Phoebe Snow 'Live In Woodstock' album

On Tuesday, October 14, 2008, Verve Records will release Phoebe Snow - Live, a new concert recording. This fresh collection showcases the legendary vocalist still singing with her trademark power and style. The set was recorded before an enthusiastic audience at The Bearsville Theater in Woodstock, NY, in July of 2008.

Snow was joined during this performance by Roger Butterley (electric and acoustic guitars, mandolin, vocals), John Korba (piano, keyboards, electric guitar, vocals), Jon Gilutin (Hammond organ, keyboards, percussion), Bob Glaub (bass), Clint De Ganon (drums, percussion), and Fonzi Thornton (vocals). The album was produced by influential GRAMMY®-winning producer John Boylan (Linda Ronstadt, Boston).

Snow showcases a wide range of styles and vibes - from the bold and bluesy “Something Real” to the upbeat “Natural Wonder” to the impassioned ballad “It’s All in the Game” – throughout the recording. One of the album’s highlights is Snow’s “You’re My Girl,” a song originally written by the artist for her mother in the 1980s, but which now serves as a tribute to Snow’s beloved daughter, Valerie, who passed away in 2007 at the age of 31.

Other songs featured on Live in Woodstock include “Shakey Ground,” “Rockin’ Pneumonia and the Boogie Woogie Flu,” and the Rodgers & Hart gem “With A Song In My Heart,” as well as a show-stopping rendition of “Piece of My Heart.”

Since the release of her self-titled debut album in 1974, Phoebe Snow has remained one of the most distinctive voices in popular music. Her first released earned Snow a GRAMMY® nomination, the cover of Rolling Stone, and the Top 5 hit single, “Poetry Man” (heard here on Live). Since then, Snow has released numerous recordings and has performed as part of Donald Fagen’s New York Rock and Soul Revue, as well as with artists such as Luthor Vandross, Levon Helm, Michael Bolton, Chaka Khan and Bonnie Raitt.

biography
"I'm looking at this album as a reintroduction and the beginning of a new chapter," Phoebe Snow says of Live, her first-ever live album and her Verve debut.

Indeed, Live marks a welcome return to active duty for the legendary artist. It's also a compelling summation of a remarkable career that's established Snow as one of American music's true originals. With a flexible contralto voice that's won her a reputation as a singer's singer, and a singular songwriting talent that invariably cuts to the emotional heart, Snow remains in a class of her own.

Through the myriad twists and turns of her three-and-a-half-decade career, it's always been the live stage where Snow's unique gifts have been highlighted in their purest form. So it's no surprise that Live captures her at her in top form. Recorded on July 30 and 31, 2008 at the historic Bearsville Theater in Woodstock, New York, the album spans the musical, emotional and chronological range of Snow's body of work, and she rises to the occasion with a set of consistently riveting performances.

Backed by a sterling five-piece band, Snow delivers a haunting rendition of her self-penned signature hit "Poetry Man," and memorable new versions of her more recent compositions "Natural Wonder" and "The Other Girlfriend." Her skill as a versatile, deeply expressive interpreter is showcased on sensitive, deeply-felt readings of the romantic pop classic "It's All in the Game" and the Rodgers and Hart standard "With a Song in My Heart," while she rakes a tougher, assertive stance on a bracingly funky take on the Temptations' "Shakey Ground" and a barn-burning reworking of the Erma Franklin/Janis Joplin classic "Piece of My Heart."

"It's a scaled-down version of my live set, but it's also kind of a retrospective," Snow says of Live. "I have a bunch of songs that I'm identified with and that people expect to hear, so this is a chance to get them in one place, along with some surprises."

The album's emotional centerpiece is "You're My Girl," a heart-rending tribute to Snow's daughter Valerie Rose, who passed away in 2007. "The song was originally written for my mom and called 'I'm Your Girl,' Snow notes, adding, "It can be tough to sing it, and I truly don't know how I'm doing it every night, but I have to. It's become sort of an out-of-body thing."

The emotional intensity and musical integrity that are displayed on Live have been constants in Phoebe Snow's career. She was born Phoebe Ann Laub and grew up in Teaneck, New Jersey into a family with some roots in entertainment: her mother was a former dancer in the Martha Graham company and her paternal grandfather was an ex-vaudeville comic. She began to nurture her nascent musical abilities during childhood, and as a teenager was drawn into the Greenwich Village folk scene. She also discovered some key sources of inspiration in the emotional directness of old blues, R&B and jazz records. Phoebe borrowed her stage name from a fictional advertising character created in the early 1900s for the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad.

Snow's stunning live performances helped to win her a deal with Shelter Records. Her self-titled 1974 debut album became a major hit, spawning a Top Five single in "Poetry Man" and establishing Snow as one of the era's most distinctive voices. Phoebe Snow's release was met with widespread critical acclaim, as well as a Rolling Stone cover and high-profile tours with Jackson Browne and Paul Simon (with whom she recorded the hit 1975 duet "Gone at Last").

Her debut disc was followed by the well-received '70s releases Second Childhood, It Looks Like Snow, Never Letting Go and Against the Grain. But the necessity of caring for her special-needs daughter caused Snow to place parental obligations over career considerations. After 1981's Rock Away, she recorded infrequently, releasing Something Real in 1989, I Can't Complain in 1998 and Natural Wonder in 2003. Those albums showed Snow's talent and vision to be fully intact, and her loyal fan base continued to turn out for her live shows, including those with Donald Fagen's all-star New York Rock and Soul Revue. She was featured on that ensemble's 1991 album Live at the Beacon.

Live serves as both a shout-out to Snow's longtime fans and an introduction for new listeners. "I do seem to have a very loyal core audience who've stuck with me through everything, and I'm so thankful for those people," she states. "But I also want to see who else is out there. I am amazed at how often younger people come up to me at my shows and say, 'My mom and dad had your albums, I grew up listening to you.' Or they'll say, 'My mother made me come here and I've never heard of you, but you're really good.'

"I'm pragmatic and I know that the music business now is a whole different ballgame than the one that I came up in," Snow asserts. "So it'll be interesting to see how this works out. I just want to keep making music, because singing is still as cathartic to me as it's ever been. The industry has changed so much lately that getting back in feels a bit like uncharted territory. But my whole life has been about starting over, so I'm not scared of the unknown."

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Phoebe Snow - Live In Woodstock