The Moore Welcomes Robin Pecknold and Joanna Newsom 8/4

Seattle Theatre Group (STG) presents Joanna Newsom with special guest Robin Pecknold on Wednesday, August 4, 2010 at 7:30 pm at the Moore Theatre.

Have you ever seen that movie The Village? Yeah, that's how Joanna Newsom was discovered. She came out of a dark, impenetrable forest and was so clearly from another century, it was just spooky. Fortunately for all of us, this initial impression turned out to be a complete misunderstanding! Our Joanna is clearly from the 20th century, and today, just like the rest of us, she lives in the 21st.

Fact is, the newness of Joanna's sound makes us tremble violent-like when we think back - gulp - eight whole years to when it all began. Back then, Joanna was playing keyboards with an SF group and writing songs on the harp more or less as an exercise, taping them just to remember how she'd put them together. One thing led to another and geez, she ended up selling a million(-ish) records!

The year of 2009 was largely spent executing the songs for the record that would become Have One On Me. As with Ys, a number of new songs had been brought forward earlier, during the concerts of '07 and '08 - these were recorded with other, newer songs that hadn't yet been performed. Joanna chose to work with Ys Street Band member Ryan Francescioni on the arrangements for the record, as he'd been really instrumental (get it?) when reworking Van Dyke's arrangements for Ys to suit smaller ensembles on the road. Joanna was deeply inspired by his writing, playing and thinking about the music.

Joanna rehearsed with and without Ryan and percussionist NeAl Morgan before going in for basic tracks, after which overdubs were immediately scheduled. Everything was somehow going to happen, all eighteen songs and two hours worth of material coming in on the clock, when Joanna discovered to her horror that something was dragging her voice. There were nodes on her cords and she had to refrain from speaking at all for two whole months in order to address the problem. Anyone who knows Joanna knows that this is a problem - old girl loves to talk!

Anyway, the album got finished by the end of the summer and was mixed a little in Japan by Jim O'Rourke (who mixed Ys) and a little in America by Noah Georgeson (who recorded and mixed The Milk-Eyed Menderway back when). It got sequenced and adorned with lovely new-phase art in the history and career of Joanna Newsom, who's now touring again and will probably play more shows in 2010 than she has in several years. It's gonna be fun.

Tickets: $27.50 not including applicable fees. Tickets are on sale now at Tickets.com, in person at the Paramount Theatre box offices (M-F 10am-6pm), 24-hour kiosks located outside The Paramount & Moore Theatres, charge by phone at 877-784-4849, or online at STGPresents.org.

About STG
Seattle Theatre Group is the 501 (c)(3) non-profit arts organization that operates the historic Paramount and Moore Theatres in Seattle, Washington. Our mission is to make diverse performing arts and education an integral part of our region's cultural identity while keeping these two landmark venues alive and vibrant. STG presents a range of performances from Broadway, off-Broadway, dance and jazz to comedy, concerts of all genres, speakers and family shows - at both historic theatres in Seattle and venues throughout the Puget Sound and Portland, Oregon.

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