Bozulich, Carla

I'm Gonna Stop Killing

CD $9.50

04/06/2004 655035400327

STEP 03CD

MP3 $8.91

04/06/2004

Carla Bozulich (leader of the defunct Geraldine Fibbers) extends the thread of her Red Headed Stranger as a thank-you to old fans and a welcome to new ones. This EP-priced full-length album contains two songs from Red Headed Stranger (one a duet with Willie Nelson), new explorations of music from that album, and seven unreleased live tunes, including original stuff from The Geraldine Fibbers and Scarnella, a Neil Young cover, a Marianne Faithful cover, and some world class improvisations. A distinct common bond, pathological honesty, and subversive musicality drive the music deeply home. These songs were all recorded during tours that surrounded the conception and aftermath of recording Bozulich's version of Red Headed Stranger - a classic '70s concept album by Willie Nelson - that Nelson himself ordained "hot stuff" and on three songs of which he played. The musicians on I'm Gonna Stop Killing are fascinating and well established in their own rights, and together create remarkable, collaborative music. Nels Cline, Devin Hoff, Carla Kihlstedt, Marka Hughes, Jenny Scheinman, Scott Amendola, Todd Sickafoose, Shahzad Ismaily, Ches Smith, and Dina Maccabee challenge Bozulich to go even further at every turn. Nelson's sparse, guitar-based renditions are stretched into eerie electronic soundscapes and haunting extrapolations of themes, bound by Bozulich's powerful voice. The desperate isolation of Nelson's original is always present and serves as a metaphor for the outsider status of Bozulich and others whose country music is truly alternative.