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Ringin'
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FROM MAVERICK MAGAZINE. APRIL 2007 ISSUE
ALANA
LEVANDOSKI
WOKINGHAM HOUSE CONCERT
FEB. 4, 2007
Alana is truly gifted in penning exquisite songs, like poetry set to music. Her songs are very visual as she paints pictures with words describing Canada’s wide open spaces in such songs as the wonderful ‘Prairie Sun’ with descriptive lyrics: ‘And a prairie town has the heart of a working’ horse/Gotta have your hands in the dirt to stay on course.’
Her music is positioned nicely on a line crossing both folk and country, but on the evidence of her 20 song set leans more toward the country genre.
With such craft on display at times I was reminded of a young Nanci Griffith. Songs like the deeply moving sad waltz ‘I Ain’t No Saint’ which has such an aching beauty, and ‘Moonshine,’ which closed the first half and is somewhat humorous ‘man basher’ as she sings: ‘Tonight this flower needs a lot of moonshine/But what it don’t need is a man.’
Alana was keen to showcase a lot of new material including ‘I’ll Stop Crying,’ and for me the highlight, which closed the proceedings, the probably named ‘Thine The Glory,’ both left me spell-bound.
A strong second follow up album is guaranteed.
Alana also performed several covers from artists who have influenced her career. ‘Jesus Gonna Be Here’ (Tom Waits), ‘Juanita’ (Gram Parsons), ‘Sing A Sad Song’ (Merle Haggard), a superb rendition of Steve Earle’s ‘Goodbye’ plus a nod to 61-year-old former Winnipegger Neil Young singing his classic ‘Helpless.’
At last year’s
Canada Day Celebration host and dj David ‘Kid’ Jensen said:
‘Remember the name Alana Levandoski as you’re going to hear
a lot more from this talented lady.’ I certainly echo those sentiments
and I look forward to following the tapestry of songs and albums she plans
to weave on her musical journey.” Andy Cole.
Maverick
- July 2006
UK Magazine
The following article by BBC Radio 2's Bob Harris is from the current issue of UK roots magazine Maverick.
'Maverick' and my Radio 2 programmes plough similar paths. We like mostly the same artists and form part of a loose network of broadcasters, writers, promoters and venues across the UK that supports musicians who operate mainly under the radar of the mainstream.
I am very fortunate to spend much of my life working with my favourite artists and to be able to play their music on the radio. My modus operandi has been the same throughout, from my first broadcasts on Radio 1 in 1970, through 'Whistle Test' to what I'm doing now.
It's a simple format. I build the programmes in my music room, pick a few favourite tracks from my collection, mix them with things I'm just discovering, take them into the studio and give out as much on-air information as I can. I then take the whole lot back home and begin the process again for the following week.
In some respects, my programmes operate in something of a vacuum. I don't read the trades much and generally don't get plugged. Consequently, I'm somewhat sheltered from whatever hype is going on. I generally pick up a vibe about an album from 'Maverick', through a few trusted observers, or by word of mouth.talking with musicians and gig-goers about people they like, maybe getting a call from Bob Paterson about a new artist he's found, sometimes discovering a name on Karen Miller's internet playlist, or reading the postings on my website notice board (www.bobharris.org). It seems to me that we're all on the same side.
Life as a touring musician can be tough. Building up from scratch takes a huge amount of dedication and hard work. Touring on a shoe-string, or at a loss, is extremely demanding. Necessities are stamina and a few CD sales from the merchandising table at the back of the venue. Most of the artists we like the most are ambivalent to the idea of fame and fortune. Their main ambition is to do what they love to do.get the most from the incredible life-adventures that travelling and playing music brings into their lives and to make a living while they're doing it. It's one of the reasons we like them so much. But whatever the size of the venue, you can always tell when somebody really means it.from Bruce Springsteen to Alana Levandoski.
My wife Trudie and I were at the Radio 2 concert Bruce played with the Seeger Sessions Band. Sixteen people joined him and his wife Patti Scialfa onstage, with a mix of instrumentation that brought together the sounds of Folk, Country and New Orleans Jazz.accordion, trombone, trumpet, honky-tonk piano, fiddle, peddle-steel and acoustic guitars and a gospel choir, creating a feel-good mix of roots influences in a seventy minute set of real American music. In the intimate setting of St Luke's LSO in Old Street in London (a beautifully renovated and modernised old church) it seemed far removed from the stadium rock shows and the E. Street Band.and not to the taste of all of Bruce's fans. I got a flurry of 'Judas' e-mails following the broadcast of the concert in May. (Someone even likened it to what they called the 'betrayal' of Bob Dylan going electric). But to my mind 'We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions' isn't so far away from the idea of 'Born In The USA'. Bruce's music has always been about being an American and here he's dipped into the heritage. I think he's carved himself a new niche...right at the heart of true Americana. It's also good to see the work of Pete Seeger being highlighted in this way. He was a crucial bridge between old style Folk music and the Dylan generation.
I got introduced to Alana Levandoski in Toronto by Larry Le Blanc, Canadian bureau chief for 'Billboard' magazine. Larry has been soaked in the music industry for more than forty years and is one of the great commentators of our day. He feels that Alana is among the most sincere and gifted talents he's ever heard and I, too, find her music touchingly beautiful. Her album is called 'Unsettled Down' and, like most of the things I enjoy the most, she didn't throw huge production costs at it. The music sits across the line between Folk and Country and she is clearly very appealing, as postings on my web site message board confirm. Robert Mills said 'wonderful stage presence and beautiful songs' while 'Bobble318' wrote 'Gotta agree with Robert about Alana Levandoski. Great show'.
