LinkyWolfie

Bootleg

2009-07-29T13:04:00.000-07:00

Here's a live recording of a new, unreleased song from a concert at the Cabin in Portland, Oregon...the song is called Bowl of Morning

Seattle Secret Show

2009-07-25T08:51:00.000-07:00

NPR!

2009-07-25T08:44:00.001-07:00

Here's a link to our NPR studio performance in Oregon ... pictures to be posted soon:

portland house concert!

2009-07-25T08:35:00.001-07:00

house show with Hunter Paye, Trevor Reichman, Linky Dickson, and Jonathan Brinkley

Laurelthirst, Portland

2009-07-21T15:02:00.000-07:00

the Stillwater in Ashland

2009-07-20T23:52:00.000-07:00

Review from Eugene Weekly

2009-07-20T23:38:00.000-07:00

Eugene Weekly
July 16, 2009

I have a new theory: All you really need in life is a beautiful voice and a banjo. Alexa Woodward has both, and as she’s leaving behind her law career for music, her rise to fame should be as meteoric as that of Vienna Teng — who gave up her software engineering career for piano pop — if the universe has any sense of justice.

Woodward is touring the country in a 1984 Westfalia to support her new, sophomore CD, Speck. There’s something totally disarming about the way Woodward sings, with a roundness to her voice that plainly bears the mark of a Southern upbringing. But unlike delicate chanteuse Gillian Welch’s sepia-toned obsession with a bygone era, you don’t get the sense that Woodward needs a vintage dress to create authenticity.

She surrounds her voice with plucky banjo, singing saw and wistful mandolin, which give her songs a gothic quality, as on “Spoon,” a song with lyrics as cryptic as those of Joanna Newsom. But to Woodward’s credit, her music is nowhere near as indulgent. For all the spare arrangements and spacious melodies, it’s her voice that takes the stage.

Woodward played at this year’s Country Fair, and if you happened to catch her enchanting voice and want more — or missed out — you’ve got a couple more chances to see her in person. She is also making an appearance this weekend at the Saturday Market. Brian Cutean and Alexa Woodward play at 8:30 pm Sunday, July 19, at Sam Bond’s. 21+. $5. — Vanessa Salvia

http://eugeneweekly.com/2009/07/16/music1.html

Liza Ferneyhough

2009-07-10T14:15:00.000-07:00

Linky's friend Liza, an amazing artist whose work can be seen at www.stellarbaby.com, drew a picture of us while we were performing in SF at Velo Rouge... here it is!

from Napa to Oregon

2009-07-10T14:06:00.001-07:00

Some picture from the drive north...

the California Coast!

2009-07-06T10:48:00.001-07:00

We took the 101 from San Luis Obispo up the coast to San Francisco, and now we're in the beautiful hilly city. On the way we saw Elephant seals and a wild coast line:

Los Angeles

2009-07-03T01:07:00.000-07:00

Alexa here. The vwan has now driven EIGHT days without breaking down. This is a tour record. We think it's because it has reached VW Nirvana (California) and its restless little german soul is totally stoked to be chilling out here by the pacific.

We made it through the desert, and arrived in Riverside near Los Angeles, where Will (aka "toast" aka "Wyatt") let us sleep on the floor of the room he's not supposed to use. We played an impromtu show at a great coffee house, Back to the Grind, on June 26th:

While we were in Riverside we met some really love folks, Sarah Gautier, who writes beautiful songs on Ukulele and accordion... and the Norse horse, who also makes lovely music. We wandered into a strange little white house with action movies playing in the front room and made our way through to the basement room, where the light was orange and there was a lovely milieu of sound... accordion, bass, glockenspiel, organ, ukulele, toy piano... it was like Alice in wonderland with whiskey.

