Anna Elizabeth Laube – Annamania
Format: CD – Digital
Label: Ahh….Pockets! Records
Release: 2021
Release Date: January 22, 2021
Anna Elizabeth Laube is a songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, producer, and engineer. Beginning her career in tech in San Francisco, she soon left that world to follow her dream of pursuing a career in music. So far it is working out with No Depression enthusing, “As with all of the best singer-songwriters, Ms. Laube can tell a magnificent story with the subtlety of the finest poets…worthy of Joni Mitchell circa Blue.”
Her new retrospective album, Annamania, is a hand-picked collection of songs from her previous four studio albums – Outta My Head (2006), Pool All The Love * Pool All The Knowledge (2009), Anna Laube (2015, released shortly before she started using her full name) and Tree (2016). Additionally, Annamania includes three further songs – a piano and French Horn cover of Tom Petty’s ‘Time To Move On’, recorded with John Turman, a member of the Seattle Symphony, ‘I’m Gone’, a garage rock tune, recently featured in the Netflix show Locke & Key, and ‘Jardim da Estrela’, a brand new song inspired by Laube’s recent time spent in Lisbon, Portugal, featuring Chris Joyner on accordion (Ray LaMontagne, Heart, Amos Lee).
Inherently nomadic, Laube (pronounced “Lau” like “now” and “be” like “to be or not to be”) spent years driving around the USA, selling albums out of her trunk and performing at any venue that would have her, from wine bars in California to cafes in Texas to universities in Iowa, to festivals such as SXSW, The Monterey Blues Festival, Folk Alliance International, and the Woodsongs Old Time Radio Hour. She’s also toured internationally, from Berlin to Melbourne to Utrecht and at the AmericanaFest UK, as part of the songwriting critique for an array of admired judges, including Mary Gauthier. “It was an honor to play for her!” Laube said.
Most recently, Laube has spent time in Seattle and Lisbon – “I discovered a really vibrant and welcoming international community that has developed due to people’s ability to work remotely, supported by co-working and co-living spaces, as well as an abundance of community events. It’s a really amazing thing. I’m assuming that after covid, this community will grow even more as companies realize that their workers are happier and it’s cheaper to let people work from where they want to live and travel, and more people are able to work for themselves online. I hope to get back to Lisbon very soon.”
During covid, Laube returned to Wisconsin, which made for an unexpected yet sweet time with her family, as well as lots of downtime for writing, production, and practicing. She does almost all of her work from her mobile studio, hiring other musicians and mixers to work out of their home studios as well. As such, Laube is a one-woman show, running her label’s business side as well as producing, engineering, and writing her releases. NPR described the resulting sound as “Intimate, heartfelt songs rooted in traditional Americana.”
Her expressive and versatile voice and understated rootsy production are the constants in a collection that changes shades from fingerpicking songwriter to hard-hitting blues to folky covers. Laube’s songs have been featured on NPR, BBC Radio, Netflix, curated playlists on Spotify, Deezer and Pandora, and XM/Sirius Satellite Radio. To date she has amassed over 20 million streams on Spotify and her songs have been used in film, TV and ads.
Tracklisting:
01. Sweet Boy from Minnesota
02. Time to Move On*
03. All My Runnin’
04. If You Build it
05. Oh My! (Oh Me Oh Me Oh My)
06. Jardim da Estrela
07. Already There
08. Beautiful Boy
09. Sunny Days
10. Hippie Boyfriend
11. I’m Gone
12. Please Let It Rain in California Tonight
13. Tree
All songs written by Anna Elizabeth Laube
except * by Tom Petty