PRESS KIT – LINDA McRAE Shadow Trails Borealis Records 42RPM LINDA MCRAE – BIOGRAPHY New Folsom Prison provides the starting point for new Linda McRae album California’s Folsom State Prison occupies a hallowed place in the history of country music. As the location of several Johnny Cash performances and the subject of his song “Folsom Prison Blues,” it has become a symbol of the “outlaw” element of outlaw country. Now, some 60 years after Cash first put it on the map, the California State Prison complex has had a transformational impact on another country roots musician: Canada’s Linda McRae. After answering a call to host a song-writing workshop at New Folsom in 2011, McRae and her husband, James Whitmire, were moved to develop song-writing workshops for at-risk youth – to try and prevent them from ending up behind bars in the first place. Her new, Steve Dawson- produced album, Shadow Trails, is inspired by that work. Though perhaps best-known for her eight-year tenure as a member of the platinum-selling band Spirit of the West, Linda McRae had already raised a daughter and performed for more than ten years with west coast punk and roots outfits before joining Spirit. In fact, the band members were regulars at shows by her previous roots rock band, Terminal City. She joined Spirit in 1988 and is heard prominently on two of its most famous and enduring songs, “Home for a Rest” and “If Venice is Sinking.” In 1995, she and the band performed and recorded with Vancouver Symphony Orchestra and released the resulting recording, Open Heart Symphony.The following year, she left the Spirit to launch a solo career and has been charting at folk and roots radio ever since. In 2006, McRae found love and much more with James Whitmire, a retired American rancher who had recently discovered his voice as a poet, and who put his skills to work trying to woo her. He told her he’d move wherever she dreamed of living, so the couple settled in Nashville, and Whitmire – who she pays tribute to on the album with the song “My Man” – became her manager, collaborator, and constant source of moral support while she’s out on the road. A recovered addict, who’s been clean for more than 25 years, Whitmire has life experience that many incarcerated individuals and at-risk youth relate to, and that has helped the couple build trusting connections through their therapeutic song-writing workshops. That work, in turn, has inspired McRae, whose new album is chalk-full of raw, honest reflections on hardship delivered with a rough-hewn authenticity. CONTACT INFORMATION: Booking/Management: James Whitmire, 42RPM, 615-952-2469 [email protected] Label: Borealis Records, 416-530-7692, [email protected] Publicist: Heather Kitching, 604.838.4968, [email protected] EPK: http://lindamcrae.com/epk Express Yourself Writing Workshops: http://lindamcrae.com/workshops LINDA MCRAE – REVIEWS For complete reviews please see: http://lindamcrae.com/reviews Canadian Folk Music Awards nominates Rough Edges and Ragged Hearts for Contemporary Album of the Year! http://folkawards.ca/awards-night/nominees 5* Review - Roots Music Report - Duane Verh With a voice equally warm and world-weary, singer, guitarist, banjoist, accordionist McRae tells tales of the lost, the lovesick and the loner. Track after track, her stories are stand-alone gems, elegant in their minimal orchestration and united by their modest charm. At seeming ease with protagonists of either gender, McRaeʼs sketches out restless, solitary men as convincingly as she does forthright female romantics. A quietly masterful effort. 5* Review - No Depression - John Apice I arrived at “Be Your Own Light,” the last track on the CD and said: “Thatʼs it? Itʼs over? There isnʼt anymore?” Thatʼs the confirmation that an artist has achieved their goal. Always leave them wanting more. 4.5* Review - Penguin Eggs – Mike Sadava I predict that 25 years from now folksingers of the day will still be borrowing songs from this disc. Itʼs pure McRae - no fake hillbilly accent but true, heartfelt lyrics sung with McRaeʼs pure, husky, mature voice. While she does a great cover of Hank Williamsʼs Ramblinʼ Man, McRaeʼs own songs are up there with the great master. 