The next morning we headed into the crazy metropolis that is LA... (one very, very big highway between beaches), and met up with the illustrious Warren and Rachel, who showed us the best sushi, beaches, and $1.50 ice cream sandwiches LA had to offer. We played at Genghis Cohen that night with the Effects of Cable Television. Genghis Cohen only pays you if you bring twenty people, but they didn't begin counting until our set started, and never counted the huge group Warren and Rachel brought. So we didn't get paid despite the number of people we brought in that night... basically, it's a glorified Chinese restaurant. And it looks like a vampire lair... as you can see:

Thinking we might make more money working the streets, we decided to take our act out to Hollywood and set up in front of a skimpy bathing suit/S&M shop:

Wanting us to exeprience more of LA than cracked out Venice beach at night, cheating Chinese Restaurants, and S&M shops, Warren (who was Mr. Hermitage at my high school, btw), and who is currently using his masterful networking skills as our pro bono manager, hooked us up with a last minute show at the Hotel Cafe, which is a beautiful artist friendly venue in Hollywood:

And after the show, we decided to venture into the Michael Jackson mourned streets in our wolf hats to sing a few songs into the night before leaving the vampire city:

Tomorrow we are headed to San Francisco, the only city I like as much as New York or Copenhagen... and the adventure continues...

Speck in CMJ's top 200!

2009-06-29T12:22:00.000-07:00

In the two months since its formal release, Speck is currently playing on over 85 college and AAA radio stations, and debuted at #186 in CMJ's top 200 charts.
Below are a few reviews of the album!

"Alexa Woodward is becoming more of a common name on the folk scene with the release of her sophomore record Speck. She sings flawlessly, as she strums her banjo to songs about loss and hope... Woodard is able to showcase her songwriting skills here as she not only displays how Americana should sound but backs it up with sheer substance!"
-The Fire Note
http://thefirenote.blogspot.com/2009/06/alexa-woodward-speck.html

Comparisons abound. She’s been likened to singers such as Neko Case, Joanna Newsom, and Gillian Welch, placing Alexa Woodward in very good company. However, despite the temptation to draft countless other musical similes to describe Alexa Woodward’s playing, suffice it to say this one time lawyer is penning beautiful songs sublimely set to comfortable banjo playing and graceful vocals. “Spoon” immediately demands attention with Woodward’s strong vocals tracing out an enticing melody, which is only lent strength by her simple banjo accompaniment. As “Spoon” unfolds, the listener is greeted by Woodward’s understated individuality, whether its her quirky lyrics drawing parallels between “the moon [. . .and] a spoon you can burn from the bottom”, or her deft instrumentation which prominently focuses upon a singing saw in the middle section of the track. Look for unique live shows from this one-time New York resident, and keep an eye peeled for Speck, out now on Constant Clip records.
-StereoSubversion:
http://www.stereosubversion.com/downloadable/alexa-woodward-spoon-05-27-2009/

"If you pay attention to the local music scene in NYC, there’s no doubt you’ve noticed a folk and roots-Americana revival. Banjos,ukuleles and mandolins are commonly strummed, plucked and hammered. Sadly, not all of these songsters shimmer. But when it’s done well, it’s great.

Armed with a banjo (that at times comes across more like a harp), a full, animated voice, instantly memorable lyrics and simply excellent songwriting, Alexa Woodward does it well. Each of Alexa’s songs is structured and unfolds as if spirited by an old soul, like a lost undiscovered classic. Her voice is commanding and present, colored by moderate vibrato, but maintaining the necessary clarity for imagery-heavy lyrical narratives to shine. Hers are the kind of cliché-less, sensible and immediately relatable words that sound as good advice or a great story spoken by a friend. Don’t be surprised if Alexa Woodward opens for Neko Case sometime in the near future."
-Resonance Review, Jezebel Music

"HIGHLY RECOMMENDED: ANOTHER GILLIAN WELCH."

"Someone We Think You Should Know: We are very proud to share the music of Alexa Woodward with you.Woodward, 27, has a gorgeous voice. With her banjo and voice alone, she is making some of the most elegant, soft and beautiful Americana/Urban Folk music we have heard in a good while. A New York native, she vows to release her new album Speck here in Boston. (Just another great reason to check her out!

