KRISTIE STREMEL: 10 years

Kristie Stremel

10 years

© 2006 Kristie Stremel (634479408083)

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Stremel is one of those artists whose studio albums make you suspect you're missing most of the show by not catching her in a sweaty club somewhere, but this one is still a good place to start getting to know her. ~ Rick Anderson, All Music Guide

tracks

1 Shimmer And Glow
2 Have It All
3 4 South East
4 Big Dreams
5 Paper Heart
6 Circles
7 Sweet Marie
8 Miracle
9 Leap Of Faith
10 Starbeams
11 Good To You
12 Pieces
13 Shaky Hands
14 It's Not A Phase

notes

-Bio-
Kristie Stremel sings from the heart of America. It’s a tough place. Yet her songs turn the details of the daily grind into reasons to keep pushing. In a time of despair, her music fights for hope.
Stremel’s western Kansas childhood home can be found precisely in the middle of nowhere—too far off the beaten track for most concert tours, or even to receive FM radio. It’s the kind of place where most Americans live their lives: off the radar — unseen, unheard and easily forgotten – facing a regular diet of boredom and bad jobs.
In that world, Stremel began to fashion a place she could call her own out of the Johnny Cash and Waylon Jennings songs that her guitar-playing father taught her. In 1986, at age 12, she entertained her family with her first electric guitar. At 15, she caught Joan Jett at the county fair and decided to put together a band; it performed at the local skating rink and school dances. Transplanted to Kansas City the summer before high school, she got serious about writing songs.
At 19, those songs helped her start building a fan base in the area. By 21, Stremel was a crowd favorite in one of Kansas City’s most promising bands, Frogpond, which released a 1996 album produced by Everclear’s Art Alexakis. The next year, her growing stockpile of songs led her to form her own band. She named it after the Interstate 70 off-ramp that led to her hometown, and Exit 159 released an appropriately titled 7-song EP, “Lost on Earth.” It yielded one regional radio hit, and the full album that followed produced two more. The band consistently packed some of the toughest houses in Kansas City, toured the West Coast twice and received the Pitch newspaper’s prestigious Kansas City/Lawrence Area Music Award for both Best New Band and Band of the Year.
But over the next six years, despite winning another Pitch Music Award for Best Female Vocalist, Stremel never really got where she wanted to go. And the perspective she gained from that hard reality helped her produce her best and deepest work. Stremel’s pockets of fans across the country treasured the three sophisticated and ambitious albums (and one EP) that followed. The wisdom in those albums came from years of leaping for brass rings and landing on barroom floors. Still a largely unknown artist, Stremel never stopped growing as a musician and a lyricist, probing the side of the American Dream that doesn’t make the evening news.
Out of her struggle comes 10 Years: fourteen of Stremel’s best songs, all produced by Springfield, Missouri legend Lou Whitney (member of the Skeletons and the Morrells, producer of, among others, the Del Lords and the Domino Kings). 10 Years includes five brand new, dramatically deeper performances of fan favorites. They’re topped by two brand new compositions — “Have It All” and “It’s Not A Phase”— that raise the stakes even higher. The result is a richly textured, hard-focused statement of what it takes for a soul to survive in today’s America. A voice calling in a man-made wilderness.
And yet … it’s not alone. Because what Kristie Stremel shows most poignantly is how the demand to be heard, to have meaning in life, binds people together. It’s a cry from the heart of the country to the one in our dreams.

reviews

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  • I LOVE IT!
    author: Merianne Lero

    I love this CD! I have listened to it over and over. I can't wait to see Kristi in concert.

  • Amazing
    author: Dianna

    The ablum rocked. Shimmer and glow as well as It's Not A Phase are the greatest songs. Can't wait to get another of her CD's.

  • fantastic as anything...
    author: Jeff Blascyk

    Wow. This album just shows you what you might be missing out on if you don't shut off the radio every once in a while and check out some indy music. This is as good as anything you will hear anywhere. This is coming from a guy that likes his thrashing manly music, well this grabs you in a deeper way without feeling smashed over the head. This is worth every penny to get real music with real heart filled lyrics, that go beneath the mundane and into the uplifting and enlightening. Slight edge and a smidgen of angst without being to heavy handed. this album has the "it" vibe with tons of old school rock and roll soul. All this with catchy rifts and tons of energy. I just hope I catch the live show someday.

  • Amazing!
    author: beanjo

    My partner and I saw Kristie at the Voo-Doo Lounge for the first time and she knocked our socks off! She is a profound artist that sings with passion and endless talent. Cant wait till we can see her perform again :)

  • ...in a few words
    author: sherilyn

    Kristie found me on You-Tube. Honest. I had never heard of her, which was soon amended by her musical presence on You-Tube and MySpace. The amazing thing about Kristie is how real she is in her music and her lyrics. Even more amazing is the fact, that she herself answered my query about how to obtain her music. So I did. "10 years" stands out in my CD-collection, I've listened to it for hours on end. Kristie creates songs that let you in on a secret, that make you smile, make you wince and make you remember...

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