Reviews

Evolution Of Media
December, 2007
By Caroline Leonardo

Home To You, the third album from the Canadian acoustic collective Po'Girl evokes every story told by anyone who's ever been looking for something that can't seem to be found. Their combination of sweet vocals and acoustics may sound familiar to those who like The Dixie Chicks or even The Wreckers, but Po'Girl keeps an edge with their vagabond-like nature that sweeps you up along for the ride.

Keeping in mind the title of their latest album, one might think the songs are showcased memories of the happier times coming back to you. On the contrary, Po'Girl sings of home, but you get the feeling that home isn't all it's cracked up to be. On the first track, "Skies of Grey" the lyric "I been runnin' all my life" sets the tone of their runaway nature, and the tone takes on new life by expanding into deep soul-searching and questioning others who don't seem right ("To The Angry Evangelist"). Even leaving ("9 hrs To Go") seems like the right thing to do, but when it comes to coming back home ("Home To You") you get the sense that there are a lot of reasons not to come back, but in the end there is regret from the mistakes that were made.

This album speaks of a life that needs to be lived out on the road so that it may flourish, and it being set to a background of country, folk, pop and even bluegrass gives it a perfect sound. If anything, Home To You packs all of our dreams and life's questions all into one. The dreaminess of the arrangements and vocals wrap you up and give you a feel that you yourself are actually on the road, hitting the pavement with all the others who are ready to break free. It plays like the soundtrack for all the lost souls who can't seem to find their way home; but in the meantime, being out and about is their savior.


ALBUQUERQUE JOURNAL
Friday, November 9, 2007
Po' Girl Rich With Talent
By David Steinberg
Journal Staff Writer

Po' Girl may be a quartet, but in any given concert you're likely to hear them playing a dozen instruments.
"Different songs call for different instruments," said Allison Russell, Po' Girl's lead vocalist who sings with a hypnotic vibrato. "I write songs on guitar, piano, banjo and clarinet."
The ensemble, which blends elements of folk and jazz, will be in concert tonight in Pinos Altos and Saturday, Nov. 10, at Albuquerque's Lobo Theater. Po' Girl is a gender twist on the name for New Orleans' Po' Boy sandwich. But being female is no requirement for membership in the band. Men have been in the band, and recently Benny Sidelinger replaced Trish Klein. "It was a sudden thing with Trish," Russell said in a phone interview from Death Valley, Calif. "It came after a grueling year touring, including going to Cameroon. ... Trish got quite ill when we were in Cameroon. She was feeling physically run down." Russell said the band had to scramble to find a replacement on short notice. Sidelinger, a luthier-friend who has made guitars for Po' Girl, agreed to step in.
"We've clicked so well. It's such a natural fit," Russell said.
Sidelinger plays guitar, dobro and banjo.
The others in the band are Diona Davis, who plays violin, acoustic guitar and Wurlitzer, and Awna Teixeira on electric bass, washtub bass, harmonica and acoustic guitar. Russell said the band members like the nomadic life.
In Cameroon, they performed at a women's festival. In Alaska, friends flew them around glaciers.
"That happens on a regular basis," she said. "People invite us to their homes and we have friends for life. A lot of bands get caught up in the road and forget to stop and smell the flowers."
Po' Girl does plan to take a break in December and January before returning to the road in February with renewed energy.

Po' Girl
Carolyn Mark opens
WHEN and WHERE: 7:30 tonight at Pinos Altos Opera House; and 8 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 10, at the Lobo Theater, 3013 Central NE
HOW MUCH: For the Pinos Altos concert, $20 at the door. For the Albuquerque concert, $15 in advance at Bookworks, Natural Sound and online at www.abqmusic.com; $20 day of show


All Music Guide
February 2007
“ "….there's no denying Home to You is a layered, insightful, and achingly poignant triumph that still works even if you just want to hear the pretty music."


No Depression
February 2007
“Po' Girl has the same womanly (not girlish, mind you) croon of the 1920s and '30s blues mamas - yet their music isn't of another era”
~ Katy June-Friesen


Inside Entertainment
February 2007
“folk-festival sensations, thrilling audiences with their homespun musicianship and back-porch harmonies.”
~ Nicholas Jennings


LA Daily News Review
February 2007
“...these girls are anything but po’ at what they do”
~ Bob Strauss


Morning Call, Allentown. PA
February 2007
“Home to You, the third recording from the Vancouver female quartet Po' Girl, is a smart, sassy trip through hillbilly blues, roadhouse gospel and back-porch field hollers”
~ Geoff Gehman


Cedar Rapids Gazette
February 2007
“It’s an interesting experiement, made even better by the fact that each of Po’ Girls’ members are so talented in their own right.”
~ Eric Clark


Evanston Review
February 2007
“...a veritable force of nature with a sound that alludes to country, blues, jazz, gospel and folk without falling squarely in any one of those categories”
~ Jeff Wisser


Allmusic 4 Stars
February 2007
“There's no denying Home to You is a layered, insightful, and achingly poignant triumph that still works even if you just want to hear the pretty music.”
~ David Jeffries


Rave Magazine
February 2007
“If bands are food…Canada’s Po’ Girl [is] a home-cooked stew full of wholesome ingredients, washed down with some organic white wine.”
~ Matt Thrower


