“Luxuriating in a voice like spun silk draped over bare shoulders…Running the range of passion's terrain, Beth Waters has a voice for every upbeat impulse and downbeat desire from sunrise to sunset.”
J.C.- Bitch Magazine (Fall 2006)
|
|
“This Little Piggy” is a juvenile name for a record, yet it is Beth Waters' most musically mature work to date. The title makes sense. The name connotes a return to childhood, of being in the moment and following your whims. Allowing yourself to trust fully your ideas and the ideas of those around you. Those qualities are what make this record so special.
“While making This Little Piggy,” Waters said, “I really felt like I was able to stretch my legs, explore new sounds and take chances that I've never had the luxury of taking before. It really felt as if we were sculptors working with music instead of clay. As our hands moved, the music took the shape it was meant to take. The songs written on guitar or piano had a skeleton and their soul, but needed life', and that process was about experimentation and trust”.
For the recording of This Little Piggy, Waters again teamed with producer Michael Winger who produced her second full length record, the self-titled “Beth Waters” in 2004. Waters says she understood where some musician can go wrong when trying to accomodate a certain musical genre. “If you record a song to appeal to a certain audience, you're not free to explore the work further. We recorded a couple songs and found ourselves stuck with no idea how we got there. Something was missing and my producer and I both knew it. Finally, I admitted that I was scared to make the record I really wanted to make. I was trying to record songs that I thought other people would want to hear. I wasn't making music for myself. We started over from scratch and Beth Waters was the result."
Beth Waters has earned Waters awards, features in magazines and radio as well being commerically viable. Both the songs "Sweaters" and "Blue and White" have been used in network television programs. Most recently in September 2006, "Blue and White" was featured on ABC's daytime soap opera "One Life To Live."
Building on the success of Beth Waters and with the confidence to create songs on her own terms, Waters began writing material for her most This Little Piggy. Along with her colaboration with Michael Winger, Waters enlisted drummer Ricky Carty to arrange many of the songs on the album. The album is a diverse collection of music ranging from brash, intelligent rock to playful and intimate fok/pop; it blends piano, guitar, Waters vocals and other elaborate textures into a rich, sonic tapestry. Waters' angelic voice and signature melodic songwriting are complimented by the performances of a stellar cast of musicians including upright bass by Todd Sickafoose (Ani DiFranco), piano by Stephen Prutsman (Kronos Quartet), keyboards by Eamonn Flynn (Spearhead, Koko Taylor) electric bass by Kevin White (Chuck Prophet, Shelby Lynne) and Ricky Carter on drums and percussion.
Grammy award-winning mix engineer and producer Joe Chiccarelli (Frank Zappa, U2 and Tori Amos) mixed five songs on the album.
|
