Ana Egge

Ana G. Egge (born September 20 in Estevan, Saskatchewan, Canada)^[1] is an American folk singer/songwriter. She sings, plays guitar, mandolin, bottleneck slide guitar and piano during her live performances.

Egge grew up the daughter of a teacher and a wheat farmer in Ambrose, North Dakota, and later moved to Silver City, New Mexico. She spent some of her childhood traveling back and forth from North Dakota to a hot springs commune in New Mexico.

When 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.

She currently lives in Brooklyn, New York.

Career

The early songs she wrote were soon noted by bassist Sarah Brown (Albert Collins, Bonnie Raitt) and guitarist Steve James, who persuaded her to record a demo of her original songs in Austin, Texas. The demo led to a record contract with Lazy S.O.B. Recordings and the release of her first full-length album, "River Under The Road". The title track was 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. She recorded her first live album "Mile Marker" on her solo tour in 1999. She later shared the stage with John Prine, Lucinda Williams, and Sinéad O'Connor. After a few years of constant touring, Egge returned 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, Egge resettled in Brooklyn, New York.

In Brooklyn she met bassist Jason Mercer (Ani DiFranco, Ron Sexsmith) and 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.^[2] "Listen to the lyrics," Lucinda Williams urged an audience one night after the album was out. "She’s a folk Nina Simone."

Egge’s Lazy Days was released on November 13, 2007. It is an album made up of cover songs on the theme of laziness.^[3] Songs include 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 others.

In July 2007 she won The Mountain Stage New Song Regional Competition in New York City.^[4]

Egge released her sixth record, Road to My Love, in February 2009. The record was co-produced by her longtime collaborator Jason Mercer and includes guest musicians Steve Moore, Michael Jerome, Frazey Ford and Trish Klein of The Be Good Tanyas, Adam Levy and Tony Scherr.

She also appears as a guest musician on Joel Plaskett's 2009 album Three and has performed as a backup singer/musician and as a solo artist on his Canadian tour.

Egge released her seventh record, Bad Blood, on August 23, 2011. The record was produced by Steve Earle and recorded at Levon Helm's studio in Woodstock, New York and is being released by Danny Goldberg's Ammal Records.^[5]

Discography

• River Under the Road (1997)
• Mile Marker (1999)
• 101 Sundays (2000)
• Out Past the Lights (2004)
• Lazy Days (2007)
• Road to My Love (2009)
• Bad Blood (2011)

Compilations

• Forever Dusty - A Tribute to Dusty Springfield (1998): "Breakfast in Bed"
• 38 Songs Of Hope - Parkingsong (2004): "Wedding Dress"'
• My Old Man: A Tribute to Steve Goodman (2006): "Old Fashioned Girl"'

Guest appearances

• Roberto Moreno, One Possible Explanation (1998)
• Ron Sexsmith, Blue Boy (2001)
• Tandy, To a Friend (2006)
• Nels Andrews, Off Track Betting (2007)
• Rose Polenzani, When the River Meets the Sea (2008)
• Joel Plaskett, Three (2009)
• Good Luck Mountain, Good Luck Mountain (2011)

References

External links

• Ana Egge
• Ana Egge on Myspace
• Discography of Ana Egge at AllMusic