MARIANNE KEITH
THE SO CAL BASED SINGER, SONGWRITER, AND RECENT
HOLLYWOOD MUSIC IN MEDIA (HMMA) AWARD NOMINEE HITS THE ROAD IN OCTOBER FOR A SOLO ACOUSTIC TOUR WITH SQUEEZE LEAD SINGER GLENN TILBROOK
The Multi-Talented Performer, Who Has Opened For Joe Bonamassa, Better Than Ezra, Ari Hest and Brett Dennen, Gears Up For the Early 2010 Release of ‘CATHARTIC’ The Highly Anticipated Follow Up To Her 2007 Debut ‘Beautiful Distraction’ On Unison Music Records
Marianne Keith’s fans may have to wait till early 2010 for the release of her new album Cathartic, but they can catch her pouring her heart out—and sharing some of its emotionally compelling songs—long before then as she embarks on a ten city solo acoustic tour October 12 with Glenn Tilbrook, lead singer of the famed UK rock band Squeeze, that hits cities on both coasts.
The Redlands, California born and raised performer (www.mariannekeith.com), who launched her career playing clubs and coffeehouses in Los Angeles, San Bernardino, Riverside and Orange Counties, will join Tilbrook for shows in Seattle, Portland, San Francisco, L.A., Tucson, Austin, Houston, Dallas, New York, New Jersey and Philadelphia.
Capping a busy fall, on November 19, Marianne will find out if “Kiss Me In The Rain,” one of the most popular and infectious tracks from her 2007 critically acclaimed Unison Music Group debut Beautiful Distraction, wins the Hollywood Music in Media Award (HMMA) it was recently nominated for. The HMMA, which takes place at the Highlands Nightclub, located in the Hollywood & Highland/Kodak Theater complex, honors the music of visual mediums, the talented individuals responsible for selecting it, and the music of artists, both mainstream and independent, from around the globe.
Since releasing her first album, the singer—who likes to describe her vibe as “folk/pop/rock”––has shown her wide ranging appeal on tours with established and upcoming artists in a wide range of genres, including blues/rocker Joe Bonamassa, alt-rockers Better Than Ezra, singer/songwriters Ari Hest and Julian Velard and folk/pop artist Brett Dennen.
She also toured with Noah Sugarman, another artist on Unison. The label, which is part of a full scale organization that includes a management and production company, was launched by industry veterans Bruce Witkin and Ryan Dorn, who have produced both of Marianne’s albums. Unison’s eclectic roster also includes British singer/songwriter Stephen Jones, a onetime member of the 90s band Baby Bird whose recordings will be released in the U.K,, and a jazz influenced, New York based singer/songwriter Bobby Syvarth.
While Beautiful Distraction established Marianne’s credentials as a strong, emotionally raw and honest songwriter, Cathartic challenges her generally sunny point of view as she digs deep into the pain and heartache of a life changing, faith shaking relationship. The intense life experience she draws from transforms her from doe-eyed teen into a young adult woman who, emerging from her loss of innocence, truly comes of age as a composer.
“I went from thinking that people are generally good,” she says, “that people have good hearts and come from a good place to realizing that’s not necessarily true. I saw an ugly side of the world. I don’t know if that crisis measures up to some of the ones that others have been through, but I’ll never be quite the same. People think the title song is a metaphor about tearing out and burning a page from my diary, but I actually did that. It was a chapter I really wanted to forget. Heartbreak can affect your whole worldview. Where you might once have been carefree, now there’s this sense of looking over your shoulder. If younger listeners don’t know what the word cathartic means, they will after they listen to that song and the whole album.”
True to her nature as a creative and career risk taker, Marianne defies some unspoken rules of album making with the new project. The album has 15 songs which, instead of being tracked strategically to mix up, down and mid-tempo songs, combine to tell her story in chronological order, cataloging this time in her life. Listeners are invited experience the entire cycle of emotions through her poetic, intelligent, yet accessible lyrics. Another unique element of Cathartic’s development was the fact that the super-prolific songwriter actually wrote close to 100 songs for the project; Witkin and Dorn whittled them down to a final list to choose from by picking the ones whose lyrics would best tell the story.
“It’s hard to pick a single aspect of my career that I love the most,” Marianne says. “I really enjoy the recording process, developing a simple idea I started with in my bedroom into a full production. It’s also so great to be out there performing, so much so that when I’m home for too long, I get restless. It’s cool when people look at me and wonder how I can have such a big voice for such a little girl. I just tell them that this is what I’m made to do, and I’m grateful to have the opportunity to sing for them.”
