Freakwater

Last updated

Freakwater
Freakwaterwikipedia.jpg
Catherine Irwin and Janet Bean in 2006
Background information
Origin Louisville, Kentucky U.S.
Genres Alternative country
Years active1989–present
Labels Amoeba Records, Thrill Jockey, Bloodshot, Glitterhouse, City Slang
MembersCatherine Irwin
Janet Beveridge Bean
Dave Gay
Past membersJohn Alexander Spiegel
Dan Scanlan
Peter Searcy
James Bond
Matthew 'Wink' O'Bannon
John Rice
Brian Dunn
Lisa Marsicek
Bob Egan
Max Konrad Johnston
Joel Batty
Brendan Burke
John Nickels
Website freakwater.net

Freakwater is an American alternative country band from Louisville, Kentucky, with one co-founding member living in Chicago. [1] Freakwater is known for the lead vocals of Janet Bean and Catherine Irwin, who mix harmony and melody in idiosyncratic dissonant country-folk that is reminiscent of the Carter Family. [2] [3] [4]

Contents

History

Thrill Jockey

In 1989, Janet Beveridge Bean (of rock band Eleventh Dream Day) and Catherine Irwin founded the band, and they have been supported by several musicians since then, including members of Califone (2005 Thinking of You tour). Bassist David Wayne Gay, formerly of Stump The Host, is another long-time member of the band. They released their records on Chicago's Thrill Jockey label. [5] From 2006 to 2013, Bean and Irwin worked on other projects. A reissue of 1993's Feels Like the Third Time as a 20-year anniversary restarted the duo playing together as Freakwater. [6] In 2014, the band went out on the road, touring and playing the record as their main set. [7]

Bloodshot Records

In February 2016, Freakwater released the record Scheherazade on Bloodshot Records. In advance of the full-length record—-the duo's first record since 2005-—Freakwater released a single called "The Asp And The Albatross". [8]

Freakons

In 2013, and again in September 2017 and July 2021, Janet Bean and Catherine Irwin of Freakwater joined with Jon Langford and Sally Timms of the Mekons to be the Freakons, performing original and cover songs about coal mining in Appalachia, England, and Wales, to support the non-profit organization Kentuckians for the Commonwealth. Each time, the Freakons performed at the Hideout in Chicago, and elsewhere in Wisconsin. In 2013, they also performed at San Francisco's Hardly Strictly Bluegrass festival. In 2017, they were accompanied by violinists Jean Cook of New York City and Anna Krippenstapel of Louisville (The Other Years, Joan Shelley, etc.), and, only in Chicago, by Chicago/Louisville guitarist James Elkington (The Horse's Ha, etc.). In 2021, the same line-up, without Elkington, performed, and they released the live album Freakons, recorded at the 2017 Chicago performances. [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14] [15]

Artistry

Hilary Saunders of Paste Magazine assessed the band's musical style: "Old Paint musically looks backwards. It has the jauntiness of barn dances, complete with fiddles, dobros, and tambourines. Yet, Irwin and Bean’s voices, content in their different ranges, somehow meld to tell country tales that still sound ahead of their time." [16]

Collaborations

Discography

Albums

Singles

Compilations

Catherine Irwin solo (partial)

Janet Bean solo (partial)

Freakons

References

  1. ↑ Ratliff, Ben (February 19, 1998). "In Performance; Pop". The New York Times . Retrieved November 19, 2015.
  2. ↑ Cooper, Duncan (January 20, 2016). "Freakwater Still Rules, 30 Years Later". The FADER . Retrieved January 20, 2016.
  3. ↑ Gendron, Bob (January 23, 2013). "Freakwater spotlights mood and melody at the Hideout". Chicago Tribune . Retrieved January 20, 2016.
  4. ↑ Kemp, Mark (2007). "Freakwater". Trouser Press . Retrieved January 20, 2016.
  5. ↑ Reger, Rick (October 12, 1995). "Freakwater: Old Paint". Chicago Reader . Retrieved November 19, 2015.
  6. ↑ Hopper, Jessica (January 17, 2013). "Freakwater back with a melodic bang, no whimper". Chicago Tribune . Retrieved January 20, 2016.
  7. ↑ Adrian (August 3, 2015). "Interview with Janet Beveridge Bean (Eleventh Dream Day)". DOA. Archived from the original on August 6, 2015.
  8. ↑ Siregar, Cady (November 3, 2015). "Freakwater – "The Asp And The Albatross" (Stereogum Premiere)". Stereogum . Retrieved November 19, 2015.
  9. ↑ Rami (September 4, 2013). "Bloodshot News: Mekons + Freakwater = Freakons!". Bloodshot Records. Retrieved August 5, 2018.
  10. ↑ "2013". Hardly Strictly Bluegrass. 2013. Archived from the original on December 21, 2021. Retrieved August 9, 2021.
  11. ↑ Kendrick, Monica (August 31, 2017). "Alt-country heroes Freakwater and postpunk lifers the Mekons come together to get their Freakons". Chicago Reader . Retrieved August 5, 2018.
  12. ↑ Loerzel, Robert (September 19, 2017). "Freakons at the Hideout and the Shitty Barn". Loerzel, Robert . Retrieved August 5, 2018.
  13. ↑ "Freakons (early patio show)". Hideout. June 8, 2021. Retrieved June 8, 2021.
  14. ↑ "Fluff & Gravy Records". Fluff & Gravy Records. 2021. Retrieved July 30, 2021.
  15. 1 2 Freakons [album liner notes]. Fluff & Gravy Records. 2021.
  16. ↑ "The 70 Best Alt-Country Albums of All Time". Paste Magazine. Retrieved June 5, 2025.
  17. ↑ Vitali, Marc (November 7, 2019). "Chicago's Bloodshot Records Celebrates 25th Anniversary". WTTW . Retrieved November 26, 2019.
  18. ↑ "Too Late to Pray: Defiant Chicago Roots". Bloodshot Records. 2019. Archived from the original on April 28, 2020. Retrieved November 26, 2019.
  19. ↑ Kendrick, Monica (July 8, 2021). "The Pine Valley Cosmonauts make Tom Waits's 1973 debut feel relevant for our times". Chicago Reader . Retrieved July 18, 2021.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.