2) discography
3) photos
4) bio
5) videos/ youtubes
6) mp3s
7) press - a) live concerts and b) cd reviews
1 ) relevant myspace pages
http://www.myspace.com/ninaviolet
http://www.myspace.com/cofarrows
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2) discography
http://cdbaby.com/cd/ninaviolet
Nina Violet - " Lose Strife " (2008)
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http://cdbaby.name/n/i/ninavioletio.jpg
http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/ninavioletio
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Nina Violet " Nina Violet and the Invisible orchestra " ( 2006 )
http://www.amazon.com/Nina-Violet-invisible-orchestra/dp/B000QK2B5Q
" Nina Violet and the invisible orchestra "
MP3 Downloads ( 9 ) or the album as MP3 download
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- with Willy Mason
" If the Ocean Gets Rough" (2007)
Nina Violet (Piano), Nina Violet (Cello), Nina Violet (Viola), Nina Violet (Vocals)
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3) photos
http://images.google.com/images?q=nina+violet
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http://www.thebandroom.co.uk/violet.html
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http://james-hill-photography.smugmug.com/gallery/5472093_kd3QR
" Nina Violet and the Invisible Orchestra playing on the River and Grove Stages at the 2007 Festival for the Eno. " [ gallery]
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http://www.last.fm/music/Nina+Violet/+images
http://www.last.fm/music/Nina+Violet+and+the+Invisible+Orchestra/+images/495155
4) bio
http://www.last.fm/music/Nina+Violet+and+the+Invisible+Orchestra
Nina Violet and the Invisible Orchestra
“I sing, play viola, maybe some banjo/mandolin/electric and acoustic guitar… I don’t have a bio written, but we’re (Willy Mason and band) all from the same home-island, and we’ve all been playing together for seems like forever in different incarnations.
I’m a farmer/gardener when I’m not playing music, and my whole family plays as well: my mom is on her way to play on my new record I’m making at this very moment at old soul studio with my sister Marciana Jones, Sam Mason, and Colin Ruel.
My influences are the Masterpiece Earth, especially the ocean and the woods, my family and Willy’s family, and the community on the island. I guess that’s about it. I love to sleep outside, especially in my tipi.”
^
http://www.mvtimes.com/marthas-vineyard/calendar/2008/12/24/music-nina-violet.php
Music : Nina Violet : Finding the right words
December 24, 2008
Music is one of Nina Violet's earliest memories. From playing with the pianos her parents were rebuilding, to learning viola at the public school string lessons, Ms. Violet has always surrounded herself with music. But when she took up the guitar in seventh grade, music moved beyond a pastime and became a salvation from the difficult years of middle school...
When she was 11, her older brother took her to a Second Power band practice. Seeing musicians who were having fun playing together gave Ms. Violet new inspiration. She soon took up guitar and started a band of her own. The fierce, hard-edged sounds of rock and roll resonated with her...
Ms. Violet's efforts on guitar resulted in a standing ovation at the Tisbury School's talent show in eighth grade - a huge confidence boost.
By the time she was in high school she was taking music lessons off-Island, and touring with Kahoots...
Ms. Violet put off college indefinitely to pursue music, and without any major financial obligations she set out to pursue a career as a performer.
She first headed for cities, busking (playing music on public streets) in Seattle, San Francisco, and Boston. She earned rent money by playing viola in the T stations.
But after growing up on Martha's Vineyard, cities seemed too crowed and dirty, and Ms. Violet decided that the toll city life was having on her, compared to the opportunities it created, just didn't balance out.
She came back to Martha's Vineyard in her early 20s, and started playing with Willy Mason, doing a weekly gig at Offshore Ale in Oak Bluffs...
Fingers ruffling through her hair as she talks, Ms. Violet reflects on her choices. "Musically, I have no idea what I'm trying to do, I just do it," she says. "If I thought about it, I'd probably screw it up. I started with the electric guitar. When I stopped playing with the band and started playing alone, I picked up the acoustic guitar. That's when everyone started accusing me of playing folk music. At first I thought it was a dirty word, but after a while I got comfortable with it."
Although she listened to music that was, "good and loud," she always focused on the lyrics, and that brought her towards folk music.
"Think back to what Woody Guthrie did in the Depression," she says. "He alleviated the suffering of people by singing their suffering aloud. When everybody was thinking these down thoughts and then a charismatic man showed up and sung the thoughts back to them, it made their suffering real and it made it okay.
"Music has always been an expression from people to God, or to each other or to themselves about the things that they suffer and the joys that they feel...
"It's good to find things that are both musically and lyrically poignant," says Ms. Violet. "The writing part of the song has always been really important to me. Lyrics are not about showing how well you can sing or giving your mouth a vehicle or giving a reason to play your guitar riffs... it's really about the lyrics for me."
