JEFF BLACK  |  FOLKLORE

Artist: JEFF BLACK    
Album: FOLKLORE
Release Date: 4/1/2014 
Label: Lotos Nile Music
UPC: 888295046411		 

Artist: Jeff Black
Album: folklore
Release Date: 2014
Label: Lotos Nile Music		 
Jeff Black played 6 & 12 string guitars, banjo, 
harmonica and sang the songs 
Recorded January 4-5, 2014 
Arcana Studios/The 333 Nashville, Tn USA
Executive Producers Kissy Black and Jeff Black
Produced and Engineered by Jeff Black
Mixed by Dave Sinko
Mastered by Eric Conn and Don Cobb at Independent Mastering
Photographs by Lotos Nile Black
Design by Messo
Layout and additional design by Galina Petriu 

All Songs Written by Jeff Black
Copyright 2014 Lotos Nile Music BMI

         Track listing			

  1. Rider Coming 2:00
  2. Folklore 3:11
  3. Break The Ground 2:35
  4. Howdy Do 2:31
  5. Cages Of My Heart 2:56
  6. 63' Mercury Meteor 3:58
  7. Lemonade 1:32
  8. #10 Bus 3:12
  9. No Quarter 4:55
 10. Sing Together 2:53
 11. Tom Domino 4:21
 12. Flat Car 3:07
 13. Decoration Day 4:47

All songs written by Jeff Black
ⓒⓅ Lotos Nile Music BMI 

FOLKLORE LINER NOTES by Jeff Black

I've been thinking about this record, this kind of record, for a long, long, time. I've been working over time to see it clearer. As a listener and a writer, I move toward the songs that are born from a picture first. The torn old photo where my Grandma and her camera captured a moment around 1930 of two brothers and their dog on the sunny side of their house in the winter, has followed me around for 40-some years. The old print reveals more in its composition than I might ever write in a lifetime.

My Grandma Lotos played piano in church, my Great Grandad played guitar, as did my Uncle Lyle, who is standing on the left next to my Dad in the cover photo. My Dad played some guitar and the tenor banjo. There is a humble legacy here that started way back in the country, through the rites of dances and church socials, passed down through stories. I was told my Dad and his brother spent a good amount of time performing at barn dances around the country up in north Missouri when they were young. Coming up through the Great Depression, playing music for them was probably more out of hunger and necessity than the need for self expression or nurturing the luxury of emotion. I think itÂ’s the picture of my Dad looking into the camera, into the future, that inspires me, and the fade of my uncle into the unknown that keeps me searching. 

I've been thinking about the kind of music that we dance to out of need, where vanity is absent. The kinds of songs that are sung out of need too, where the ego stands down. Where true pop culture begins before it is destroyed with the notions of fame and riches. When people dance for themselves, with each other in sync, in rounds, where they emulate the universeÂ…I believe this is a primal need. With no fear of failure and no audience to read, people play music through instinct. It is our work. It is a valid and valuable lifeÂ’s work, whether anybody ever hears it or not.

I wrote and recorded thirty plus songs for this album and the 13 that actually made it to the final release are the pictures I kept returning to. Not all of the songs are derived from my line of history. Some are for a fighting friend and a forgotten child. Others recount a ride on a city bus and a short study on never settling. The narratives don't have near as much to do with me or the pictures I attempt to paint, as they do with the pictures people conjure up in their mind when they let them in. I did my best to explore both sides, the dark and the light lines that are drawn through all of us.

When you start looking at 10 fingers, half a dozen or so strings, countless frequencies and the endless possibilities of story and song, the dogged thoughts and dark hopes are ultimately edged out. Nothing gets in but creation - and that's where I hoped to start, where this album begins. I feel fortunate to just to have been in the vicinity when they came through.

