biography
ELISABETH CUTLER
Music at its best comes from songs that mix beautiful melodies,
unique lyrics and rare insight. Songs at their best come from
a singer/songwriter who can bring it all together with wit, insight
and undeniable power. As international audiences are now discovering,
the songs of Elisabeth Cutler deliver music at its best.
As a dynamic solo performer or bandleader,
Elisabeth Cutler commands the stage with a rare combination
of fire, intimacy
and – most of all – honesty. Over the course of four
acclaimed independent albums and countless national tours, Elisabeth’s
original mix of funky folk and guitar-driven pop/rock has captured
devoted audiences from New York ‘s legendary The Bitter
End and CBGB’s Gallery, to a stint playing guitar with
Charles Neville of the Neville Brothers at The New Orleans Jazz & Heritage
Festival, to music events like Texas’ Kerrville Festival
where she was named a New Folk Finalist. After recent tours of
Italy, England, Switzerland and the Netherlands, Elisabeth’s
European fanbase is exploding.
“More than ever, I’m enjoying all the positive aspects
of being an independent artist,” Elisabeth says. “I
love having the freedom to write record and tour. And that freedom
allows me to make music that still surprises me.” That
surprise is clear to hear: On stage, on record and with her remarkable
latest album, “Hurricane of Change”, released by
Netherlands-based label Inbetweens Records, Elisabeth Cutler
is one of the most uniquely gifted independent artists in music
today. And it doesn’t get any better than that.
b.i.o.g.r.a.p.h.y — long form
Change can happen so slowly that it is unperceivable, often not understood or even embraced while it is happening. It is only afterwards that we can reflect back in order to understand and learn from the experience, like finding the courage and strength to sort through the aftermath of a mighty storm. For singer/songwriter Elisabeth Cutler, this process has forged a remarkable new chapter in her evolution as an artist, a power and freedom that can be felt in her extraordinary new album, HURRICANE OF CHANGE.
The past two years have been a time of tragedy and turmoil for the acclaimed singer/songwriter, much of which has led to her extremely intense introspection and some very surprising choices. "The past couple of years have been a hurricane of strange, wonderful, dark and heavenly moments that became the wellspring of these songs," she says. And while her three previous albums are filled with such moments, the songs on this new collection represent a new feel that has changed this artist's vision like never before.
By now, both 'feel' and change have almost become a Cutler trademark. A native of Boston, she studied at the Berklee College of Music, but soon surrendered to what she jokingly describes as 'a hands-on approach to life.' Her travels have taken her from restoration work in Idaho, to activist work throughout the Pacific Northwest to a residency in the artist community of Santa Fe to a stint playing guitar with Charles Neville of The Neville Brothers at the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival. The entire time, Cutler's music found its classical roots enlightened by rock, folk, R&B and jazz.
Settling in Nashville, Cutler became part of that city's burgeoning singer/songwriter scene and began writing and recording the haunting songs that would comprise her 1993 self-titled debut album. Over the next 5 years, Cutler recorded and released the albums BURY THE GHOST (1996) and TOWER OF SILENCE (1999), two widely regarded collections that further showcased the intelligent elegance and killer pop insights of her music. And while all three records would become among the most acclaimed independent releases of the decade, the albums' fervent yet humble successes also led to some frustrating realizations.
"I was doing everything people in the music business told me I should do," Elisabeth remembers. "I wanted to prove to others that if I worked hard enough, I could get what I want. I was making original music, performing and touring regularly, and getting great press reviews and radio play. I was doing everything right and eventually realized that it wasn't me having a difficult time making it all work; it was the nature of a fickle and difficult business. Realizing that I could not control the way the business operates, I decided my response to the business needed to change."
These realizations would lead to some hard questions and rough truths for any artist. But for Elisabeth, the turbulent times had only just begun. "During the writing process of TOWER OF SILENCE, my brother died of cancer," she says. "It was difficult for all of us who loved him to understand or make sense of his death." Around the same time, Elisabeth ended a long-term relationship that carried deep professional and emotional repercussions. "My small world," she says with typical understatement, "began to collide some very larger-than-life questions."
"I had finished recording TOWER," she remembers, "but continued to write songs at a feverish pace. And although I didn't know or care at the time, these would be the first songs for HURRICANE OF CHANGE. Songs like "Sanctuary," "Nothing More," "Break Easy" and "The Truth Comes Out" were all born in the dark of lonely nights when there was no one to talk to. The chords and melodies became my medicine and refuge for my unspoken words. The truth came out, and I had no choice but to follow the music."
In the summer of 2000, Elisabeth followed the music to Europe where her albums had begun to develop a devoted following. "Perhaps if I traveled, I would learn how to let go of people and places I may never see again," she explains. "Perhaps I would find a place that would embrace me and connect me to myself." Over the next 12 months, she extensively toured The Netherlands, Switzerland, Austria, Italy and England as a solo artist and often with a duo or trio, both as a headlining artist and support act to wildly appreciative audiences of old fans and new converts. "Europe answered many of my questions. Audiences greet me with a curiosity and hunger for a deep groove and new sound. Agents and record companies operate with a love for the music, not motivation for profit. I have found fresh, experimental and dedicated musicians who open new windows. I feel a new sense of freedom to explore a new world inside me; to taste, smell, touch, listen and see what is in front of me in the present moment."
Elisabeth returned to America to record her new album for the Netherlands-based label Inbetweens Records. "I had written new songs like "Look Don't Touch," "Fade To Black" and "Slow Dance" during my travels," she says. "I was comfortable with the artist-producer relationship I'd forged with George Marinelli, Jr. (guitarist for Bonnie Raitt and Bruce Hornsby) on TOWER OF SILENCE, so I called him back for this adventure." The 11 tracks on HURRICANE OF CHANGE were recorded in a six-week burst of intuitive creative energy. "The European tours had strengthened my focus and execution," she explains, "and I was able to translate this newly found confidence to the studio. My guitar playing was straight-ahead. The vocals went down with emotional ease, coming from the personal and private places where they were born. I did not have to think about the process, only open the door and let it happen."
What 'happened' during the recording includes powerful new Cutler originals like "Evolution In Revolution," "Fire And Ice," "Buried Alive" and the album's title track, songs that shimmer with spirit, sensuality and the startling emotional truths that can only come from weathering the storms of life. "In this new chapter of my life, I have found music to be the strongest roots I have to my identity," Elisabeth now says. "It is where I feel most comfortable and confident, where I know who I am. I am the stillness in the eye of the hurricane."
For Elisabeth, these past two years have been a hurricane of hard sorrow and soft loneliness, a time of despair, discovery and ultimately, peace. And for Elisabeth Cutler fans all over the world, these emotions have been given melody, lyric and life like never before. This is the power of a remarkably original artist at the height of her creativity. It is a power you can find - and feel - only in a HURRICANE OF CHANGE.
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