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willy_Mason
In 2004, [Willy Mason] toured the United States.
After many live appearances throughout 2004 and 2005, culminating with a performance at the Glastonbury Festival, Mason took time off and returned to his family's home on Martha's Vineyard.
He began writing new songs and put a band together, featuring Nina Violet on viola and backing vocals, and Zak Borden on mandolin.
In the spring of 2006, they began touring the U.S. and Europe, along with other musicians. So far he has supported Beth Orton,KT Tunstall, Radiohead, and Sondre Lerche.
^
http://www.mvtimes.com/vineyard_visitor/2007/10/25/entertainment_island_musicians.php
Young Island musicians make waves in music
By Julian Wise - October 25, 2007
Island native Willy Mason (son of folk singer Jemima James) is making a big musical splash. Called a "heavyweight talent,” in a national review, his music has been dubbed "masterful and poignant,” and with comparisons to John Lennon and Tom Waits, his midtempo, Americana sound is securely established.
In 2006, he landed the coveted spot opening for Radiohead, introducing his music to thousands of new fans across Europe and North America. Willy and his band — Sam Mason (Willy’s younger brother), Nina Violet, Colin Ruel and Mike Mackey — have been touring the country in support of their latest record, "If the Ocean Gets Rough” (2007, Astralwerks Records).
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[ Nina has toured with Willy on and off since 2005, only just (October 2009) having returned from England where she played in accompaniment. She, Colin Ruel (who was to be the co-leader with Nina of Chorus of Arrows) and Willy's brother, Sam Mason formed Willy's back up band in 2005- 2007, including the tours opening for Radiohead and Beth Orton.
From 2006 into 2007, while releasing "Nina Violet and the Invisible Orchestra" (2006) on which Nina played all instruments, Nina was part of a trio with Colin Ruel and her sister Marciana Jones. Colin, Marciana, Sam Mason and Matthew Cullen, who came to be the bass player in Chorus of Arrows played on the Cullen- produced second Nina Violet album "Lose Strife", released in September 2007.
Nina, Colin Ruel, Mike Mackey and Sam Mason formed "Chorus of Arrows" in the spring of 2007. After the release of "Lose Strife", Cullen replaced Mackey in the band which toured England in January/February 2008, where the players were already well known as Willy Mason's support band, Mason having been turing England already since 2004, touring with the members of Chorus of Arrows since 2005.
Chorus of Arrows broke up in late January 2009, Colin Ruel leaving the band and Sam Mason moving to England. Never theless a full forty minute set played by the band at TT the Bear's in Cambridg Massachusetts in December, 2008 is available atthe Chorus of Arrows myspace page and at the respective individual youtube sites indicted in the video/youtube section below.
As Nina was the predominate writing partner (together with Coln Ruel) in Chorus of Arrows, those videos , as two out of three of the youtubes from the winter of 2008 house concert tour in England, feature Nina on vocals as the principal songwriter and singer.
Since the breakup of Chorus of Arrows, Nina has been touring the Northeast and south as far as Philadelphia playing solo shows. This fall, she has reconstituted the trio format of 2006- 2007 with her sister Marciana on drums and Matthew Cullen replacing Colin Ruel in that configuration. Presumably, Nina will be playing shows alternating between the solo and trio format for the forseeable future. ]
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5) Videos/ youtubes -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-AyNjHDCgn0
" Chorus of Arrows - Can’t Carry The Weight ” (February 08, 2008)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XKHyjbOr-Zo
" Chorus of Arrows - Kiss That Blade " (February 06, 2008, houseconcert)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yxHbhQRz1Uk
"Chorus of Arrows - When You Leave Your Body Home (January 30, 2008- house concerts, york )
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ztPGTTWSVMg
Chorus of Arrows at T.T.'s the Bear's Place (1) January 10, 2009
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rH1uA6wiYAo
Chorus of Arrows at T.T.'s the Bear's Place (2)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SbYwfaduZfA
Chorus of Arrows at T.T.'s the Bear's Place (3)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=By3x3ojv53I
Chorus of Arrows at T.T.'s the Bear's Place (4)
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6) MP3s
http://mybigmouthstrikesagain.blogspot.com/2008/07/my-big-album-review-strikes-again-nina.html
My Big Album Review Strikes Again. Nina Violet and the Invisible Orchestra
The enchanting tracks on the self-titled album [buy] from Nina Violet and the Invisible Orchestra combine the classic folk rock of Joni Mitchell and Joan Baez with the modern indie/chamber pop of Belle and Sebastian and The High Llamas --- introspective yet upbeat at the same time.
Painted on the Sky mp3
The Dog Tomorrow mp3
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http://cdbaby.com/cd/ninavioletio
Nina Violet " Nina Violet and the Invisible orchestra " ( 2006 )
Many instruments touched by one lady, strings and things, old-timey new music.
