My Music at Starbucks!

When you stop in for your favorite winter time coffee drink at Starbucks, keep your ears peeled for two songs off of my recently released album, Jump With a Child's Heart. The songs: "You & Me & the Evergreen" and "Hell's Gate".

I love how the sea monster in my song "Hell's Gate" ties into the origins of todays coffee king. The name "starbucks" was inspired by Moby Dick and was chosen to call to mind the romance of the high seas and seafaring traditions. Pretty cute for the once-upon-a-time mom-and-pop coffee shop in Seattle. As for "You & Me & the Evergreen"; this is prime evergreen season. Seems pretty appropriate that it'll get to be heard by millions over the upcoming winter. These tunes can be heard at thousands of Starbucks locations around the world over the next few months. I hope you get a chance to hear one of them while buying your morning pick-me-up. And thank you Starbucks for supporting independent music!

Other fun things to check out:
I was a guest columnist a few weeks ago on Memphis, TN's legendary studios, Ardent Studios Music Blog. Ready it here: Pick Three with Annie Crane.

A great interview interspersed with four songs off my new album with DJ Turtle on the most recent edition of L.A.'s, The PLaylist on www.EnterTheShell.com. Stream the podcast here: Annie Crane Playlist.

* Holiday Shopping *
Charity Auction - The folks over at Sleepover Shows in Boston are doing a charity auction featuring signed merch from all of this past year's musicians. I'm thrilled to have my 2009 album Through the Farmlands & the Cities in the bunch. All proceeds go to the Boston Food Bank. Check it out here: Charity: Sleepover Shows.

Independent Music makes an incredible stocking stuffer and Chanukah gift! Consider giving the gift of a once NYC based, now DC loving Americana/Indie Folk musician.
(2009) Through the Farmlands and the Cities
(2011) Jump With a Child's Heart

Happy Holidays Everyone!

Love,

Annie

  

On this edition of L.A.'s "The PLaylist": Annie Crane

"In this edition of the PLaylist we’re meeting up with the lovely Annie Crane! Annie gives us her perspective of life on the road, JD Salinger, and her latest master piece “Jump With A Child’s Heart”! We’re talking about everything in this edition of The PLaylist!"

LISTEN HERE

Thanks DJ Turtle!

love, Annie.

A pretty epic comparison from University of Colorado's, The Denver Advocate:

"The album feels like memoirs of a traveler and an explorer. This is what Christopher McCandless of 'Into the Wild' had to feel like while traveling across the country".

... freaking awesome. Thanks UCD Advocate!

THIS WEEKEND - 
Thurs 12/1 at The Green Line Cafe w/ Marc Silver and Thin Domes & Kevin James Holland @ 7:00PM, 4426 Locust St., Philadelphia, PA

Fri 12/2 House Concert hosted by Mr. Rick Patrick, Harlem, NYC

Sat 12/3 at the Orchard House Cafe w/ Dan and Rachel and Debe Dalton @ 8:00PM, 1064 1st Ave., NYC. Suggested donation of $5.

Sun 12/4 at The Living Room for the Jack Hardy Tribute Night @ 4:00PM - 6:30PM, 154 Ludlow St., NYC. Each performer will play 3-4 songs, one of which will be in dedication to Jack.

This will be my last batch of shows of the year. Thank you to all my supporters out there; it means so much and there's no way I could continue this road without you! Keep your ears & eyes peeled for more exciting things to come. All my love, Annie

I'm about to head out on the second leg of my fall tours. I'll be hitting up IN, OH, KY, TN, NC, VA, PA + MD with my dear friend and label mate, Elam Blackman. If you live in or have friends who live in any of the cities listed below, please let them know about the shows! 

In other news, since returning from the first leg of fall touring, I've moved from NYC to Washington, D.C. What a beautiful town and I'm very excited by it's central location between the NE and SE touring routes!

CONSTANT CLIP PRESENT:
Annie Crane + Elam Abraham Blackman on a Joint Tour!

Fri 11/11 - Indianapolis, IN, house concert, limited space available. Contact Annie to be added to the guest list, info@anniecranemusic.com.
Sat 11/12 - Columbus, OH, 8pm at www.kafekerouac.com
Sun 11/13 - Cincinnati, OH, 8pm at www.sitwellscoffeehouse.com
Mon 11/14 - Knoxville, TN, house concert, limited space available. Contact Annie to be added to the guest list, info@anniecranemusic.com.
Tues 11/15 - Asheville, NC, 8pm at www.bobogallery.com
Wed 11/16 - Berea, KY, 7pm at www.blackfeathercafe.com
Thurs 11/17 - Durham, NC, 8:30pm at www.thebroadstreetcafe.com
Fri 11/18 - Staunton, VA, 8pm at www.darjeelingcafe.com
Sat 11/19 - Baltimore, MD, house concert, limited space available. Contact Caleb to be added to the guest list, caleb@calebstine.com.
Mon 11/21 - Kimberton, PA, 7:30pm at www.camphillkimberton.org

Touring through 2011 in Support of New Album

I hope to see you in one of the cities listed below! 

