i undressed someone’s daughter / then complained about her looks
I love the wrenching, tentative beauty in Joe Pug‘s hesitation.
(With a symphony orchestra a few weeks ago)
February 14, 2012
About Me
Name: Heather Browne
Location: Colorado, originally by way of California
Giving context to the torrent since 2005.
"I love the relationship that anyone has with music: because there's something in us that is beyond the reach of words, something that eludes and defies our best attempts to spit it out. It's the best part of us, probably, the richest and strangest part..."
—Nick Hornby, Songbook
"Music has always been a matter of energy to me, a question of Fuel. Sentimental people call it Inspiration, but what they really mean is Fuel."
—Hunter S. Thompson
Fuel/Friends
Chapel Sessions
- #01 The Head and The Heart
- #02 Kelli Schaefer
- #03 Joe Pug
- #04 Strand of Oaks
- #05 Denison Witmer
- #06 The Changing Colors
- #07 Tyler Ramsey (of Band of Horses)
- #08 Drew Grow & The Pastors' Wives
- #09 These United States
- #10 The Lumineers
- #11 Bryan John Appleby
- #12 Eef Barzelay (of Clem Snide)
- #13 Glen Phillips (of Toad the Wet Sprocket)
- #14 Adam Arcuragi & The Lupine Chorale Society
- #15 The Head and The Heart (encore)
- #16 Tyler Lyle
- #17 Typhoon
- #18 The Barr Brothers
- #19 Hey Marseilles
- #20 Field Report
- #21 Neil Halstead
- #22 Night Beds
- #23 Mike Clark & The Sugar Sounds
- #24 Nathaniel Rateliff
- #25 Pickwick
- #26 Will Johnson (of Centro-matic)
- #27 Dawes
- #28 Desirae Garcia
- #29 Vandaveer
- #30 David Wax Museum
- #31 PHOX
- #32 Small Houses
- #33 Alex Dezen (of The Damnwells)
- #34 Gregory Alan Isakov
- #35 WIDOWER
- The audio guys behind all the Chapel Sessions!
Fuel/Friends
House Shows
- Alex Dezen (of The Damnwells), November 22 2013
- Ark Life & Poets Row, April 12 2013
- Blind Pilot & Tyler Lyle, August 7 2012
- Cataldo, February 29 2012
- Damien Jurado, May 12 2013
- David Bazan, March 23 2011
- David Wax Museum w/ Chimney Choir – July 11 2013
- Drew Grow & The Pastors Wives, w/ Kelli Schaefer, Nov 4 2010
- Edmund Wayne w/ Covenhoven, December 15 2013
- Field Report & Hey Marseilles, October 8 2012
- Hip Hatchet, March 18 2014
- Isaac Pierce (Ten Speed Music) w/ Some Say Leland, June 28 2013
- Joe Pug & Strand of Oaks, May 7 2011
- Lemolo w/ You Me & Apollo, March 12 2013
- Nathaniel Rateliff, w/ Desirae Garcia, Feb 21 2013
- Radiation City w/ Mike Clark, March 18 2013
- Small Houses, w/ Tyler Lyle, August 10 2013
- The Head and The Heart & The Lumineers, Nov 9 2010
- The Head and The Heart, w/ Kelli Schaefer, Ravenna Woods, and The Moondoggies, March 12 2011
- The Lumineers w/ These United States, July 31 2011
- The Oh Hellos, Dec 29 2013
- Tyler Lyle, w/ John Heart Jackie, March 3 2012
- Vandaveer with Joe Johnson, June 6 2013
Hey! That Was Cool
- "A Big Something" feature on NPR affiliate KRCC: Local Music Blogger Heather Browne
- "Influential Women of Colorado," Denver Examiner
- 10 Women Music Writers To Read Now (NPR)
- Article by The Denver Post on the Fuel/Friends house shows
- Article: Getting Heard By Music Blogs (my contribution to ASCAP magazine)
- Feature in the Colorado Springs Independent on our chapel sessions & house shows
- Fuel/Friends in the 2008 Gummy Awards: A "Best Music Blog That Isn't Stereogum"
- Guardian UK article: The things that help us feel alive
- Me on NPR's World Cafe w/ David Dye, 2011
- Me on NPR's World Cafe w/ David Dye, 2007
- Me on NPR's World Cafe w/ David Dye, 2008
- Me on NPR's World Cafe w/ David Dye, 2009
- My SXSW 2012 panel (listen now) – Man vs Machine: New Music Discovery
- NY Times mention from Nick Hornby: "Living With Music"
- Wired Magazine, Italy
Let's be Friends
About The Songs
Mp3s are for sampling purposes, kinda like when they give you the cheese cube at Costco, knowing that you'll often go home with having bought the whole 7 lb. spiced Brie log. They are left up for a limited time. If you LIKE the music, go and support these artists, buy their schwag, go to their concerts, purchase their CDs/records and tell all your friends. Rock on.