Alana is part of an emerging generation of new artists who are reflecting the range of influences that make Canadian music so exciting, from the brilliant free-form collective Broken Social Scene, to the authentic Country twang of Corb Lund. Among my current favourites are the Wailin' Jennys album 'Firecracker', and a self-titled CD by Toronto based band The Novaks. And to demonstrate the continuing depth of Canadian music, elder-statesman Neil Young has returned to the electric guitar and the territory of 'Southern Man' and 'Ragged Glory' with the rush-release of the angry 'Living With War'.
Music
just one of many pursuits for Levandoski
By alexander varty - GEORGIA STRAIT
Publish Date: 16-Feb-2006
Alana Levandoski claims she never intended to become a professional songwriter-but she must have known from an early age that she was going to be a performer. Why else did her parents build a stage in her bedroom when she was only 10? Of course, that's not the only unusual aspect of her upbringing, as the budding roots star reveals when reached at the Levandoski family farm near Kelwood, Manitoba.
"First of all, my only year of institutional education was kindergarten," Levandoski says with a laugh. "And the template that our mom used for our home education was that if we were through with our academics and our projects in the morning, we could work on our passions in the afternoon. So mostly I'd be working on poetry, writing plays, writing songs, and playing my guitar."
That was
time well spent, if the 26-year-old singer's Unsettled Down CD, is any
indication. A confident debut, it indicates that Levandoski has uncommonly
keen powers of personal analysis-and that she's also a sensitive observer
of those around her. "Red Headed Girl", for instance, encapsulates
her mother's
story in half-a-dozen colourful verses, while "Sold Your Wings"
is a powerful offer of consolation written for a friend who was going
through a painful divorce.
If Levandoski's
slice-of-life lyrics and country-gospel melodies have earned comparisons
to Jann Arden and Mary Chapin Carpenter, they've also won her some helpful
friends in the music industry. Larry LeBlanc, an esteemed music historian
and Canadian bureau chief for Billboard magazine, was an early
admirer; he and his wife, publicist Anya Wilson, now manage her career.
Levandoski's just returned from a U.K. tour where, again, she received
reams of positive press. And songwriting is not the only medium in which
she's likely to make her mark.
"I have a novel that I've been working on forever, and I do other forms of writing, too," she says. "Over Christmas I wrote a children's story. Working in different styles keeps you sharp, and lets you draw from different sources when you're putting your thoughts into song form."
But for now, music is Levandoski's first priority. She's just about to set out on a cross-country tour that brings her to the Railway Club on Monday (February 20), and once that's over she's got another record to write.
"I'm
aware that your first album is basically a coming-of-age situation, where
you're reflecting on your life up to that point," she says. "But
having put many, many miles under my belt in the past eight months, I'm
very acutely aware of not wanting to fall into the trap of just writing
road songs. A lot
of times, that's what artists do for a follow-up, and the images are often
the same: truck stops and highway signs and the road stretching out, all
that stuff. That's okay, but I don't want to fall into that too much."
Nonetheless, it's likely that travel will remain a source of inspiration for the footloose Prairie native. London, Venice, and Rome are name-checked on Uncommon Down, and for the next record she's working on some material inspired by her recent visit to Scotland, where her mother's family originated.
"It's incredible how geography can affect your heart and your mood when you're writing," she says. "Going up north into the Highlands, my blood felt like I was coming home. It was just this strange, strange feeling. I can't even explain it; it was almost mystical."
Typically,
though, Levandoski cautions that this unsettling sense of nostalgia for
a place she'd never seen was balanced by writerly curiosity. Don't be
surprised if she ends up singing about the North Sea or "frosty green
fields full of sheep" on her next effort-but rest assured that truck-stop
clichés will
be few and far between.
Maverick
- January 2006
UK Magazine
Alana
Levandoski
Unsettled Down
Rounder 11661-3247-2
Another relatively young Canadian gal with bags of potentional.
Canadian singer-songwriter Alana Levandoski is the best new artist that I have heard come along since Mindy Smith. This debut album has a country folk feel to it, but is much more than those two words can ever conjure up. The songs explore a myriad of human emotions from unrequited love, to isolation, rejection and spiritual yearning. The show sad waltz I Ain't No Saint will break your heart with its moaning steel guitars and gorgeous melody; the bouncy trad country of Prairie Sun chases away the clouds; while Moonshine takes a more frivolous look at romance.
The co-production by Alana and Norm Dugas is clear and uncluttered with such Canadian players as Sean Garrity (bass), Christian Dugas (drums), Richard Moody (viola), Randy Hiebert (electric slide), and Ron Halldorson (pedal steel), plus Tania Elizabeth (violin) and Len Podolak (banjo) from the Duhks; bassist 'Spider' Sinneave (Loverboy), and guitarist Murray Pulver (Doc Walker).
