Janus

Paula Boggs Band

Download: Your price

Janus

Album download

Please choose a price: $ USD ($5.00 or more)

Please pay at least $5.00

Out of stock

What the critics have said:

“The record [album Janus] includes deeply personal themes of ancestry, memory, and love. The storytelling on this record will pull you in, but it’s the musicianship that ultimately takes center stage, thanks to an elegant, groove-laden soundscape crafted by an all-star backing band." - No Depression

"Boggs captures a

What the critics have said:

“The record [album Janus] includes deeply personal themes of ancestry, memory, and love. The storytelling on this record will pull you in, but it’s the musicianship that ultimately takes center stage, thanks to an elegant, groove-laden soundscape crafted by an all-star backing band." - No Depression

"Boggs captures a raw nostalgia ...that might catch you by surprise. She has created a gentle groove for your heartache." - Americana Highways

‘This Seattle combo dubs its sound “soulgrass,” since it combines bluegrass and Americana idioms. [“King Brewster,” Track 4] is a story song telling of Paula’s enslaved ancestor in Alabama and his journey through the postbellum Jim Crow South. Flemons, a veteran of the Carolina Chocolate Drops, shares lead vocals. " - MusicRow magazine

“The harrowing, chanted chorus [of Ponies] is immediately followed by verse after verse from Boggs, as she weaves soul, bluegrass, country, and even a little bit of jazz into a beautiful yarn about finding the romantic side of life in any given circumstance." - Billboard

"["Ponies is a]n ambitious charmer that curates with Dylan "Desire" era multi-dimensional expressiveness along with storied lyrics worth continually revisiting." - Glide Magazine

“Rewriting the bluegrass story from a black perspective." - AmericanaUK

Read more…

Paula's Blog

Remembering Someone I Never Knew 

Remembering Someone I Never Knew 

Why had I not heard of her?  How does that happen? I’m not sure why the Sunday Seattle Times obituary section always finds me.  Maybe it’s because the older I get the more likely I’ll read about someone I once knew or learn of someone I’m meeting too late.  So it was this morning.  reakfast I started turning the pages old school of my local daily news.  There’s something about the feel of actual paper, the sound of pages turning and ritual that make my print edition a welcomed luxury in an era where I could consume its content online the night before. 

The Times has a section called “Passages” that follows the local obit section and covers national and international figures.  There I learned about Allee Willis, “one of the music industry’s most colorful figures” who died on December 24th at age 72.  During her lifetime Willis wrote well over 900 songs and was responsible for hits as diverse as Earth, Wind & Fire’s “September,” The Pet Shop Boys “What Have I Done to Deserve This?,” tracks for Dusty Springfield, Ray Charles, Cyndi Lauper and co-writing the music for “The Color Purple.” In 2018 she was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame.  I should have known about her.  I wish I’d known about her.  But I didn’t.  In an industry where “performance” is king, too many songwriters don’t know about other songwriters.  I can’t change the industry but I can change myself.  Willis’s story inspires me to learn.  Inspires me to take more steps to discover fellow songwriters...before “Passages.” 

Allee Willis’s 10 Most Influential Songs

Buying My First Guitar at Age Ten (from upcoming memoir work in progress) 

As a third and fourth grader I sang songs like “Sounds of Silence,” “Blowin’ in The Wind,” “Turn, Turn, Turn” and “If I Had A Hammer.” They didn’t sound great on my clarinet but each showcased an instrument capturing my ear and imagination — the acoustic guitar. I wanted to sing and play these songs in my bedroom. The chord progressions, minor chord vibe and lyrics intersected with my sense of the Civil Rights Movement, and were tailored for the 9 year old me. I wanted to play guitar. 

When I first told my parents they were less than sold. I’d already blown through the piano and clarinet with not much to show beyond expenses. So my mom and I cut a deal: they’d rent a guitar and pay for lessons but to own one, I’d have to pay for half. My guitar lessons started with songs like “Hey Jude, 
 “House of the Rising Sun” and “Puff the Magic Dragon.” Within six months I’d written a song and offered guitar lessons to kids in the neighborhood, five cents a session, a pig-tailed entrepreneur saving coins towards a dream.  

