LOS ANGELES (Top40 Charts/ Beth Waters Official Website) - Modern-folk songstress, Beth Waters hits the ground running in 2007 with the release of her third full-length album, This
Little Piggy, iTunes includes her in its "Best Albums of the Year" for 2006 in the Singer-Songwriter category and LA's taste-maker station KCRW gives her a spin.
Already hailed by critics, This Little Piggy is chock full of lullaby-esque original songs peppered with universally themed grown-up lyrics, plus a revved-down cover of Paul Simon's 1977 hit, "Slip Slidin' Away." Produced by Michael Winger (Jump Little Children, Tim Bluhm), the album came out nationally on January 16, 2007 through Mermaid Mafia Records. Waters celebrated with a packed record release party at The Make-Out Room in San Francisco, California on Saturday, January 13th.
Previously featured on ABC's daytime drama "One Life to Live," Lifetime Television's "Recipe for a Perfect Christmas," and the WB Network's "One Tree Hill," Beth Waters' poetic lyrics lead the listener through a musical journey of human frailty, longing, disappointment and the vulnerability of love.
This Little Piggy, popularly featured on iTunes in September 2006, brims with rich modern folk-style emotion and classic songwriting. Waters' sentimental wonderment and playful vulnerability continues to result in wide audience-appeal, as demonstrated in her award winning self-titled sophomore album, Beth Waters, named 'Best Female Singer/Songwriter CD of 2003' by the Indie Acoustic Project. Also, the hit single "Sweaters" from that release was named 'Song of the Year' by the DIY Convention in Los Angeles.
This Little Piggy includes musical performances by Todd Sickafoose (Ani DiFranco), Stephen Prutsman (Kronos Quartet), Eamon Flynn (Spearhead, Koko Taylor) and Kevin White (Chuck Prophet, Shelby Lynne). Five tracks on the album including the first single "White Dogs in the Moonlight" are mixed by Grammy Award Winning music engineer Joe Chiccarelli (Frank Zappa, U2, Tori Amos).
Waters is also preparing for the birth of her first child in the New Year. Reflecting on the process of creation, in all aspects of her life, she states, "As an independent recording artist and performer, I've been a mother to my music. I've nurtured, cared for and spent all of my energy raising my art. Now I'm releasing an album and having a baby. I guess you can have it all."
Waters' complex perspective on life, simple and truthful messages, relatable characters and intimate narrative shine throughout the album. A few highlights include:
No 1 – "White Dogs in the Moonlight" thoughtfully speaks of woman's struggle with self-realization in a troubled relationship.
No 2 – "Lifeguard" rolls along in a ballad-like soulful melody hung on Waters' soaring vocals (reminiscent of Sarah McLaughlin's "Building a Mystery").
No 6 – "Dark Road To Hell" is dangerously slow-and-sexy, thick with jazz resonating in the shadow of moody lyrics.
No 7 – The album's title track "This Little Piggy" is an unsettling tale about a young girl longing to escape an abusive home. Waters' hopeful message, which comes through on the whole album, is particularly strong in this track, as exemplified in the lyrics, "I've got a little suitcase full of my dreams. I'm gonna think hard of the person I could be."
No 10 – "Afraid of Love" plays with layers of island beats set against the struggle to relinquish ones self to love (think Blondie's "Tide is High").
"Listen to a song or two from This Little Piggy and you'll... get swept up in Waters' warm sonic blanket of reverberated guitars, subdued vocals and smudgy electric accents." Jonathan Zwickel, Rhapsody.
Beth Waters has also begun work on a fourth album – a collection of original lullabies due in late 2007.
