Voice and sitar. straight up. I'd been singing Charlie Burnham's sideswipingly beautiful setting of the suppressed verses of this magnificent song and somehow it came to pass that stringsmaster John Kruth and I opened the benefit concert at Poisson Rouge vs NYU bldg scheme with it. Truth is, I sing it at the drop of a hat. Soon I might be singing it on street corners. That could be a good thing! You will be moved. It's valuable to be thinking about what Woody Guthrie would be thinking about right now. It's one take except for one note (give a girl a break), and so beautifully recorded by John Kilgore at his studio in the on 9th Ave. My third eye had a microphone all its own.

JANINE NICHOLS JOHNKRUTH This Land Is Your Land  Sitar Mix

For voice and Tibetan singing bowl. Deeply affecting! Conceived to sing at the dedication of the baseball field named for my father, the Norm Dreyer Diamond in Lynbrook, NY. 

Star Spangled Banner

From the debut 5-song EP, Janine Nichols SEMI-FREE, First Ones (get it?).  

Words and Music by Janine Nichols / HYacinth9 (ASCAP). 

Janine Nichols, voice/rhythm gtr. Brandon Ross, acoustic guitar. Charlie Burnham, violin. 

Do As I Do

From the debut 5-song EP by Janine Nichols SEMI-FREE, First Ones (get it?).

Words and Music by Janine Nichols / HYacinth9 (ASCAP)

Janine Nichols, voice/rhythm gtr. Brandon Ross, Yamaha Silent guitar; Charlie Burnham, violin. Doug Wieselman, bass clarinet

Produced by Janine Nichols with Brandon Ross

Needle And Thread

I have loved this song since the Joe Cocker/Leon Russell version of 1969. 

Words &amp; Music by John Sebastian (Alley Music Corp/Trio Music Company)

Janine Nichols, voice/rhythm guitar; Brandon Ross, Yamaha Silent guitar; Charlie Burnham, violin

Darling Be Home Soon

I wrote this song after watching a very disturbing TV news report detailing the effects of foreclosure on a family. It is a very haunting melody and the arrangement is full of dread, in the beautiful surrealist way. 
From the debut EP by Janine Nichols SEMI-FREE, First Ones (get it?). Words &amp; Music by Janine Ncihols / HYacinth9 (ASCAP)

Janine NIchols, voice/rhythm gtr; Brandon Ross, Yamaha Silent guitar; Charlie Burnham, violin; Doug Wieselman, bass clarinet. Recorded/Mixed by Shahzad Ismaily. Blessed by Hal Willner.

Sigh of Relief

A tender lover's lament that oscillates expressively between folk verses and jazz interludes – and packs a killer last line. Janine Nichols, composer, singer, rhythm guitar. Brandon Ross, Yamaha Silent guitar. Charles Burnham, violin. 

If You Fall

A song written in the wake of a TV news report on the effects of foreclosure on families. 

Sigh Of Relief

A minor Peggy Lee hit I recorded for the soundtrack of the film "Change In The Air" directed by Dianne Dreyer. Arranged by Steven Bernstein.

Sugar (Sweet Sugar Baby o' Mine)

Not jazz, not folk, but a slow motion thrill ride opening up familiar songforms to make room for the emotional immediacy of free jazz. Singer and songsmith Janine Nichols with guitarist Brandon Ross (Harriet Tubman, Cassandra Wilson/Black Sun) and violinist Charlie Burnham (Steven Bernstein's MTO, Medeski Martin & Wood). 

Janine Nichols SEMI-FREE

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