Most of the songs - particularly Red Headed Girl and Bring Me On Home - are scrupulously honest chronicles of an ingenue's metamorphosis into a heightened state of artistic grace. Alana's experiences of singing gospel music in the family living room as a child comes through on the gospel-tinged roots of Jezebel's Ringin' and the moving Sold Your Wings. A superb record that is highly recommended. AC
Back
On The Tracks - January 2006
UK magazine
Alana Levandoski
Unsettled Down
Label: Rounder
Released: 26-07-2005
CatNo: 11661-3247-2
Acclaimed debut album from Canadian songstress
We say :
When Manitoba-based
singer-songwriter Levandoski released this album in Canada last summer,
it was widely hailed as the work of a potentially great new artist. Now
that it's spreading across the world (UK release is on 23 January, 2006)
she'll be finding out if she can convert from big fish in small pond
to global giant killer.
Her potential is undeniable. She deals in sincere, cliche-free story-songs like the easy-flowing opener, Red Headed Girl, which follows the life of the titular red head, "a tall girl with no meat on her bones" from her rural sixties youth, through the death of her brother at the start of the 70s, through a move to the big city, marriage, baby, born-again Christianity and all the travails of adult life. It's very easy on the ear, even if it's not entirely clear what the point is.
The whole
album has a satisfyingly live-in-the-studio feel, with Levandoski's pleasingly
homespun voice ably supported by a mostly acoustic band that sets her
lyrics among appealingly interwoven strands of steel guitar, banjo, viola,
violin and guitar. She's also adept at supplying her own backing vocals,
which adds a particular bitter-sweetness to cuts like Moonshine and I
Ain't No Saint, although the lively gospel touches supplied by Sarah Dugas
and Andrina Turenne in Jezebel's Ringing come as a welcome change to the
formula. One of a couple of cuts based on the restlessly romantic notion
of wanderlust,
this is also the one whose lyric includes the album's punning title, Unsettled
Down.
Introspective
semi-religious rumination, however, is Levandoski's staple mode and, even
when she kicks up a bit of dust in the hoe-down flavoured Prairie Sun,
that feeling of melancholia and isn't far from the surface. Perhaps that's
why what Levandoski still lacks is a distinctive voice of her own. She
can spark up the occasional wryly humourous line, such as "If sorry
don't cut it with you, I'm sorry" in Bring Me On Home, but for the
most part her lyrics and her singing are reminiscent of Michelle Shocked,
Kasey Chambers, Emmylou Harris, Kathleen Edwards, Nanci Griffith and,
oh, I could go on, but you
get my drift.
The upside of this is that if you like any of the aforementioned ladies, you'll find much to enjoy in this album, and you can also look forward to the time, probably not too far off, when Levandoski really hits her stride and you can say, "Well, actually, I've been into her since her first album."
The
Independent - January 15, 2006
UK Newspaper
3***
Alana Levandoski
Unsettled Down
Rounder
You get the impression Canada's wide open spaces are chock full of folks like Alana: bright, sensitive, poetically alive young women with a song in their heart and dung on their shoes. And you can see why the word is that this one's got Nanci Griffith in her soul. Actually, Griffiths is mostly in her voice, which is hard, bright and rippling. The rest is classily arranged and played folk 'n' country 'n' roll ('n' a hint o' Gospel) with a broad confessional streak and the odd clunking image: "A prairie town has the heart of a workin' horse". Who'd a thunk it? Attractive stuff though. NC
Penguin
Eggs - December 2005
Patrick Langston
Unsettled Down, Alana Levandoski’s debut disc, has our Patrick Langston gushing profusely. And for good reason. This country, gospel and folk-based collection of songs covers everything from soap to spirituality.
"An album of rare impact," reckons Mr. Langston. Mid-way through her debut album Unsettled Down, Alana Levandoski sings about a farm girl, on the cusp of womanhood, using soap from the hall to wash herself in a creek.
That image is a puzzler – who keeps soap in the hall? – but it also possesses the kind of immediacy that whispers, ‘This is from real life.’
"My grandma used to make lye soap and it was in her pantry," explains Levandoski. And that pantry, it turns out, was hard by the farmhouse hallway, a place that still commands a favored spot among Levandoski’s childhood memories.
"Every year she’d wax her hallway and she’d give us old farmer socks to slide and polish it up."
Heeding the old saw to write about what you know – lye soap, Istanbul, a scotch-taped screen – Levandoski has created an album of rare impact, a country,gospel and folk-based collection of songs whose narrative strengths are equaled by their lyricism, thoughtfulness and terrific melodies.
Unsettled
Down also sparkles with a singular freshness, its unencumbered production
a foil for the occasionally weighty issues that Levandoski, backed by
a half-dozen or so musicians, tackles.And while "grounded" is
an overused term,
that’s exactly what Unsettled Down is, its vignettes and intimate
revelations anchored by a satisfying sense of context and history, its
songs often filled with rural imagery.
Much of that rootedness comes from being raised in a spot where everyone knows everyone else – in Levandoski’s case, the village of Kelwood, Manitoba (pop.300).
"It gave me a grounding that you can’t even measure," says 26-year-old Levandoski, who’s spent much of the past six months on the road promoting her album. "When I go home, the pace is the slowest in the world. Some people may get fidgety around a pace like that, but my friends and family wouldn’t allow for that. After a while, you spend a day or two out there, and you can breathe, like a getaway spa."
