The Playlist Videos

Innovative songwriter & performer Emily Jayne brings her original music to The PlayList. She delivers alternative pop style tunes on two keyboards, backed by Travis Crotteau, Mark Glen & Tyler Dubla.

I'M ON TV MOM!

Thursday, December 15th 2011 at 9pm on PBS North


I will be performing live on PBS's 'The Playlist,'
joined by Mark Glen on bass, Travis Crotteau
on guitar and Tyler Dubla on drums.


Look forward to "The Umbrella Waltz," "Sweet
Escape" and "The Blue Room."


Encores Saturday at 3pm and Sunday at 1:30pm.






.

Wild Ponies: Hidden Verses

Climbing on the breeze she could taste it perfectly
A buttercup drowning by the stream
Never get it right with those muddy feet confined
Lost in the tide of a shallow dream

Lost and running in streams of green
Wearing shades of palomino coloring
Beat her down and run this one free
Tied off from your mental shackling

You’ve caught yourself some wild ponies darling
You’re lost in your jeremiad
You’ve caught yourself some wild ponies darling
You rope them in your purgatory

Hope you can ride and hang on tight
(Silent and loving is a gift from the Lord)
Cause her skin is crawling from the inside
(Shame-faced and faithful is a double grace)
Bear the load of your wet feet
Suckling your insecurity

You’ve caught yourself some wild ponies darling
You’re lost in your jeremiad
You’ve caught yourself some wild ponies darling
You rope them in your purgatory

Why can't these feet carry her faster?

Control of body can’t control the mind
(More bitter than death - woman a snare)
Now she’s ready this time to cross your line
(Her heart a trap and her hands are chains)
Better get on your phone and call this one back to you
Pure antidote for your hold

You’ve caught yourself some wild ponies darling
But you’re lost in your jeremiad
You’ve caught yourself some wild ponies darling
Lost in your purgatory


*Silent and loving is a gift from the Lord
Shame-faced and faithful is a double grace
More bitter than death-woman a snare;
Her heart a trap and her hands are chains

He Brings Me Sugar

don’t say morning’s come
don’t say it’s up to me
if I could take twenty five minutes
out of the record books

sugar
he brings me sugar

bobby’s collecting bees
and hammers he used one on me
cold war with little boys
get in with a bubble gum trade

and…
sugar, bring me sugar
and all the robins bring
bring me many things
but…
sugar, oh sugar

he brings me sugar
as far as I can tell
i’ve been gone for miles now

and you know and I know
i don’t know me very well

and I know and you know
if they found me out…

just watch, just watch, just watch what i do
sweet boy if they find you out
tell me what you think they’ll do

when they find you gotta little in here
tell me what you think they’ll do
when they find you out
when they find you out
find you

you’re such a pussy, my sweet boy
my sugar…

sugar
he brings me sugar
and all the robins bring
they bring me many things but…

Oh my God, my sweet boy
He's so sweet but we're just
Not enough hands

I'm gonna heal from this.

How many times do I have to say
To get away-get gone
Flip your shit past another lasses
Humble dwelling

You got your game, made your shot, and you got away
With a lot, but I'm not turned-on
So put away that meat you're selling

Cause I do know what's good for me-
And I've done what I could for you
But you're not benefiting, and yet I'm sitting
Singing again, sing, sing again

How can I deal with this, if he won't get with this
I'm gonna heal from this; he won't admit to it
Nothing to figure out; I gotta get him out
It's time the truth was out that he don't give a
Shit about me

How many times can it escalate
Till it elevates to a place I can't breathe?
And I must decide, if you must deride
That I'm much obliged to up and go

I'll idealize, then realize that it's no
Sacrifice, because the price is paid, and
There's nothing left to grieve
Fuckin go-

Cause I've done what I could for you, and I do know what's
Good for me and I'm not benefiting, instead
I'm sitting singing again, singing again, singing again,
Sing, sing, sing again

How can I deal with this, if he won't get with this
I'm gonna heal from this; he won't admit to it
Nothing to figure out; I gotta get him out
It's time the truth was out that he don't give a
Shit about me

