I may not have gotten the chance to interview Willie Nelson, and I most definitely will never get to perform on the same stage as him–but I did interview one of his openers, which is just about as cool, if not equally rad.
The Badger Herald has proven itself to be on the ball for discovering new talents around Madison. Not that independent Americana artist Whitney Mann was completely under the radar. The extremely talented Mann has been the musical guest on Michael Feldman’s Whad’Ya Know radio show on NPR, played at the Madison Roots Festival (along with headliners Willy Porter and Betty LaVette) and the Milwaukee-based WMSE invited her to open for Bill Kirchen (who you may know as “Commander Cody”) and Joe Pug for the station’s Radio Summer Camp Festival.
And she hasn’t been to Folsum Prison, but she has been around the block. As a recent press release puts it, “The excitement of newcomer Whitney Mann has traveled across the pond where AmericanaUK.com raves, ‘her biggest asset, her voice, which has echoes of Dolly Parton and Kasey Chambers and even occasionally the cracked regret of Tim Hardin, is utterly convincing… her melodies are to die for and she looks set to be one of the major names on the Americana scene.'”
Willie Nelson may be a legend, one of the remaining real “cowboys” America can lay claim to, but Mann’s calming vocals and muted guitar accompaniment give the genre a much fresher take. Exactly why, I intuit, that Nelson’s management selected her for such an esteemed role, and furthermore why his faithful backers–at least the ones who will be at either of the two shows with Mann, La Crosse, WI Mar. 18 and Joliet, IL Mar. 24–will latch on to her voice as well. Mann’s inspiration comes from artists like Johnny Cash, Neil Diamond, Alison Krauss, M. Ward, Jenny Lewis, Roger Miller, Bonnie Raitt, Junior Brown, Randy Travis, Conway Twitty, and, definitely, Willie Nelson–no facade, it’s been on her MySpace since way before the gig.
Whitney told the Badger Herald in a previous interview that she is more captivated by sad songs, thus these are generally what she sings. It is entirely befitting to now hear her say, in her press release in response to her upcoming performances on Nelson’s tour, that she “remembers [her] dad and [her] singing ‘Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain’ in the kitchen growing up.” Even less surprising is it, then, to take in her view that “It’s a dream come true to open for such an icon as Willie Nelson.”
Music has a way of taking memories and latching them together harmoniously in the mind. It is my personal hope that when the eventual Whitney-Willie matchup takes place, those audience members will in the future remember Mann’s simple, feminine voice as an echo to songs like “Stardust” or “Always On My Mind.”
Additional information on Whitney Mann or her debut EP The Way Back Home may be obtained by contacting Kyle Jacobson (815) 543.5953 or via e-mail at [email protected]