One of my favorite TV shows was “Here Come The Brides,” based in Seattle, a place I knew nothing about beyond the show. It aired between 1968-70 so at 10 when guitar lessons started I’d been watching the show a year. The basic storyline was Seattle, this rugged male-heavy logging community out west wooed women from New England to move there to get married. The three main male characters were brothers Jason, Joshua and Jeremy, the latter played by teen throb Bobby Sherman. Jeremy’s love interest was Candy and I was obsessed with them or maybe just her. The first song I ever wrote was “Candy” and I told my parents, guitar teacher and myself it was a song I wrote for Jeremy to sing to Candy: 

“Her lips are red as roses. 
Her eyes are hazel blue. 
Her hair is long and pretty. 
My girl, my girl Candy. 

I love the way she walks and talks. 
I love the way she smiles. 
I love the way she says hello. 
My girl, my girl Candy. 

After “Candy” I wrote “Ozymandias,” about an imaginary dog, and by then I’d also raised $20, enough to buy half my first guitar. 

By combing classified ads in the Richmond Times Dispatch I found a used acoustic guitar for $40 in a  local pawn shop and with newspaper in hand told my mom I’d found the “perfect” guitar.  

We drove off soon after in search of my prize. By the time we got there though, the guitar was sold. Gone. The 10 year old me, visibly shaken, touched my mom’s heart. “Paula, you stuck to the bargain so if there’s another guitar here you like I’ll get it for you.” In that moment, she was the coolest mom any kid could invent. We’d struck a deal though so I told her “no,” I wanted to find a $40 guitar.  Overhearing us, the shop owner told us he had a guitar in his basement that might meet our needs. My mom thanked him and then turning to me said, “Paula, you don’t have to get that guitar” but I really wanted to see and test it. After playing this used Yamaha 6-string awhile I tested others in the shop but when I returned to it, I knew I’d found my axe, nylon-strings and all. 

I took the guitar everywhere and being a skinny kid, the instrument was almost as big as me. Though I don’t recall specific school performances, childhood friend Jeannine Relly recalls me carrying the guitar around St. Joseph’s and playing for other kids at recess. By 6th grade I’d even won a talent show hosted by Oak Street Church. Throughout my remaining years at St. Joseph’s  I wrote music and along with our next door neighbors, the McClenny kids, we Boggs’ were beginning to learn songs we could perform as siblings. Standouts included Otis Redding’s “Sitting on the Dock of the Bay” and the Staples Singers’ “O Happy Day.” 

Spending A Little Time In Music City 

It’s been 7 years since last time I visited Nashville.  The Gibson Guitars display still greeted me at baggage claim but almost immediately I sensed a change.  The city is a little less country, more “hip,” a little more diverse; there’s a slightly different beat.  There was no Uber 7 years ago but now nowhere is more than a 5 minute wait.  Uber fuels Nashville with military precision by way of musician drivers, cops earning extra pay and two-income married couples, like Paulette who with her husband bought two mini-vans so they could reap maximum income benefit when party after downtown party calls for someone else driving you home. 

I’m here for the 2018 Americana Music Fest and can’t tell you how many times an Uber driver, barista, waitress or even fellow musician has asked, “so what’s Americana anyway?”  Over the 4 days of the festival I honed my answer to, “it’s any roots music genre — like blues, bluegrass, gospel, folk, zydeco or soul and it’s derivatives that still rely, in part on traditional instruments such as acoustic guitar, banjo, standup bass, accordion, mandolin.”  Frankly I don’t know if that’s a good definition but it works enough to move most conversations to the next topic. 

Though many hotels dot downtown Nashville and a new one seems to open nearly every day, I decided to AirBnB it — cheaper and East Nashville (far more gentrified than I remember) is close enough to downtown but far enough to feel like I’m away when I want to be. 