Music Box
February 2007
“the band’s poetic ruminations have continued to mature and evolve, and in concocting a narrative arc that binds together the collection’s components, Po’ Girl has crafted its most sophisticated and resonant outing to date”
~ John Metzger


The Silhouette
February 2007
“At first, Po’Girl is quite reminiscent of groups such as the Dixie Chicks. But as the album unfolds, a greater degree of experimentation, a wider array of influences, and simple-yet-complex lyrics make Po’Girl a group that more people need to hear.”
~ Chris Martin


Smother.net
February 2007
“Canadian-based group that plays Americana better than most ‘mericans could? You bet.”
~ J-sin


The Morning Call Online
February 2007
“naturally soulful vocals; neatly paced, neatly spaced instrumentals, and a clinging bittersweetness that can’t be bought or bottled”
~ Paula DeAnda


MTV News
February 2007
“likely to win over even more folk fans”
~ Kurt Orzeck


Lonesome Music (blog)
February 2007
“permanent fixture in the car on the way to and from work”


Ithaca Times
February 2007
“Although Po’ Girl is inspired by traditions of past decades…they deftly sidestep the trap of sounding nostalgic or revivalist.”
~ Natasha Li Pickowicz


The Ithaca Journal
February 2007
“draws from life on the road.”
~ Jim Catalano


Boston Herald
February 2007
“what makes the group’s frisky, soulful sound remarkable is its convincing embrace of old-time jazz and blues”
~ Daniel Gewertz


View Magazine
February 2007
“these Po’ Girls rich in grit and soul”
~ Shain Shapiro


Toronto Star
February 2007
“no need to pity Po’ Girl.”
~ Greg Quill


The Link
February 2007
“the ladies of Po’ Girl refuse to stay grounded”


Now Magazine
February 2007
“centers around the concept of home, even when the connection isn’t that explicit”
~ Sarah Liss


Now Network Daily Edition
January 2007
“think lazy melodies, sweet harmony, and mellow grooves”


Vue Weekly
January 2006
“there’s no business like po’ business”
~ Leah Collins


Tucson Weekly
January 2006
“In the midst of the Appalachian hollerin’, country laments, sweet acoustic rock crooning, Dustbowl blues and Celtic-by-way-of-bluegrass airs, the three women who comprise Po’ Girl also take time out for jazzy breakdowns, gospel wailing, Western swing and even a little hip-hop. Now that’s a combination that you can actually call Americana (even if they are from Canada).”
~ Gene Armstrong


Rambles
August 2005
“This music grabs my heart so fast, on the first note I’m lost in a dreamy, dusty road-ruled world.”
~ Katie Knapp


Discorder
May 2005
“Last night I dreamt a banjo saved my life”
~ As told to Val Cormier by Trish Klein


The Music Box
December 2004
“Po’ Girl may not be the first group to take a kitchen-sink approach to updating an erstwhile regiment of material, but it certainly has become one of the finest at parlaying these overtures into an utterly earthy, organic, and ambient thing of beauty.”
~ John Metzger


Chico News & Review
December 2004
“The sound is kickback Americana, with everything from old-timey bluesy to folksy to the mellow rap entwined in a couple of tunes”
~ Christine G.K. LaPado


Songbook
Fall 2004
“When Po’ Girl lock into a groove they hold tight, and when they sing about human emotions (which is all the time), they dig deep and get personal.”
~ Mike Butler


Emerging Music
Fall 2004
“Po’ Girl’s sound is timeless and timely; these girls are urban minstrels for the twenty-first century”


BBC Folk & Country Review
Fall 2004
“a sweet little gem showcasing some of the finest acoustic musicians Canada currently has to offer”
~ Sue Keogh


Calgary’s News & Entertainment Weekly
September 2004
“there’s something wistful and mirthfully alive in the music that makes you forget about whatever else you thought you were going to hear.”
~ Mary-Lynn Wardle


Rolling Stone Online Magazine
September 16, 2003
"With enough sultry ambiance to be at home in either cocktail lounge or New Orleans street corner, Po' Girl features a simple, polished production of wistful, plaintively slurred vocals over a sparse yet warm jazz-folk accompaniment of guitar, stand-up bass, harmonica, banjo and clarinet. Americana can seem like a language from a forgotten era, but Po' Girl's sentiment never feels forced, the lyricism never cliche or false. They manage to maintain that traditional and nostalgic sound while the breathing fresh life into an old-fashioned genre."
~ Christina Saraceno


First Appeared at The Music Box
October 2003
"The album is a laid-back, mellow affair that, through every nook and cranny of its existence, exudes the steamy, sweltering summer heat of New Orleans. Its lazy melodies crawl with slow deliberation as acoustic arrangements cling to them like clothes to a sweat-soaked body. Indeed, with its mixture of country, jazz, and blues, Po' Girl winds up sounding an awful lot like Norah Jones after turning in her glass of Dom Perignon for a bottle of Kentucky bourbon. Each of the 13 songs on Po' Girl drifts like a haunted echo from the distant past brought back to life through some strangely surreal back-alley seance."
~ John Metzger

North Shore News
"Po' Girl's album is a natural beauty in a time when so much junk corrodes the musical landscape"
~ Niki Graham


Echo Weekly
"Songs to sing by the porch light or the steaming hot summer urban pavement. Po’ Girl is a strong debut"
~ Brent Hagerman