I recorded this cd last winter with a pile of stringed, winged instruments in Anthony's Dig it All studio ( his tiny triangular apartment) just before I went on tour with my friend Willy Mason, where I ran about in the audiences after we played, selling them like a newsie in the crowds. I'm my own label, publisher, and producer (and band) on this record, which has thick string arrangments (I play the viola, mainly) barebones mandolin tunes with feet stomping in the shower, strange old 4-track experiments of mine.
( below 2 minute itunes samples available , all songs)
1 Painted On the Sky
2 Banged-up
3 Tin + Tiny
4 Old Man + the Mill
5 The Dog Tomorrow
6 From the Moon
7 Dreams Feel Real
8 Fighting Fish
9 Off the Fisticuff
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http://cdbaby.com/cd/ninaviolet
Nina Violet - " Lose Strife " (2008)
electric/acoustic/orchestral/rock/songwriter-singer/folk/not techno/sweet/mean/analog
( below 2 minute itunes samples available , all songs)
1 Better Than to Bruise You
2 Way Down Washing Dirty Dishes
3 Burn the Bridge
4 Some Day We'll Be Alive
5 Yellow Flash
6 Kiss That Blade
7 Slow Me Down
8 My Brother
9 Tiny Seeds
10 When You Leave Your Body Home
11 Burn the Bridge
12 Cayuse
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7) Press
7a ) Live Reviews
http://www.thebandroom.co.uk/violet.html
Feb 3 , 2007- Nina Violet, Sam Mason & guest Willy Mason
" [We]..contacted Nina to see if she'd like to play here one day and to get hold of a copy of her album NINA VIOLET + THE INVISIBLE ORCHESTRA ( available here.)
We have since found ourselves having a bit of difficulty removing it from the CD player...such is Nina's mesmerising vocal and very modern-sounding fusion of country, folk, roots, blues and jazz... punctuated, and then some, by experimental Beatles-style string arrangements and the occasional Bluegrass, Appalachian or Celtic wig-out...
We haven't quite worked out who Nina reminds us vocally. Like all class acts she reminds you of several people at one and the same time but the whole thing is so seamless that you have your work cut out to identify them and she just ends up sounding like herself....
Buf if we say there are similarities to AIMEE MANN, ALISON KRAUSS, ROSANNE CASH, GILLIAN WELCH and LUCINDA WILLIAMS...well you get the picture.
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http://festivals.drownedinsound.com/event/view/23137
http://drownedinsound.com/gigs/23137/reviews/2013447-
Willy Mason Date: 12/05/2007
" The highlight of the evening, however, arrives when Willy is off fixing his guitar. Dreadlocked violinist Nina Violetbriefly takes centre stage, swapping violin for guitar. The one song she has time to perform is unexpected, and completely gorgeous.
"A bit like Scout Niblett, but more sane and in tune, Nina Violet causes a united hushed silence (well, I’d like to remember it that way), providing three precious minutes of folk perfection. What should have been a lull in the show in fact turned out to be its highlight. "
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http://www.theyorker.co.uk/news/music/1230
Nina Violet live at Basement Bar 29/01/08
" Violet’s raw and solitary vocals conjoured up the requisite images of smoky American diners in lung-blasting belters. The Massachusetts girl displayed a much deeper and more interesting voice than most of your classic seventies female folksters - making even Joni Mitchell seem angelic.
A quick listen to some of the studio tracks (studio = Willy Mason’s basement) reveals moments of startling voice control in the emerging Violet.. But when Chorus of Arrows actually played as a band, something special happened.
For “Can’t Carry The Weight” they gave up on the folk ballads with spectacular brilliance and stunned everyone by giving birth before our eyes to a marching, folk-indie fusion. Forget Elliott Smith or Devendra Banhart – this song was indie folk with attitude... [If] they continue this miracle of birth, then the sweaty teenagers in City Screen will soon become a huge throng of cult followers."
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http://www.egigs.co.uk/index.php?a=12082
Chorus Of Arrows / Tom Reeve
City Screen Basement, York on Tuesday 29 January 2008
[ 4 pics of band w/ review article, from which excerpts below ]
Having travelled to the UK from Martha's Vineyard in the US, this small group of friends called the Chorus of Arrows have combined a small venue tour with a house tour (I know, as they played at my house last week).
Those of you who checked out Willy Mason on his tour last year will recognise three of the four members; violist/guitarist Nina Violet, guitarist Colin William Ruel and drummer and younger brother Sam Mason. Joined by bassist Matthew Cullen these childhood friends exude talent; you get the feeling they were born to perform music.
Their close bond shines throughout the set, and this, their first venue stop of the tour, sees them more relaxed than I witnessed at my house (though you have to take jetlag into account, as that was their first UK house show).
