Track Listing

1. Alley Flowers
2. All the Morning Birds
3. Roll my Blues
4. Black Hand Blues
5. December, 1999
6. I Wanna Die
7. Demon Lover Improv
8. Catalpa Waltz
9. The Littlest Birds
10. Wandering Angus
11. Periphery Waltz
12. Ghost Waltz

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #11650 in Music
• Released on: 2003-11-10
• Number of discs: 1

Amazon.co.uk Review
Catalpa was among the most stunning debuts of 2003 and word quickly spread beyond her San Francisco home of this strikingly talented singer who sounds like Billie Holiday covering Cat Power versions of Appalachian folk songs. When Holland made these recordings she hadn't set out to make an album at all; some tunes were demos and others were simply recordings made to teach her songs to potential accompanists. Holland helped found Canadian alt-folk act the Be Good Tanyas, and, although she left them due to creative differences, her music is similar to that of the Tanyas--just stranger, sparser, and more haunting. The most apt reference point might be the 1960s folk singer Karen Dalton, but Holland's voice is so strong and sweet the nearest analogue might actually be Van Morrison circa 1968. Her voice floats about as the loveliest bumblebee in flight on "All the Morning Birds," while the ghosts of Bessie Smith and Geechie Wiley are channelled on the acoustic blues stomp "Black Hand Blues". --Mike McGonigal

Customer Reviews

wow
i stumbled across ms holland on the internet (where else??) whilst searching for tracks by cocorosie. she is like them and unlike them. they share the same ethreal quality, somehow other-worldly, but jolie is rather less weird. her voice is amazingly raw and natural. the choice of accompanying instruments is so basic and they are there soley to bring out element of her voice... much in the same way as one eats cheese with fine wine, or strawberries with champagne. give her a try if you like joanna newsom, cocorosie, stina nordenstam etc., but are searching for something with a bit more lyricism and soul

fabulous and addictive
I stumbled upon this album by accident and until my own copy arrived I played it over and over again off Jolie Holland's website where the whole album is available. Every track is to be savoured. It is haunting, wrenching, beautiful and complex and quite compulsive. Jolie's sound is quite unique, yet there are many recognisable influences, to me very noticeably Bob Dylan, Van Morrison, Billie Holiday and other unnamed folk, jazz and blues voices, yet all synthesized into something unmistakably Jolie Holland. Jolie's voice is strange, raw, direct, edgy, full of broad Texan twang, yet quite beautiful and at times soft, tripping and it takes unexpected dips and falls that give it a distinct and instantly recognisable character. Her ukelele playing is beautiful, simple, mournful and pure. This album is so raw and natural and rough at the edges, and every song is so full of emotion and spare haunting understated lyrics, and comes so much from the heart, that it seems it must have been written by someone who has experienced all the good and bad, the suffering and joys of a long hard lifetime. Hard to believe it is the work of a very young woman. It is one of the most impressive, deeply affecting and memorable albums I have heard for a very long time and I have played nothing else since it arrived.

May just be the best album I've heard
This is how music should be. The recording quality is pretty crude but the warmth, beauty and emotional punch of these home-taped performances could hardly be overstated.
Holland's voice is astonishing throughout as it aches, soothes and teases it's way across a magical mixture of blues, folk and psychedelia.
There is a dark, longing quality to much of the material but also a tangible sense of fun. The solo performances are powerful and intimate, while the accompanied arrangements - from the rumbling, pulsating Native American-influenced rhythm of Alley Flowers to guitarist Brian Miller's dreamlike rendition of Wandering Angus - display a rare depth and creativity.
Almost too much soul to take.