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It becomes clear to someone who frequents the Boston indie-folk scene, that all you need to create something substantial in our city, is a little help from your friends. Especially if you have friends like Laura Cortese’s. She has just started testing out some of her new songs at HI-N-DRY Studios in the recently restored armory on Highland Avenue in Somerville. Laura Cortese is a powerhouse singer-songwriter and fiddle-goddess. She went to Berklee College of Music, co-founded the Boston Celtic Music Fest, and while she is away a lot of the time, Laura calls Boston her home.
On April 5th At Club Passim, Jennifer Kimball, Anne Heaton, Aoife O’Donovan, and Rose Polenzani served as dream-choir to Cortese’s headlining show at Club Passim. Also on stage was New York City guitarist, Jefferson Hamer, and local super-musician and drummer, Neil Cleary. The Passim show was part of Cortese’s 2009 Musician Stimulus Tour. “Laura hopes her tour will inspire down and out CEO’s to join the pink slip brigade and become musicians” as stated in the March 10th press release for the show. I do not know how many CEO’s attended the show, but I do know that room was full. On stage were some of the best voices imaginable in one place, harmonizing 4-part arrangements, alongside Cortese’s throttling pop alto. Cortese enlisted New York City bass player, Jacob Silver of the Mammals, to help arrange the harmonies for the show. “I thought it was particularly amazing the way they took the best elements of folk, rock and pop, and added those gorgeous choral arrangements,” said Club Passim Manager, Matt Smith. Cortese’s already memorable, lusciously arranged songs reached even greater heights with her choir of local folk divas adding endless layers of vocal richness to the melodies. A highlight of the show was when Courtese was joined by Hamer, Cleary and a choir like in the song Cry. After a year of the song being incomplete, frequent collaborator and close friend, Aoife O’Donovan, helped finish writing the song. Cortese told me that the song is about the passing away of her father. O’Donovan sat down with her ukulele and asked questions about him. She says that the final verse came out of talking about how much she missed her Dad. She sings, "I want to walk by your side in a white dress, give me away tonight! But you’re gone so I'll walk straight on to my new love." After tugging at the heart-strings of her audience and belting out almost two hours worth of stellar originals and imaginative covers, like Feist’s I Feel It All, she hosted her wildly entertaining spelling bee, “Spell or Dare” at Passim. This is a testament to Cortese’s true performer nature. The event came after Cortese experienced a spelling bee at a bar in New York. She wanted to do something similar in Boston and improve upon what she saw. She of course added a live band, daring attire, and a suave co-host, Matt Malikowski. Malikowski is Spell or Dare’s self-proclaimed “word nerd”, dishing out some absurd and mostly difficult word choices. The Spell or Dare house band varies, but often includes members of Session Americana and the lovely Aoife O’Donovan on vocals and glockenspiel. The next one will be at Toad in Cambridge, on May 5th.
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