21st Century Broad Carsie Blanton Set To Release New Album Not Old, Not New
on June 24th
PopMatters Premieres Debut Single “Laziest Gal In Town”
Written by Cole Porter
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Carsie Blanton is a 21st century broad. She’s a sassy, sophisticated musician and songwriter who also happens to write about sex, love, and art. Blanton believes that music and sex are inexorably linked together, and she has made it her business to study and contemplate both.
On June 24th, the New Orleans-based singer-songwriter will release Not Old, Not New, an album of jazz classics from the pre-bebop era. “Most of my songs are about love and lust. The songs on this record, some of them 80 years old, are about the same topics; but approached with a kind of subtlety and restraint that you don’t find much of these days. I also wanted to create a mood that fits the songs – sultry but also subtle – so this is a record you can make love to,” says Blanton.
Today, PopMatters debuted the debut single, Blanton’s version of Cole Porter’s “Laziest Gal In Town” and said “Carsie Blanton’s sexy, enigmatic vocals are ideally suited to the American popular songbook… She treats each note like another flirtatious look towards the object of her affection as the lazy notes flutter down gently and easy.”
Not Old, Not New was recorded in Carsie’s adopted hometown of New Orleans, produced by Grammy-winner John Porter (B.B. King, Taj Mahal), and features esteemed New Orleans players like Ellis Marsalis, David Torkanowsky (Irma Thomas), and Neal Caine (Harry Connick Jr.).
Her musical curiosity is what led her down the road to recording Not Old, Not New. “I’m interested in what I would call ‘American popular song’—a lineage that runs from ragtime and early jazz all the way up to what’s happening now, like Beyonce and Bruno Mars,” she said. “What it all has in common is that it’s about telling a story, in a way that anybody can understand, in three minutes.”
Carsie starting digging, and unearthed some lesser-known gems from the jazz era, many of them by well-known songwriters—such as “You’re a Heavenly Thing” by Jake Little and Joe Young, and “Azalea,” by Duke Ellington.
“This record is inspired by a brief moment in music, in the early ’50s, just before bebop took over.” she said. “A lot of great jazz vocal records came out at that time that were really relaxed, featured a lot of ballads, and weren’t very improvisation heavy. I kept finding these recordings from that same time period—the Nat King Cole Trio recordings, Chet Baker Sings, Louis Armstrong Meets Oscar Peterson—and getting really obsessed with them.”
Many of the songs she covers—Hoagy Carmichael’s “Two Sleepy People”, and Julia Lee’s “Don’t Come Too Soon”—deal with love, romance, and sex, topics that Carsie also blogs about prolifically on her website, CarsieBlanton.com.
“A lot of my work is about sex, and some of it is also about love. I find the erotic spark – the thing that happens when people are attracted to each other—very inspiring. For me, that spark is not just about sex, but also music. The two go hand in hand, so it feels natural to write about both on my blog.”
It’s all to expose more people to her life’s biggest passion: great songwriting. “I think the common thread of my music is that I’m very focused on the craft of writing songs,” said Carsie. “and this album is no different. These are some of the best songs ever written, and I want to draw attention to them. Even eighty years later, they still feel fresh. As a songwriter, I know how much work it takes to make them feel that way – like they didn’t take any work at all. “
US Tour Dates:
6/10: Raleigh, NC – The Pour House Music Hall
6/11: Atlanta, GA – Steve’s Live Music
6/12: Asheville, NC – Isis
6/13: Nashville, TN – Public House Concert (email johnbrownrocks@yahoo.com for details)
6/14: Birmingham, AL – Sound and Page
6/15: New Orleans, LA – Cafe Istanbul
6/19: Austin, TX – The Listening Room
6/20: Dallas, TX – The Kessler
6/23: Los Angeles, CA – Hotel Cafe
6/25: San Francisco, CA – TBA
6/29: Seattle, WA – Columbia City Theater
7/2: Minneapolis, MN – Ice House
7/3: Madison, WI – UW Terrace
7/5: Geneva, MN – Geneva Lake Jam
7/7: Chicago, IL – TBA
7/9: Williamsport, PA – Bullfrog Brewery
7/10: Bloomsburg, PA – Turkey Hill Brewing Co
7/11: Pelham, NY – Rockwells
7/13: New York, NY – Rockwood 3
7/17: Portsmouth, NH – Press Room
7/18: Cambridge, MA – Club Passim
7/19: Ardmore, PA – The Ardmore Music Hall
7/29: Washington, DC – Sixth & I Historic Synagogue
Track List:
1) Azalea (Duke Ellington)
2) Laziest Gal In Town (Cole Porter)
3) You’re a Heavenly Thing (Jack Little/Joe Young)
4) Two Sleepy People (Hoagy Carmichael/Frank Loesser)
5) You Don’t Know What Love Is (Gene de Paul/Don Raye)
6) What Is This Thing Called Love? (Cole Porter)
7) Do You Know What It Means To Miss New Orleans? (Eddie Delange/Louis Alter)
8) Seet Lorraine (Cliff Burwell/Mitchell Parish)
9) Don’t Come Too Soon (Julia Lee)
10) I’ll Be Seeing You (Irving Kahal/Sammy Fain)
11) Not Old, Not New (Carsie Blanton)
Pre-order Not Old, Not New here: http://bit.ly/1mcVGah
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