I'm looking forward to each and every one.  

Love, A.

NEWS ON THE NEW RECORD

"It is refreshing to hear a musician as authentic as Annie Crane." - Columbus Wired

“...an album that will undoubtedly serve as a great beacon of her potential.” - Exclaim!

"Her lilting, Celtic-inspired voice is prone to soaring. It’s quite beautiful, and she knows it..." - Independent Clauses

"This album is, on a lyrical level alone, a true folk record..." - Old Fridge Can Kill

“'Jump With a Child’s Heart' is carefully and lovingly crafted, and a perfect addition right next to records by Kathleen Edwards, Patty Griffin, and Lucinda Williams.” - Popmatters

TOUR SCHEDULE

- October dates touring solo -

Sat 10/15 - The Antrim Grange, 8pm, Cover: $5, Clinton Road, Route 31, Antrim, NH

Sun 10/16 - Slainte Wine Bar & Lounge, 9pm, Suggested Donation of $5, 24 Preble St. Portland, ME, www.slaintewinebar.com 

Mon 10/17 - Chick Pickin' Mondays at Grumpys Bar w/ Brie Neilson, 9pm, 1242 Bishop Street, Montreal, QC Canada, www.grumpysbar.ca

Wed 10/19 - Free Times Cafe w/ Mary Stewart, 8:30pm, Suggested Donation of $5, 320 College St., Toronto, ON Canada, www.freetimescafe.com

Thurs 10/20 - Abilene's Bar & Lounge, 9:00pm, 153 Liberty Pole Way, Rochester, NY, www.abilenebarandlounge.com

Fri 10/21 - The Shop Cafe, 8:00pm, Suggested Donation of $5, 312 East Seneca st., Ithaca, NY,www.theshopcafe.com

Sat 10/22 - House Concert, 7:00pm, Baltimore, MD. Limited space available. Contact to be added to the guest list, info@anniecranemusic.com.

- November touring with label-mate, Elam Blackman, www.elamblackman.com - 

Fri 11/11 - House Concert w/ The Accordions, 8pm, Indianapolis, IN. Limited space available. Contact to be added to the guest list, info@anniecranemusic.com.

Sat 11/12 - Keruac Kafe, 8pm, 2250 North High St., Columbus, OH.  www.kafekerouac.com

Sun 11/13 - Sitwells Coffeehouse, 8pm, 324 Ludlow Avenue, Cincinnati OH, 

www.sitwellscoffeehouse.com

Mon 11/14 - House Concert, 7:30pm, Knoxville TN. Limited space available. Contact to be added to the guest list, info@anniecranemusic.com.

Tues 11/15 - Bobo Gallery, 8:00pm, 22 Lexington Ave., Asheville, NC, www.bobogallery.com

Wed 11/16 - The Black Feather Cafe, 7:00pm, 216 Adams Street, Berea, KY.www.blackfeathercafe.com

Thurs 11/17 - The Broad Street Cafe, 8:30pm, 1116 Broad Street, Durham, NC, www.thebroadstreetcafe.com

Fri 11/18 - Darjeeling Cafe, 8:00pm, 103 W. Beverley St., Staunton, VA, www.darjeelingcafe.com

Sat 11/19 - House Concert at Caleb Stine's, 7:00pm, Baltimore, MD. Limited space available. Contact to be added to the guest list, caleb@calebstine.com.

Mon 11/21 - Rose Hall at The Camphill Village Community, 7:30pm, 1601 Pughtown Road, Kimberton, PA, www.camphillkimberton.org 

- December dates touring solo -

Thurs 12/1 - Green Line Cafe w/ Caleb Klauder, 7:00pm, Cover: $5, 4426 Locust St., Philadelphia, PA, www.greenlinecafe.com

Fri 12/2 - House Concert hosted by Mr. Patrick, 7:00pm, Harlem, NYC. Limited space available. Contact to be added to the guest list, info@anniecranemusic.com.

Sat 12/3 - Orchard House Cafe w/ Dan & Rachel and Debe Dalton, 8:00pm, 1064 1st Avenue, Southeast Corner 58th St., NYC. www.orchardhousecafe.com.

Sun 12/4 - The Living Room as part of the Jack Hardy Tribute Night, 4:30-6:30PM, Free, 154 Ludlow St., NY, NY. www.livingroomny.com 

You can buy the new album on CDBaby $15, on iTunes for less than $10, or in person at live shows for $12.

