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Marilyn Jordan’s debut album, “Both Things Are True” (Release date: March 3rd, 2023) gathers ten songs written over ten years while raising children and trying to find the light through the rain. Songs of women trying to survive and shine, women who’ve traveled bittersweet, winding paths, intent on keeping their own sparks glowing anyway. Growing up in rural Oregon, Jordan explored the countryside in the rain, climbed oak trees, and read books from the Carnegie library -- when she wasn't making up songs on her parents' hundred-year-old piano. Coming of age, she saw first-hand some of the tragedies that life can deliver, which expanded her understanding of the myriad challenges that comprise the human condition. As she gained gratitude, patience, and compassion, these experiences started to show up as themes in her songs, joining with her love of place and character-driven storytelling.
Produced by Clara Baker (acoustic, resonator and electric guitar, banjo, keys, vocals) former member of Five Letter Word, Both Things Are True, was recorded one beautiful Pacific Northwest week in May at the OK Theatre in Enterprise, Oregon. Engineered by Fluff and Gravy recording artist Bart Budwig (trumpet) whose engineering credits include Shook Twins and John Cragie, with additional engineering by Clara Baker and Sacha Mueller. Instrumentation by Niko Daoussis (keys, resophonic guitar, upright and electric bass, percussion) from the Shook Twins and percussion by Nevada Sowle (An American Forrest).
Jordan’s buttery vocals and delicately strummed and finger and flat-picked guitar convey tales of resilient women looking in the rearview but always looking forward. On the lead-off track, Daoussis’s gorgeous piano work accentuates the account of a woman fleeing a sinister past work life, where she got “a quarter and a dime for two hours working at The Windmill.” Budwig’s trumpet heralds the dawn of a brighter day on Alexa as a young independent woman sheds the expectations of her oppressive hometown. River Water, underpinned by Baker’s moody resonator guitar, expresses the stormy emotional growth that occurs over time when two seemingly homogeneous forces comingle, develop and change. Reflecting on the uncertain future of a bullied woman, the narrator in Delilah wonders aloud what will become of her dreams “where there’s a fray every day,” asking “will you stay?” Butcher Boy and Calico Curtains are rich with imagery of the joys and hardships of raising a family amid farm life, while Caroline portrays a woman who could not overcome her sad circumstances. October Wind marks the arrival of seasonal darkness while transcending the inevitable depression that ensues. Beltane Morning and Seedlings Sprout celebrate the joyous return of the magic of spring encouraging all to “reach on out, embrace what you’re seeing, fill up with color and lots of play.”
On Both Things Are True, Marilyn Jordan gives voice to those who are isolated, and women in difficult circumstances, while reminding us that one’s inner light can still shine, even when life is unbearably hard. For 2023, Jordan will be concentrating on songwriting, shows, finishing her Master's work on Nanci Griffith’s songwriting, and working on the inaugural exhibit for OSU’s new Center for the Creative Arts.
- Genre
- Folk & Singer-Songwriter
Contains tracks
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