If you’re familiar with Carsie Blanton, then draw your own comparisons. But, for the uninitiated think blatant sexuality of Liz Phair, filtered more cleverly, and then delivered in a vocal style that’s more jazz-like in phrasing like a witty Madeleine Peyroux. Some have compared her to Nina Simone and Billie Holiday. The inside jacket photo of her with a t-shirt reading “Fuck Fascism” over some lingerie and fishnet stockings provides even more clues. Even when she’s pissed off, as she is in several of these tunes, Carsie Blanton on Buck Up comes across as a fun-loving flirt who can make light of serious subject matter and make you laugh and dance too. After all, Blanton is also a teacher of swing and blues dancing.
The inspiration for the album, like so many other artists in these past two years, was born out of disillusionment with the 2016 election. Hence the title; grit our teeth and get on with it. It certainly doesn’t stop her from singing about unabashed sexuality with references to female gaze and masturbation in “Jacket” or finding humor in “Mustache.” “That Boy” has her chasing that one night stand that may soon lead to regret and the opening track, “Twister” offers an array of temptations.
Blanton is not shy to comment, “One of my major inspirations as a songwriter is feeling the erotic connection. When I get connected to the erotic force, I feel so turned on by life and also hooked up to death at the same point.” She later comments that song ideas flow for her when she “goes out there and looks for some sexy young man who’s a mess- that’s the muse that works for me. That’s where I get my mojo.”
“Bed,” on the other hand is the epitome of disillusionment, content to just lie there as the less than promising world passes by. The political climate though, is best addressed in the focal track “American Kid” with lines like these – “don’t look now but it won’t be long/they’re gonna wonder what we did/and we’ll have to admit that/we done them wrong/god help the American kid.”
Oliver Wood sings with Blanton on the title track where she returns to the political theme but as with the first half of the album, there are songs about lust “Desire” and conflict with “Harbor” and “Battle.” Leveraging a vast span of sounds derived from living in New Orleans, music runs from Motown grooves to the way Tom Waits infuses old-time jazz into his tunes. Blanton plays guitar, toy piano and percussion while backed by guitarist Pete Donnelly (Graham Parker, the Figgs),long-time bassist and co-writer Joe Plowman, keyboardist Patrick Firth, and drummer Nicholas Falk.
As you might have guessed, she has an interesting background. She released her first album while still a teenager. Born in 1985, the home-schooled daughter of songwriting latter-day hippie parents grew up on a former cattle farm and commune in rural Luray, VA, “running amok” and soaking up the classics of jazz, blues, folk, and R&B. She filtered those sounds together to create the album Hush at age 16, the same year she left home for the West Coast, settling in Eugene, OR. Even then her formula was in place – hooks ,humor, sex, and soul. Ain’t So Green, her first studio album, recorded back home in Virginia, followed several years later in 2005. After a brief stint in San Francisco, she found her way to Philadelphia in 2006, where veteran local folk figurehead Gene Shay took her under his wing, and she became a fixture on the area coffeehouse scene. Even though she has resided in New Orleans since 2012, the bulk of this album was recorded just outside Philadelphia where the album was mastered
It’s fair to say she has developed her own unique style which is equal parts contemporary and past century (Fats Waller, Nina Simone, Louis Armstrong). Blanton expresses herself in a variety of art forms, gaining popularity for her blogs on subjects like love, the creative process and sexuality. Her videos are relished too as typically celebrates, women, dance, and the city of New Orleans.
Beyond the fun, there’s enough insight to make one listen closer and enough swagger to make one smile.
Photo by Jason Albus