Woodward is a banjo-playing folk maven! She received acclaim as a semifinalist in Jezebel Music's Williamsburg Live Songwriter Competition, NY's largest songwriting contest. She is also notably known for her beautiful live performances in the most unconventional places (most notably the Austin, TX sewer in January of this year. (300
brace underground attendees were politely "evacuated" through manholes by the local police.) That's giving it your all for your art!"
--Ryan's Smashing life (April 14, 2009):

"With the recent shuttering of the old Knitting Factory (which was actually the new Knitting Factory, relocated after the first one closed), I guess you officially, finally, can no longer refer to someone as a “downtown” musician. I’ve often heard that term in reference to New York musicians who aren’t from here and don’t sound like they live here now, so now that there’s no “downtown” music scene (formally anyway), what do you call someone like Alexa Woodward – from Virginia and sounding something like a cool breeze set to music? Woodward’s easygoing second album, Speck, sounds like a mildly psychedelic Gillian Welch in a self-imposed artist’s retreat.

Too many local artists get in a studio and, for the first time, can finally overpower their songs with too many guitars, too many drums, too many harmonies. The resulting albums manage to overpower the songwriting and somehow pale in comparison to a solo acoustic performance. I am thrilled to say that Speck is not one of those albums. Populated almost entirely by Woodward’s simple and compelling banjo and uniquely vibrating alto/soprano singing, the uncluttered arrangements complement the songs without burying the compelling elements of the live solo show. Opener “Speck” gets to about the two-minute mark with just voice and banjo, and then a single harmony, acoustic guitar, and singing saw unfold into the track out of nowhere. It’s a neat trick – before the other instruments come in, the listener is almost fooled into thinking he or she is listening to somebody’s paltry demo. Later, on “Jimmy,” Woodward’s banjo is accompanied by some super-tasteful mandolin and low-in-the-mix (like, Mazzy Star low-in-the-mix) string bass... In “Plants,” Woodward describes what it’s like to live in a house with twenty five roommates. The description of all the different roommates’ various activities, keeping things moving in the house much like things keep moving out in the city, is a near-perfect convergence of the country-raised girl with the city-based performer. The tune climaxes with a joyous sing-along chorus that sounds like all roommates present just bashed into the room and started harmonizing while the recording was going on. And this is where Alexa Woodward, and Speck, ultimately succeed. By making an album that sounds like an impromtu show in your living room, Woodward has united the relaxed feeling of sitting on the porch with the econo-necessities of making an album in the city."
by Brook Pridemore
-Jezebel Music

"Here are some of the better tracks that have made our ears sit up
and take notice this week...Alexa Woodward has given up a career in
law for the banjo! Her debut album Speck is out soon and Spoon is
the first single. To us it conjures images of rural families crowding
round a crackly old radio to tap their feet and hum along. We think we
could be hearing a lot more from this young lady."
-Mad Mackerel, Saturday, 23 May 2009

the Grand Canyon and the Mormons

2009-06-26T18:49:00.001-07:00

After the van broke down in Colorado, we had to pick up Anders' brother Jakob in Salt Lake City. This could only be accomplished by renting a car and driving across Utah in one day, through heat and hail. So we set out early in the morning and we passed through a variety of landscapes, including:

In Utah, there are lots of Mormons. We went to the Temple in Salt Lake City.

On the way back from Salt Lake City, we stopped by Arches National Park:

After we drove back from Salt Lake City, we got the van back. We drove the van from Durango to Flagstaff, which is not flat. It turns out flagstaff is at an elevation of 7,000 feet. When we arrived, we drove straight to a mechanic, where our coolant pipe exploded. We once again rented a car. Linky hung out in Flagstaff with the locals, and Jakob and Anders and I went to the Grand Canyon, which looks like this:

Oh, and Anders became a love child.

Death in Mesa Verde and Durango adventures

2009-06-21T10:17:00.001-07:00

Alexa here. In the last two weeks Vwan Foodwink has broken down twice, once in Santa Rosa New Mexico (which left us in Taos for four days and out of an ungodly amount of money), and then in Colorado as we attempted to drive to our campsite in Mesa Verde national park. These pictures illustrate our most recent Vwan death march…

After Vwan died we spent a couple of days camping in Mesa Verde waiting for the mechanic to get back to us...

