Earwave Records is proud to announce the release of Lorianna Matera’s
debut CD, “Nobody’s Angel”, signaling the arrival of a unique new
talent on the acoustic music scene. Lorianna’s angelic voice defies
description, and her music is a pure and honest blend of bluegrass and
traditional country. Produced by Nashville bassist Dave Pomeroy, it
features a stellar supporting cast of players and singers, including
Sam Bush, Tim O’Brien, Larry Cordle, Ronnie and Rob McCoury, Jon
Randall, Terry Eldredge, and The Whites. Lorianna puts her
distinctive"acoustic country" stamp on a sweet set of top shelf songs
by writers such as Loretta Lynn, Bruce Springsteen, Peter Rowan, Carl
Jackson, and Gretchen Peters. Lorianna is an artist with something to
say - we hope you will listen.NEWS FLASH - MAY 5, 2007 Earwave’s Lorianna Matera makes a splash across the pond!
Lorianna Matera’s debut CD on Earwave Records, ”Nobody’s Angel”, is finding a rapturous reception in the United KIngdom. The CD has been getting airpaly on various BBC affiliates and has just received two great reviews in Britain’s biggest country music magazines, Country Music People and Maverick. Here they are....
From the April 2007 Country Music People....
“Lorianna Matera is a singer who combines her love of country music with bluegrass. The instrumentation here is acoustic but Lorianna’s slightly Dolly Parton-esque vocals are pure mountain country, with a vibrato to die for. The steel guitar lines dropped into the tracks keep the album country enough for traditional fans and this is reinforced by the song choices. Lorianna and her producer, Dave Pomeroy, have excellent taste, and Lorianna’s vocals are so distinctive and the playing so sympathetic that the songs sound fresh and new.
Highlights are Larry Cordle and Leslie Satcher’s Nobody’s Angel, with its opening nick-nick fiddle, steel solo and sweet harmonies from Andrea Zonn and writer Cordle himself, the old Crystal Gale hit, We Should Be Together, sounding right at home in this acoustic setting and a terrific cut of Loretta Lynn’s God Gave Me A Heart To Forgive, with Russ Pahl’s fabulous steel work sweeping warmly through the track. Another song that really hits home is Pete Wernick’s essay on loneliness, Just Like You.
There are three songs from Matera, two with producer Pomeroy, the most interesting of which is the traditional country cheating song, Wandering Heart, while You Can Never Run Out Of Love and I Looked, I Saw, I Loved lean more toward bluegrass. The album ends with a sparse and intense take on Bruce Springsteen’s desolate You’re Missing.
Vocally, Lorianna Matera is charming, and Nobody’s Angel is a fine collection, beautifully sung and played, and it is an album I know I will return to often.” Julie Flaskett
From the May 2007 Maverick magazine....
“Lorianna Matera is another talented female vocalist to emerge on the acoustic country/bluegrass scene Although this is transplanted New Jersey-born Lorianna Matera’s debut release as a solo artist, she’s done plenty of studio and live work with the likes of Dottie West, Joy Lynn White, Keith Perry and others since her arrival in Nashville some fifteen years ago. This Dave Pomeroy set introduces a voice that is well suited to the kind of folk-leaning acoustic country and bluegrass songs that are presented here. The vocals are mellow and understated, and she has a tendency to bend her voice around the notes, which makes for quite a distinctive style of delivery. She has collected songs from such diverse writers as Gretchen Peters, Loretta Lynn, Leslie Satcher, Matraca Berg, Peter Rowan, Allen Reynolds, Hal Ketchum, Tim O’Brien and Bruce Springsteen, and also includes a trio of her own songs, two co-written with Pomeroy.
Overall NOBODY’S ANGEL is a melancholy lovesick disc filled with bittersweet tunes and a soulful voice. Springsteen’s You’re Missing, a waltzy ballad, is a song that talks about the pain of losing someone close to you. There’s superb Dobro from Rob Ickes, sensitive mandolin by Andy Leftwich and harmony vocal by Andrea Zonn. The straight country of the Leslie Satcher and Larry Cordle penned title tune reminds me of some of the finer points of Kitty Wells and the harmonies of the Cox Family. Wandering Heart could have been written by either the Louvin Brothers or Bill Anderson—take your pick. The stand up bass sound, the mandolin and the high harmonies of Jon Randall certainly echo the
Louvins, but the steel guitar and fiddle interplay takes on more of the sound of the ballads of Anderson.
