New Orleans is known for producing musicians in search of a good time, men who are long on boogie, but short on content. Osborne just might be the exception. He owes as much to artists like Jackson Browne and early Bruce Springsteen as he does to Dr. John or Professor Longhair. Have no fear, most of these songs still bring the slurry wobble most people love about the Big Easy, but there's a self-deprecation to these lyrics and enough dark imagery to make sure you take Osborne seriously. Whether he turns into Townes Van Zandt (hopefully), or Bob Seger (hopefully not), remains to be seen. This is a snapshot of an artist discovering himself. Very good in its own right, it leads one to believe the next record just might be a classic. Stay tuned. © Rob Ferrier © 2013 AllMusic, a division of All Media Network, LLC. | All Rights Reserved http://www.allmusic.com/album/ash-wednesday-blues-mw0000116357
Get your beads, Mildred, we're off to N'awlins for Mardi Gras. Polish up your yatspeak, relearn your tolerance for Cajun food, and take your Lactose, because we're gonna café au lait ourselves into insensibility. And while you're at it, fire up the CD player for Anders Osborne's new release, Ash Wednesday Blues, a love letter to and about New Orleans. There are certain artists that are, at least to me, immutably tied up with one city or location. Jimmy Buffett hangs his parrothead in Key West, Marc Cohn will forever be Memphis for me, Styx belongs in Chicago, and now Osborne joins the list, tied forever in my mind to the Crescent City, the French Quarter, New Orleans. This is not slightly zydecized, sanitized, weakling music, but (as near as this Northern boy knows) some pretty real stuff. And you know what? It's pretty good. (Somewhat surprising, given Osborne hails from not New Orleans, but Sweden). Osborne writes his own songs, and plays a pretty mean guitar too. (Don't go looking for stinging licks, though; on almost all of this CD, it's vocals, drum, and horns that get center stage). His band is good as well - as mentioned earlier, the percussion is in many ways what holds the CD together, and Cyril Neville should be congratulated for a hell of a performance. The guest performances are a who's who of young blues artists; Jonny Lang sings background on several tracks, and Keb' Mo contributes to two tracks. Ash Wednesday Blues isn't just blues, though; at various points, Osborne flirts with N'awlins jazz, rock, rockabilly, barrelhouse, Cajun, and balladeering. Osborne rarely misses on this CD. Highlights include the raucous "Ho-Di-Ko-Di-Ya-La-Ma-Ma", which sounds like the background music for a Storyville madam's parlor; "Stuck On My Baby", with its spare, fine banjo line (played by the aforementioned Keb' Mo); the driving blues-rock sound of "Kingdom Come"; and the surprisingly poignant piano of "Ash Wednesday Blues". When there's a problem, it's usually related to Osborne's vocals. "Every Bit Of Love" is a sweet song, and I suspect there's a personal reason it's on the recording, but Osborne sounds almost strained on it, reaching for notes. And I just couldn't warm to the Jimmy-Buffett-as-lounge-singer "Me And Lola", finding it unsuited to Osborne's voice. Next time, I hope he cuts loose a little more, because when he's on, he's on. He just tried to do a bit much here. Go get yourself a case of the Ash Wednesday Blues. Throw Mildred in the minivan and head down for some beignets. It's worth the trip: Rating: A-REVIEW BY: & © Duke Egbert ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED: 04/06/2001 - © 2001 Duke Egbert and The Daily Vault. All rights reserved. http://dailyvault.com/toc.php5?review=4040
You would never guess from his music that Anders Osborne was born in Uddevalla, Sweden, and raised on Gotland Island in the Baltic Sea. Anders became interested in music at an early age by listening to his father, a professional pop and jazz drummer who played the same German club circuit as bands like the Beatles. Anders originally played drums but switched to guitar. By 17, he had already travelled through Europe and the Middle East, eventually arriving in the U.S. At different times, he lived in New York, California, and New Orleans. Never settling he toured Southeast Asia finally returning to New Orleans, where he's lived now for over ten years. “Ash Wednesday Blues” is a great album and