So now we’re in Durango, rescued once again by friends of friends. Our new pal uncle Matt hosted us for an incredible night of fire spinning, singing, and rib smoking in his backyard in downtown Durango. He drove all the way to Mesa Verde at the drop of a hat to pick us up, brought us back to his place where we walked to main street and busked for tourists. While downtown, Linky and I met Chris (gold broker, impromptu manager extraordinaire who made us a sign for CD sales), and Chelsea (a lovely girl traveling back to Fort Collins). We invited them back to Matt’s where Chris supplied us with cloves and we played music and drank Colorado beer (Modus Hoperandi).

As the night rolled on, a number of visitors stopped by. By far the highlight of these visitors was a fellow who introduced himself by slamming his body against the side of the 6-foot fence and lifting his fingers above it asking to be let in while wiggling them in the air. He eventually found the gate and wandered into the backyard so drunk that he could barely walk, and spoke to Anders for about ten minutes in Spanish. Linky and I began singing, and he sang along. His accompaniment consisted of long, loud sustained “AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA” noises and sporadic verses in Spanish on top of the already existing verses. Along with this accompaniment, he would strike dramatic poses and tell us dirty things in Spanish, and eventually told both me and Linky, “I want to be your boyfriend. Can I be your boyfriend?”

The last song we sang together was a new one, bowl of morning, which refers to Lot's wife being turned into a pillar of salt. When we reached that line, David began yelling “He turned her into salt!” and "Tax!!!!"

Today Anders and I are driving to Salt Lake City to pick up his brother Jakob, who is joining the tour for a few weeks from Denmark. We’re supposedly getting the van back on Monday… we’ll see what the damage is. We’ll be doing an in studio on the radio in Cortez on Monday afternoon, so maybe we can make a plea for help on the air that will encourage folks to buy CDs to support our ridiculous van expenses.

more pictures and thoughts to come....

New Mexico Tales and Linky Rambles

2009-06-19T17:50:00.002-07:00

Hello friends,

Linky here. It's been a while since the last blog post but internet's been spotty and Vwan Foodwink has been sick. I'm writing this from the General Store in Mesa Verde National Park in Colorado. Vwan was finally released from the shop in Santa Fe yesterday after many repairs. While she was in the shop, we stayed in a hostel called the Abominable Snow Mansion in the beautiful little town of Arroyo Seco. There was a nasty stomach flu going around the hostel and we warned that we might projectile vomit all over our rooms but, luckily, we avoided doing that. While in NM, we:

played at an Albuquerque Laundromat, the Santa Fe Brewery, Taos Inn, Eske’s Pub, and the Santa Fe Plaza (busking with our sweet and talented new friend Lee and our new fan Banjo Johnny).
ate some great free food, including lots of green chile everything (even green chile beer)
met our new friend Greg, who made us delicious breakfast (and filmed us half-awake helping prepare it), let us sleep and shower at his groovy house, and hung out with us in ABQ, Taos, and Arroyo Seco.
visited the Loretto Chapel in Santa Fe and saw the miraculous wooden, spiral staircase built with no nails by a mysterious carpenter. Well...I thought it was miraculous and slept on a pew next to it for about an hour to soak up its miracle vibes but I think Alexa and Anders were a little bored. :)
got into giggle fits at approximately the rate of one every four days (I started keeping track)

Also....
Our first morning in Arroyo Seco, I was told that I could walk to a waterfall in 20 minutes if I just followed the main road out of town until it turned into a dirt road and then a path. So, I trekked out for a solo adventure and, two hours later, made it to the waterfall! ☺ I’ve found it to be a trend in NM for people to underestimate distances. But the hike was beautiful. The mountain air smelled so good and there were ferns and wild roses on the walk and songbirds chirping unusual patterns and big, blue, snow-glazed mountains on the horizon. Once I made it out of the town and into the mountain, I found the waterfall running over the top of a cliff and into a little stream.