#10 Bus

7. Lemonade

63' Mercury Meteor

Cages Of My Heart

Howdy Do

Break The Ground

Folklore

Rider Coming

Needed The Rain

All Right Now

JEFF BLACK  |  B-SIDES AND CONFESSIONS VOLUME TWO

Artist: JEFF BLACK    
Album: B-SIDES AND CONFESSIONS VOLUME TWO
Release Date: JAN 2013
Label: Lotos Nile Music
UPC: 884501795128		 

JEFF BLACK: Vocals, Guitars, Piano, Keyboards, Banjo, Bass, Harmonica, Programming & Percussion
SAM BUSH: Mandolin, Fiddle
JERRY DOUGLAS: Resonator Guitar & Lap Steel
KENNY WRIGHT: Drums & Percussion on Avalon
MATRACA BERG: Harmony Vocals on Avalon
GRETCHEN PETERS: Harmony Vocals on Avalon
SCOT EVANS: Bass on Molly Rose and Alice Carry

Produced by JEFF BLACK
Executive Producer KISSY BLACK
Recorded by JEFF BLACK at Arcana Studios
Mixed by DAVE SINKO at The Groove Palace
Mastered by ERIC CONN at Independent Mastering
Photographs By MICHAEL WILSON
Layout and Design TORNE WHITE 

         Track listing			

1. All Right Now 				
2. Molly Rose 				
3. Avalon 					   
4. Impala 					
5. Alice Carry 				
6. Days On End
7. Miss Me 			
8. An Evil Lesson Is Soon Learned    
9. Good Old Days 			
10. True Love Never Let Me Down
11. Remain

Jeff Black - All Right Now

LOTOS NILE MUSIC

Lotos Nile Music is the independent label and publisher for singer songwriter Jeff Black. Starting out as a small publishing company in 1992 for Black’s catalog, Lotos Nile Music has evolved into the exclusive digital distributor, fulfillment house, and label services for the singer/songwriter and producer. Lotos Nile Music is a full production and artist services label.


JEFF BLACK 

Born: 1960s
Origin: Kansas City, Missouri
Genres: Folk, Contemporary Folk, Singer-Songwriter
Instruments: Vocals, Guitar, Banjo, Piano, Harmonica
Years active 1990s - present
Label: Lotos Nile Music
Website: www.jeffblack.com

After five critically acclaimed commercial releases on label homes, three fan favorite independent releases on his own Lotos Nile Music imprint, song placement on numerous independent films, thirty plus years of celebrated live performing and songs covered by artists as diverse as Alison Krauss, Waylon Jennings, Sam Bush, Blackhawk, Jerry Douglas, and Dierks Bentley, Jeff continues to solidify his reputation as a creative force in the roots genres with his ninth album. Continuing to evolve as a writer, performer and recording artist, Black has never before expressed so much of the creative process on his own terms, deepening his work and leaving the listener with some of Black’s most fully formed and resonant music of his career.

"Jeff Black writes songs that call to mind Greg Brown, Bill Morrissey, and Townes Van Zandt. His voice can make time stand still and his lyrics are some of the finest in the land. This latest set continues a tradition established on earlier albums such as Tin Lily and Honey and Salt, the tradition of an artist delivering songs that are damn near perfectly crafted and filled with the wisdom of the ages. Highlights include “Walking Home”, the title song, “Waiting”, and “What I Would Not Do”. Plow Through The Mystic is worth taking your time with, listening to and absorbing slowly, as one would the work of a fine writer such as William Faulkner. Why? Because you can’t handle the truth men like this speak, not all at once."

-Jedd Beaudoin | PopMatters


Biography

Jeff Black was born circa 1960 and grew up in Kansas City, Missouri. Black received his first guitar as a present for his tenth birthday. In his twenties Black began performing at Blayney’s, a Kansas City blues club where he also worked as a bouncer. Soon Black began touring and eventually relocated to Nashville, Tennessee after receiving a letter from friend Iris DeMent (Black lends some backing vocals on DeMent’s 1992 debut album, Infamous Angel). Black’s own first album, Birmingham Road, was recorded with the members of the band Wilco, minus lead singer, Jeff Tweedy.

"Top to bottom, this stuff is special. Black is an artist of substance." - Billboard


Lotos Nile Music | Jeff Black Albums

Discography

* Birmingham Road | Arista 1998 
* Honey And Salt | Lotos Nile Music 2003
* B-Sides And Confessions Vol. I | Lotos Nile Music  2003
* Tin+Lily | Lotos Nile Music 2003
* Mining | Lotos Nile Music 2007
* Sleepy Town | Lotos Nile Music 2008
* Christmas Sunshine | Lotos Nile Music  2009
* Plow Through The Mystic | Lotos Nile Music 2011
* B-Sides and Confessions Vol. II | Lotos Nile Music 2013
* Folklore | Lotos Nile Music 2014
*Calliope Song | Lotos Nile Music 2015

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