New Song! Strawberry Kisses

I never lost my way
Until the day saw you came
Emerging fantasies
Restrained delicately
See your strawberry kisses

Far deep down in the wood
Where I fold down the hood
My echo reflecting
Your dew drop pearl glistening
Taste your strawberry kisses

Let it rain your heroin
Cause now you run through my veins
Let it rain your cocaine
If it’s my heart racing
Cause I found my bliss
In the kiss

The beat is quickening
Submerged at 215
Rose umbrella's grinning
My tears forced up out like rain
From your strawberry kisses

Let it rain your heroin
Cause now you run through my veins 
Let it rain your cocaine
If it’s my heart racing
Cause I found my bliss
In the kiss

With your mmm's
And your mmm's
And your good girl

Let it rain your heroin
Cause now you run free in my veins
Let it rain your cocaine
Now my heart's racing
Make me smile, you make me wild
Keeping the beat all the while
While we play come what may
I don’t believe what they say
Cause I found my bliss
In your kiss

Press hard as gravity
Unzipped this healing
Sparking in me you me
Count myself as lucky
With your strawberry kisses

Want your strawberry kisses


Scratch Audio

Maybe We're a Bliss of Another Kind

Inevitable Withdrawal

RIP Amy Winehouse

New Song: Sweet Escape

Batten down your buoy and your green breeches
Then tie me a Windsor or an Oysterman’s
We’ll cast off and I’ll hold your heading
While you worry if she’s seaworthy
Is she seaworthy?

We shouldn't have sailed but you didn’t belay
Now the burdened vessel has to give right-of-way
So I trusted you to navigate
But you marooned me in a mirage that fades
Our mirage that fades

I didn’t have the time to see
That your pirates like a quick release
I didn’t have the time to see
That your pirates will just cut me free
Then make their sweet escape

Adrift in your wake when I was capsized
Where I once was wet the girls run dry
I’m washed up, crashed upon your shore
Drowning in your tide no more
In your tide no more

I didn’t have the time to see
That your pirates only catch and release
I didn’t have the time to see
That your pirates will just cut me free
Then make their sweet escape

Lost on your cockpit
I’m a whore for you
Muster the captain
And gather the crew
All hands on deck
Cause I’m bleeding blue
The sharks in the water
Now what will you do?
Will you do?

I didn’t have the time to see
That your pirates like a quick release
I didn’t have the time to see
That your pirates will just cut me free
Then make their sweet escape

(Cause you didn’t have the time to see
That my high's in cutting it free
You didn’t have the time to see
That my high’s in that numb release
My sweet escape)

While I'm on all fours
You'll make your sweet escape


Listen to scratch Audio Track

Is That All Right, Yeah?

Oh, my, my, little white lie

Just Like Me

CD Release Party June 11, 2011

Emily

Travis & Mark

Emily, Travis & Mark

Emily, Travis & Mark

Emily, Travis & Ethan

Emily, Travis & Ethan

Travis

Emily, Travis, Tyler & Mark


Photos by George Ellsworth:
Emily

Ethan

Mark

Ethan

Emily & Travis

Emily

Emily, Travis & Mark

Emily

Many CD Thank You's!

I want to personally thank all the AMAZINGLY TALENTED artists who have worked on this communal project. I know I will never be able to thank you enough.

Travis Crotteau for his outstanding musical talent that continually inspires me AND for his generosity of time and space, whom without this project would NOT be alive.

Tyler Dubla for his ever-constant solid foundations that manage to keep us all grounded yet floating freely in the vast firmament. Your ability to groove in the craziest of circumstances is a talent to be cherished.

Ethan Thompson for taking the time to lay some sweettt bass that fits more perfectly than I could have imagined.

Mark Glen for going with the flow and making the songs unique with his acoustic, upright groovin' flavor.

John White for rocking out on the songs that required a true punk edge.

James O'Neill for your flexibility and coming up with a fabulous piano part;

George Ellsworth for your generous time and incredible dedication to making the song work - 'Elephants' could not have been without you. And thank you for your flying fingers on the 'creepy' keys and bowing magic.

Joy Caza for hanging in until the last minute and blowing out something wonderful.