Today was amazing starting w/breakfast at The Post coffee shop made famous by the Nashville tv show and right around the corner from my flat. Afterwords, despite navigating temperatures 30 degrees hotter than my hometown and way more humidity, I walked through the amazing urban Shelby Park only 0.3 miles away — shaded in parts, I encountered a few intrepid runners along with fellow walkers.  All friendly, making me feel very much at home. 

The day crescendoed as I hit the Americana Music Fest meeting a fellow Seattle musician at a workshop discovering we have a boatload of common friends, heading to Concord Records’ “wine and cheese” fretting I knew no one only to hear “Paula Boggs?”...it was my AirBnB landlord (who I’d never met in person) and his first cousin...his husband works for Rounder Records and he happened to see my name tag. 

Topped off the evening with 4 off-the-hook performances at 3 different storied venues— if you ever get a chance to see any of these folks...DO IT: Yola Carter (Nashville Palace), Kaia Kater (The Local) and Israel Rush followed by Courtney Marie Andrews (The High Watt). 

As I head back to overcast Seattle reflecting on the 4 days spent halfway across the country meeting fellow artists, others in the music business and hearing great music, I feel good.  Mission accomplished and I’ll be back.  Stay friendly Nashville.

Riding the Bus and Writing a Song  

It’s a lot cleaner and more high tech than I remember with commuters in various stages of awokeness. Almost everyone is “of color” though I appear to be only 1 of 2 members of the African American tribe along for the ride. I’m on Sound Transit bus 216 traveling from Sammamish where I live to Seattle Center where I have a late morning meeting. Actually it’ll take 2 buses and 90 minutes to travel 23 miles — a trip that, depending on traffic, usually takes 35-50 in my car. But I love the $2.50 exact change price of admission and marvel it’s taken me this long to actually do this. 

So why now? Well, I’m 1 of 5 Seattle area songwriters chosen for this year’s global Acoustic Guitar Project: one guitar.one week.one song. I’m songwriter #4 and last night picked up a Kindred guitar from songwriter #3. Now I have 1 week to write and record a song with it. Back in the day riding the bus often inspired me to write and so I’m hoping to once again catch lightning in a bottle. Wish me luck!”

RIP Glen Campbell...The Wichita Lineman 

When I first heard "Wichita Lineman" I didn't know where Wichita was and I didn't really know what a lineman did, but this song hooked me.  Jimmy Webb's searing lyrics "and I need you more than want you, and I want you for all time" stirred my grammar school sensibilities and the chord progressions mesmerized me.  But Glen Campbell SOLD this song -- the voice, the guitar, the delivery -- making it stick with me to this very day. Upon learning of Glen Campbell's death I played the original version and found it a little too "produced" but then found a  live version of Glen singing it at one of his final performances and at Nashville's storied Ryman Auditorium. I love this version...RIP Glen.

HIPerspectives, Episode 14, By Annie Rogaski  

It’s not every day that you meet a lawyer you’d like to hang out with and listen to for hours. But today you get to meet Paula Boggs. Having accomplished more as a lawyer than most lawyers could dream of (White House lawyer, Starbucks GC, the list goes on…), Paula now fronts her own band, sings, and writes music. What may seem to be a huge change in direction is less so when explained by Paula. And, unsurprisingly, working joy plays a part in her story. Hear Paula’s story about her interesting career path, a different take on diversity, and learn about her superpower. You’ll hear some samples of her music during the podcast. To hear more, check out her site.    

When Paula is not making music, she’s making progress.  Her media company, Boggs Media, has teamed up with My Brother’s Keeper Alliance and the NAACP Legal Defense Fund.     

A special thanks to Richard Hsu (host and producer of podcast Hsu Untied) for the introduction to Paula, and congratulations on your recognition in the 9th Annual Blawg 100!       

