Weathering The Storm

Texas Native Carrie Rodriguez Finds Inspiration On Her Solo Debut

originally published June 6, 2007

At first glance, it's easy to wonder just how much different Seven Angels on a Bicycle, the solo debut album from Carrie Rodriguez, is from the three duo albums she made with Chip Taylor. Taylor's fingerprints, after all, are all over Seven Angels on a Bicycle. He wrote seven of the CD's 12 tracks and cowrote four others with Rodriguez. Taylor also co-produced the album with Rodriguez.

But when listening to Seven Angels on a Bicycle, it's clear this disc is notably different from her albums with Taylor - Let's Leave This Town (2002), The Trouble With Humans (2003) and Red Dog Tracks (2004). To be sure, the country/ Americana roots of those duo albums are still present on the solo release. Not only are Taylor's vocals absent, there is a palatable atmosphere - a smoky, almost eerie mood - that hasn't inhabited the duo albums.

On songs such as "Dirty Leather," "He Ain't Jesus" and "Big Kiss," Rodriguez's vocals are placed in a spare setting, as gentle drums, chimes of guitar and occasional fills from slide guitar offer restrained support and help create the atmospheric mix. In fact, the CD's primary upbeat moments come from songs that stay closest to country, including the rousing "Never Gonna Be Your Bride" and the chunkier "I Don't Want To Play House Anymore."

It's not just the sound of the songs, though, that separates Seven Angels on a Bicycle from the duo albums. The contrasts began with the songs - including those Taylor wrote on his own. "It was different," says Rodriguez. "Before, we would sort of let the songs evolve together. Like we would take a song in its raw form and play through it together for a month. We were working on arrangements and things like that. On my record, a lot of times he would show me songs and I would take the ones that I thought might fit me and take them home and develop them myself, rather than with him.

"They did kind of take on a different feel," she continues. "Another reason is I don't play the guitar. So he would give me a tune, and I'd take it home and I'd have to figure out a way to work on it without a guitar, which meant my fiddle. I would just strum my fiddle or do different kinds of picking patterns. That ended up being the core of a lot of these songs."

The other factor that was starkly different about the recording sessions was Rodriguez's state of mind. Shortly before work on the album began, one of her best friends was killed while riding his bicycle in New York City, where Rodriguez (an Austin, TX, native) now makes her home with husband, saxophone player Javier Vercher.

Rodriguez said the loss filtered into the mood of Seven Angels on a Bicycle, and the title song refers to the accident. "There were a lot of emotions surrounding the whole process of writing songs and recording," Rodriguez said. "I feel like that dictated the direction and the sound. It really was kind of a mourning sort of process when we were working on it."

This tragedy has been one of the few reasons for sadness in Rodriguez's life in recent years. In fact, her arrival on the national music scene has a bit of fairy-tale good fortune to it.

In 2001, she played a gig with the band Hayseed at an Austin record store, Cheap-o Discs, during the South By Southwest music conference. Taylor saw that performance and approached Rodriguez about joining his band to play fiddle.

Gradually, Rodriguez moved from bandmember into the role of musical partner, after Taylor asked her to sing with him - something Rodriguez had never done in performance. "I don't know what it was that made him think I would be any good at singing," she says with a laugh. "But for whatever reason, he asked me to try and immediately thought he heard something that he wanted to hear more of."

These days, Rodriguez's voice has become a compelling and expressive instrument - and one that takes center stage in her live show.

Her current tour finds her joined by guitarist Hans Holzen and bassist Kyle Kegerreis, and in this format, Rodriguez, who's been playing a good deal of electric mandolin live, says the songs from Seven Angels on a Bicycle are evolving.

"The guys [who played] on my record are some of my heroes: Bill Frisell [guitar] and Greg Leisz [pedal steel, lap steel, dobro] and Viktor Krauss [bass]. All of them are people I've been listening to for years," Rodriguez says. "My band feels the same way. They look up to these guys. So it's been fun to be inspired by what they did on the record and then try to make it our own."

Alan Sculley

WHO: Carrie Rodriguez, Tim Easton, Marty Winkler & Michael Steele
WHERE: Melting Point
WHEN: Wednesday, June 13
HOW MUCH: $11.50 (advance), $12 (door)