New album by Happy Rhodes! (her first in 9 years)

Cafe Society
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(this might interest someone else, especially those who are very interested in beautiful female vocals and non-mainstream music)

Happy (her real name) just pre-released her new album, called Find Me, and it’s a gorgeous piece of work.

It’s her 11th album and her first since 1998’s Many Worlds Are Born Tonight. Most of the album was actually recorded in 2001 but it’s taken this long to get it mastered correctly and other details worked out, all done in between working day jobs. She’s not signed (by choice) and has no distribution deal, so the album isn’t going to be at local stores, only on CD Baby in a few weeks. I’m helping her with a pre-release sale to fans, but I don’t want to seem mercenary on her behalf so I won’t go into detail. Anyone can message me if they want to know more about it. I will bump this thread when it gets on CD Baby.

For those who do MySpace, here’s a page specifically for the album, with 4 full songs and snippets from the rest.

The songs range from the haunting title track, about a woman lost at sea (not a metaphor, and not inspired by Kate’s The Ninth Wave, though it’s a funny coincidence, considering Happy’s voice); the simple desire to have a wedding of “The Chosen One” which should be subtitled “The Bridesmaid’s Song” (written years before she got married last year); “Charlie” which is directly inspired by Robert Crumb’s brother Charles (seeing the documentary Crumb is pretty much the only way to truly understand the song); “She Won’t Go” and “One And Many” about her inner struggle to either destroy or embrace her past inner demons (a common theme but never boring when Happy sings about it), “Here And Hereafter” which if there were any justice in the world, would be a massive hit because it’s just about the perfect love song (though, it being by Happy Rhodes, contains some very dark undercurrents but that no one would pick up unless they were really paying attention to the lyrics), and others.

Happy’s voice is its usual stunning thing, with highs and lows and multiple harmonies. All the voices on the album are her. Musicians appearing on the album include percussionist Bob Muller, Trey Gunn, the heartrending piano of Rob Schwimmer (on the title track especially), Hansford Rowe and Bon Lozaga of Gongzilla, and orchestral arrangements by Michael Seifert, among others.

I’m so biased it’s not even funny, since I’ve been a fan for 19 years, but I really do think it’s a wonderful album, that many here would enjoy.

Happy’s not crazy about promotion or marketing (which is why she’s still so obscure) so there aren’t likely to be too many other means for those interested to find out about this album. She also doesn’t tour, ever, so I wouldn’t expect to see her out there in support of the album. She’d rather stay home and take care of her very beloved, very old and very sick cat. She might play more one-off shows though. She just performed for the first time in over 2 1/2 years (and hadn’t performed for 2 years before that) in Cambridge, MA. It sold out immediately, and fans came from all over the country, and even Scotland and Germany. She hasn’t announced anything though, so that’s a question mark.

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Ooh! Yes, remind us when it’s released; I’ll definitely buy it.

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I’ll do that, thank you! I know she’s sent the album to CD Baby, but it usually takes a few weeks for them to do what all they need to do (digitize it, for one thing) before they put it up ready to sell. There are things I don’t like about CD Baby, but I am glad they exist.

Had you heard of her before, or just from this thread?

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I’ve been a fan of Happy Rhodes for 11 years now, and I’m really excited about “Find Me”. That title track is just wonderful… I’ve played it over and over again.

For those of you who haven’t heard the music of Happy Rhodes yet, she has a voice that is sometimes reminiscent of Kate Bush (which is what grabbed me initially), and sometimes reminiscent of Annie Lennox. Yes, that’s a wide range of octaves, so when she tracks them together, it’s like a choral symphony, and you just have to hear it to believe it.

She is sometimes sweet as honey, sometimes she dives into darker waters… it’s always a deep meaningful experience no matter what the mood is.

If fame was based on artistic merit alone, she would be as famous as Madonna by now. Seriously.

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Wow, thanks for posting DaveRaver! (I didn’t even have to pay him to say that folks!)

melt I’m biased because Happy is a friend of mine, and I’ve been a fan for so long, so it’s fascinating to hear someone who doesn’t have such a personal stake talk about her, because it’s strictly about the music and her voice.

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I’m a fan, too Equipoise. I’ve almost mentioned her a couple of times here, but you’ve usually beaten me to it. :slight_smile:

The live version of Feed the Fire, on the Live at the World Cafe CD is one of my favorite songs – I absolutely love her voice.

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I found out about her from another thread of yours, maybe a year or so ago.

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Ha, feel free if I miss something. I sometimes think I’ve mentioned her so often that some people just roll their eyes when they see me post about her. I’m very devoted, and I fear sometimes that can be offputting. I hope not, but I never know. I’ve not been Pitted yet for being a broken record about her, which is good!

On preview I see ErinPuff’s post. Thanks, that pleases me very much!

That’s a beautiful song indeed. It can be heard here (that’s an authorized mp3 download). I think it’s the same version anyway. You’d think I’d know for sure, right? I don’t have that Live at the World Cafe CD though (is that the one that sells for hundreds of dollars on ebay?). Maybe you could let me know.

Other song samples can be found here.

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No, it’s lovely, but not the same.

Check your email.

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I heard about her on a recent thread about, well, my thread where you recommended her. I liked her style very much and am looking forward to hearing this new work of her. Do you know if it will be on iTunes? (yeah, I know I am a lazy SOB for doing all my shopping there).