The Release of "Jump With a Child's Heart"

Thank you so much to everyone who came out to the release show this past Saturday in NYC. It was a magical night playing through the entire new album with a full band! A few pictures are below for you to check out. Thank you SO much to everyone who attended, donated to the fund raising campaign, played on the record, played at the release show, hugged me when I was crazed, and fed me whiskey when I was beyond crazed!

If you would like to buy the new album, you may do so at live shows for $12 or on CDBaby for $15 or on iTunes for less than $9.

Today, the official release of the album, I was listed on the Country Music Televisions website along side some famous people, many of whom played on the freshly released The Lost Notebooks of Hank Williams (a compilation album that draws its inspiration from previously-unheard lyrics contained in Hank Williams' notebooks). 

A more fleshed out write-up of the album, however, was posted on the Columbus Wired and is copied here below. It's pretty great and I'll share it with you now. 

Love,

Annie.

Annie Crane: Jump With a Child’s Heart

With so many musical artists today relying on gimmicks, image, and artificiality to thrive, it is refreshing to hear a musician as authentic as Annie Crane. Her latest album, Jump With a Child’s Heart, shows that she puts her whole, honest self into her work. The music is personal, relatable and inspiring. Jump tells amazing stories about life using classic American Folk techniques. At the same time, Crane invokes even older Celtic traditions. She has a unique ability to effortlessly mix these deep-rooted music styles with modern topics such as life in the city.

Crane writes music about the struggles and joys of her life, as well as the things that inspire her. Her topics include her marriage, money problems, her home of New York and death. Literary masters, T.S. Elliot and J.D. Salinger also make appearances in Crane’s music. “I hate way too cool for school. Screw ‘em and the vintage they rode in on,” she sings in the track “Salinger said…” This is the same anti-“phony” attitude that Salinger’s Holden Caulfield was famous for inCatcher in the Rye.  The song goes on to describe the courage it takes for Crane to be authentic to herself, in a society that expects female artists to play stereotypical roles.

Another track, “Money Only Hates Me,” is one that many will be able to relate to during this economic crisis. According to Crane’s official website, the song is about a time in 2008 when she lost her voice and was unable to perform.  In the chorus Crane simply states, “Cause money, money only hates and it leaves me. Money’s not my friend.” This is one of the more simplistic of Crane’s lyrics, but necessarily so. Part of Crane’s songwriting talent is that she writes about the simple things we encounter daily, and complex thoughts and issues that sometimes plague our minds.

Apart from Crane’s amazing songwriting capabilities, her musical talent is incredible on its own. Her voice is absolutely beautiful as she blends the Celtic and folk styles into her own.  She can also hold her own on the guitar. She is accompanied by a slide guitar, percussion, a bass, a trumpet, a banjo, and a cello. The accompanying musicians add warmth and depth to and already impressive album.

The release party for Jump With a Child’s Heart takes place in New York on October 1^st. After that, you can catch Crane in Columbus on November 12^th at Kafe Kerouac.

Some Release Show Pics...

* Mark Your Calendars *

CD Release Show for Annie's new album, 

Jump With a Child's Heart

Saturday October 1st
The Living Room @ 8:00PM sharp

154 Ludlow Street, NYC

Joined on stage by trumpets, cellos, drums, side guitars and voices!

Cover: $10 which includes a copy of the CD

www.livingroomny.com

Music Video of the making of the new album - http://youtu.be/yN84dpMypsU

Music Video for the single "copenhagen Heart" - http://youtu.be/FZi9QD0ippE

Music Video Debut!

NYC-based singer-songwriter Annie Crane has completed the video for “Copenhagen Heart,” the latest single from her upcoming album Jump With A Child's Heart out on October 4th, 2011 from Constant Clip Records.  The video was directed by Jesse Miksic and shot along the water in Red Hook, Brooklyn, in Ridgewood, Queens and in the artist's own apartment where viewers can clearly see postcard reminders of Crane's touring to Copenhagen, Paris, Hamburg and Berlin.

It was at the beginning of this 2010 European tour that Crane wrote this song about feeling homesick and missing her man. “At the time, I had just been on vocal rest for the about four months and I was pretty rusty,” she says.

Crane had lost her voice for three months in 2008 and upon recovering, spent the next two years trying to fully rehabilitate it.  She saw multiple doctors and specialists during that time, one of which told her she wasn't “singing right,” about which the classically trained vocalist comments, “It was total horse shit. I know how to sing without harming myself.”

