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Peter Cooper and Fayssoux McLean
Susan and I are excited to be announcing our fall artists will be Peter Cooper of Nashville, TN with special opening artist Fayssoux McLean of Spartanburg, SC!
The show is scheduled for October 18, 2008, and these two artists are
guaranteed to make it a special evening. This show has something in common
with only our very first house concert. We have never seen either artist
play live in person before selecting them for our next house concert. So
while, we may be familiar with their music, it'll be new to us too!
Our Peter Cooper did not invent Jell-O or run for president in the 1876 presidential election in case you were wondering. Unfortunately, our Peter Cooper does not have that rocking beard though.
Peter Cooper released his debut full-length album from Nashville based Red
Beet Records earlier this year. Its title, "Mission Door," is taken from
one of the two Eric Taylor covers he plays on the disc. Nanci Griffith and
Todd Snider are two of the guest musicians on the album, so Peter wasn't
screwing around here. Peter reminds me
musically and lyrically of John Prine with a little Steve Earle and Will
Kimbrough thrown in for good measure. Peter just doesn't play music
though, in fact when he was recently on the Bob Edwards show, Peter was
introduced as a: "musician, singer/songwriter, producer, author, professor
and music journalist."
Peter was a regular music journalist for the sadly now deceased No Depression magazine. Peter is the music writer for the Nashville newspaper, The Tennessean. Peter is a country music professor for Vanderbilt University. He's produced albums for Todd Snider and Fayssoux McLean. He's played in the studio and live for Todd and others, not to mention all the time at the mic he's getting for his own material these days. Hell, he's even gotten on the David Letterman Show and the Tonight Show.
Finally, Peter was writing a book years ago, and he was writing a book on the
music scene in Spartanburgh, SC (a former home of his). At the last
moment, he came across a lady named Fayssoux McLean. She sang harmony and
backup for Emmylou Harris for many years in the studio and live in concert as
well. Fayssoux though decided to start a family and completely withdrew
from the music business...cold turkey. It'd been quite a few years, and
when Peter interviewed Fayssoux for the book, it rekindled something in
Fayssoux. With some gentle prodding from Peter, Fayssoux has now released
her debut album on Red Beet Records at the same time as Peter.
Fayssoux recorded a variety of covers and then recorded a few of her own originals as well, and these tunes make up her debut album, "Early." Emmylou Harris sang harmony and backup for Fayssoux on the album to return the favor. Emmylou recently was quoted to having said: "Fayssoux has one of my favorite voices." Since Fayssoux is dipping her toes back in the music industry, she did harmony for Emmylou that ended up winning the Grammy for the 2008 Best Female Country Single Vocal (song titled "the Connection").
If you'd like to learn more about both artists, I highly recommend the Bob Edwards interview that is available for free in podcast form. Click here and look for podcasts dated 4/17/2008.
Here are some web pages with more information:
Peter Cooper's Web Site
Peter Cooper's MySpace Page
Fayssoux McLean's Web Site
Fayssoux McLean's MySpace Page
Tickets will go on sale around September 1, 2008. It'll be another great evening of music and friendship. We can't wait!