One of the pleasant surprises I had at this year’s Folk Alliance conference was lucking into a performance from LA transplant Arielle Silver. After several sets of protest and grievance-laden anthems, her mix of sophisticated, reflective songs were a welcome respite. Talking with her afterwards, it was nice to hear a musician just enjoying her journey.
Arielle is about to release a new album (October 6th) called Watershed. It’s a reference to the pandemic and how, like the record’s title, life has moments in time that define and direct the flow of people’s actions. Sometimes they’re momentous, like the opening track Soft On the Shoulder, where changes “start with a witness”. Other times it’s something as mundane as baking a pie for a stepdaughter (Bramble Vine).
My favorite song on the record is undoubtedly Rickie Lee. Like much of the eponymous first album from namesake Rickie Lee Jones, it’s as much R&B and jazz as it is folk. It pays tribute to a much earlier watershed moment for Silver when she first heard that Jones LP. Not to be left out, the video takes it even a step further as it features her yoga bestie and former next door neighbor, dancer Nicole Riviere (and Riviere’s director/cinematographer husband, Sacha), doing a homage to that mind-opening, new music experience. While you let all that karma sink in, here’s our premiere of Rickie Lee.
About the author: I've actually driven from Tehatchapee to Tonopah. And I've seen Dallas from a DC-9 at night.