Spaciousness, by the way, is the flip side of Unsettled Down’s groundedness, giving exuberant tunes like Prairie Sun – in which that creek-bathing gal tells us about growing up on a wide-open western farm with a sense of life’s unlimited possibilities.All of which may make Levandoski, whose musical resume ranges from living room performances as a kid with the homegrown gospel band Family & Friends to later flirtations with jazz and worldbeat, sound like a starry-eyed Pollyanna.
Fat chance.
The album’s lead track, Red Headed Girl, may offer a vision of triumph over losses, but those losses, including the death of an 18-year-old at the hands of a drunk driver, are terrible, all the more so because they are real: the song is about her mother’s life and yes, her mother’s brother Ronnie really did die that way.
Then in Moonshine, Levandoski pillories blockheaded men who don’t understand ‘no’ when it comes from a heartbroken girl who just wants to knock back a few and listen to the band.
And Sold Your Wings stars yet another clueless guy, this time one who – have you ever had an original thought, buddy? – hankers for a girl he’s betrayed as soon as she no longer wants him.
"I do come from the nineties," says Levandoski when asked if she’s perhaps a tad cynical, "when out was in. The apple pie, mum and pop, American high school stuff was totally out when I was a teenager. And my parents are quite sarcastic, in a good way."
She’s also blessed with a healthy wariness when it comes to self-revelation.
"You
hope that people when they listen won’t find it kitsch. When you
hear some music you think, ‘Don’t they know it’s cheesy?’
I have a keen sense for
that sugary sentimentality. When I do open up, which is more in song than
elsewhere in my life, it’s very real and not agenda-based at all."
It’s certainly real when she sings I’ve Seen Your Eyes. Like the character in the song, she did visit Venice and the Temple of Zeus during a swing through Europe in 2001. And when you’ve seen something of the world, it helps put your own concerns – like the love story at the heart of this song – in proportion.
And while she admits to some cynicism."I don’t think I’m a complete loss. I have hope. I don’t look at the world and see it as a dark place. I see darkness in it but I don’t see it as a total loss."
Indeed, a deep-seated spirituality pervades Unsettled Down, although the album’s title suggests that in all matters, including those of the spirit, Levandoski is still searching.
"I grew up in the church, a little tiny non-denominational church that gathered in a seniors’ rec’ centre in the town of Riding Mountain with really bad carpet."
It didn’t entirely take.
"Maybe the thread is a little thicker on the faith side of my record but there’s definitely a thick thread of doubt I’m seeking truth, I guess. That’s not a very popular thing to do because the climate of our culture and especially my generation is seeking truth for me. I’m seeking it in a universal sense. I’m holding out for that though I don’t think I’ll ever have it all together because there’s such an element of mystery to the idea of a God. That’s something I feel excited about, that mystery"
Not that she’s proselytizing
"If people are enjoying it, I’m welcoming them along for the ride of searching."
Recently,
Levandoski, whose voice has been compared to that of Emmylou Harris and
Casey Chambers, has honed her skills by co-writing with the likes of Sylvia
Tyson, Simon Wilcox and Colin Cripps."Sometimes people don’t
like to co-write because they like to horde their lines. There’s
an art in letting go of a good line and letting someone else run with
it. It’s like two people educating each other for free."
Settling
Down Into the country
Joanne F. Villeneuve, Brandon Sun
After a delay of several months, Alana Levandoski's first solo recording,
Unsettled Down, was finally released last week.
With Betty Boop hair and pixie-like freckled features, the singer/songwriter from Kelwood- a hamlet moments away from the east gate of Riding Mountain National Parkwhere she has returned to live after a few obligatory years in Winnipeg- has produced 10 songs that showcase her views as a young woman, her distinctive vocals and her musicianship.
Of not, her talent enabled a writing collaboration for two of the album's
songs with seasoned performer and writer, Sylvia Tyson. With a childhood
musical education steeped in gospel, folk and country, its not surprising
to hear these influences in Levandoski's adult work.
After paying her dues, singing in various bands, in her late teens as
she searched for her own voice, this debut project shows the culmination
of her efforts and will undoubtedly put her on the industry's radar.
Already popular in the folk music circuit, Levandoski appeared earlier
this summer in the Winnipeg Folk Festival and this weekend, she will be
performing at the Edmonton Folk Festival.
This recording, for starters, displays the 26-year-old's singular pipes.
Her singing is brigh, true, strutting a self-confidence that is tinged
in earnest rather than arrogance. All in all, such a solid, convincing
sound is something that is often missing in first recordings.
Although she might easily be likened to Emmylou Harris or a younger McGarrigle
Sister, Levandoski is making music her way, stamping it with her own outlook
and life experiences.
The lyrics she has written reveal intensity and cleverness, weaving short
stories and insights into the heart.
Backing her up are exceptional Winnipeg-based musicians including former
Crash Test Dummies/Doc Walker guitarist Murray Pulver, bassist Sean Garrity,
former Scruj MacDuhk drummer Christian Dugas and das macht SHOW!'s mandolin
player Corey Ticknor.
The end result of this assembled talent pool is a tight, well-executed,
engaging collection of tunes that will not soon be forgotten.
NEW
SOUNDS
By Vue Staff
Alana Levandoski’s debut album of rootsy folk songs is all about telling stories, both lyrically and musically, and Unsettled Down is true to its title, dealing with themes of loss and searching. When she sings in the third person (on “Red Headed Girl” and “Prairie Sun”), the results are pleasant, if unspectacular. But in the first person, Levandoski’s songs come alive.
