Out Today: Too Sad For The Public’s Sublime + Idiosyncratic Folk Adventures

Listen Vol 2. Yet and Still (StorySound Records) HERE 

Too Sad For The Public + Ana Egge Perform Live At Jalopy in Brooklyn On Saturday, July 29 // More Info HERE

Today, Too Sad For The Public release Vol. 2 - Yet and Still. Featuring performances from Rob Moose (Paul Simon, Phoebe Bridgers, yMusic), Chaim Tannenbaum (Loudon Wainwright III), and acclaimed folk singer Ana Egge, the project — helmed by StorySound Records (Loudon Wainwright, Gabriel Kahane, Margaret Glasby) founder Dick Connette — creates imaginative permutations on the idiosyncratic processes of American folk musics.

On Yet and Still, Connette reinterprets an array of commercial and field recordings and draws out altogether new shapes. The project takes 6 bars from an old Uncle Bunt Stephens solo fiddle 78, and expands it in 3 directions - a bluegrass fantasy, a string quintet, and a marching band blowout ["Uncle Bunting (pts1-3)"]; jazzily shifts the harmonic structures of Elizabeth Cotten’s “Shake Sugaree” to lend it a more ominous shadowing; and cannily casts traditional New Orleans music both in a more minimalist rhythmic rendering and all-out street band mayhem (respectively, “Hey Now (pt2)” and Hey Now (pt1)”).

The track “Old Forty” features lead vocals from Ana Egge, who poignantly portrays the sorrow that comes from the urge both for loving and leaving. A sparse, harmonic-laden guitar line is undergirded by slow-moving long low unison lines of synthesizers, bowed bass, and trombone — a deep sub-current that hints at oblivion.

Watch the video for “Old Forty” here.

"Railroad Bill (pt2)” gives a modern and hypnotic spin on a train robber ballad. Its galloping rhythm and harmonica choirs bring to mind a rustic, folklorically-minded version of NEU! — more naturalistic and rough-hewn but equally entrancing.

Watch the video for “Railroad Bill (pt2),” directed by LA-based collage artist Lewis Klahr, HERE.

On Saturday, July 29, Egge will join Connette and Too Sad For The Public for a special live performance of selections from Vol. 2 - Yet and Still.

WHAT: Too Sad For The Public

WHERE: Jalopy Theatre — 315 Columbia St, Brooklyn, NY 11231

WHEN: 6:00PM ET to 8:00PM ET

MORE INFO:  https://www.viewcy.com/e/yet_and_still__dick

The new project is the culmination of an artistic crossroads that, 40 years ago, saw Connette choosing the openness and elasticity of American folk music over the insularity of NYC’s downtown avant garde scene. From there, Connette threw himself into American folk music, compiling his own musical Rosetta’s Stone: He calls it the Greatest Hits of Folk Music, and it comprises 35 cassettes, 15 CDs, and 7 mp3 playlists of both commercial and field recordings that connected with something deep within him.

This compilation played roles in all sorts of projects Connette undertook: Geoff Muldaur’s Bix Beiderbecke tribute Private Astronomy, Loudon Wainwright III’s GRAMMY-winning Charlie Poole project High Wide & Handsome, and his own output with singer Sonya Cohen in the group Last Forever. When Sonya died in 2015, Connette carried on with Too Sad for the Public.

Listen to Vol 2. Yet and Still here.

Vol. 2 - Yet and Still Tracklist:

1. Uncle Bunting (pt1)

Rob Moose - mandolin, violin, banjo, guitar, bass

2. Shake Sugaree

Ana Egge - vocal, guitar

Dick Connette - piano

Lorenzo Wolff - bass

Ethan Eubanks - drums

3. Hey Now (pt1)

Steven Bernstein - trumpet, vocal

Frank Greene - trumpet, vocal

Curtis Fowlkes - trombone, vocal

Jeffery Miller - trombone, vocal

Michael Blake - tenor saxophone, vocal

Erik Lawrence - baritone saxophone, vocal

Marcus Rojas - tuba, vocal

Billy Martin - drums/percussion, vocal

4. G. Burns in the Bottom (pt1)

Ana Egge - lead vocal, guitar

Lucy Wainwright Roche - backing vocal

Suzzy Roche - backing vocal

Dick Connette - harmonium

Dan Levine - euphonium

Lorenzo Wolff - baritone guitar, bass

Bill Ruyle - footsteps, cymbal pair, bass drum

5. Uncle Bunting (pt2)

Chaim Tannenbaum - lead vocal, harmonica

Ana Egge - backing vocal

Rayna Gellert - backing vocal, violin, viola

6. Old Forty

Ana Egge  - vocal, guitar

Dan Levine - trombone

Dick Connette - synth

Lorenzo Wolff - synth, bass

7. Railroad Bill (pt1)

Ana Egge - vocal, guitar

Dick Connette - piano, maracas

Lorenzo Wolff - baritone guitar, bass

Ethan Eubanks - shakers, drums

8. Uncle Bunting (pt3)

Steve Elson - piccolo, baritone sax, tenor sax

Curtis Fowlkes - trombone

Marcus Rojas - euphonium, tuba

Ethan Eubanks - orchestral bells, drums

9. Hey Now (pt2)

Ana Egge - lead vocal

Lucy Wainwright Roche - backing vocal

Suzzy Roche - backing vocal

Lorenzo Wolff - bass

Kory Grossman - percussion

Jeff Kraus - percussion

Paul Pizzuti - percussion

Ethan Eubanks - tambourine, drums

10. Railroad Bill (pt2)

Chaim Tannenbaum - vocal, harmonica

Ana Egge - rhythm guitar

Lorenzo Wolff - lead guitar, rhythm guitar, synth, bass

Dick Connette - cymbal crunch, synth

Ethan Eubanks - shakers

Bill Ruyle - bass drum rim clicks

11. Train Your Child

Rayna Gellert - vocal, violin

Kieran Kane - guitar

12. G. Burns in the Bottom (pt2)

Jacob Garchik - trombone, euphonium

Clark Gayton - trombone, euphonium

Dan Levine - trombone, euphonium

Marcus Rojas - tuba, euphonium

Jerome Jennings - tambourine, drums