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It will be on iTunes, but I don’t know when. She sent the album to CD Baby and they’re the ones who will put it on iTunes (they put her other albums there). Sometimes it only takes a few weeks, sometimes takes months. Once CD Baby sends it to iTunes it’s just a matter of when they’ll put it up. I’ll bump this thread when I know for sure it’s on iTunes. Another album she’s sending to CD Baby, and so will also be on iTunes, is The Keep, which I think you will love. It’s a compilation of acoustic versions of her own songs, and some rarities that no one had ever heard before. It’s the kind of album that you could play on a lazy Sunday morning and it’s very quiet and soothing and you don’t have to pay attention to it, but if you do decide to listen closely, you’ll hear some amazing things, lyrically and vocally.

Here is a video of one of the songs, “Temporary and Eternal” (the original version, which is even more ethereal, is on her album Equipoise, which is where I took my username). They were recording audio at the same time and that specific version ended up on The Keep (without the noise and talking at the beginning). In fact it opens the album The Keep.

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Wow, I didn’t realize there was a video of this particular performance. Between Happy’s sumptuous vocals and the impeccable guitar work by all three musicians, I don’t think it gets much better than this.

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That was on a video sent out to PBS stations (I take it there were several artists on the video, all performing at this Living Room Concert series) and was never released to the public. My copy is a few generations down. One day I’d like to get a pristine copy. Also, that day she performed at least one other song that was videotaped, and I’m hoping it will turn up someday. It’s pretty sublime, isn’t it?

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I’m gonna be one of the first to buy it. I’ve been a fairweather Happy fan for, what, 10 years now–as long as I’ve known Equipoise–and I have all her other albums, AFAIK. I’m not the melty kind of fan that **Eq **is; I find Happy a bit uneven overall. But when she’s good, she’s great, and every album has a masterpiece or two on it. And none of it sucks. You can’t really ask for much more, can you?

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I’m a melty fan. :slight_smile:

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I will be in touch shortly for purchase; is she touring too?

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I’ve sold over 150 so far. Not bad for a fan pre-release. I think her largest sales ever for an album have been around 5000 (but don’t quote me). She truly is an underground cult artist.

Hey, make that 17+ years. You’re getting forgetful in your old age.

Or three or four or five. You didn’t mention that you liked her well enough to drive from Chicago to Philadelphia to see her perform. I’d love to see her play Seattle.

Thanks BwanaBob! No, unfortunately, she doesn’t tour. Which is another reason she’s obscure, because she only wants to make music, and isn’t ambitious about where the end result ends up. She’s too much of a homebody, doesn’t want to leave her cats for extended periods of time, plus she has a day job she actually really likes and is good at (she hand-assembles high-end pro-audio equipment for a small company called Dangerous Music, and she works from home). There could be more one-off shows, and a mini-tour isn’t beyond the realm of possibility, but a full-sized tour tour, no. Not gonna happen.

Edit to add, I just noticed you’re in NY, so you are in a position to see her if she did play out. I’d expect her to mainly play Philadelphia, because she had a minor hit on WXPN and has a following there, but she’s also played NY several times in the past. Unfortunately, the venue she always played, The Bottom Line, is no more.

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Maybe it’s the name. Kimmie Rhodes, who has her own website where she sells her cds (some are also available on Amazon) is also fantastic and no I have no motivation in pushing her music other than the fact that it deserves a wider hearing. Her duets with Waylon Jennings and Willie Nelson are unbelievably great.

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It is odd, but it’s her real name. She’s been called that since the day she was born and it’s her legal name. There are other Happy’s around. A famous (well, to some people) one in the US is Happy Rockefeller, wife of a former Vice President (Nelson Rockefeller) and a big supporter of the arts in New York State, where Happy Rhodes is from too. In fact, Happy was born while Nelson Rockefeller was governer of New York and Happy Rockefeller was first lady of New York. It was a very normal name to New Yorkers (of a certain age, I suppose).

Anyway, people give her lots of grief about her name, always have, always will, and in fact she’d probably be famous now if she had changed it early in her career as many (including record companies wanting to sign her) have pushed her to do, but she’s too much of an individualist to change her name at the whim of a record company suit. While I think she deserves to be famous, I also have to admire her will and desire to be herself and not being told what to do.

If she did get famous (which I realize will never happen, I’m not delusional) it wouldn’t seem that odd, it would just be the name people knew her by, like Madonna, or Cher, or Pier Angeli or Piper Laurie.

I like Kimmie too, but do you think that if she were named, say, Happy, her music wouldn’t deserve a wider following? Shouldn’t someone’s like or dislike be based on the music, voice, lyrics instead of a name? By any other name, and all that. And in case it’s not clear, I have no motivation other than thinking that Happy deserves a wider audience either. It’s not about money, my mentioning the pre-release CDs notwithstanding. That’s only mentioned because it has been 9 years since the last album and they’re available. It’s about the music on the CD, not the miniscule amount of money Happy’s making from the CD.

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I think she can still become famous if her songs are featured in a movie or something like that. I discovered Enya when her music was used for the soundtrack of Steve Martin’s movie “L.A. Story”. I discovered Clannad when Volkswagen used their song “Harry’s Game” for one of their commercials. All it takes is one director or producer to be exposed to Happy’s music. Amazing things can happen in this world.