Music
The best kept secret in music
Press
"Janet Place's voice, reminiscent of a huskier Patsy Cline ... drips with country hard luck and hard-won wisdom. The 5 Place songs are mostly twang-pop compositions with a strongly Western influence ... 8 others are hard-hitting country love songs and travelogues by Jeff Hart." - - No Depression
This is dead good pickin’ & singin’ that compares favorably with the Asylum Street Spankers and dipping further back, Dan Hicks and his Hot Licks. Yummy like home cooking, not too fancy, yet a reminder of how satisfying meat-and-taters electrified front porch music can be." - Pauserecords.com
I envy the people in the crowd who were there during the recording of your cd! What a brilliant cd. Overwhelming. My God, if this is only a debut, what can we expect of BML in the future?" - Radio IJsselmond - Kampen, The Netherlands
"The Brown Mountain Lights showcase their assets on their feel-good debut, wisely choosing to highlight their energetic performance and song craft on this live, 19-track effort. Singer and multi-instrumentalist Janet Place brings a honky tonk kick to her Patsy Cline-esque lead vocals ... As luminous as the ghostly North Carolina phenomenon that inspired their name, the Brown Mountain Lights make a memorable first impression." - The Independent Weekly
This CD brought back many fond memories for me. They reminded me of songs I heard growing up. They seemed to have been influenced heavily by the early 70's singer songwriters such as Kris Kristofferson, John Prine and, dare I say, James Taylor. I also noticed a hint of the Burrito Brothers here as well, most notably in the steel guitar sound. Janet Place and Jeff Hart share the songwriting and lead vocals. The rest of the band's musicianship is flawless, especially Greg Bower. As a guitarist myself I was bowled over by his lead parts." - Freighttrain Boogie
"Brown Mountain Lights are straight down the line alt country." - Americana UK
"One of the best albums released this year by a local band." - - Durham Herald
"This could be my favorite new album... Americana-infused twangy pop all recorded live with immaculate sound. Takes a bit of Everly Brothers harmony, some Rubber Soul era songwriting and permeates it with twangy c&w/bluegrass guitar. It's really brilliant."
- Paisley Pop Records - Seattle
Discography
The Brown Mountain Lights, Late Show at the Cave, Bombay records 2004.
The Brown Mountain Lights, "Ghosts of the Old North State" coming summer 2006
Photos
Feeling a bit camera shy
Bio
The Brown Mountain Lights's debut CD was voted as a critics choice for one of the best CDs in 2004 in "No Depression". BML consist of North Carolina music veterans brought together by a passion for the many facets of American roots music. Their repertoire is a carefully-crafted amalgam of styles from bluegrass and honky tonk to blues and twangy pop, consisting primarily of original compositions. The result is a tasty mix of sharp songwriting, three-part harmonies and a classic American musical palette. Jeff Hart and Janet Place contribute the lead vocals and songwriting talents while Greg Bower tosses in "high lonesome" harmonies and the requisite guitar twang.
Their debut CD release, Late Show at the Cave, was recorded live over two nights at the legendary Chapel Hill club, the Cave.
The Independent called Jeff Hart (acoustic guitar, harmonica, bass) one of the "key characters" in the development of The Triangle's alt-country scene and he has been one of its' mainstays for over 15 years with The Hanks, The Ruins and the Panther Branch Boys. He also did a stint with the Two Dollar Pistols and for several years backed up Triangle legend Chris Stamey of the DBs.
Janet Place (acoustic guitar, mandolin and banjo) collected several Washington Area Music Award nominations while a member of the D.C. twang group The Slim Jims. They were described as a seminal band on the early alt-country scene in The Nation’s Capitol by David Goodman in his guide to “Modern Twang”. After moving to the area in 1995 she formed the popabilly roots band, The Kickbacks. Place was referred to as "one of the finest vocalists on the scene today" by Southern & Rockin' Magazine, while the Raleigh News and Observer called her "a cross between Patsy Cline and Etta James". Rick Cornell of the Independent called her the “mighty voiced Place”. She was first runner-up in the 1999 North Carolina Songwriters’ Association songwriting competition.
Greg Bower (electric guitar) provides the third harmony and tasty guitar licks. Greg has played in several NC-based acts.
Miner Gleason plays fiddle with several Triangle bluegrass and jam bands and can play anything from classical to fiddle tunes to electric violin, bringing a very modern sound to the band.
A seminal part of this unit is the rhythm section of Steve Webster on bass and Bryan Sodemann on drum. They are truly the driving force of BML and the nicest guys anyone would want to know.
The Brown Mountain Lights play festival and clubs throughout the Southeast. Recently their CD landed on a desk in Hollywood where the producers of the WB series, Veronic Mars, featured two songs from Late Show at the Cave on one episode of the show. Appropriately the songs appreared in bar scenes!
Links
