“Underscored with churning guitars and driving drums, prickly banjos and soothing dobro, Lafser’s stories come at you one after another, like the white dashes on a highway passing you by but, somehow, still remaining.” –Bluegrass Situation
Jesse Lafser to Release ‘Raised on the Plains’ April 28
St. Louis, MO native creates a unique blend of Americana, Ragtime, and Blues on sophomore album, a reflection of the cities she has called home
Singer-songwriter Jesse Lafser will release her much-anticipated sophomore album, Raised on the Plains, on April 28th. The album, which was heavily inspired by Lafser’s road travels in the Southwest, ebbs and flows with confident guitar tones punctuated by poignant lyrics- questions rise and fall throughout the album only hinting at answers. Listening to this record is much like a cross-country road trip, the lyrics like the conversations that inevitably arise as friends drive through the barren desert, seeing small signs of life in the ghost towns that dot the landscape.
Lafser was aptly named after a Thomas Hart Benton painting of a woman playing the guitar, a foreshadowing of sorts to the woman she would become. Originally from St. Louis, MO, her musical style is inspired by the blues and ragtime sounds native to the port city – Chuck Berry, Muddy Waters, Elizabeth Cotten, and more. There is, however, another side to her style that evokes the acoustic folk and roots music Lafser was raised on: she cites Gillian Welch, Bob Dylan, Roger Miller, Kris Kristofferson, and other great songwriting icons as influences who all were inspired at one time or another by Nashville, the city she now calls home.
She is a prolific songwriter and a talented instrumentalist – her stellar finger-picking and clear voice have landed her spots sharing the stage with artists like Steve Earle, Will Kimbrough, Robert Ellis, John Fullbright, Sarah Jarosz, Bobby Bare, Jr., and many more. American Songwriter magazine said of her 2012 debut Land in Sight, “Her ability to tell a story is remarkable.”
After a conversation with Lafser about the new record, music journalist and historian,
Peter Cooper says, “When I asked Jesse, she told me she was raised in St. Louis, but later I found the truth: She was raised a couple of years ago, on a back mountain highway between Taos and Raton. She had to pull the car over. The landscape – jagged, piercing mountains juxtaposed with tall grass, startling wildflowers, and ceaseless plains – matched the sounds she wanted to create. She wrote these songs – even the one about Virginia – on that back mountain highway. She tells people she wrote them on Mansfield Street in Nashville, but that’s not true at all. The songs are true, though. You can trust them. I do.”
An album of truths, Raised On the Plains (available worldwide April 28) beautifully showcases Lafser’s hybrid blend of blues and folk, and was heavily influenced by the places she has called home and the time spent traveling to understand what home really means. The album features some of Nashville’s favorite session players – Jeremy Fetzer (Steelism, Andrew Combs), Evan Hutchings (Brandi Carlile, Sara Watkins, Escondido), Justin Moses (Ricky Skaggs, Sierra Hull), and more – as well as special guests Will Kimbrough and SHEL.
Fans in Nashville can purchase an advance copy of the album at her release show on April 25 at
The Basement with special guest, Brian Wright.
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