4.5* Review - Rockstar Weekly - Dan Savoie Coming off like a more daring and deeper version of Patsy Cline, McRaeʼs voice is rich, bold and extremely expressive.” Rough Edges and Ragged Hearts is the real deal. Her voice is one of a genuine storyteller who has lived a vivid life of compassion, love and wonder. One would think she had a hard past life somewhere in the deep south.Rough Edges and Ragged Hearts shows just how talented and deep-rooted Linda McRae really is. This is an album to listen to in its entirety and to listen to at the kitchen table or on the front porch. I adore this album. It brought out a piece of me that I never knew existed - and old and ragged part. Beatroute – Bruce Pollock This is no feel-good, new, pseudo-country, radio-friendly collection of second-rate songs. The rough edges portion of the title applies equally to the characters, the songwriting and the instrumentation. Drawing upon blues traditions and showcasing both the banjo and fiddle, the release has a plaintive lonesome feel to it. The only thing not rough and ragged about the release is the performances themselves. They are wonderful. Everything about this release suggests that Linda McRae might just be at the top of her game at the moment. For additional reviews please see http://lindamcrae.com/files/Press_Kit/Online_Press_Kit_Sm.pdf Georgia Straight, Alexander Varty - Carve It to the Heart's not just a CD title–it's a job description. Linda McRae's keen, cutting voice is a surgical instrument, and here she slices through 50 years of country corn to arrive at a sound that would sit nicely with anything Hank Williams ever did. Creem Magazine, USA, Jeffrey Morgan - Don't let the cute cherub on the front cover fool ya 'cause Linda's slicin' up some of the blowziest country blooze music you'll hear in a tune's age. The wall of sound sonics are so thick you'll want to devour it with a fork--but use a spoon instead because you'll want to get every drop. Mmm mmm good! Sing Out Magazine, Mike Regenstreif - mainstream Nashville would be making this kind of record if it still knew how to creatively update the traditions at the heart of country music.. Toronto Star, ON, Greg Quill - A robust singer and an imaginative and uniquely gifted songwriter who proves on this remarkable recording that she is no slave to fashion. The songs here are deeply evocative successors to the revivalist country-folk of the 1970s Outlaw period in Texas and Northern California. One of the best of this year's roots music crop. Emmet Matheson, No Depression – This is as close as alt- country gets to Peggy Lee. With one foot in the real world and one in Western folklore, McRae proves that being well- balanced and interesting aren't musically exclusive. Montreal Gazette, Mike Regenstrief - Songs such as The Station, a beautiful minor-key song, sound like they're haunted by Hank's ghost Edmonton Sun, AB, Fish Griwkowsky McRae's voice, particularly when wailing on How Can I Bring Her Back or summoning Jimmie Dale Gilmore's drawl on the next ascot-and-chewin'-tobacco number, is the meal ticket here. The album is an exploration of what country music sounded like before even the Outlaw wave - simple percussion and guitars, loads of familial and fraternal sentiment, salutes to old friends. The cheerlessly positive I'll Watch Your Lovelight Shine, with its "you will find another" sentiment is already burrowing deeper and deeper, hopefully all the way to China. For additional reviews please see http://lindamcrae.com/files/Press_Kit/Online_Press_Kit_Sm.pdf LIVE REVIEWS CKUA – Peter North This is an artist who has taken strides that are remarkable for any number of reasons and inspiring on so many levels. Her voice has become an instrument of remarkable emotional depth. Songs of tragedy and tears seamlessly traverse to those of triumph or humor with an ease of understanding exactly what requires bridled intensity and what invites a focused, yet slightly loose fitting arrangement. As McRaeʼs show progressed, conversations at the tables turned to hushed whispers of approval, then gave way to complete silence until the last notes of songs echoed up the road, before applause took over the night for a few seconds. YVR On-line Heart wrenching Country-Folk, heavy on the soul. Gets your heels stompin', your toes tapping, your body swaying, reaches into your heart and feels like good whiskey - that sweet-sweet burn. Beautiful voice - and a way of making her audience feel like they're sitting in her living room with her. She had us all instantly captivated. Toronto Star, Lenny Stoute Lindaʼs performance at CMW blew away an industry-heavy crowd. The Vancouver Sun, Katherine Monk “ many local artists can pack the Railway Club wall to wall with fans. Fewer still can magically bring a loud, sweaty crew to absolute silence with a simple smile.” Georgia Straight, Vancouver, BC, John Lucas McRaeʼs powerful voice and folky songs are goose bump-inducing. The evenings finale found McRae inviting all the eveningʼs performers back on-stage for an impossibly big-sounding rendition of the Louvin Brothers “When I Stop Dreaming”. Austin Chronical, Jay Hardwig, - SXSW PICKS “Linda McRae brought her strum and alto inflections to Maggie Maeʼs.