We met some sweet people back at the Snow Mansion, including Rachel, Sarita, Nicolas and Earl Jay. Alexa and I rode with them one night to play an open mic at Taos Inn. Nicolas is Argentinian and Sarita and Earl Jay (siblings) are half-Argentinian. Rachel is from California but is also fluent in Spanish. I got to exercise some of my muy limited and rusty Spanglish with them. Earl Jay and Rachel both played little sets and have beautiful voices. Alexa and I played a few songs and were happy to have amplification and a good crowd (we'd played there unplugged a little the night before and had trouble projecting over people and the fountain in the middle of the room).

We also ran into Justin and Alex (the “gypsy boys” we'd met at KFF). They played a great little set with their band Shine. After the open mic, they invited us to go to some hot springs. Anders was already on his way to pick us up, so he and Alexa went back to the hostel to relax but I felt rested for the first time in days so I caught a ride with my new amigos. Rachel said she'd been out there before but got some directions written on a napkin just in case.

Well, it turned out to be a verrry confusing place to find, especially in the dark. I rode in the back of Rachel’s truck, "Artemis" with Earl Jay and Nicolas and we got lost on dirt roads for at least an hour. They were just about to give up when they tried one more route and found it! Artemis's battery and check engine light were on by the time we got there, so we parked on one side of the bridge we needed to cross in case we needed a jump to get out.

I'd asked Justin how the hike to the springs was and he'd said there was no hike at all...just a 5 min. walk. Well....in true NM style, it turned out to be a pretty long hike along a really rocky and treacherous cliff on the side of a mountain and it was COLD! I was worried, as usual, about my precarious knees and feet making it down the mountain but all of that fear was quickly erased when I saw that Earl Jay was totally gung ho for making it to the springs (he’s blind).

He told me that he can see some shapes in the daylight but is completely blind at night. With the help of his cane, my shoulder, and very slow and specific directions in Spanish from his friends, Earl Jay made it around boulders, between rocky cliff passes, and through muddy stretches of river water to the springs. He told me he’d never attempted a hike that difficult in the dark. It was really inspiring to witness the amount of trust, courage, and teamwork it took to make it. It became a sort of psychedelic feeling experience for all of us by the end. Walking that intentionally and slowly in a group put us into a hyper aware state. The hot springs were amazing and well worth the work getting there. We were joined by the gypsy boys and soaked in the water, singing songs, watching shooting stars, and listening to the Rio Grande rush beside us for hours.

The trip back, in our sleepy states, proved to be even more confusing than before. It began with us hiking back about a mile in the wrong direction and looking wayyy down a cliff’s edge to see the bridge we were trying to get to. We backtracked and made it to Artemis and she started without needing a jump but we then drove around dusty back roads, passing our one landmark (Herb’s Corner Store) at least half a dozen times. It started to feel like an episode of The Twilight Zone. No matter which turn we took or how far we drove, we always seemed to end up at Herb’s. We finally made it back to the hostel around 5am and headed back to teepees and rooms to sleep.

I got to drive Vwan for the first time yesterday for about 3 hours and did pretty well (only one stall). Getting her into first gear is a bit challenging and I need more practice. We traded drivers near the state border and Alexa drove us into beeeautiful Colorado! We were amazed at how instantly green everything was. We saw elk and tons of wildflowers and amazing mountains (apparently the lower Rockies) and a buffalo! I've never seen a buffalo in person but I had a really powerful dream several years ago about one charging me and stopping inches from my face. If I had to pick a power animal (a theme that's come up several times this summer) besides a mermaid, I think mine would be the buffalo.

Vwan was running smoothly after all of her repairs UNTIL Mesa Verde. We actually almost made it to the top of the mountain (one mile short) when she died…completely. It was problematic because it was dark, we were on the side of a huge cliff, and she stopped in a rockslide area where drivers are warned not to park. With the help of a kind archaelogist and a park ranger, we eventually all made it to a campground and Vwan was towed away to another shop.

