With the release of this Nashville artist's independently produced debut CD, a new genre star is born. The album confronts the deluge of cookie-cutter and image-heavy country acts with something remarkable: substance, personal and artistic integrity, and a collection of touching and uplifting songs about the realities of life. "CANDACE ASHER" presents music that is shaped and fashioned with a lot of expertise and craft - 11 songs by a female artist who has no interest at all in the Barbie-doll aesthetics and fake emotions presented by many mainstream country acts. Candace Asher basically asks for your attention with some old-fashioned - artistic and personal - quality. Here's what folk icon Richie Havens has to say about Candace: "Watch out for her - I have watched Candace grow into an incredibly dedicated and talented singer/songwriter." Candace Asher hails from the state of New York - from the Catskills, to be precise. Maybe this kind of rural upbringing with a more liberal social background explains her closeness to what could be termed the more "enlightened" side of country music.
This puts Candace Asher in a fine line with some of her idols and contem-poraries: Rosanne Cash, Kathy Mattea, Kim Richey and Mary-Chapin Carpenter. Especially Mary-Chapin Carpenter's more rocking and "uptempo" side seems to have been an influence on these 11 songs.
Candace has played the famous "Bluebird Cafe" many times, and she's a featured member of various associations from the Nashville music world. The noted BBC Channel 4 TV program "South Bank Show" even featured Candace next to Pam Tillis, Kathy Mattea, Suzy Boguss and Mary-Chapin Carpenter as one of the most promising and remarkable new female artists from Nashville. The apt title of the documentary was: "Women in Country Music - Naked Nashville". Naked would be a good term to describe the emotional world of Candace Asher when it comes to her music. No falseness or fake emotions can be detected behind the darker feelings she addresses, such as wistfulness and nostalgia ("More Than Just A Vase"), anger ("Thankless Children") or pain ("At The Hands Of A Man"). But her real strengths lie in the more upbeat and rocking songs that features an abundance of elegant and accomplished guitar work.
lineup Candace Asher - vocals Dave Francis - bass and acoustic guitars, background vocals Tommy Hembey - acoustic guitars Clay Mills - acoustic guitars, background vocals Tom Britt - electric guitars Chris Leuzinger - electric guitars Danny Parks - electric guitar Joe Spivey - fiddle Eric Silver - mandolin Mark Hill - bass Alison Prestwood - bass Pat Coil - keyboards Anthony Harrell - keyboards Bryan Walker - keyboards, background vocals Brett Clark - drums and percussion Wayne Killius - drums Greg Morrow - drums Kim Parent - background vocals
track listing
Everytime Your Heart Breaks(C. Asher, G. Haas, T. Kline & D. Lindgren) 3:29
A Face in the Crowd(Candace Asher & David Lindgren) 3:56
That Old Car(Candace Asher & David Lindgren) 4:05
I'm Looking Forward(Candace Asher & David Lindgren) 2:57
At the Hands of a Man(Candace Asher & David Lindgren) 3:52
One Tender Tear(Candace Asher & Terry Vonderheide) 3:29