Other top class musicians to be heard throughout this superb album include Rob McCoury, Stuart Duncan, Sam Bush, Kenny Malone, Russ Pahl, Tim O’Brien, Glen Duncan, Pat McGrath plus vocal support from Carl Jackson, the Whites, Terry Eldridge and Jeff White. But central to the success of this album is the voice of Lorianna Matera, a talent that deserves to be discovered by the masses.” Alan Cackett
www.earwavemusic.com
Lorianna Matera’s debut CD on Earwave Records, ”Nobody’s Angel”, is finding a rapturous reception in the United KIngdom. The CD has been getting airpaly on various BBC affiliates and has just received two great reviews in Britain’s biggest country music magazines, Country Music People and Maverick. Here they are....
From the April 2007 Country Music People....
“Lorianna Matera is a singer who combines her love of country music with bluegrass. The instrumentation here is acoustic but Lorianna’s slightly Dolly Parton-esque vocals are pure mountain country, with a vibrato to die for. The steel guitar lines dropped into the tracks keep the album country enough for traditional fans and this is reinforced by the song choices. Lorianna and her producer, Dave Pomeroy, have excellent taste, and Lorianna’s vocals are so distinctive and the playing so sympathetic that the songs sound fresh and new.
Highlights are Larry Cordle and Leslie Satcher’s Nobody’s Angel, with its opening nick-nick fiddle, steel solo and sweet harmonies from Andrea Zonn and writer Cordle himself, the old Crystal Gale hit, We Should Be Together, sounding right at home in this acoustic setting and a terrific cut of Loretta Lynn’s God Gave Me A Heart To Forgive, with Russ Pahl’s fabulous steel work sweeping warmly through the track. Another song that really hits home is Pete Wernick’s essay on loneliness, Just Like You.
There are three songs from Matera, two with producer Pomeroy, the most interesting of which is the traditional country cheating song, Wandering Heart, while You Can Never Run Out Of Love and I Looked, I Saw, I Loved lean more toward bluegrass. The album ends with a sparse and intense take on Bruce Springsteen’s desolate You’re Missing.
Vocally, Lorianna Matera is charming, and Nobody’s Angel is a fine collection, beautifully sung and played, and it is an album I know I will return to often.” Julie Flaskett
From the May 2007 Maverick magazine....
“Lorianna Matera is another talented female vocalist to emerge on the acoustic country/bluegrass scene Although this is transplanted New Jersey-born Lorianna Matera’s debut release as a solo artist, she’s done plenty of studio and live work with the likes of Dottie West, Joy Lynn White, Keith Perry and others since her arrival in Nashville some fifteen years ago. This Dave Pomeroy set introduces a voice that is well suited to the kind of folk-leaning acoustic country and bluegrass songs that are presented here. The vocals are mellow and understated, and she has a tendency to bend her voice around the notes, which makes for quite a distinctive style of delivery. She has collected songs from such diverse writers as Gretchen Peters, Loretta Lynn, Leslie Satcher, Matraca Berg, Peter Rowan, Allen Reynolds, Hal Ketchum, Tim O’Brien and Bruce Springsteen, and also includes a trio of her own songs, two co-written with Pomeroy.
Overall NOBODY’S ANGEL is a melancholy lovesick disc filled with bittersweet tunes and a soulful voice. Springsteen’s You’re Missing, a waltzy ballad, is a song that talks about the pain of losing someone close to you. There’s superb Dobro from Rob Ickes, sensitive mandolin by Andy Leftwich and harmony vocal by Andrea Zonn. The straight country of the Leslie Satcher and Larry Cordle penned title tune reminds me of some of the finer points of Kitty Wells and the harmonies of the Cox Family. Wandering Heart could have been written by either the Louvin Brothers or Bill Anderson—take your pick. The stand up bass sound, the mandolin and the high harmonies of Jon Randall certainly echo the
Louvins, but the steel guitar and fiddle interplay takes on more of the sound of the ballads of Anderson.
Other top class musicians to be heard throughout this superb album include Rob McCoury, Stuart Duncan, Sam Bush, Kenny Malone, Russ Pahl, Tim O’Brien, Glen Duncan, Pat McGrath plus vocal support from Carl Jackson, the Whites, Terry Eldridge and Jeff White. But central to the success of this album is the voice of Lorianna Matera, a talent that deserves to be discovered by the masses.” Alan Cackett
www.earwavemusic.com