When Crane finally was able to get on a good health insurance plan (“People without health insurance get shoddy care and are treated differently than those with it”), determine the actual cause of the problem (“Just a sweet little case of acid reflux”) and recover, she still had to fight the nerves and self-doubt that went with using her voice again after a long time off.

“I was feeling self-conscious and like a fool and therefore homesick and missing my man,” she says candidly.  But Crane stayed on tour and put her feelings into a song that is one of many bright spots on her new album.  Perseverance is actually the main theme of Jump With A Child's Heart. The record weaves the reality of city life into tracks that combine the essence of classic 60’s folk, traditional Celtic music and rootsy Americana with Crane's optimistic messages about making dreams come true.

Jump With A Child's Heart will be released on October 4^th, 2011 by Constant Clip Records. Annie Crane is available for interviews. Contact Josh Bloom at Fanatic for more information.

Great Album Review in music blog, Old Fridges Can KILL -

"This album is, on a lyrical level alone, a true folk record, replete with a personal struggle and an overturning of the odds, chock full of honesty, personal observation and sound anecdotal advice. Yet, besides a passing reference to the tightness of harmonies I have barely scraped the actual sound of the record, which is rich and warm in tone, and with a blend of complexity and simplicity that reveal an exceptionally talented guitarist who knows how to win you with a melody, but also when to hold back and simply let the words speak for themselves. I can foresee this album becoming a staple soundtrack for those darkening-yet-still-warm Autumn evenings, for which – conveniently – it shall be released just in time".

(Annie Crane's new album "Jump With a Child's Heart" is scheduled for release Oct 4, 2011)

Due to the sad closing of Banjo Jim's (a fantastic local bar hosting live roots music every night of the week in alphabet city Manhattan), my gig tonight has been moved to Googie's Lounge above the Living Room. 154 Ludlow Street. 7:30 Holler, 8:30 Annie Crane, 9:30 Brooklyn Blues Project.

An articles on the closing of Banjo Jim's can be read here:
Teardrops in My Eyes: Banjo Jim's to Close!

The Family Records Singles Club - Vol. 6

I've had the special pleasure of being the featured artist on the sixth installment of the Family Records Singles Club (a series of digital singles, each single by a different artist). I recorded a very special version of my song "Copenhagen Heart" at Rola Pola Studios in South Brooklyn... and it turned out absolutely lovely! Follow this link to listen.

FR-052 / The Family Records Singles Club - Vol. 6 / Annie Crane - Copenhagen Heart

Credits:
Song & Lyrics by Annie Crane

Vocals and guitar by Annie Crane

Cello by Emily Hope Price

Pedal Steel Guitar by Ross Clark

Violins by Andy Baldwin

Recorded, mixed & mastered by Andy Baldwin at Rola Pola Studios, www.rolapola.com

Produced by Annie Crane & Andy Baldwin

“Copenhagen Heart” is a true story of Crane’s first European tour - a trip unexpectedly extended due to the volcanic ash from Iceland which closed down all air travel in Europe for nearly a week. Stuck in Paris with time to kill (which would usually have been a dream) Crane longed to return to the US where a month or so later she was due to be married. "Copenhagen Heart" is a beautiful song that captures the unique longing for home.

The cover art was designed by Jose and Edwin of ILoveMisery. 

Photo by Ana Cabaleiro.

www.thefamilyrecords.com

A little write up on my show in Richmond, VA last Tuesday. Thanks Richmond Playlist!
The crowd started to thin out by the end of the evening, which usually happens. Shame for them, because they missed the highlight of the evening. Annie Crane came down from New York to play her rustic folk and Americana songs that invoke the sounds of Gillian Welch and Joni Mitchell. Even though she was battling a cold, Annie’s voice was astounding as she sang songs about love and fear and other things. The entire place got deathly silent as she sang a traditional Irish song a capella, the kind she said her mother sang to her as a child. She was by far my favorite of the night and will be eager to check out her new album “Jump With A Child’s Heart,” coming out in October. Link directly to article on the RVA website here.


And a very kind, early review on my new album due for release on Oct 4th. Thanks SSG Music!

Annie Crane is one of New York City’s promising folk acts.Crane’s lyrics are wonderfully poetic in all of her songs, and she holds true to her “Folk/Americana” label writing actual folk songs and even shared the stage with the legendaryEmmylou Harris. “Jump With A Child’s Heart” is a time capsule left from traditional folk to re-acquaint itself with the once prominent NYC folk scene. Between the sincerity of Crane’s lyrical content and her ability to write the sort of tunes to back them, Annie Crane is an artist to follow through the farmlands and the cities (the title of her previous album, which is also well worth a listen.) Download the title track off of Jump With A Child’s Heart due out on Constant Clip Records October 4th. Link directly to the article on the SSG website here.