Search - Anna Wolfe :: My Treasure

Anna is the new poet laureate of Nashville

S. A. Ferrell | Jemez, NM | 03/03/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Anna Wolfe combines lyrical wit with poetic magic and acoustic musicality to form a dynamic album. Her wit is charming and rhythmic especially in the opening "Jane's Song." The wit winds its way through other tunes and certainly finds you laughing in the bonus track. But it is her poetry that carries every song. This is matched by her latest muse, the piano. Her flair on the keyboards brings strength to "If My Mind was a Hound" and "Close Call" (which is accompanied by Beth Nielson Chapman). In fact, there is a faint reminder of a sound that I haven't heard since the raw and extremely powerful "The Dreaming" by Kate Bush. Anna's long time fans will find two familiar coffeehouse songs which are great to show the evolution of her music. "How I Love Her" finds a new voice with the accompaniment of producer Wendy Waldman. The Irish influenced "Silver Veil" blends an air of medieval festivity with Anna's great voice. Anna continues to quietly make magic through her excellent storytelling and ever broadening musical landscape. Coming out of a city that is filled to the gills with talent, Anna Wolfe through her album, My Treasure, truly is Nashville's newest poet laureate."

Spirit Pour Down

Lee Armstrong | Winterville, NC United States | 12/09/2007

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Like some of the classic folk singers like Buffy Sainte-Marie or Tom Paxton, Anna's voice can be a bit of an acquired taste. It's got a heaviness to her alto that comes across less lovely than Sloan Wainwright or Bonnie Koloc. Spiritually, her material is uplifting and indeed a "treasure." Wendy Waldman produced the disc. The CD opener, "Jane's Song," has a catchy acoustic guitar strum, "She channels the stars, she don't channel the dead; She said let your spirit pour down through your head; she said let it pour in way down past your birth, way down into your feet into the earth." Beth Nielsen Chapman joins on harmony vocals as Anna sings with the piano on "I Take Notice of Kindness," "Every year a brand new lunch box, Bat Girl or Raggedy Anne, Wonder bread, peanut butter & jelly." Kenny Edwards guests on piano for "Close Call" that has a great tensive quality, "Some people ride the waves on a surf board, others swim to safety letting go, Still others fight the current for their very lives, wind up drowning in the undertow." More of the Bryndle crew show up for "The Ghost Upstairs" as Wendy Waldman plays acoustic guitar in Anna's spooky folk tale. "'Will you marry me?' the sky said to the Earth; And the love we make will bring all things together," Anna sings on "The Sky's Proposal." Wolfe's melodies are unique and gripping as on the title track. Wolfe sounds like she's channeling Joni Mitchell on the 9-minute "The Ballad of the Nameless Son." "Silver Veil" is a great folk song that plays like a country march. "Goodbye Pirates" has Wendy Waldman and Diane Bardwell on vocal harmonies on a musical elegy, "I see gentle, loving arms of two friends; I see a holy people welcoming you in." There is an unlisted whimsical 14th track about pigeons, probably titled "Pigeons & Love." Wolfe's material is quite good. Enjoy!"