Americana Highways brings you this premiere of Sarah White covering Michael Nesmith’s song “Different Drum,” due to be available on February 17 via White Star Sound. The song was produced, recorded and mixed by Stewart Myers (Liz Phair, Rachel Yamagata, Shawn Colvin) and mastered by Lurssen Mastering.
The revolution continues on the dance floor for neo-funk producer and multi-instrumentalist Farees. Having worked with artists like Calexico and Leo Nocentelli of The Meters, the Tuareg artist lives to create sonic art.
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Sarah White – “Different Drum” (*out February 17*)
Though Michael Nesmith’s recent passing has left a hat-sized hole in the hearts of music fans everywhere this past year, his music’s transcendence radiates still, through the hallowed halls of music history. That same creative spirit informed Richmond, Virginia’s own Sarah White, whose reverence and unadulterated creativity emanate from her newest single and video, a cover of the Nesmith-penned “Different Drum,” famously popularized by Linda Ronstadt’s Stone Poneys.
Hot off of her 2018 release High Flyer, White takes the retro-pop of Ronstadt’s rendition and flips the script, replacing the shimmy of the original with rollicking Americana, offering an idiosyncratic modern take on an irrefutable classic. Removing the distinctive harpsichord of the original and supplanting it with Byrds-indebted chiming guitars, this 2022 update leans heavily into White’s robust aching voice, the clarity of which adds a heartbreaking lucidity to the song’s narrative, emphasizing the type of liberated sexual politics that too often have been overlooked by the song’s tunefulness.
The unapologetic femininity and independence on display, backed by the rootsy stylings of her band, nails the zeitgeist of 2021, using the past to embolden the present. Nowhere is this fruitful dichotomy more apparent than in the accompanying video, a mash-up of psychedelic filters vacillating between images of White, stuck at home during the pandemic, singing out to her adoring fan base, and old footage, bathed in the patina of the early 20th century.
The genesis of the song originated in White’s Kickstarter – one tier of which allows fans to request song covers – where a super-fan requested White’s rendition of the ‘67 classic. After getting her players together to record a live rendition of it, the band quickly became smitten with their version’s euphoric energy and bluesy longing. Her High Flyer producer, upon hearing her version, insisted that she should record it in-studio, giving her loyal fans the pristine and powerful version they deserve.
Taking on such an established classic might be formidable for less seasoned musicians, but White, who is entering her third decade on the music scene, navigates “Different Drum” with such confidence and expertise, it may even surprise fans of Ronstadt that the song isn’t a White original.
First popping onto the scene in 1997 with her Jagjaguwar debut, White wrote a collection of lonely and rustic tunes dubbed All My Skies Are Blue. The album – the third album ever on the Jagjaguwar label – and it’s cavernous beauty even predicted the sound later crystallized by the label with releases by artists Bon Iver, Okkervil River, and Angel Olsen. This release instigated opportunities opening for Hall and Oates before recording her first studio album (also for Jagjaguwar) titled Bluebird, which garnered stellar reviews.
Seeing more opportunity for growth and to follow her muse, White soon began releasing records on her own, following Bluebird with the self-released You’re It EP (2004), followed by White Light [with the Pearls] (2006), all the while attending graduate school in Charlottesville. Along the way her brand of stripped down Americana earned the attention of music royalty Dave Matthews, who would come to accompany White on High Flyer’s “Sweetheart,” and for a time, Michael Bishop (Gwar) even joined her band the Pearls.
Though her touring schedule has quieted down significantly since the pandemic, White intends on keeping some skin in the game by periodically playing shows and offering releases when inspired. For the time being though, fans will have to subsist on this stirring rendition of a timeless classic.
“[High Flyer] builds upon what early fans loved best about White, including introspective lyrics and delicately crafted arrangements.” – Rolling Stone
“The connection between White and Matthews is as cosmic as the duet [‘Sweetheart’] suggests.” – Billboard
“[‘Sweetheart’ is] an emotional, guitar-and-mandolin-fueled duet” – Jambands / Relix Magazine
“Smart, earthy, honest songs, full of heartbreak that cuts sharp through glittering wit, all a reminder that White is, as she always has been, the coolest gal around.” – C-Ville Weekly
BELA – “VENUS IN CANCER”
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FAREES – GALACTIC AFRICA / BLINDSIGHT (OUT JUNE 3 ON REZ’ARTS PROD)
Neo-funk producer, multi-instrumentalist, and spoken word revolutionary Farees will be releasing two new albums on June 3 through French label Rez’Arts Prod, tempering political outrage on Blindsight with afrobeats in a love letter to the motherland on Galactic Africa.
