Ana Egge
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Ana Egge, born in 1976 in Estevan, Saskatchewan and raised in Ambrose, North Dakota, is an American folk singer/songwriter. About her debut album, "River Under the Road" the Austin Chronicle observed that is was “A debut masterpiece worthy of a songwriter decades worldlier than this mere twenty-year-old soul.”
Egge grew up the daughter of a teacher and a wheat farmer in Ambrose, North Dakota, population twenty-three. When drought killed the farming up North, the Egge family put down roots in Silver City, New Mexico.[citation needed]
When Ana Egge was 15 years old, she began a one-year apprenticeship with luthier, Don Musser, in order to build her own guitar which she still plays exclusively.
Egge is currently writing songs for her sixth album and touring the US and the UK. She sings, plays guitar, mandolin, bottleneck slide guitar and piano during her live performances.
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[edit] Career
The early songs she wrote were soon noted by bassist Sarah Brown (Albert Collins, Bonnie Raitt) and guitar virtuoso Steve James, who persuaded her to record a demo of her original songs in Austin, Texas. That led to a record contract with Lazy S.O.B. Recordings and the release of her first full-length album, "River Under The Road." Featuring the title track co-written by Egge, Sarah Brown and Jimmie Dale Gilmore. The following year, the Austin Music Awards named Egge, then nineteen, their “Best Singer/Songwriter” and “Best Folk Artist”.
Next Egge was invited on tour by several luminaries, including Jimmie Dale Gilmore, Iris Dement, Shawn Colvin and Ron Sexsmith. On her solo tour in 1999, she recorded her first live album "Mile Marker" which highlights her guitar talents. She later shared the stage with John Prine, Lucinda Williams, and Sinéad O'Connor. After a few years of constant touring, Egge retreated back to Silver City, New Mexico where she began building her own desert house and spending time with family. In 2002, after writing some of the songs for her next record, Ana resettled in Brooklyn, New York.
Brooklyn was where Ana met bassist Jason Mercer (Ani DiFranco, Ron Sexsmith). They began recording demos of Egge's new songs. Singer/songwriter Ron Sexsmith, guitarist Tony Scherr and trumpeter Shane Endsley joined their efforts and the result was "Out Past the Lights" which received critical acclaim.See Billboard magazine. *[1] “Listen to the lyrics,” Lucinda Williams urged an audience one night after the album was out, “She’s a folk Nina Simone.”
Egge’s most recent endeavor, "Lazy Days" was released on November 13, 2007). It is a covers album made up of songs on the theme of laziness.[1] On "Lazy Days", she covers The Kinks’ “Sitting In The Midday Sun”, Arcade Fire’s “In the Backseat”, The Zombies’ “I Could Spend a Day”, ; and Belle and Sebastian’s “Summer Wastin’” among many others.
In July 2007 she won The Mountain Stage New Song Regional Competition in New York City.*[2]
[edit] Artists Who Have Covered Her Songs
Her songs have been recorded by Slaid Cleaves (Rounder Records) and Laurie Lewis (Hightone) and licensed to MTV.
[edit] Discography
- River Under the Road (1997) 'Featuring 'Asleep At The Wheel as her back up band
- Mile Marker (1999) 'Live Solo, released the year she won Best Folk and Best Singer-Songwriter at the Austin Music Awards'
- 101 Sundays (2000) 'Recorded in London, Produced by Martin Terefe and Claus Bjorkland'
- Out Past the Lights (2004) 'Featuring harmonies from Ron Sexsmith'
- Lazy Days (2007) Covers album featuring Jason Mercer, Anton Fier, Tony Scherr
[edit] References
- USA Today Review of LAZY DAYS[3]
- Philadelphia Inquirer Review of LAZY DAYS [4]
- Austin Chronicle Review of LAZY DAYS [5]
- Singer Songwriter Ana Egge Finds Lost Songs Reborn On LAZY DAYS [6]
- Billboard Review of OUT PAST THE LIGHTS[7]
- Review of RIVER UNDER THE ROAD - Lazy SOB, Austin Chronicle[8]
- Lilith Fair review of Ana Egge[9]