Levandoski is already an accomplished songwriter, avoiding the trap of churning out too many similar songs. The slow-burning “Bring Me On Home” is an example of just how good things can get when all the musicians are locked in together, with interplay between the electric guitar and pedal steel that is nothing short of brilliant, along with just the right punctuation from the violin. At the opposite end of the spectrum is “Jezebels Ringin’,” a dusky piece of swamp music that is positively smoking. And then there’s “Moonshine”; a song with that title could have easily ended up as just another drunken party tune, but in Levandoski’s hands it becomes something much darker—a dirge that has the singer hiding away in the drink. It’s painful when Levandoski sings “Honey if I’m lookin’ for heartache/Then I’ll find my way to you.” And yet, it’s a cathartic listen as well.
Levandoski’s songs demonstrate an impressive use of dynamics throughout, with breakdowns and bridges aplenty. She never lets things get boring and, perhaps best of all, she doesn’t shy away from letting the musicians bring their own personalities to the music, making this an impressive set of tunes all the way around. 4/5—Eden Munro
Record
Time
Alana Levandoski’s debut drops just on time for Folk Fest
Sessions: "Young at Heart" w/The Weakerthans, Wendy McNeill,
and Josh Ritter, Fri, Aug 5, 6 pm, Stage 6, "The Listening Room"
w/Maria Dunn, Thea Gilmore, and Laurie Lewis, Sat, Aug 6, 3:05 pm, Stage
4, "Porch Songs" w/ Old Reliable and Alejandro Escovedo, Sun,
Aug 7, 11 am, Stage 1, Edmonton Folk Festival, Gallagher Park
With her Ani DiFranco-meets-Dolly Parton voice and prairie-drenched music,
Winnipeg-based Alana Levandoski has found a good home for herself and
her sparkling debut, Unsettled Down, on US modern roots label Rounder
Records.
"It was supposed to be out last year through Warner, yeah,"
says Levandoski, acknowledging the twisty path her album took from conception
to release. "I had a development deal with Warner–nothing signed,
but we were approaching a relationship, and [the record] was basically
ready to go. Then there was a reshuffling worldwide at Time Warner."
Rather than freak out over the end of her major label career, Levandoski
hopped in her car and headed to Boston to successfully play a Rounder
showcase.
"Rounder’s really supportive of Canadian acts," she points
out. "Lots of people don’t know this, but Rounder represents
a lot of Canadians in the US: the Cowboy Junkies, Kathleen Edwards, Sarah
Harmer, Blue Rodeo..."
Levandoski sounds pleased to be in such illustrious company and admits
that in the end she likely wound up with a better fit in the modest-but-passionate
Rounder than she would have with any mega-conglomerate corporation. The
label certainly suits the intimacy and warmth of the recently released
Unsettled Down. A gentle little album spiked with savagely smart lyrics
populated by characters hand-picked from Levandoski’s family tree–herself
included–puzzling out their place in the world in the face of confusion,
tragedy, and the passage of time, it’s a deep, witty, and surprisingly
mature offering. Album guests add instrumental heft to Levandoski’s
simple guitar playing, including a couple wayward Duhks.
Despite the CD’s long delay, Levandoski isn’t yet tired of
the content. "We remixed everything and added a new song," she
explains. "So I don’t feel distant at all, with the reworking
of the project. I don’t know if I’ll ever get sick of these
songs, really. They are all story songs or about spiritual struggles,
and those kinds of things never go away."
"I think one of the ways artists can revisit our songs is through the audience," she adds. "If someone is familiar with the material, there’s a certain satisfaction they get in hearing it live and recognizing and connecting with it in a new way. With someone who has never heard it, it’s fresh and new to them, so songs stay fresh to you either way.
"I tend to build a set that alternates between just me by myself and with the band. It gives a certain dynamic to the show," she explains. "I love playing festivals, and I love playing workshops. It’s such a community-oriented thing. You get to know other artists on stage in a musical way, if everyone is open to it, and there’s such a creative energy onstage. That welcomes the audience in."
Uptown
Magazine - Winnipeg's Online Source for Arts, Entertainment & News
Alana Levandoski takes a lesson from an old Beatles tune
John Kendle
Alana Levandoski is talking about the stops and starts of a music career that has only just begun when The Beatles’ Hello Goodbye comes on in the background.
"You say goodbye and I say hello, hello, hello, hello," John, Paul and George croon, and the lyrics fit Alana’s story only too well.
Back in April 2004, Levandoski thought she was about to release her debut album with Warner Music Canada, which had financed the project’s recording with Winnipeg producer Norm Dugas. So the young folk/roots performer from tiny Kelwood, Man., headed to the Juno Awards in Edmonton, intending to meet Warner staff and schmooze with some of the players on the Canadian music scene.
But Warner had other plans, as label head Steve Kane informed Levandoski and her manager/publicist/confidant, Larry Leblanc, that the company would not proceed with her album.
Levandoski was hurt by the rejection, she admits, but she returned home to Winnipeg bloodied but unbowed. Warner Music may have said goodbye — but the singer felt that just meant someone else was about to say hello.
"Almost immediately after getting home from Edmonton, I did some real serious planning regarding what to do next. I had a summer festival season coming up," Levandoski recalls. "I didn’t spend a lot of time wallowing. Of course I was concerned, but I was also kind of trusting that something else was going to come along."
