Often when you get a new record, comparisons immediately hit. Other times, you are mesmerized and it takes days to set bearings for the sound. Bosque Brown's Plays Mara Lee Miller was initially a mystery. After listening to the voice and lyric content for a week, my bearings are set. There is a lot of talk around the indie rock scene of the relationship between Joanna Newsom and SMOG's Bill Callahan. Rarely does the discussion of offspring come about. However, if I had to guess what their talent fusion would be, it would be Bosque Brown: an innocence coupled with troubled thoughts and fears.
Bosque Brown is the moniker Mara Lee Miller uses. Her debut record, Plays Mara Lee Miller, is a collage of haunting songs which reflect a time far from today.
Most new female indie vocalists get compared to Cat Power's Chan Marshall and/or Joni Mitchell. But for Miller to get that would be truly an injustice. Her lyrics and tone are far before Chan herself. This is the music that Gillian Welch would love, songs that tell stories of the rapture and times of old. Miller's friend and supporter Damien Jurado compared her voice to "the heartache of Kitty Wells and the lonesome howl of Robert Johnson", which might be most accurate. Upon first listen, one realizes how long it's been since a voice has had such impact.
After playing dates with Jurado, Miller and crew went to record with producer Eric Fisher in Seattle. Fisher has worked with Jurado, Damien's friend and touring band member J. Tillman. Tillman's records also share this ghost fashion Bosque Brown has presented on this record.
Based in Denton, the band has a few dates in the Dallas area in upcoming weeks:
10/21/05 - Richardson, TX @ University of Texas - Dallas, Student Union Mall w/Shiny Around the Edges & More
10/28/05 - Denton, TX @ Hailey's w/ John Vanderslice
11/07/05 - Dallas, TX @ The Cavern w/ Unwed Sailor
Bosque Brown's Mara Lee Miller is currently working on a one-sided LP which will have four new songs and an etching on the other side.
Bosque Brown - Still Afraid
Bosque Brown - Went Walking
Ed/Pub:LisaM
Article comments
1 - Phillip Winn
Hmm... In my area, and in time for me to set aside the a date. I think I might have to check her out. Thanks!
2 - shil k. patel
hey, i'm the station manager at radio utd, the internet college radio station at the university of texas at dallas, and i'm excited to say that bosque brown will be playing our campus on october 21st at 7p, as the article mentions. it's a free show, and shiny around the edges and land&station are also playing, and both put on great live performances.