Chris Kelly for adding your manly pipes to the songs that required a little something special.

Joey Aikens, a dear, old friend of mine. Thank you for offering to help when you know I was freaking out. You are beyond sweet! Not to mention coming up with exactly what I was imagining.

Lastly, Nicholas 'Tiberius' Gosen. You have dedicated your talents for months to this project and it is amazing because of you. I cannot thank you enough, friend. Tres Generociones in round! Now, is that everyone?!

To the many artists who created an outfit for the paper doll project that my whim wanted with this CD: Tina Gilbert (Wild Ponies,) Joy Caza (Elephants Can Fly,) Natalia Pierandrei (The Umbrella Waltz,) Kate Jorgensen (Mr. Dick,) Jill Algren (In Eve's Skin,) John White (The Blue Room,) Christine Hoberg (Skinny White Ass.)

Certainly, a generous acknowledgement to my immediate family: John, Bella and Tori. They hid away for many hours so I could record this album here at home. Taking on the task of keeping Sam and Joony quiet. No easy task! You are loved and so very appreciated.

And lastly, to the Blue Plate Fellas, who have taught me much and inspired these songs.

I am honored and delighted that all of the talented folk have taken the time to participate and come together to create this amazing work. It is truly a work of art, both visually and sonically. I am proud to put my name on it and send it off into the world. I couldn't have done this without all of your talented collaboration. Thank you!



Love, Peace, Creativity~



Emily

CD review: Jayne’s ‘Blue Plate Fellas’ is special

By: John Ziegler, Duluth News Tribune


Emily Jayne describes herself as a musician, artist, writer, web designer, tattooist, raw foods chef, cook, wife, mother and someone who spends entirely too much time on the couch.

She also has a new release called “Blue Plate Fellas” that was recorded in her Cloquet home and features a kind of d.i.y. charm.

It’s a semi-jazzy stroll through a batch of original tunes that all seem to be vignettes involving everything from shady guys who aren’t what they appear to poor decisions on automobile purchases. Most involve fairly dysfunctional relationships that, if nothing else, served as fodder for future songs.

Jayne has a unique way of choosing where to place the accents in her vocal phrasing that causes me to pay attention to the syntax, like getting a rap on the knuckles with a wooden ruler. There’s a kind of sing-songy, hushed, breathy vibe as she glisses through multiple syllables in one fell swoop like Clifford Brown’s agile trumpet stylings.

Jayne has recruited a few of Duluth’s best players, such as bassists Ethan Thompson and George Ellsworth (she actually uses four bass players on the project), and even jazz-oriented Twin Cities pianist James Tyler O’Neill helps with some tasty playing. Travis Crotteau and Tyler Dubla helped with arrangements.

“Mr. Dick” is a swingin’ little tale of Little Jimmy Richard, who led the narrator on and “tore her head apart.” The saga then delves into gunplay and bang-bang; Little Jimmy Richard is dead. Fine piano from O’Neill and some lyrical trumpet from Crotteau.

“The Blue Room” deals with the sensitive topic of rape.

Jayne directs “Stupid” at herself for buying a diesel automobile in Minnesota “where it’s always

30 below,” and “Prisoner of Snow” is a swirling tale that mixes war zone soldiers, ghosts, cowgirls and arrows.

There’s a certain slight out-of-tuneness to Jayne’s upright piano that’s maybe the perfect metaphor for the whole project. It’s slightly off-kilter, but if you cock your head just a bit you can hear exactly what Jayne is driving it at.

Emily Jayne / "Blue Plate Fellas"

Genre: Pop/rock

Website: www.emilyjayne.com

Engineer: Nicholas Gosen

Personnel: Emily Jayne (vocals, keyboards), Travis Crotteau (guitar, banjo, mandolin, trumpet), Tyler Dubla (drums), Ethan Thompson (bass), John White (bass), Mark Glen (bass), George Ellsworth (bass, keyboards), James Tyler O’Neill (keyboards), Joy Caza (trombone), Joey Aikens (violin), Chris Kelly (vocals)

Upcoming gig: The Duluth CD release of “Blue Plate Fellas” is 8 p.m. Saturday June 11 at Beaner’s Central, 324 N. Central Ave. Also on the bill is James and Younger.

