Corinne West 'Second Sight' album

There’s magic in Corinne West’s voice. It aches and breaks. It soars. It’s clear, penetrating, and washed in emotion. When she wraps that voice around songs as sublime as those on her latest CD, Second Sight, she’s spellbinding. That’s because she’s unlocked the secret that so many singers spend entire careers looking for and never find.

It’s right there on Second Sight. It’s in every note and lyric. But most important, it’s there in West’s voice. What’s the secret? Great singers are great communicators and every note sung can be a complete story in itself.

She knows giving listeners an unfettered glimpse into the raw and wild places of the soul is part of her job requirement. So she sings the story of life unfolding—sometimes brutal, sometimes beautiful, but always honest.

She learned about the importance of communication early in her musical career when she joined a nomadic group of artists traveling around the country in a converted school bus. She was 15 and dropped out of school to tour the country.

“I left home and school really young,” she says. “I was a wild energetic kid, and I had this incredible wanderlust from a very early age. People always assume something heavy happened at home but that wasn’t the case. It just wasn’t all that great. Everything seemed really static. I wasn’t being offered anything I could sink my teeth into. Then I met a group of traveling artists and activists and that fi nally lit me up. I found a window into a different way of life and I jumped through it.”

“Living on a bus and being a young teenager among counter-culture artists had a massive impact on me. I met a lot of characters and saw many many ways to live... some crazy, some sane. I realized that the world was chock full of possibility, and that a creative life was a potent way to contribute, make statements, and have a great time. And I had this guitar...”

So, with guitar in hand, Corinne hit the road and began busking—performing live in public in return for tips. That’s where she earned her master’s degree in delivering the soul of a song. It was a solid training ground for someone who had never taken formal music lessons and taught herself to play.

She immersed herself in the process, but her love affair with music took root well before that. At fi ve years old she was writing and singing tunes to whomever would listen - often her parents or their friends who she would steal away one at a time during parties, but more often to the sky or a little girl’s version of God in her room at night.

Her grandfather was also an infl uence. While he wasn’t a musician, he exposed her to the power and magnetism of live music.

“My grandfather started taking me to honkytonks when I was 11 and taught me how to two-step,” says West. “There were always big live country bands playing at the clubs. I would move across that dance-fl oor following his lead, beneath the band and the colored lights, in a swingin’ sea of dancers. Grandpa always knew everyone in the club.

The two-beat would start and he would hit the fl oor with whoever was ready to step. It was love and magic and I was with my champion. ”

No one knew that the two-step and childhood songs would lead her to the life of a musician. That idea began germinating while she was busking. She loved the energy and excitement of playing to a live crowd. Returning to her native California, she pursued music with a newfound passion.

Corinne joined her fi rst band at 19 and poured her heart into making music. The group ultimately dissolved, as did several others she joined thereafter. The break-ups were understandable but disappointing.

“I got tired of democratic bands always blowing up,” she says. “Everyone has a different vision of what they want. It’s like being in the kitchen with three other people and one wants Mexican, one sushi, and one Cajun. Sometimes all you end up with is a big mess and a stomachache. I got to the point where I didn’t want to be in another situation where everything stopped before it got off the ground, so I started writing and performing my own material.”

Choosing that path led to an explosion of creativity. She honed her craft and developed her own signature sound. It was a heady mix with the intensity of rock, the sincerity of country, the storytelling of bluegrass, and the wide-openness of Americana.

Corinne soon had enough songs for an album and began recording what would become her debut CD, Bound For The Living. Put together on a shoestring budget over the course of months, the album made West a rising star on the acoustic music scene.

She toured relentlessly and won rave reviews from Maverick, Relix, and SingOut!, among others. She also was named a fi nalist in the prestigious Kerrville Folk Festival songwriting competition. That, in turn, launched her onto the national festival circuit.

