'COURTING AUTUMN' VOTED THE TOP 10 BEST ALBUM OF 2007
-HEAVEN MAGAZINE, THE NETHERLANDS
"A MOST BEAUTIFUL ALBUM! (PAMELA'S) SINGING IS GENTLE AND SENSITIVE, AND (SHE) CREATES A LOVELY AND SLIGHTLY STRANGE ATMOSPHERE - BUT ALSO, OCCASIONALLY A VERY UNSETTLING ONE - THE LAST VERSE OF 'COLD BLOWS THE WIND' MADE ME SHIVER."
- SHIRLEY COLLINS
"AN ABSOLUTELY RECOMMENDED MASTERPIECE!"
- PSYCH VAN HET FOLK, Belgium
"It's not often one can use the terms somber and enchanting in tandem when describing music, but Courting Autumn qualifies. Pamela Wyn Shannon's take on fall skips past the bright colors and proceeds directly to winter's icy death grip. But, improbable as it sounds, if dirges were lyrical and light, they'd sound like Shannon's arrangements. Shannon's guitar playing has rightly been compared to that of Bert Jansch and this album evokes the neo-Renaissance explorations of bands such as Pentangle and the John Renbourn Group. There are lots of minor key moments and Shannon delights in enhancing her light soprano ..."
- Sing Out! Magazine, Bob Weir
"THE MAGICAL ‘PIPKIN’, ONE OF THE FINEST FOLK SONGS YOU WILL EVER HAVE THE PRIVILEGE TO HEAR…A TRULY VINTAGE ALBUM THAT ALL TERRASCOPE READERS SHOULD OWN.â€
- TERRASCOPE, UK
“COURTING AUTUMN IS A MELANCHOLIC AND MYSTIC MASTERWORK. BRILLIANT!â€
– HEAVEN MAGAZINE, The Netherlands
"Pamela’s performing style is enchanting: she has an attractive singing voice, sensitive and responsive, seductively sweet-toned...Pamela’s voice is brilliantly complemented by her well-developed guitar playing, which is at the same time deftly intricate and hauntingly full-toned. She also has an acute ear for colouristic arrangement, conjuring some rich and uncannily persuasive chamber-folk tapestries... All told, this is a very special, seriously beautiful album, which also has the measure of a personal artistic statement: one of considerable power, originality and vision. Serendipity’s a wonderful thing, and all’s well with the world after all…"
- fRoots Magazine, U.K.
Massachusetts-based musician Pamela Wyn Shannon's inventive and intricate guitar work has been described as "a tiny chamber orchestra working in unison at the end of her hands," and her vocal style has a delicate lilting sensitivity. Her unique compositions have an elliptical quality which creates its own timeframe, rules, and kingdoms, and are reminiscent of the magic found in UK '60s artifacts.
Pamela has shared the stage with guitar legends Roger McGuinn and Davy Graham, she performed at the GREEN MAN FESITVAL 2007 in Wales and performed live on BBC Radio One. Pamela performed her version of "I Was Made To Love Magic" at the Nick Drake Tribute Gathering in 2004, and appeared on the German news program ASPEKTE's retrospective on Nick Drake.
Her forthcoming CD, "Courting Autumn", is a sonic almanac burnished with melancholy, its wistful vocals floating above slinky and delicate hand-spun guitar, windswept and weather-worn by plaintive string and recorder arrangments.
With portable recording equipment, Pamela Wyn Shannon recorded & produced COURTING AUTUMN in various odd nooks. Pamela lives a largely isolated pastoral life as a caretaker in house museums and estates throughout rural New England and the United Kingdom. Her "studios" included The Bidwell House, an 18th century house museum; a cow barn; a sheep farm; a Colonial borning room & piggery; a farmhouse attic; a tool shed; and numerous privies. The album was mixed in Philadelphia by Engineer Brian McTear (Espers, Marissa Nadler), and comes complete with packaging, which Pamela Wyn Shannon hand assembled. This first run is a hand-crafted limited-edition of 500.
Also in the works is her soon to be released experimental CD, "The Phantasmagoria of Plant Mantras", an album which matches the poetry of botanical detail with hypnotic melodic loops to transform the structure of scientific formulas into incantations honoring the materials and mysteries of the life force.
In addition to performing her original music, Pamela has recorded and performed with traditional musicians from groups such as Solas, Whiriligig, Lunasa, and Cherish the Ladies. Currently she performs with GRAMMY winner fiddler, Lisa Gutkin of The Klezmatics.
She performs in the UK and USA and has shared line-ups with PG Six,The Kitchen Cynics, and Larkin Grimm.
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