“Brother Farees carries ancient spirits direct from the Black pool of genius. His guitar playing is always masterful and his singing will transport you. Farees has taken the old wisdom and has come up with new music that puts you in a trance while it bids you to dance,” says American blues musician Corey Harris (Ali Farka Touré, Billy Bragg, Wilco).
Over the years, Farees has made fans of greats like Taj Mahal and Ben Harper, and has collaborated with Calexico and most recently, Leo Nocentelli of legendary funk pioneers, The Meters (who’s featured on Blindsight). “Farees reminds me of the greats,” Nocentelli says. “He’s got that Stevie Wonder, Jimi Hendrix vibe, yet he’s doing his very own thing. Ain’t nobody around playing and grooving like him. He’s a superstar! I’m really glad to be a part of this project.”
Farees has traveled the world, witnessing and experiencing the injustice of oppressed people: as a North African nomad, a member of Saharan psych-rock outfits Tinariwen and Terakaft, being racially profiled and detained while on tour both in America and Europe, receiving death threats while touring in Canada, and spending significant time in Algeria, Mali, Niger, and western Europe. His multiracial background of Saharan Tuareg tribe (Black and Berber) on his mother’s side, and Italian & German on his father’s side has allowed him to both pass as white, and bond with Black and Muslim communities.
To be racially ambiguous feels really weird sometimes. The irony is that for me the rejection came more from white people. I have a strong African identity; I grew up there and my family is from there. For me, while the black community does have internal divisions and biases, it’s still an inclusive community. Other communities seem more exclusive. You’re never accepted as white if you’re not 100% white, or 100% Arab, or Chinese, and so on.”
Helmed by a veritable Tuareg songwriter and visionary, Galactic Africa is a transient record devoid of Western exoticism, and marked by Farees’ expert artistry and knowledge of African rhythm and spirit. The opening cadence underscores these rudiments with MC Rocky P (AKA The Big Twin) introducing Farees’ strategic production stamp: “Galactic Africa is a composition of blue notes that can’t be written, learned or taught/Only given out in quotes/And it’s all built upon a huge wall of groove/So that y’all can think while your asses move.”
Meanwhile, on its companion, Blindsight is the soundtrack to our modern revolution while giving homage to the radical musical eras of the late ‘60s Black Panthers in the U.S. to mid-’80s Thomas Sankara in Africa. Kicking off with an innovative take on “Hey Joe” – made famous by Farees’ musical hero Jimi Hendrix – it sets a tone for the record by bringing us back to the turbulent civil rights era of the late ‘60s when the song was originally released.
Revolutionary actions have been popping off around the world in reaction to the abuses of those in power, often blamed on a few bad apples instead of recognizing oppressive police states. “Bad Apples” attacks with aggressive synths and a Stevie Wonder charm, while demanding that we take action and hold people responsible. “What you call cancel culture, I call accountability,” Farees sings. This is yet another song about the slippery slope of joining the side of the oppressor in a broken system, a theme of this record.
His first record, Mississippi to Sahara, (released under the name Faris) , adapted the traditional rural blues of Mississippi in a Tuareg desert style. The success of this album allowed him to play some of the biggest stages in the world. In 2020, he released Border Patrol and Both Sides of the Border, a vast collection of genre-hopping, guitar-heavy protest songs calling out injustices perpetrated by the status quo, including “Y’all Don’t Know What’s Going On” with Calexico.
“I’m a radical and revolutionary,” says Farees, “but a realistic one. I’m thinking about the world as it is. For me, we can use the internet to connect and reach more people to keep them informed through The Kinship app, responsible social media. It’s like an instrument. Like music between the music itself and the player. I’m trying to build new paths, and not just for me. But for others that will come after me. Music heals for free, makes you think, learn, see things from different perspectives. It moves people. And from moving comes movement. And from movement comes change.”
William Russell Wallace‘s Confidence Man is an upbeat record that fuses together elements of Bruce Springsteen, Lloyd Cole and The Rolling Stones. The latter band is the most noticeable influence but it all makes for a heady mix of joyful celebration.