Posts Tagged ‘The Good Graces’

NewSong Artist Roundup: Blair Bodine, Kim Ware & more

Tuesday, June 25th, 2019

There are so many talented artists who are part of the NewSong family — it can sometimes be difficult to keep up! That’s why each week, we compile a list of new releases, shows, and videos from past NewSong artists who we think deserve your attention. 

Thinking about submitting to this year’s NewSong Music Singer Songwriter Competition? Submit your music here

Kim Ware — “His Name Was the Color That I Loved”

We are loving 2019 LEAF finalist Kim Ware’s new single “His Name Was the Color That I Loved” from her forthcoming album Prose and Consciousness. We got to know Kim and her band, The Good Graces, when she was a finalist in our LEAF Singer Songwriter Competition this spring.

In fact, the new single was one of the songs she played onstage in the Barn at LEAF. Kim’s emotional, heart-on-her-sleeve songwriting leaves a mark, and we are eagerly anticipating the October 2019 release of the full album. 

Blair Bodine — World Cafe Live June 25

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Blair Bodine performs at the NewSong Competition showcase at Lincoln Center in 2015.

 

Blair Bodine, a NewSong finalist in 2015, will perform on the World Cafe Live this Tuesday, June 25 at 8PM. In addition to being a NewSong finalist, Blair was the winner of American Songwriter Magazine Grand Prize for lyric writing, earning her the description of “a songbird with heart.” Learn more about the event here

 

Suzie Brown — “Under the Surface” 

Parade Magazine was the latest to recognize 2018 NewSong finalist Suzie Brown’s talent when the magazine premiered her new single, “Under the Surface.”

Via Parade: “Brown shares, ‘It’s so easy to get sucked into the illusion everyone else’s life is picture perfect, especially now in the age of social media. How many times has each of us looked at someone else and wondered why our own life doesn’t measure up, only to realize later that that person was secretly falling apart? This song is a reminder that you really never know what’s going on just under the surface.'”

NewSong Recordings Spotlight: Kelly English // City Limits

 

We are excited to feature Kelly English and her debut album, City Limits, on the blog this week. Kelly recorded the album with NewSong Recordings in 2017, and she has been back in the studio recently to record her next project, coming soon.

City Limits represents the passage from being a young songwriter, to finally finding my own original sound and sharing it with people,” says Kelly. “That album gave me confidence, as well as a renewed hunger to keep writing music.” Read our full interview with Kelly here.

Submissions now open for NewSong Music Competition 

We are proud of our ever-growing NewSong community and the support, camaraderie and networking that goes on among finalists stretching back through the competition’s 18 years.

Will this be the year you will submit your original music? Visit our submissions page here

 

Meet LEAF finalist, The Good Graces

Sunday, May 5th, 2019

Our 6th annual LEAF Festival Singer-Songwriter Competition is this weekend, Saturday, May 11! All this week we are introducing readers to our eight, talented finalists. Today we are proud to highlight Atlanta-based The Good Graces, aka Kim Ware.

Drummer-turned-songwriter Kim Ware started the Good Graces on a whim in 2006, after purchasing a beat up, old acoustic guitar she named Buzzy at the Lakewood Antiques Market in Atlanta. The songs quickly poured out of her, melodic stories of heartache and hope, set to three chords that she often didn’t know the name of. Since then, Kim and tGG have toured the east coast multiple times, paid musical visits to Texas, over to California, and performed at such festivals as 30A, NXNE, and now, the esteemed LEAF Festival.

In 2015, Kim’s song “Cold in California” caught the attention of the Indigo Girls, who invited tGG to support some midwest and southeast shows during their summer tour. Shortly thereafter, Kim and friends began work on their 4th full-length, Set Your Sights. Released in conjunction with the Chapel Hill/Durham, NC-based boutique label PotLuck Foundation, Set Your Sights places Kim’s heart-on-her-sleeve songwriting and earnest lyrical delivery at the forefront of an atmospheric indie-folk expedition, led by producer / guitarist Jonny Daly and supported by a long list of players from around the southeast. Kim recently wrapped up work on a follow-up LP, Prose and Consciousness, to be released in October 2019.    

We asked Kim some questions to learn more about her artistic process and vision. See The Good Graces and the rest of our 7 fellow LEAF finalists perform at NewSong’s LEAF Singer-Songwriter Competition this Saturday May 11. 

 

 

What is your songwriting process like, and where do you find inspiration?

More than anything, it’s never forced. I really am lucky, in that I love to create, and I’m almost always inspired. It can be anything, but for me, it’s usually in the everyday. Making coffee. Arguing with my husband. Making up. And often, my pets. I rarely sit down with the intention of “now I’m gonna write a song about x.” Instead, I’ll have little moments. In the car, in the shower… A melody and/or lyric will come to mind. That’s usually how it starts, and I just try to capture and build on it as quickly as I can, before it gets away.

 

What important news about your music do you have coming up?

LEAF! And I’m releasing my 5th full-length in October, it’s called “Prose and Consciousness,” and it doesn’t have a single breakup song on it! Pretty proud of that.

 

What does it mean to you to be selected as a NewSong finalist, and what do you hope to get out of the experience?

As much as I want to think I don’t need validation, I think we all do. At the very least, it feels good for my songs to be recognized in this way. The other songwriters are so talented! I’m looking forward to meeting them, and I hope my music connects with a new batch of folks who may not have been exposed to it otherwise.

 

With a mission to identify and celebrate exceptional performers and songwriters from across North America, the competition aims to bring some of the continent’s most accomplished emerging artists to showcase, network and compete at the 48th LEAF Festival, which takes place May 9-12, 2019. Festival headliners include India Arie, Shovels and Rope and the War and Treaty.