Pop

Joan Armatrading Semi-Retires With an 18-Month Tour

Joan Armatrading has had a long and varied career. She was born in St. Kitts in 1950 and moved to Birmingham, England when she was very young. Profiles at AllMusic and Wikipedia trace a career that has featured changes in style and a good deal of success. Armatrading always has been more popular in the U.K. than in the United States, but has a strong following on this side of the Atlantic.

The singer/songwriter/instrumentalist is in the midst of what she says will be her last major tour. And quite a tour it is: She is on the road for about a year-and-a-half. The list of concerts is so long that it’s almost funny. And she won’t be able to coast through any part of it: She’s performing solo.

The Guardian’s Paul Sexton wrote a very nice article about Armatrading in 2010. It profiled somebody who is open, honest and confident. Here is a taste of what he wrote:

Her career has been characterised by achievement, against the odds, and grit. There has certainly always been plenty of the latter in her songs, along with a spellbinding musical imagination and an undercurrent of vulnerability.

One reason that there perhaps isn’t more to say about Armatrading is that she is very protective of her private life. She expresses herself through her music but, apparently, doesn’t share too many real world details. We do know that Armatrading has an MBE, which is the Order of the British Empire. She earned a degree in history from The Open University, a distance learning school in England. She now is a trustee. Armatrading and her girlfriend entered a civil partnership in the Shetland Islands in 2011.

Wikipedia, Joan Armatrading’s site and AllMusic were used for this post. Above is “Willow” and below is “Drop the Pilot.”

Our New Things: Links to Music Sites and Info on Analog Tech and Vinyl

TDMB has focused on music and musicians. We will continue to do that, of course. We're also expanding our coverage to include vinyl and analog equipment.

More specifically, we'll look at this huge and interesting world from the perspective of music lovers who want a better experience, not committed non-audiophiles.

Check out is some of what we've written so far:

-- Assessing the Value of Vinyl Records: An Overview

-- 7 Quick Tips on Optimizing Your Turntable Cartridge

-- Why Vinyl Records Continue to Thrive

-- Finding the Best Amplifier

-- Finding the Best Phono Preamp

-- What Speakers Do I Need for My Turntable?

Check out more articles on analog equipment and vinyl.

The site also is home to The Internet Music Mapping Project, an effort to list and describe as many music-related sites as possible.

Our Music

--A Tribe Called Quest to The Dick Hyman Trio (In other words, A to H)

--Indigo Girls to Queen Ida (I to Q)

--Radiohead to ZZ Top (R to Z)

Reading Music

The stories of the great bands and musicians are fascinating. Musicians as a group are brilliant, but often troubled. The combination of creativity and drama makes for great reading.

Here are some books to check out.

Duke Ellington brought class, sophistication and style to jazz which, until that point, was proudly unpolished and raucous. His story is profound. The author, Terry Teachout, also wrote "Pops," the acclaimed bio of Louis Armstrong. Click here or on the image.

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What else is there to say? Here is the story behind every song written by The Beatles. Click here or on the image.

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The Grateful Dead don't get enough credit for the profound nature of its lyrics. Many of the band's songs are driven by a deep and literate Americana ("I'm Uncle Sam/That's who I am/Been hidin' out/In a rock and roll band" and "Majordomo Billy Bojangles/Sit down and have a drink with me/What's this about Alabama/Keeps comin' back to me?").

David Dodd's exhaustive study tells the story, song by song. Click here or on the image.

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