After that ordeal, we set up tents, drank some whiskey and bundled up for a cold night’s sleep. Today, we found out that Vwan will be in the shop over the weekend, so we’re getting another rental car and heading to Salt Lake City to pick up Anders’s brother on Sunday. The national park we’re in has tons of ancient Pueblo Indian cave dwellings many miles deeper into the mountain. I’m hoping we’ll make it to see them before we hit the road again.

The tour so far has been an adventure and reminder of the great kindness and generosity of strangers. We’ve been setting up more shows in California and Oregon and look forward to meeting up with our friends out there (assuming Vwan makes it that far). Thanks to the kindness of Brian Qtn, Alexa and I will also be able to go to Oregon Country Fair for three days. ☺ Internet is spotty on the road but we’ll keep you posted on the health of vwan and collective mental health of the Speck crew (last night was a little trying).

Tonight, we're better prepared for the chilly temperatures and are looking forward to cooking a hot meal, drinking some whiskey and seriously bundling up with many layers of clothes and blankets. We're also taking extra precautions to tuck all our yummy stuff away in bear boxes because they do roam out here. In fact, Alexa and Anders took a hike while I was blogging and heard a loud growling from a large sounding animal and decided to turn around. They later learned that they had most likely encountered a mountain lion.

We've got lots more pics coming soon of hikes, gigs, and Vwan's slow death march...

*)

Pictures from Santa Fe

2009-06-14T13:36:00.000-07:00

Here are a few pictures from Santa Fe...

Speck Tour!!!

2009-06-13T18:09:00.001-07:00

Hi Folks, Linky here. Alexa and I are touring across the West Coast from June to August to promote Alexa's shiny new cd, "Speck". We'll be sharing stories and pics from the road on this here blog. Alexa, Anders, and I hit the road in Vwan Foodwink (the vanagon which is our home for the summer) on June 11th.

This is day 3 of the tour and, so far, we've experienced:

a lovely kickoff show in Austin with Raina Rose, Rebecca Loebe, and Datri Bean at Cafe Mundi

a coolant overflow in the back of Vwan Foodwink (the vanagon we're traveling in)
a stop in a basically abandoned TX town called Ballinger where we found kind of gross but authentic Italian food and cool looking walls

a smoking ignition that induced panicked fleeing out of Vwan
a hitchhiked ride from Santa Rosa, NM to Albuquerque with a kind man named Jay who reminded me of my Stepdad, Jim, and who I inadvertently offended by telling him so (an age thing I guess...)
a massive giggle fit in the Olive Garden where we were dropped off by Jay brought on by unexpected drunkenness off one glass of wine and my horribly butchered attempts at speaking Danish. (my favorite phrase so far is "fucked up på sne", which means "fucked up on coke!". I like to end all of my Danish conversations with that now.
a really frakkin scary commute with Carlosaur and Eva to the site of the secret show in the laundromat. He picked us up at the restaurant, fell out of the car as he came to a stop, and told us that he'd just drunk gasoline and poured orange juice in his eyes. He then proceeded to speed like holy hell down the hwy while braking sporadically and dodging between cars. When we got off the hwy, he ran every red light at full speed through oncoming traffic. I just kept muttering in Danish "I'm scared, I'm scared, I'm scared" to Alexa in the backseat. When he ran the 4th red light while a truck was speeding towards us she cussed him out and he apologized but then made fun of us for the rest of the drive.
a secret show with a bunch of hipsters in a laundromat

a night's rest in a total stranger's house that Raina Rose hooked us up with via text after announcing at her gig in Roswell that we needed help!

Those are just a few of the highlights. Alexa may elaborate more. Needless to say, it's been exciting so far. Vwan is in good hands in a shop in Santa Fe and will be there until Tuesday. For now, Anders has rented a car and we're planning to stay in a hostel called the Abominable Snow Mansion in Taos for the next few nights. Right now, we're sitting with the lovely Raina Rose, Rebecca Loebe, and Trevor Smith at the Santa Fe Brewery. We're full of good food and beer and have a great view of mountains and a cool breeze is blowing through. We're fixin' to go play some tunes. howwwwwl!