a typical Anders Osborne recording. Anders combines roots rock, blues, folk and R&B all influenced by the lively and diverse music scene of New Orleans clubs. Some of the artists backing Anders include Neville Brother Cyril Neville, the New Orlean's keyboard wizard Davell Crawford, Keb' Mo and Johnny Lang. Anders has said that, "I don't look at music in categories at all. I like all kinds of music, but as long as I can feel the roots, feel some sort of heart and soul, feel the connection to everything, then it's real for me." This album is HR by A.O.O.F.C. Check Anders’ “Living Room” album on this blog, and buy his “Peace” album and support real music [All tracks @ 320 Kbps: File size = 151 MB]
TRACKS
1 Stoned, Drunk and Naked 4:52
2 Ho-Di-Ko-Di-Ya-La-Ma-La 3:58
3 Every Bit of Love 5:26
4 Stuck on My Baby 4:12
5 Snake Bit Again 5:25
6 Soul Livin' 4:46
7 Me and Lola 5:37
8 Kingdom Come 5:00
9 Kiddin' Me 4:50
10 Life Is Strange 5:57
11 Aim Way High 5:11
12 Improvise 4:33
13 Ash Wednesday Blues 4:06
14 Through and Through 3:53
All tracks composed by Anders Osborne except “Kingdom Come” composed by Anders Osborne & Louie Ludwig
MUSICIANS
Anders Osborne - Guitar, Organ, Piano
Jonny Lang - Guitar, Background Vocals
Leon Medica - Bass
Davell Crawford - Organ, Piano, Background Vocals
Keb' Mo' - Banjo, Percussion, Background Vocals
Kevin O'Day - Drums
Cyril Neville - Percussion
Tim Green - Tenor Sax
David Grillier - Clarinet
Charles Joseph - Trombone
Kirk Joseph - Sousaphone
Charlene Howard - Background Vocals
BIO
"Up and coming" may have been a good way to describe guitarist, singer, and songwriter Anders Osborne earlier in his career, but Osborne's fame has now spread beyond the borders of New Orleans, a city where he first cut his teeth and developed a reputation for incendiary live shows. Osborne was born in Sweden in 1966. His father was a professional drummer and a jazz fan whose early-'60s jazz combo played clubs throughout Europe. At a young age, he became fascinated with the singer/songwriters of the '60s and '70s, but then traced those artists' roots back to more basic blues. He traveled around the world, earning money from shows, and settled in New Orleans, where he has been based since 1990. Osborne artfully blends blues, funk, soul, and classic R&B to create his own distinctive synthesis of styles. Osborne's most widely available early album is 1995's Which Way To Here, recorded for OKeh/Sony; two other independent label releases from the late '90s and early 2000s may still be around for those willing to search: Live at Tipitina's appeared on Shanachie in 1998, followed by Living Room the next year. The introspective Ash Wednesday Blues was issued in early 2001. In 2002, Osborne cut his final two albums for Shanachie, the wonderfully raucous, enigmatic collaboration Bury the Hatchet with Big Chief Monk Boudreaux of the Mardi Gras Indian Tribe the Golden Eagles, and the blues- and Americana-drenched Break the Chain. He didn't record again until 2006, when he released the larger band session Osborne Orchestra. Osborne was playing nonstop in New Orleans and occasionally in Europe during this period. His 2007 recording, Coming Down, issued on the M.C. imprint, was the most intimate collection of songs he released to date, and walked the line between the nakedly confessional and his observations about living in N.O. after Hurricane Katrina. Live at Jazz Fest 2008, featuring Osborne's killer road band, appeared that year. In 2009 he signed with Chicago's Alligator label. His first offering for the imprint was the driving, boisterous American Patchwork, issued in 2010. Osborne toured nearly nonstop after the album and produced recordings for Johnny Sansone, Tab Benoit, and Mike Zito. He released Black Eye Galaxy in the spring of 2012; he co-produced the album with Galactic's Stanton Moore and Warren Ricker. During relentless touring to celebrate what was his most critically acclaimed album, Osborne took a break late in the year to record the uncharacteristically casual Three Free Amigos, a semi-acoustic, six-track EP which was released in Feburary of the following year. Later that fall he returned with the full-length Peace. © Richard Skelly © 2013 Rovi Corp | All Rights Reserved http://www.allmusic.com/artist/anders-osborne-mn0000026276
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