Short Film of the Day

KATE TUCKER
Bullet Train

DOWNLOAD: Bullet Train

The temporarily Nashville-based Kate Tucker and her favorite video director, Miriam Bennett, have just released a short film based on one-time Song of the Day, ‘Bullet Train’, off the White Horses album. The film features Kate and Cleveland actor Darryl Dickenson and was shot over the course of a year in Akron, Ohio. If you look closely, you’ll also see members of the Akron pop group, Dolson, chewing up the scenery. You can follow Kate…and maybe find out where she’ll be living next…over on her website. And if ya happen to be in Nashville next week (August 8th), Kate will be playing with Johanna and the Dusty Floor and Bird Call as they make their way across America on tour…I predict a very cool show!

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Song of the Day

KATE TUCKER
Roman Candles

DOWNLOAD: Roman Candles

I think this must be the third time I’ve put up Kate Tucker’s Roman Candles as a Song of the Day. The first was way back when she gave me the Ball Of Wax compilation CD where it first appeared and I was still firing off email versions of the SOTD before it morphed into the blog you’re mired in. The second was about a year ago after I saw her rock it at her release party for White Horses at Spike Hill, and today I get an email telling me she’s gone and released a new version…recorded with Patrick Boyle (Lead Guitar), Andy Dolson (Keys), Michael Shepard (Backing Vocals), Andrew Cushman (Bass), Eric Baltrinic (Drums) and dedicated it to yours truly…and is offering it as a free download over on Bandcamp. And she even put together a little DIY video to accompany the latest version, too. You can listen & download more of Kate’s music over at Bandcamp and head on over to either her MySpace or Facebook pages and say hello!

Roman Candles
Recorded December 20, 2010 in Alliance, Ohio
Released 03 June 2011

Where o where can my true love be
Is she running circles away from me
In the morning she’s sailing in
With her gold and silver
In the palm of her hand

Tell me tell me you’re telling lies
I can see through circles into your eyes
You say haven’t we had the finest times
And there’s no one like us
There’s no one under the sun

Lay your head down just lay your head down
There’s no surprises with these disguises
Lay your head down just lay your head down for me

Baby one day I’m gone for good
They will never find me they never could
You’ll remember our finest times
How there’s no one like me
There’s no one under the sun

Lay your head down just lay your head down
There’s no surprises with these disguises
Lay your head down just lay your head down
These highway vandals shoot roman candles
Lay your head down just lay your head down for me

Song of the Day

KATE TUCKER
I’m On Fire

DOWNLOAD: I’m On Fire

This time of year it gets pretty damned hard to find anything new to put up on The List, so I was happy when Kate sent me this one the other day…

This is at least the second time Kate Tucker has covered Bruce Spingsteen’s ‘I’m On Fire’…the first was when her and The Sons of Sweden did it for ‘Sweetheart’, a Starbucks Valentine’s Day Compilation of covers. I liked it enough to put it up on The List way back in February of ’09…you can listen to it HERE…but that version, with it’s up-tempo country feel high-register vocal…pales in comparison to this much more somber version she recorded for Gary Benz, one of her benefactors who helped sponsor her Kickstarter campaign to release White Horses earlier this year. Quiet and haunting, with no production tricks getting in the way of her voice, it’s a much more fitting homage to Bruce’s original.

Check out more of Kate on her MySpace page or over on her website

Song of the Day/Show of the Night

KATE TUCKER
Roman Candles

DOWNLOAD: Roman Candles

Before I get outta here, I’m dropping a rare Saturday song ‘cuz I went to see Kate play Spike Hill in Brooklyn last night as she kicked off her latest solo release, White Horses. The show was great, the crowd was stoked and to cap it off she did a totally rocked-out version of ‘Roman Candles’, one of my favorite songs and one I’ve been trying to get her to include on the set list more often! And for all you New York types who haven’t fled the city for the beaches this weekend, she’s playing a set tonight at Rockwood Music Hall, so if you’re just sitting around wondering when the heat wave is gonna break, get off your ass and head downtown for a bit of fun!

You can follow Kate on her MySpace Page

Song of the Day – Kate Tucker Sings for Her Supper!

DOWNLOAD: On The Radio

I’m tag-teaming a Song of the Day along with a bit of good, old fashioned log-rolling today. The song is a previously unreleased acoustic version of ‘On The Radio’ Kate Tucker and Mark Isakson layed down for Seattle’s Bumbershoot festival last year. The log-rolling is explained below…..