And it did, rather quickly.
With Levandoski using contacts she had made at various folk gatherings and Leblanc — who is the Canadian editor of music industry bible Billboard — ringing phones and twisting arms, Alana landed a showcase gig last August for the legendary Rounder Records label.
The showcase at Cafe Passim in Cambridge, Mass., went so well that Rounder, home to the likes of Sarah Harmer, immediately opened negotiations to pick up Levandoski’s unreleased recording. A deal was finalized this past May, and the album, titled Unsettled Down, finally hit record stores in Canada on July 26 courtesy of a distribution deal with Universal Music Canada.
Just four sleeps before the album’s official street date, Levandoski sits at Roca Jack’s across from Assiniboine Park and ponders whether the events of the past 16 months have been fated.
"Well, I’m here and I’m very happy," she says. "And I can honestly say I’m really happy I had that time. I was still a part of the industry for the past little while, but I was just under the radar.
"I ducked out in certain regards, because I moved back out to the country (after seven years of living in Winnipeg), but that was more so I could have some time to myself to write," Levandoski says.
The move home to Kelwood served many purposes. It enabled Levandoski to reconnect with her family, which is still extremely close. Her sister and parents still live in the town just east of Riding Mountain National Park, and sis runs the local café while mom and dad run a foster home (they once raised horses).
Alana was also able to spend valuable time with her grandmother, who passed away in January and to whom Unsettled Down is dedicated. And, yes, the 26-year-old also found precious time and space to write more songs and prepare herself for a music career she has been aiming at since she was a teen.
"You talk to so many artists who rush to get their first CD out and then they’re 200 days on the road, they don’t have any other material, and they’re kind of questioning who they are and where they’re at," she says. "I was lucky. I had some major reflective time to write, but I also had this studio experience behind me. I think it puts me in a good place.
"I had two years of an education in the industry that everyone should have, and now I’m in a situation where I’m prepared to welcome the public onto the ride — if they’re interested."
They should be. Unsettled Down is an expansive country-roots album, warmly recorded by Dugas and featuring performances from the likes of drummer/percussionist Christian Dugas and guitarist Murray Pulver. It also features songs co-written with, among others, Canadian folk legend Sylvia Tyson.
It is Levandoski, though, who rises above the supporting cast on the basis of her strong singing and her vivid, emotive lyrics. The leadoff single from the album is likely to be Red-Headed Girl, a song Alana wrote about her mother, Kathy.
Levandoski recently purchased a fixer-upper in Kelwood, a 1914 house that cost only $100, so she’s obviously thinking about settling down in the place she grew up. But she says the album is more about growing up and leaving home.
"It’s my first album and it’s a coming-of-age, childhood-reflective record," she says as she points out liner and booklet photos taken in her grandmother’s kitchen and near the east gate of Riding Mountain park. "I may never write one like that again, so (the imagery) is all very fitting."
I ask her where she was when she first opened a finished CD, and how she felt. She laughs and turns a little pink.
"The first time I got to open one I was staying at the Fairmont for the Winnipeg Folk Festival, and I opened one in my room, by myself," she says. "I text-messaged my dad, who was cycling from Nashville to Winnipeg with one of my foster-brothers for Habitat for Humanity and I said, ‘Dad, I think I’ve come as close as I ever will to what it feels like to stand on an Olympic podium.’
"That’s
what it felt like, to be honest," she says. "Any real place
like that you end up has taken a lot of work for you to get there."
And a lot of hellos and goodbyes.
Toronto
Star, Aug 4, 2005
Greg Quill,
ALANA LEVANDOSKI, Unsettled Down (Rounder Records) As a rule, a recording that has it origins in a lonely young woman's decision to cut her dreads and devote her life to music should be avoided--particularly when the fledgling offering threatens to throb with adolescent pain and tremble with coming-of-age angst.
But while Manitoba singer/songwriter's Alana Levandoski's debut CD—recorded more than a year ago and just picked up for North America release by the prestigious U.S. label Rounder Records--contains trademark token of unrequited love, emotional isolation and spiritual yearning, it's more than a frivolous romance.
The songs here--particularly "Red Headed Girl," Prairie Sun," "I Ain't No Saint" and "Bring Me On Home"--are scrupulously honest chronicles of an ingenue's metamorphosis into a heightened state of artistic grace.
Her plaintive delivery brings Australia's Kasey Chambers to mind, but these vivid compositions, sensitively realized by producer Norm Dugas, could only have been written by a Prairie girl who is overwhelmed by a vast Canadian horizon, and inching her way toward self-awareness.
Compelling stuff by a new songwriter with great promise.
The
Canadian Press, July 27, 2005
Angela Pacienza,
"The result is an album of 10 beautiful and touching songs in a folk-meets-old-world-country manner. Levandoski's got the songwriting sensibilities of the country greats; she's able to express heartfelt emotion through compelling, sincere and cliche-free stories."
The
Montreal Gazette, Aug. 4, 2005
Mike Regenstreif,
ALANA LEVANDOSKI, Unsettled Down (Rounder/Universal) Levandoski’s debut, filled with 10 well crafted country-folk songs, marks her as one of the most promising singer-songwriters to emerge in Canada over the past couple of years.
