Throughout Marianne Faithfull's 40-year career, change has been the only constant. She's collaborated with an impressively diverse and famous assortment of artists — Beck, Rufus Wainwright, Keith Richards, Tom Waits and countless others — and trafficked in genres ranging from folk to jazz to rock to an early form of rap. Click the link above to hear Faithfull perform live in concert from WXPN and World Cafe Live in Philadelphia, with opening act The Felice Brothers.
Faithfull's music speaks of glamour, introspection and pain — all of which have been powerful forces in her own life. After a long battle with drug abuse and two years spent living on the streets, the singer-songwriter returned to recording sporadically. Official comebacks took place roughly once every decade, as listeners took notice of the ragged, tortured talent shining through her work. Allen Ginsberg called her "Professor of Poetics, Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poets."
Faithfull's latest album, Easy Come, Easy Go, is a collection of surprising and moving covers. Her gravelly, moody voice tackles a Morrissey cover, gently colors a Duke Ellington piece and even takes on Dolly Parton. The result mixes old and new classics with a timeless but contemporary air.
The members of The Felice Brothers, a gritty Americana quintet from the Catskills, include three brothers and a former dice player; the group got its start playing in New York City subway stations. Over the past three years, the band has toured with the likes of Levon Helm and Bright Eyes.
Often compared to influences such as Bob Dylan and The Band, the fiddling rock band is about to release a fine new album titled Yonder Is the Clock. With a title drawn from the work of Mark Twain, the album tells tales of love, death, betrayal and even baseball.
Copyright 2009 XPN
