Edie Brickell "Pill"

Jesse Barnett of Right Arm Resource is our guest blogger this week. He spends his days on the phone with radio stations across the country, advocating for records he believes in. While PJ is on vacation, Jesse talks to you about 5 new songs he thinks radio, and you, will love.

And we’re back.

Day two of PJ’s vacation, and the valiant effort to make our case for some worthy music continues. Thanks for being in this with me for the long haul. You’re a giver. Don’t ever let anyone tell you differently.

Think back to the late 80’s. Pop radio is dominated by such timeless classics as Bobby Brown’s “My Perogative” and Poison’s “Every Rose Has It’s Thorn.”

Oh shush, you know you turned ‘em up. Just accept it and move on.

But then, in between the heavy beats and the raise-your-Zippo anthems, there came a simple song of personal acceptance, where philosophy was the talk on a cereal box and religion was the smile on a dog. Edie Brickell & New Bohemians’ “What I Am.”

And you were the one to correct all of your minions… “Nooo… not THE New Bohemians, just New Bohemians.” Like Smokey Bear, not Smokey The Bear. It’s true. Look it up.

“What I Am” went top 10 and the album Shooting Rubberbands at the Stars went double platinum. Although the success of the song was never matched by the band again, Edie Brickell’s comforting and conversational vocal style was now ingrained in our heads forever.

For much of the next 20-some-odd years, Ms. Edie Brickell spent much of her time as Mrs. Paul Simon, focused on raising kids and having a great family life. She released solo work, another project with New Bohemians, and a project known as Heavy Circles with her stepson Harper Simon.

Fast forward to 2011. The kids are grown and Edie’s on a tear. Songs that have been in the works since her last solo album in 2003 are now seeing the light of the day on her new self-titled album that came out right after the new year. Not content to put out just one project, two weeks later saw the release of The Gaddabouts, a collaboration with Steve Gadd, Pino Palladino and Andy Fairweather Low.

The press has been kind to both projects, and Edie is starting to get some face time again. She appeared on Jimmy Fallon and opened for Iron & Wine at Radio City Music Hall in January, and is slated to play at Jazzfest this year.

The first single from her solo album is called “Pill,” a sardonic take on our need to find a quick fix to cure our daily woes. Edie’s warm vocals, timely lyrics and pointed chorus (“They got a pill for that”) make for another classic. The new animated video does a nice job of illustrating the point as well. Enjoy.



Read a little more about Jesse in this previous post, and visit his site at Right Arm Resource.