Interviews
- Josh Ritter Album Club! (group conversation and interview)
- Interview: Winston Yellen of Night Beds
- “the songs of sickness can become the songs of healing” :: the Typhoon interview
- Talkin’ italiano with Jovanotti
- The musical brilliance of Friday Night Lights
- Interview: The minds behind the new Jeff Buckley/Shakespeare musical
- Talking to Josh Ritter in Telluride
- “A new sonic playground” :: Works Progress Administration interview (Glen Phillips)
- Nobody but you :: Interview with Langhorne Slim
- Standing at the center of the occupation :: Interview with The Handsome Furs
Shows I've Seen
- a damn good night :: Nada Surf, and Leon Bridges open mic!
- Eaux my goodness, Eaux Claires
- now here’s the moon, it’s alright
- another uninnocent elegant fall :: The National at Red Rocks (9/17/13)
- i’m the air you cannot breathe
- so, Blind Pilot played at my house
- really, i’m not ready
- i feel it pushing down on me / so please baby, just drive
- on these Red Rocks, sounds like hallelujah
- safe from harm but going numb
Books I Like
Colorado Pals
- A Walking Disaster
- Backbeat Online (Westword)
- Bocumast Records
- Brass Tree Sessions
- Cause=Time
- CC Block Partie
- Concerted Effort
- Coverville
- Danger Radio
- Denver Reverb
- Denver Six Shooter
- Empty Reviews
- Gigbot concert community
- KRCC Colorado College Radio
- KRCX Regis Univ. Music Blog
- Merry Swankster
- One Track Mind
- Oomph Music Blog
- Radio 1190 CU Boulder
- Rocky Mountain Highway Blog
- Something Like Sound
- Spork (Twist & Shout Record Store blog)
- That's The Thing About That
- The Denver Eye
- The Donnybrook Writing Academy
- The Flat Response (Denver concert recordings)
- The Ruckus
- The Troubadour's Road
Blogs That Rock
- Aquarium Drunkard
- Aurgasm
- Awesome Tapes from Africa
- bag of songs
- Can You See The Sunset From The Southside?
- Chromewaves
- Cover Lay Down
- Dance Hall Hips
- Daytrotter
- Elvis Enthusiasts Unite
- Everybody Cares, Everybody Understands
- Fingertips Music
- HearYa Live Sessions
- Henry Miller Library's music blog (Big Sur)
- I Guess I’m Floating
- La Blogotheque
- Marathonpacks
- Music vs. Misery
- My Old Kentucky Blog
- Passion Of The Weiss
- Postsecret
- Said The Gramophone
- Scatter o’ Light
- So Much Silence
- Some Velvet Blog
- Songs For The Day
- Sound on The Sound
- Stereogum
- The Vinyl District
- To The Maxx
- You Ain’t No Picasso
beautiful. one of my favorite songs ever.
uwmryan — February 14, 2012 @ 8:29 am
Will get to see him live here in London in about a week. Can’t wait!
Antje — February 14, 2012 @ 9:52 am
Such a great song writer. Whenever I listen to his EPs, I tend to pair this song with Sharpest Crown which is a terribly tragic song.
I can’t wait for his new album The Great Despiser.
Aaron — February 14, 2012 @ 11:58 am
Between the awesome Downtown Chamber and Pug’s great song you have a wonderful music experience. Hope to hear more of this combination!!
Liz Simonds — February 15, 2012 @ 7:23 am
It could just be that I was out of the loop before a few years ago, but does it seem like a lot of singer/songwriter and/or folk/rock artists are playing with orchestras and quartets lately? Is that a trend? Is anyone writing about it?
I’m really enjoying it (particularly Josh Ritter’s orchestra-backed shows) and would love to be hearing high-quality recordings of more of those performances. Any chance you want to do a round-up of sorts, Heather?
Thanks for the consistently excellent music and writing!
Allie — February 16, 2012 @ 4:14 pm