Kate has finished recording White Horses, her new solo album, but she need a bit of help. Being an indie artist often means little details like coming up with the last few bucks to press CD’s, promote the album and loading up the tour bus sometimes force her to employ extraordinary measures…in this case, hit up folks on the internet for whatever they might be able to contribute! Kate has put together a Kickstarter Funding Video…complete with ‘prizes’…in order to raise the final $5000.00 she needs to put White Horses to bed. If you toss her a few measly bucks you can get a signed CD and a bit of good Karma…for 50 bones she’ll unlock the vault and give you her bootlegs from her first album, the out of print Eros Turannos, and a few more goodies…$500 and she’ll record an acoustic version of any of her songs, dedicate it to you, post it on YouTube, and send you an exclusive mp3…..and for you seriously High Rollers, a grand will get Kate to play a concert for you and 40 of your closest & dearest friends (!)…two grand and she’ll sing for you, and cook you dinner and get you drunk (!!)…and if somebody were to kick in the whole five grand…well, I think it goes without saying that if anybody hits that target, Kate’s gonna have a friend for life!!! (Or it means she sold herself into slavery…I’m not quite sure…..)

I’m asking all of the friends of The List to head over to ‘Put Your Money Where Your Heart Is! Kate Tucker Sings for Her Supper!’ and watch the Kickstarter video…and if you can, show her a little love. And then pass it along to a few friends. It’s a lot more interesting than those damned LOLCats videos that keep filling up my inbox! And let’s be honest…the more true artists like Kate out there might mean we have to endure less of Lady GaGa…!!!

Check out more of Kate Tucker on MySpace

Shooting Kate

Click on any image for full-size

I have taken a rather long time to talk about the two shoots I did with Kate when she was in New York back in October…partly because I was waiting for her to finish her new album, but now that ‘White Horses’ is in the can, I guess this is a good time to bring them up.

Kate was in town for CMJ and we knocked around some ideas for a cover shoot that involved horses…she was thinking of calling the new record ‘White Horses’…so we took a drive up to Connecticut to look for some horses…but the horses didn’t wanna cooperate and with the sun rapidly falling outta the sky, we had to change direction and came away with these shots…

A few days later, back in the city, we talked about doing something a bit edgier and since, like all rock stars, she was staying at the Chelsea Hotel, we thought we might try a commando-style shoot in the halls. Johanna Cranitch, of Johanna and the Dusty Floor, has been singing back-up with Kate and she joined in the fun. We managed to get off one shot in front of Harry Houdini’s eyes before a security guard kicked our asses back to Kate’s room…..

…but once we were in the room, the light pouring in through the windows gave me more than I needed……

Remember…Kate’s album comes out next Spring, but you can pre-order a limited-edition signed and numbered copy of White Horses and receive a free gift from Kate right now…just check out the ‘NEWS’ section on her Website for details.

Song of the Day

KATE TUCKER
Bullet Train

DOWNLOAD: Bullet Train

Fans of The List (and any of you who have been paying attention) surely know that Kate Tucker has been in the studio recording her first post-Sons of Sweden album, but what you don’t know is that I’ve had a finished copy in my grubby hands for a couple of weeks and today…with Kate’s blessing…even though it’s not due out until next Spring, you’re gonna get a taste of ‘White Horses’. Backing up Kate’s bluesy, Tanya Donelly-esque vocals is her Sons of Sweden bandmate, Ed ‘Potatoes’ O’Brien on bass, Casey Foubert on drums, Terrill Bailie on organ and Blake Wescott handling the production and also playing various guitars, a mean melotron and crooning a few background vocals. After 20 straight days in a Seattle studio working on the new songs, the resulting album is a dark, moving, anguish-filled novella sung from the heart. There are times when Kate’s voice strains with such pain that you can almost feel the ache within her.

“I wrote these songs as I was facing some serious questions I had buried along the way, questions about faith and love and the sustainability of relationships in a constantly changing landscape” says Kate. “There was a point, early on in the studio, where it hit me that this record is awfully heavy and I wasn’t sure I could carry it through to completion. I got scared and then I got tough. I talked myself out of the fear and into the story. Some songs came to me so quickly and so late in the process that I hadn’t had time to fully understand the depth of their sorrow…”. This is hardly an ‘easy’ record to listen to, but after having it at the top of my iTunes folder for the past few weeks I can’t get the songs outta my head.

You can pre-order a limited edition signed and numbered copy of White Horses (Release date: March 2010), and receive a free gift (and free shipping) from Kate in the meantime. Go the the ‘NEWS’ section on Kate’s Website for details, and to further follow Kate’s movements, check her out on MySpace