Cost: $5

Call: (218) 624-5957


John Ziegler has worked in the music industry for 37 years as a radio host, interviewer, record producer and professional musician.

State of Emergency

Forget Your Troubles

Strange Fruit

Morning Rain Clouds Up My Window

Tremolo

Somewhere the rainbow ends, my dear.

Album Artwork Sneak Peek!

Emily Jayne: by Jana Peterson, Pine Jornal

Emily Jayne: A woman of many talents, many names, many dreams

Emily Jayne Brissett is a woman of many talents – singing, playing piano, drawing – and a woman of many names. She goes by Emily Jayne when she’s performing. At home, she answers to “mom” most often. Her given name is Emily Jayne Brissett; now that she’s married to John White, she often hyphenates the two surnames, or simply goes by Emily White.
By: Jana Peterson, Pine Journal

Emily Jayne: A woman of many talents, many names, many dreams

Emily Jayne Brissett has known since she was a young girl growing up in Cloquet that she wanted to make a career out of music. After all, she comes from a musical family, the kind of people who actually enjoy singing out loud with each other when they get together, and who sound good when they do it. Besides, music was a necessity – ranking near the top of her hierarchy of needs.

“I started teaching myself piano when I was 14 and couldn’t get enough of it,” explained Jayne, who adopted Emily Jayne as her stage name. “I needed to play.”

Because she was in choir, she knew a little about music, but not much about piano. And there was a particular song – “(Everything I Do) I Do It For You” by Brian Adams – that she wanted to play. So she taped the notes to the piano keys on her inherited piano and began a four-month quest to learn the song. When she’d mastered “Everything,” she moved on to Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody.” And so it went.

“Piano became my way of coping with things in high school,” Jayne said. “A lot of people turned to more negative behaviors – I spent many hours driving my dad crazy playing piano.”

In her senior year, knowing she wanted to go to music school, she finally enrolled in formal piano lessons with the highly respected Gretchen Chelseth. Jayne would go to lessons over her lunch break from school.

“I wanted a more regimented technique; mine was pretty loosey-goosey” Jayne explained, adding that, because she was self-taught, she tended to use three fingers rather than five most of the time. “My finger placement definitely needed some work.” It worked.

Jayne was accepted to Boston’s Berklee College of Music – founded on “the revolutionary principle that the best way to prepare students for careers in music was through the study and practice of contemporary music,” the website said – and off she went to the big city.

Almost against her will, Jayne said, her time at Berklee had an inarguable impact on her music. She went there with a rock-n-roll style and a classical choral background. Now, years later, the jazz that is such a large part of the culture at Berklee is coming out in her music.

When asked to describe her music, Jayne named her style more “jazzy-alternative rock.” Listening to various tunes on her My Space page (link to it from her website at emilyjayne.com), Jayne’s lyrics run the gamut, from wryly humorous (“Stupid,” about the woes of buying a diesel in Minnesota) to shocking (“The Blue Room,” a song she wrote after a man she went to high school with assaulted a young girl). Her voice is distinctive and melodious, with an edge to it that brings to mind Natalie Merchant (of 10,000 Maniacs fame).

“I always was emotive,” Jayne said. “Even in high school choir, the reviews I’d get back were that the “emotional content was striking.”

While not overpowering, the piano definitely has a presence as well in Jayne’s music.

Because the piano is her instrument of choice, Jayne hasn’t played many gigs in Cloquet, but she is known at Beaner’s in West Duluth (where they have a keyboard she can play) and the Thirsty Pagan in Superior (where there is actually a piano).


More than music

While music is still a primary passion in her life, Jayne has made room for other loves. First came the aforementioned John White of Cambridge, Mass., who played bass guitar in a band in Boston that Jayne signed on to sing for.

“I’d answered a flyer looking for a background vocalist,” she said. “Then, when I was home visiting, he joined the band as well.”

It was love at first sight …

basically.

“It was a little more complicated than that,” she said, offering a Mona Lisa smile and no further details.

