Now Playing: Karyn Oliver’s "Cherchez la Femme"

Karyn Oliver is readying for the release of a new album. It's titled Cherchez la Femme and has a drop date of October 20. But first, for those of you not yet familiar with the artist in question, a bit o’ background.

Karyn Oliver

According to her official website, Greensboro, North Carolina-based artist Karyn Oliver is an American singer-songwriter and musician. In 2010, she won the Mid-Atlantic Song Contest. In 2011, she created her first solo album, Red Dress, which earned her Kerrville New Folk Finalist and Falcon Ridge Emerging Artist in 2011. She became a Kerrville New Folk Finalist for a second time in 2016 with her album, Magdalene. In 2017, she recorded a new album called A List Of Names, which charted on both Folk and Americana radio in 2019.

Signature Sound

Karyn Oliver’s signature sound is a fluid mix of multiple music genres including Americana, blues, country, folk, and soul. According to a recent communique, she has mainly been inspired by “the eclectic mix of music to which she was exposed while growing up in the musically diverse culture of Washington, D.C.”

Cherchez la Femme

Cherchez la Femme is an 11-track album. It contains all original material. The title is French for “Look For The Woman”. In a recent email, Oliver discussed what inspired her to create this disc.

She said: “Ruth Bader Ginsberg was once asked how many women on the Supreme Court would be enough. She immediately answered, ‘9’. Since the court had long had 9 men, why not 9 women? There is very little one musician can do to put 9 women on the Supreme Court, but what they can do is put a lot of women on a record.”

Oliver added: “There are countless recordings featuring nothing but men, so why not all women? If women don’t get hired, they leave the business, thereby making it harder to hire more women. That is not OK, and yet far too many women don’t seek out other women to work with.”

She concluded: “This project aims to correct that. To that end, this album features a female producer, a female bass player, a female drummer, a female piano player, female guitar players, a female clarinet player, and even an all-female horn section!”

On this album, Oliver leads the way on guitar and vocals. She is backed by an assorted of other artists including Carolann Solebello on bass, Cheryl Prashker on drums and percussion, Allison Tartalia on keyboards and piano, Dirje Childs in cello, Alison Scola on clarinet, Lynn Ligammari on saxophone, Julie Drombosky on trombone, Minerva Johnson on trumpet, Heather Ewer on tuba, Kate Maguire, Ann Klein, and Anne McCue on guitar, Catherine Miles on backing vocals, and producer Katherine Etzel on percussion and backing vocals.

Track by Track

The album opens with “Lay Your Burden Down”. It’s a fine lead-in both musically and in terms of its universal message concerning self-care. After all, how does one care for others without caring for oneself?

The second selection is “Jenny”. This song focuses on the fragility of a relationship. It’s also quite fitting for an-all gal audio offering. It’s also road-trip ready!

The next number is “In Galveston”. This is a reflective song. It’s both a musical message and a song-story of sorts. The song may also well be a tuneful tip of the hat to other female artists who have recorded songs about particular little corners of the country.

“The Game” is a tuneful tale featuring a cast of intriguing individuals met along the way. Whether it’s a musical metaphor, a biographical bit, or a bit of both remains to be seen. Still, it undoubtedly works well with audiences, so why ask questions?

Oliver slows things down a little bit with the fine “Fabulous Flying Machines”. Again, Oliver offers a song that seems to draw on both her past and her perspective.

The upbeat “Skeleton” is a personal piece. Again though, she takes something imperfect from her past and turns it into a song that is both revealing and positive due to her honesty and willingness to share. (You can even use it to refresh your old, dusty Halloween playlist!)

The seventh songful serving is “Pelican”. This is the “third and final single” from the album. It was released via various streaming platforms on July 8th, her late sister's birthday. As previously reported, Oliver said that this is a song about “grief and [a] celebration of life…I wrote for my late sister. Some cultures believe that birds carry the souls of the departed. This song is just a tiny slice of all the things my sister was, and a celebration of her. It’s a party. She liked a good party.”

“Truth” is an artistic interpretation of a moment from history. While the subject might seem controversial, it contains a powerful message. Her signature sound and the band’s abilities remain solid as well.

Oliver takes us in another direction with “Dance With Me”, the album’s second single. It’s a lovely little number and soundtrack-ready. Undoubtedly, a perfect piece for a live audience who remembers what makes slow dancing truly special.

She picks things up again on “All Clear”. Perhaps overlooked a bit due to its placement on the album, it is, in reality, strong enough to still get your attention despite that. It is, in part, a positive piece about perseverance, inner strength, and resilience. It speaks to one’s ability to forge ahead with life, work on relationships, and even chase a dream through day-to-day struggles and other assorted obstacles.

The closing cut is the appropriately quieter “Cry Hallelujah”. This saving song was wisely chosen as the work’s premiere single and early fave of both fans and critics alike. In a recent email, Oliver discussed the new tune.

She said: “‘Cry Hallelujah’ is a song about regret and the search for redemption. It was inspired by the words of Maya Angelou ‘When you knew better, you did better.’ When we can see the humanity in ourselves and others, everything shifts. It’s a yearning for connection, a cry into the void ‘…in case you’re crying Hallelujah, too’.”

Overall…

Let’s be honest. Your rockin’ writer was initially unsure about the whole “girl power” approach to this album in what often appears to be an era of enforced equality. Nevertheless, the result of this all-woman experiment is an undeniably exceptional album.

Perhaps what it comes down to is that some of us were already aware of Oliver’s abilities and thus could not help but ask: “Why?” Perhaps this proves a point to those who were previously unaware. Perhaps the stereotypical old-school suits will now take note, and acknowledge the industry focus should always be put on talent and not our outer trappings. If so, Oliver may have managed to do more than put out an excellent album but influence attitudes as well.

Overall, this is a more-than-worthy follow-up to her other offerings and demonstrates both musical growth and a friendly, familiar consistency. Oliver retains her ability to turn loss into songful celebration, and to draw on the experiences of life in an imperfect world to produce pieces that can be catchy, tunefully tenacious, melodiously memorable, and always honest. So, pick up Karyn Oliver’s Cherchez la Femme and get into “The Game”.

(Images courtesy of Karyn Oliver)