The other side of the Atlantic fell in love with her music when BBC legend Bob Harris began featuring her on his radio show. That led to a tour of England and Ireland in early 2007.

Her travels and the response from Bound inspired a new batch of songs and new level of confi dence in her music. Always willing to stretch her artistic boundaries, she brought producer Mike Marshall on board for her second album. Marshall is an acoustic music legend having collaborated with such icons as David Grisman, Mark O’Connor, Bela Fleck, and Edgar Meyer. It was exhilarating working with an outside producer after self-producing her debut record.

“Mike is brilliant and it was an honor to work with him,” says Corinne. “He was so focused on making sure we served the songs well. It took the recording process to a whole new level.”

The music also inspired Marshall to recruit top-shelf artists like Jerry Douglas, Darol Anger, and Tony Furtado to play on the album.

The care and craftsmanship West and Marshall poured into Second Sight shines through every aspect of the recording. From the opening turbo acoustic, breakneck bluegrass of the title track, Corinne casts a spell that’s hard to escape. She segues from the blues-tinged world-weariness of “Roses To Rust” to the plucky, vibrant positivity of “Hell Yes” without missing a beat.

Second Sight is a strong, focused, and emotionally powerful album rich with stellar musicianship, expressive vocals, and songs that pierce to the core and sooth the soul. Throughout, the most dynamic instrument is West’s highly emotive voice. At turns subtle and sophisticated, unbridled and passionate, it captures and conveys both the fragility and strength of the human spirit and translates the mysteries of the heart into something tangible.

And if that’s not magic, what is?

song by song
Second Sight
To end is to begin.

Hell Yes
This is a story of a girl growing up in America and leaving home to heed a potent call to wander. It is autobiographical.... and hell yes I would advise it.

Hand Full of Gold
This tale is about being in love with love, and the poetic art of longing. When you see diamonds dancing on the water under the moon do they see you too? Do you have a hand full of gold, or a handful of gold...

Cabin Door
This song is one of the fi rst songs I ever wrote. I was in my cabin in the High Sierra mountains gazing outside and I wrote it as I watched it that day.... The river runs close by and I imagined the river taking all shame to the sea to cleanse it. My shame. Your shame. The shame of nations and individuals... it is a non-religious prayer of sorts.

Gandy Dancer
In a rural town in the High Sierras lives a man named Eugene. He turns 91 this year. Eugene wears overalls and a straw cowboy hat, western shirts, old Levi jeans and cowboy boots with no socks. He lives in a trailer in the middle of town. I met Eugene early one morning in a cafe a handful of years ago. He was in the corner looking at the paper and making statements about how ridiculous the news is. “Our President’s a hamburger!” he was saying to himself and smarting his cane on the fl oor. I approached him after I got my coffee and introduced myself. He asked shaply, “What’cha drinkin’” ...and then opened a fl ask and spiked my coffee. It was 8:30 in the morning. What do you do with that? I leaned back in my chair and spoke with Eugene about his life. He was a Gandy Dancer, and worked on the railroad lines in the northwest, pushing those rails into place for years. Now that job is all done by machines. This song is for him and all who have worked the rails.

Lost & Found
My grandfather taught me to two-step when I was 11. Honky tonks and bright lights and a good two-beat. I just love it.

Roses To Rust
When your heart ends up on the fl oor sometimes the best thing you can do is to pick it up and head for higher ground.

Eye Of The Storm
The eye of the storm is a region of calm weather found at the center of strong cyclones.

Diamonds To The Wind
Since we are all made of energy/electricity/the same general ingredients, what is the separation between us barring different compositions of the same material? Doesn’t that somehow make us varying shapes of the same thing or simply one?

All Good Things
I wrote this song one night by the river with two good friends. We toasted and drank good mead and wrote a story about life, love, and the adventure of a poet.

Writing On The Wall
What would you do if you realized that life is diligently working with you and not against you?