Jayne and White had (and have) much in common. Both are musicians, although John leans toward punk, Jayne said. They’re both artists: Jayne draws amazing portraits (of people and animals) in pencil, colored pencils and now markers, while John is a talented blacksmith and, according to Jayne, can do just about anything else he sets his mind to, be it carpentry or adapting a car to run on biofuel.

There’s also a shared mindset that’s obvious once a person meets them, a kind of openness to new ideas, an engagement with the world around us.

Then there’s Star Trek.

“Yep, we’re Trekkies,” Jayne admits, laughing, after her oldest daughter mentions the family’s nightly viewings of past episodes.

While both of them miss the diversity of the Boston area, they moved back to Cloquet to start a family more than a decade ago.

Enter Isobelle, then Victoria two years later. Now the girls are 11 and 9 years old, respectively. Jayne is in her second year of home schooling them.

They learn Spanish, math, literature, GUM (grammar usage mechanics), science and go on field trips. Jayne is a hands-on teacher – otherwise they goof off, she said – but staying home also gives her time to work on her music.

While music is available to the children, neither Jayne nor White is doing a “Tiger Mother” on their kids and forcing them to play any particular instrument or join in an all-family band.

In fact, Isobelle says she hears her mother’s music only when Jayne is recording in the living room (and the rest of the family is, as White likes to put it, making like Harry Potter, going to their rooms and pretending they “don’t exist”).

“But I caught you yesterday singing the Umbrella Waltz,” Jayne teased Isobelle, explaining that Isobelle was actually humming the Emily Jayne song while doing her math.


Coming full circle

The White family (and their two dogs) live in the same house that Jayne grew up in. The back yard of the house – built by Jayne’s father, André Brissett, and mother, Shela Caza, on the foundations of an old barn – abuts her grandmother GiGi’s back yard (where André was raised). Her step-grandfather lives in the neighborhood as well. (Jayne’s parents are divorced and both have remarried, Sheila to Dwight Caza and André to Mary Joe Kozsarek.)

While Jayne is still working on that “making a living making music” goal, she does have a band now, which formed after a Facebook

posting.

“My brother’s best friend growing up, Travis Crotteau of Cloquet, is a guitarist. He responded, saying that he’d been working with a drummer from Duluth, Tyler Dubla,” she said. “It was two years ago that we started playing together.”

It’s going well, and the three of them are now working on a new CD, with the help of Duluth Playhouse soundman Nick Gosen, a change for Jayne who recorded her previous CDs on her own. Several area musicians have agreed to appear on the new CD, including Sara Softich (violin), Matt Mobley (acoustic bassist), Ethan Thompson (electric bass) and, of course, her husband John (when the music suits his style of bass

guitar).

In the meantime, she’s incredibly grateful to have been able to continue with her music.

“John’s the breadwinner of the family, so he has less time to do the things he enjoys,” she said. “Since I don’t work outside the home, I am blessed to have the time to do all the things I do: music, art, tattooing … I’ve even started a novel and had a raw foods business until recently.”

Ultimately, Jayne would love to be able to return the favor, and support her family with her music.

In a perfect world, she could combine all her talents and run a piano bar that served raw foods and featured music as well as art by Emily Jayne, with a small tattoo parlor in the corner.

In the real world, look for the latest Emily Jayne CD to appear later this year. Maybe this will be the one.


LINK

Recording Guitar 2.3.11

Drums Finished!!!

Tyler had recorded 6 drum tracks in our last recording session, but still had 4 to go. Nick recorded Tyler's final tracks for the new CD tonight. All the drums are now laid down! Yay!

Now for the piano, guitar, vocal...background vocal, acoustic guitar, percussion, banjo, mandoline, marimba, trumpet, trombone, acoustic bass, electric bass, keyboards/organ, saxaphone, 3rd background vocal, timpani, didgeridoo...and so on...




"Five to nine" aka:8:55

Sam settles in with Ty after a long nights work!

Recording BPF Piano 1.23.11

A blustery, cold eve it was! While trying to squeeze takes in between cranking cars and whining dogs, we managed to get some great tracks on my lovely baby grand.

Courting A Madness