. Kim Stafford

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