Early Praise
“I love Corinne’s music and truly believe in her as an artist. She has spirit, integrity and talent. I am a massive fan” ~ Bob Harris, Radio 2 BBC

Corinne West is a throwback to a time when a delicate voice and acoustic backing were the epitome of good music. But rather than a nostalgia trip, Second Sight reaffirms that this timeless simplicity remains vital, even in the 21st century. With supple bluegrass backing from a who’s-who of bluegrass veterans including Darol Anger, Jerry Douglas and Tony Furtado, West finesses her way through 11 compositions abounding with humble imagery and stoked by compositional clarity. Heartbreak and redemption fare equally well on Second Sight, beautifully breaking the title track and setting “All Good Things” free. Branded with West’s strong-yet understated voice, Second Sight encapsulates the foregone simplicity of American music; a simplicity that begs to be revisited, which West does, delicately drifting across a refreshing string-picked breeze. ~ Jamie Lee, Relix Magazine

Second Sight has a crisp, warm, fluid sound, powered by some of the finest string players from both Nashville and the San Francisco Bay area. West’s husky, evocative voice and poetic yet unpretentious lyrics are perfectly framed. ~ Daniel Gewertz, Boston Herald

"San Francisco-based folkie Corinne West tastefully imbues banjo-laden bluegrass with touches of New Age and soul. An enigmatic singer-songwriter, she has crafted a sweetly sung disc that alternately revels and weeps...a genuine triumph." ~ Ken Burke, Country Standard Time

"Ok, Americana fans, if you aren't familiar with West yet, stick around and you will soon be. An organic success story on the rise, her writing and singing are so on point that her career is blossoming from the attention of fans with juice. For her second set, she got Mike Marshall to produce and he brought along the whole classic NAC team that he cut his teeth with almost 30 years ago, all of which have gone on to be genre definers. Her international rep has grown by Beeb djs making her a personal crusade. This is the kind of hype that goes with rock records that wind up going nowhere, but perhaps Einstein equations are at work in the Americana world as it's provoking an equal but opposite reaction. This is a completely delightful set that demands your attention if you are looking for songs with something to say you want to hear again and music that is second to none. A stone cold winner throughout." ~ Chris Spector, Midwest Record Recap

"She burns the paint off the walls!" ~ Wavy Gravy

“One listen to Second Sight should be enough to convince you that Corrine West is worth your attention.” ~ Steven Stone, Vintage Guitar Magazine

"...then her voice washes over you, and all you can think is "Wow"!! Corinne's efforts are the most exciting country/folk/bluegrass body of work I have heard in a long time." ~ Vanessa Salvia, Eugene Weekly

“Second Sight, her second album, is filled with ideas that never get in the way of the energetic performances — strong bluegrass with echoes of old-time country — and the occasional pretty ballad.” ~ Tom Geddie, Fort Worth Weekly

“Corinne’s future is bright, and she will take her place among a select list of female vocalists like Joni Mitchell, Joan Baez, and Eva Cassidy.” ~ Brenda Hough, California Bluegrass Association

"Corinne West brought her own style of "mountain music" to our audience like a breath of fresh, cool air. Her strong and sincere delivery of intelligent and passionate songs kept our audiences spellbound." ~ Brent Hutchinson, Cowichan Folk Guild and Islands Folk Festival

“This album is at once fun, heartfelt, moving and fresh. It just makes you want to get up, spin around, and either drench yourself in a summer shower or hightail it for nowhere. Good, good, good stuff.”~ Randy Walden, music-reviewer.com

"Mull some wine, brew some tea, and suspend multi-tasking when you play Second Sight. It’s worth it." ~ Alice Loweecey, buddyhollywood.com

"A Force to be reckoned with! "~ The Sante Fe New Mexican

"Wow, what a voice!! Vocals like this come around only once in a blue moon. crisp, clear, refreshing. like a fall breeze." ~ Jeff Rusch, Music Director, KNTI

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Corinne West - Second Sight