Press Releases
May 26, 2006
Canada Day 2006 in Trafalgar Square - Artists line-up announced
Ron Sexsmith, Alana Levandoski, Mauvais Sort and the Heavy Blinkers are just a few of the Canadian musical acts set to entertain Londoners at a free Canada Day event in Trafalgar Square on June 30.
The concert
is part of the 'Canada Day in Trafalgar Square' celebration, an initiative
of the Canadian High Commission and the Canadian community in the UK.
The event kicks off at 2:00pm, featuring a range of Canadian sights and
sounds, from street hockey to tourism, arts and crafts, and talented street
performers around the square.
'Canada on Stage' will begin at 5:00pm, with a diverse range of acts from across the country, entertaining visitors until 9:00pm that evening. The full line-up of performers includes:
Dance
Saskatchewan
Featuring dancers of all ages, this 40-person dance ensemble includes
a large number of First Nations performers. Dancers will wear traditional
robes and headdresses that have been passed down through the generations,
and will be accompanied by traditional First Nations singers and drummers.
Peter
Appleyard
Peter is acknowledged as being one of the world's top vibraphone players.
Born in Lincolnshire, he has been a Canadian citizen since 1957. For many
years Peter played with the Calvin Jackson Quartet on the group's weekly
CBC series 'Jazz with Jackson'. Over the past 20 years, Appleyard has
appeared at most
major international jazz festivals and has performed for members of the
British
royal family.
DK
Ibomeka
DK is the son of Nigerian immigrants to Canada. Inspired by the voices
of Ray Charles, Ella Fitzgerald and Nina Simone, his debut CD (to be released
in the UK in September) presents a mix of influences, blending jazz, soul,
pop and the blues to create a sound that is distinctly his own.
Mauvais
Sort
Mauvais Sort ('Bad Spell') is a group of six young and gifted musicians
from Quebec who blend traditional Francophone lyrics with modern musical
compositions, and original stories with old folk rhythms. Mauvais Sort
has a unique, colourful and thrilling style that they refer to as 'neo-traditional'.
Leeroy
Stagger
Leeroy is currently making a splash with his exciting musical blend of
country, rock and punk. After multiple tours through the US and Canada,
including showcases at this year's South by Southwest music festival,
Leeroy has amassed a loud and loyal following. Early reviews of his latest
album Beautiful House
have hailed it as an "instant classic" and the "finest
New Wave Rock and Roll record to come out of Canada in years".
The
Ennis Sisters
The Ennis Sisters are an Irish-style folk group made up of three siblings:
Maureen, Karen and Teresa. The Sisters have released several best-selling
albums in Canada and have a loyal following in their native Newfoundland.
The three gifted singers and musicians will perform an acoustic set in
Trafalgar
Square.
Raghav
The Alberta-born Raghav began his musical training at the age of five,
studying Indian classical music with Guru Nishi Kant Bali. His unique
voice and song writing skills have attracted the attention of top producers
throughout the world. His 2005 tour saw him perform his special blend
of pop, dance,
hip-hop and Asian stylings in Karachi, New York, Africa and Australia.
Alana
Levandoski
With her recent release Unsettled Down, Alana has attracted a
broad and dedicated horde of fans throughout the UK, Ireland, and the
rest of Europe, drawn to her lilting blend of folk, country and country-rock.
Alana has the voice and the personality to deliver a great show in any
situation having cut her performing teeth in the far-flung music clubs
of her native Manitoba.
Ron
Sexsmith
Visiting the UK to support his latest album release Time Being, Ron Sexsmith
has quietly become one of the new heavyweights of the Canadian singer
songwriter scene. He has won acclaim from not only the critics and adoring
fans but also from fellow performers like Paul McCartney, Elton John and
John Hiatt.
Over the course of over eight albums his songs have become increasingly
impassioned, memorable and melodic. Fresh from his recent sell-out of
Massey Hall in Toronto, with special guest Gordon Lightfoot, he will be
appearing in London with his regular three-piece support band.
The
Heavy Blinkers
Long considered one of the best pop acts in Canada, The Heavy Blinkers
are a five-piece band from Halifax, Nova Scotia. Their unique lyrics and
delightful, layered harmonies capture the sunny, fuzzy feeling of summertime.
Often compared to Brian Wilson and Harry Nilsson at their best, the sweet
sad
sounds of a Heavy Blinkers show will make you want to laugh and cry at
the same time, and
you will definitely leave the concert humming a Blinkers' tune. The Heavy
Blinkers have released four successful albums.
Please visit www.canadadaylondon.com
for updates
For media enquiries related to the artists contact: Sue Williams, Frontier
Promotions, email: frontieruk@btconnect.com,
tel: 01760 756 394
For general media enquiries contact: Jennifer Brown, Media Relations Office,
Canadian High Commission, email: jennifer.brown@international.gc.ca
tel: 020
7258 6557
May 24, 2006
Canada Day celebrations announced - 30 June in Trafalgar Square
London's Trafalgar Square will be the site of this year's Canada Day celebrations on Friday, June 30, 2006. The event, an initiative of the Canadian community in the UK and the Canadian High Commission, will bring together an all-day programme of Canadian entertainment and activities to suit every taste.
'This is the first year that we are celebrating Canada Day in Trafalgar Square,' said Canadian High Commissioner Mel Cappe. 'We are delighted that the Mayor of London has given us this tremendous opportunity to showcase Canada here in the heart of this world city.'
