Kris Delmhorst, Anders Parker

On May 13th, Delmhorst released her seventh album, BLOOD TEST (Signature Sounds) – her first of original music since 2008?s critically acclaimed album SHOTGUN SINGER. A prolific writer and constant collaborator, Delmhorst continues to share her unique perspective in this new work. The album describes a moment of reckoning and centering in the songwriter's life, and in society as a whole. In a collection of songs that move between triumph and heartbreak, restlessness and responsibility, Delmhorst acknowledges the weary work of an intentioned life – and the new American dream of presence and perspective in a frenetic time.

BLOOD TEST's fresh perspective was realized sonically by Delmhorst turning to a totally new collaborator – friend and fellow songwriter Anders Parker (Varnaline, Gob Iron, New Multitudes). Parker brought two band members to Delmhorst: drummer Konrad Meissner (Brandi Carlile, The Silos) and multi-instrumentalist Mark Spencer (Blood Oranges, Lisa Loeb, Laura Cantrell, Son Volt). And together, the four shaped BLOOD TEST's landscape:

"I was focused on paring things down to their elements, less flesh, more bone. So it's just the four of us on BLOOD TEST, with very few overdubs, playing the songs and letting the imperfections be part of the story. We were new to each other as a band, and the songs were new to everyone, many of them even to me. So there's a freshness and spirit of discovery in the tracks which I think shines through and which gives them a lot of life. It's a situation that requires intense focus, listening, responsiveness if it's going to work. Everyone involved brought these things and more."

The spareness of the arrangements allows a wide range of dynamics in the songs, from the delicate duet of nylon-string guitar and pedal steel in "My Ohio," to the glowering Hammond organ and brittle electric guitar of "Saw It All." "Little Frame" floats the listener on a sonic hammock of easy drums and simple piano riffs, while "Temporary Sun" takes less than a minute and a half for Mark Spencer's scorched-earth country-rock guitar to lay waste to the place. And Delmhorst is not afraid to take dynamic leaps within a single song, as evidenced by "92nd St," which travels all the way from a single pulsing note on an acoustic guitar to a churning wall of distortion out of PJ Harvey's playbook, and all the way back again.

That song, drawn from Delmhorst's New York upbringing, had particular resonance during the recording, as the sessions were taking place just a few blocks from her childhood home.

"The studio where we made the record, Brooklyn Recording, turned out to be right in my old stomping grounds… I was getting coffee at the deli I used to go to high school, and then walking to the studio. It was a kind of vertigo feeling to be working there, a little dizzying, but also really satisfying; it somehow completed the circle."

Geography aside, "92nd St" may also contain the thematic heart of the album – with its soaring chorus "There ain't no real mistakes."

For all the big questions that BLOOD TEST asks, it offers this conclusion: That everything we have done and seen and been and felt has led to this day. Who we are now. In this moment. That we have arrived. And we are right on time.

The product of a musical family, Delmhorst released her debut album, Appetite, in 1998 and has since recorded and released multiple albums and EPs spanning a range of musical genres — both as a solo artist and as a band member/collaborator. She has recorded vocals, fiddle and cello on over 50 albums from artists such as Peter Wolf, Mary Gauthier, Chris Smither and Lori McKenna, and also records and performs with Jeffrey Foucault and Peter Mulvey as Redbird.


Anders Parker of Varnaline, Gob Iron and also of the collective band New Multitudes, currently #1 on Billboard's Heatseekers. Anders will be performing an array of his music from over the years.

ROLLING STONE REVIEW: Anders Parker, the singer-songwriter formerly known as Varnaline, has crafted a resolute set of songs that moves fluidly from rugged country-indie to scorched-earth rockers to frosted cabin-in-the-woods-style ballads. Tell It to the Dust is bursting with cameos, including Kendall Meade (Mascott) and Jay Farrar (Son Volt), both of whom especially lend credence to Parker's already elemental songs. "Keep Me Hanging On" is one of those songs that's so perfect, it seems more born than written; Parker's dry, slightly bruised vocals stirs up Meade's supple, simple alto until they match the same emotional pitch. "Doornail (Hats Off to Buster Keaton)" is a maelstrom of a song that leaves blisters in its wake. Tell It to the Dust is Parker's obvious bid for recognition -- and proof that he should get it. (MARGARET WAPPLER)

on New Multitudes JAY FARRAR, WILL JOHNSON, ANDERS PARKER AND YIM YAMES PAY HOMAGE TO WOODY GUTHRIE ON "NEW MULTITUDES" – Like a cadre of musical brothers finally coalescing after years on the road apart, Jay Farrar (Son Volt, Gob Iron, Uncle Tupelo), Will Johnson (Centro-matic, South San Gabriel), Anders Parker (Varnaline, Gob Iron) and Yim Yames (My Morning Jacket, Monsters of Folk) gratefully deliver New Multitudes, an intimate interpretation of American icon and musical legend Woody Guthrie's previously unrecorded lyrics.

Set to coincide with the centennial celebration of Woody Guthrie's birth year, New Multitudes is being released on Rounder Records as a 12 track release and a 23 track deluxe, limited edition. The limited edition features original Guthrie lyric sheets, the 12 track release, and 11 additional compositions recorded by Farrar and Parker.

Under the invitation of Nora Guthrie, Woody's daughter, to tour the Guthrie archives, each of the four songwriters were offered the chance to plumb and mine the plethora of notebooks, scratch pads, napkins, etc. for anything that might inspire them to lend their voices and give the words new life.

"These guys worked on an amazing group of lyrics" says Nora. "Much of it was culled from Woody's times in L.A. Lyric wise, it's a part of the story that is still mostly unknown. From Woody's experiences on LA's skid row to his later years in Topanga Canyon, they are uniquely intimate, and relate two distinctly emotional periods in his life."

The spirit of Guthrie may have been involved in more ways than one, as all four songwriters mentioned the immediate connection to the songs they chose, or as they would suggest, "chose them." The writing came together quickly, as if the mischief muse who originally penned them latched himself to each writer's grey matter upon first contact.

Musically, it is this sense of collaboration that makes New Multitudes not just another trite and traditional acoustic regurgitation of back porch blues. From the ragged jangle of its opening track, "Hoping Machine", the loping lilt of "Fly High", the floorboard stomp of "No Fear", to the lush warmth and sudden sonic gut punch of "My Revolutionary Mind" the cohorts deliver a lesson in discovering a song's sweet spot. It's the function and preparedness of each artist's dogged work ethic gleaned the old-fashion way; veracious songs, road weary odometers, and sweat stained live shows, all attributes of the man they are honoring.