PIETA BROWN & THE SAWDUST BOYS (US)

As part of THE CARNIVAL OF SUBURBIA To celebrate the Australian release of her stunning new album MERCURY, US folk poet-songwriter PIETA BROWN is returning for an Australian tour in March with her trio and special guest and friend LUCIE THORNE.

A free-spirited beauty who is both self-possessed and disarmingly unaffected, Pieta Brown has been hailed as a modern American troubadour. With a deep abiding saturation in blues and folk beyond her years and a bit of hipster swagger, Pieta continues to bend forms to suit her unmistakable style and mesmerizing melodies. She has gained the attention of music lovers and critics from all walks and counts artists Amos Lee, Iris Dement, Mark Knopfler, JJ Cale and John Prine as some of her biggest fans. Her 7th album Mercury evokes the sounds of her native Alabama with raw folk and Americana songs that have strains of Gillian Welch and The Civil Wars with the radio-friendly allure of Feist and Ray Lamontagne. Inspired by a dream she had, Pieta made the album in the country west of Nashville. Recorded live in just three days with all the players in one room, it features a who’s who of great session players, including Grammy-winning producer/player Richard Bennett (Mark Knopfler, Steve Earle, Emmylou Harris), bassist Glenn Worf (Mark Knopfler, Aaron Neville, Tammy Wynette), drummer Chad Cromwell (Neil Young, Mark Knopfler), multi-instrumentalist David Mansfield (Bob Dylan, T-Bone Burnett, Johnny Cash) and her frequent collaborator Bo Ramsey (Lucinda Williams, Greg Brown). Mark Knopfler also adds his inimitable touch to the blues stomp “So Many Miles.” Pieta met many of these players while touring with Mark Knopfler and his band last year, during which time they developed a genuine connection with her music. Fittingly, the album ends with the stunning “No Words Now,” a song she wrote back stage one night after hearing Mark and his band play live. “All the songs came fast,” Pieta says. “Words and melodies arrived intertwined..some like visions, some as simple memories, some like urgent messages.” When Pieta Brown was last in Australia in 2010 she formed an abiding friendship with Australian singer songwriter Lucie Thorne. Like Pieta in the US, Lucie Thorne has earned her place as one of the most striking lyricists and voices of Australian contemporary song. Twice nominated for the Australian Music Prize, Lucie Thorne is renowned for her intimate vocals and evocative electric guitar work, combining spacious, gritty rock ’n’ roll with sensual dark-folk. Thorne’s 2011 album Bonfires In Silver City garnered massive critical acclaim. Pieta Brown (US) and Lucie Thorne (AUS) are possibly two of the most intriguing, talented and quietly enduring songwriters of their generation and respective homelands – this will be one tour to remember! "If any one album had the glow of quiet greatness around it in 2011, this is it. Brown's voice is a warm revelation, one that can start as a whisper but turns into the spiritual... in a just universe this woman would be a household word. She can bring unbelievers to their knees in one verse, and show the path out of darkness. Keep hoping." - Bill Bentley, The Morton Report, "My Favorite Albums of 2011" Pieta Brown's Mercury "When Pieta sings you’re aware of something effortless and natural, like rain on earth." - Mark Knopfler "Pieta Brown is a great singer/songwriter who possesses major star power magnetism." - Don Was "The best poet I've heard in a long damn time." - Iris DeMent Well, Pieta Brown is Greg Brown's daughter, and there's definitely a hint of her father's influence in there. More notably, though, I would compare her to a mixture between Lucinda Williams, Tom Waits, and Johnny Cash. Pieta Brown started writing songs on an old piano when she was just eight years old. Having Greg Brown, one of the most prominent Folk Singer/Songwriters on the scene as her father didn't exactly hurt her development as a songwriter. Pieta grew up in the hills of Iowa and in Birmingham, Alabama. But, striking out on her own, she's taken her work to the Mexican border and New York City, and just about everywhere in between. Her debut self-titled release on Trailer Records (2002), was met with easy praise by music critics, as was 2003's follow up I Never Told (T Records). In 2005, with her third CD on the horizon, Brown decided this time to self-release. In The Cool was recorded at Ardent Studios in Memphis. Its smooth, cool lyrics and hard-rambling rock, blues, and country sound are clear results of the Memphis influence. Also featured on the CD are the great guitarist Bo Ramsey, as well as Greg Brown and Iris Dement, among others.