The celebrations will kick off at 2:00pm, when Trafalgar Square will come alive with Canadian sights and sounds - including street hockey - the summer version of Canada's national game. Canadian tourism opportunities, food, arts and crafts, and talented street performers will be showcased around the square.
'Canada on Stage' will begin at 5:30pm, with a diverse range of mainstage acts from across the country, entertaining Canadians, Londoners, and visitors alike until 9:00pm that evening.
The artists' line-up includes Alana Levandoski, Rox Sexsmith, Leeroy Stagger, and The Heavy Blinkers.
The Canada Day in London celebrations will be filmed and broadcast at the national Canada Day party on Ottawa's Parliament Hill, and at other events across Canada.
Canada Day in Trafalgar Square is a free event.
- 30 -
For more information, contact:
Margaret Egan, Director
Canada Day London
Tel: 020 7258 6385 or 020 7439 6064.
Email: margaret.egan@canadadaylondon.com
May 2, 2006
ALANA LEVANDOSKI RETURNS TO THE UK WITH DATES WITH ELANA JAMES & BLUE RODEO
Celebrated Canadian roots-styled singer/songwriter Alana Levandoski is on the move again.
Alana has returned to the UK for 16 dates this month (May). These include shows (see below) in England with the Elana James Trio as well performances with fellow Canadians Blue Rodeo in Ireland.
As well,
Alana and her band--including guitarist Stuart Cameron and drummer Christian
Dugas--will perform on an all-star Canadian show in London's Trafalgar
Square on June 30 along with Rox Sexsmith, The Ennis Sisters, Leeroy Stagger,
Peter Appleyard and others. As well, Alana and the band are slated
for a further 3-4 in the London region.
"I'm looking forward to playing in Britain, and Scotland again and performing in Ireland with Blue Rodeo will be awesome," says Alana. "When I was in the UK earlier this year I played for the most devoted music fans in the world in Bury and Sheffield, and I got to play in Maidstone where my great grandfather lived. I made a lot of friends there and I am looking forward to see them again. The show at Trafalgar Square is shaping up to be enormous. I can't wait to show off my band."
Alana then returns to Canada to film her first video "Jezebels Ringin'" in Winnipeg July 11 with director Margaret Malandruccolo.
Alana is scheduled to return overseas to tour extensively in Europe in the Fall.
Alana's debut album "Unsettled Down" was released last summer in Canada on Rounder Records, and in Europe by Rounder in Jan. 2006.
Alana's profile
was first boosted overseas by touring the UK and Europe in January with
Dar Williams, Lynn Miles and Caroline Herring as well as dates in England
with Jess Klein. Alana was also featured in a half-hour performance on
BBC-2 on Feb. 2 with British announcer Bob Harris hosting. The show aired
throughout Europe.
In the past year Alana has toured Canada with the Corb Lund Band, Stephen Fearing, the Wyrd Sisters, Randy Bachman, and the Arrogant Worms.
She has also co-written with such top-name Canadian artists as Sylvia Tyson, Serena Ryder, Colin Cripps, George Canyon, and American roots/bluegrass songwriter Mark Simos.
Alana is represented for bookings in the UK and Europe by:
Bob Paterson
The
Bob Paterson Agency (BPA)
(T/F)
+44 (0)1473 749556
(M)
+44 (0)7946 038634
(E)
bp@bobpatersonagency.com
(SKYPE)
bobbyp1704
(W)
http://www.bobpatersonagency.com.
Alana's UK dates for May:
May
4 - SHEFFIELD - Memorial Hall. 0114 278 9789. Opening for Elana
James Trio
May 5 - CHORLEY (Lancashire) - St Bede's Club. 01257
241693. Opening for Elana James Trio
May 6 - BELFAST - The Front Page, Donegall Street, Belfast
- as part of Cathedral Quarter Arts Festival. Opening for Elana James
Trio
May 7 - HOUSE CONCERT @ Turners Hill (near Gatwick airport)
May 8 - BRIGHTON - Komedia, Opening for Elana James Trio
May 9 - MAIDSTONE - The Soul Café, Opening for
Elana James Trio
May 10 - LONDON - The Borderline. Opening for Elana James
Trio
May 11 - TAL-Y-BONT (near Bangor) - Hendre Hall. Opening
for Elana James Trio
May 12 - LEICESTER - The Musician. Opening for Elana
James Trio
May 13 - YORK - The National Centre for Early Music.
Opening for Elana James Trio
May 14 - TWICKENHAM - Twickenham Folk Club.
May 15 - In store at Beanscene Cafe in Glasgow
May 16 - In store at Beanscene Cafe in Edinburgh.
May 18 - RATHFRILAND (Northern Ireland) - The Bronte
Theatre. Opening for Blue Rodeo
May 19 - DONAGHMORE (Northern Ireland) - The Bardic Theatre.
Opening for Blue Rodeo
May 20 - DUBLIN - Whelans. 00 353 1 478 0776. Opening
for Blue Rodeo
For Further Information Contact:
Anya Wilson
Promotion & Publicity
Anya Wilson: awilson@netsurf.net
Krista Lamb: radiovp@netsurf.net
(416) 977-7704
Music
 |
UNSETTLED DOWN Released:
7/26/2005 Red
Headed Girl |