See more at: http://hiplegal.com/womens-leadership/paulaboggs/#sthash.xgLPAQih.dpuf

Sounds of Silence 

There's something about a beach that helps me reflect more deeply. Maybe it's the water.  Perhaps it's the sound of waves crashing on shore or grasping a shell at low tide with grains of sand washing across my toes.  A beach can symbolize hope and the vastness of possible.  I'm at home and it feels good.  When I play music here there's no amplification.  It's just my vocal chords unadorned and a guitar strummed or strings picked with calloused fingers.  Melodies visit and sometimes they stay. My writing pad is never far away and yesterday I even got reacquainted with Simon & Garfunkel's 1964 masterpiece, Wednesday Morning, 3 AM, the one where on the cover Art Garfunkel leans casually on a NYC subway post looking dapper while the shorter and brooding Paul Simon stands beside him with a guitar and left hand forming an A minor chord. They both wear suits as a train whizzes by. This album, in vinyl of course, introduced the world to "The Sounds of Silence" -- one of the greatest songs of the 20th century..."people hearing without listening..."  It's a successful day if I work harder to make Paul Simon's words ring a little less true.

The Curse and Blessing of Being a Songwriter 

"I wonder how many people I've looked at all my life and never seen." John Steinbeck. Pinterest can be tacky but it can also be a revelation. I wasn't expecting to find a quote there that so completely captures the conundrum I face each day as songwriter and human. No matter how empathetic I think I am, whether it's the homeless man sleeping under I-5 in a makeshift sleeping bag I breeze by to make an early meeting or the way I scratch my head about the latest choice of a close relative, I don't always "see" them. Don't get me wrong. My physiological eye perceives them but to borrow from yesterday's Hot Yoga, my "third eye" -- the one meant to provide perception beyond ordinary sight -- just blinks and moves on.

And so it goes. As I think about the album we've just made and is now being manufactured, I recall special and rare moments I got to "see." In the title song "Carnival of Miracles," I write, "I walk the street not seeing, my eyes gaze straight ahead as my brother's eyes are bleeding -- mocking voices fill his head." In "Lenny's in The House" I "see" the youthful exuberance in aging songwriter Leonard Cohen. In "Edith's Coming Home," a friend shared his mother's story and through him I got to "see" a risk-taking, strong and talented black woman at end of life and marred by Alzheimer’s. In "Miss Ruby Kirby Blues" I "saw" a devil-may-care Septuagenarian Texan who'd more than earned the right to be sassy. And, In "Look Straight Ahead" I "saw" an African-American male teen's machismo, fear and limited life choices before the world knew Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown or Eric Garner.

Each day is a new opportunity to pull out the Visine and when I do, I write better, become more human and by so doing, become a better me.

Spokane! 

Since we finished recording upcoming album "Carnival of Miracles," we've sought to play gigs around Washington State to gear up for a national tour after "Carnival's" release in March 2015. We'd never played an Eastern Washington gig before so with excitement and trepidation we set out to conquer Spokane with song. Legendary The Big Dipper seemed like the perfect venue: storied, resurrected, great acoustics, downtown and owned by Sunny Day Real Estate band's Dan Hoerner and wife Dawson.

We marketed mostly to lawyers, business folks and the Gonzaga University community though we were also able to get a great Spokane jam band to open for us, Bodhi Drip, who's founder, Lucas Brown is the son of Lisa Brown, who served 20+ years in the Washington State Legislature and is now chancellor of Washington State University Spokane.

Winter is not always kind to Spokane and the bitter cold, dipping into the low teens Fahrenheit was not for the faint of heart -- even on a Friday night. Nonetheless, as folks trickled in The Big Dipper became increasingly electric.

Bodhi Drip did their thing and job, causing the crowd to want more. We started with "Look Straight Ahead" and right away we knew the crowd was with us. Ninety minutes later ending with a roaring rockabilly cover of Led Zeppelin's "Rock & Roll" the crowd had danced to a third of our set. Dan and Dawson invited us back and we can't wait. Thanks Spokane!

Feedback!

Add message No messages

Follow Us on Twitter

Other Ways to Connect!