Bett Butler profile picture

Bett Butler

About Me


Gasping for air in the polluted refinery town where she grew up, Bett Butler was often confined to her room, where she absorbed the music from her father’s bizarre and eclectic record collection, the dark stories of Edgar Allen Poe, and the freakish fantasies of the Brothers Grimm, all of which made their way into her songwriting. She began her professional music career playing for tent revivals and moved on to regional theaters, rowdy roadhouses, upscale clubs, and jazz festivals. Her songs are inhabited by offbeat characters and contradictions, and she's written music for silent movies, musical theater, art openings. readers theater productions, and commercial jingles. She sees the artist’s role as that of a storyteller and storytelling as the foundation of civilization, for it's through stories that we connect with each other's humanity. Short Stories, her first CD on independent co-op label Dragon Lady Records, earned a “recommended” rating from All Music Guide. Her latest release Myths & Fables was supported by a performance grant from the Artist Foundation and features “When Love Has Left the Room,” first-place winner out of over 10,000 entries in the Jazz Category of the 2006 International Songwriting Competition.
Buy CDs directly from the artist at www.jazzartstore.com .

My Interests

Music:

Member Since: 5/12/2007
Band Website: http://www.bettbutler.com
Band Members: Billie Holiday Strange Fruit UK tv 1959

Here's a tribute to the late pianist Joe Piscatelle, who was a very important mentor to me. The song is "Recuerdos" by Joël Dilley (www.myspace.com/joeldilley) , from my album Myths & Fables (2007 Dragon Lady Records). Joe Piscatelle can be heard on drummer Joe Guerra's JAZZ DESDE LAREDO (2001 VI-II-I Records). All CDs are available at www.jazzartstore.com . Visit a web page dedicated to Joe's memory at http://www.mandalamusic.com/memoriam/joe.index.htm

Artist Joan Fabian's video of "For Gabriele," a song inspired by the story of early twentieth-century Expressionist artist Gabriele Münter, has been licensed by the McNay art museum for use in their education program. (Visit Joan Fabian's MySpace page here. )

Influences: Joël Dilley, Cecil Carter, Billie Holiday, Miles Davis, Chick Corea, Abbey Lincoln, Milton Nascimento, Joni Mitchell, Ella Fitzgerald, Tanya Maria, Astrud Gilberto, James Taylor, Bill Evans, Etta James
Sounds Like:
Buy CDs directly from the artist at www.jazzartstore.com .
Download Bett Butler’s entire albums at www.cdbaby.com .
Download individual tracks
from Myths & Fables here:
Record Label: Dragon Lady Records
Type of Label: Indie

My Blog

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