Confident and chatty from the beginning, the foursome are really tight in their musicianship, with no mistakes, and tuneful vocals that draw you in. Whether it’s Colin's softly sung melodies or Nina's broad range of vocals, you're hooked on their sound. It doesn’t matter whether they’re thrashing their overly distorted guitars, or playing solo acoustic songs, it really hits you...
Colin's vocals are haunting on songs like 'Strength of A Woman' and 'Tiny Little Blue', with a whispered delivery. You can feel the emotion in Nina’s voice (speaking for all people who have ended a relationship in as nice a way as possible) in 'Better Than To Bruise You'. People are literally transfixed at this point...
There are heavy, rock-like even moments with 'Willow Tree', and upbeat moments like The Dog Tomorrow', with it's 'Dedicated Follower Of Fashion' style drum fill. Nina alternates between playing the guitar (for solo's 'Yellow Flash' and 'Slow Me Down') and viola ('Painted On The Sky).
Fans of Willy Mason will already love this I guarantee, but it's clear to see that Martha's Vineyard has some exceptionally talented musicians which remain unearthed...
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http://www.houseconcertsyork.co.uk/
http://www.kenspelman.com/house%20gigs/Ticketsnina.htm
Nina Violet, Colin Ruel, Sam Mason & Matthew Cullen - played an impromptu gig, arranged at 3 days notice, to a sell-out crowd - 30 January 2008
[ many pictures from the house concert ]
The multi talented singer-songwriter and Willy Mason collaborator NINA VIOLET has just arranged to play a House Concert here on Wednesday 30th January.
She is playing with Willy Mason's brother Sam, Matthew Cullen, and Colin Ruel - yes drums for the first time at a house gig ! They played lived on BBC Radio last Thursday...
So hints of Alison Krauss, Gillian Welch, Lucinda Williams -
plus the outrageously engaging Sam Mason - and one great night promised.
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7b) CD Reviews
http://www.walesonline.co.uk/whats-on/entertainment-reviews/music-reviews/2007/03/09/willy-mason-if-the-ocean-gets-rough-91466-18726903/
Willy Mason, If The Ocean Gets Rough
Mar 9 2007
Recorded at Long View Farm in North Brookfield, Massachusetts, it has an organic atmosphere thanks to the use of acoustic instruments which complements his relaxed vocal delivery and fluid songwriting.
Accompanied once again by his brother Sam on drums, it's a bit of a family affair with his mother Jemima James providing backing vocals on several songs and his cousin Zak Borden playing mandolin.
Fellow Islander Nina Violet injects some sympathetic melancholy with her viola on songs like Riptide and Simple Town, while country music royalty Rosanne Cash also puts in a guest appearance on the excellent We Can Be Strong.
^
http://mybigmouthstrikesagain.blogspot.com/2008/07/my-big-album-review-strikes-again-nina.html
My Big Album Review Strikes Again. Nina Violet and the Invisible Orchestra
The enchanting tracks on the self-titled album [buy] from Nina Violet and the Invisible Orchestra combine the classic folk rock of Joni Mitchell and Joan Baez with the modern indie/chamber pop of Belle and Sebastian and The High Llamas --- introspective yet upbeat at the same time.
^
http://www.mvtimes.com/calendar/2007/09/06/music_wvvy.php
New, local CD benefits WVVY
By Julian Wise - September 6, 2007
Violist/singer Nina Violet unveils "The Dog Tomorrow," a studio track that mixes vocals, acoustic guitar, and violin to create the sound and feel of Americana roots music.
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http://theband.hiof.no/albums/lose_strife.html
Nina Violet: Lose Strife
Nina Violet's Lose Strife is the first release from Grandma's Basement, the new music label of Island-born singer/songwriter Willy Mason.
Lose Strife is an ambitious and earnest album, evidenced by its opening track, "Bruise." It is a love song of sorts in which Ms. Violet's plaintive vocals rise above her ambient guitar work, creating a contrast that manages to convey longing.
The album contains vast instrumentation - strings, synthesizers, organs, harpsichord, sitar, melatron, and electric guitars. Despite this collection of instruments, its tone is both personal and tasteful - no small feat. It is also a testament to Ms. Violet's skill as a self-produced artist.
The album's very present sound owes much to the thoughtful ear of sound engineer Matthew Cullen, who has worked with artists such as My Morning Jacket, Antony and The Johnsons, and Evan Dando, among others. This recording also features the genius of Garth Hudson (on accordion on "Burn The Bridge"), a former member of The Band.
All in all, this is a standout work that uses talent and feeling like a razor to cut through the void of false sentimentality and overproduction that plagues much of today's folk and rock music.
--Colin Ruel, The Martha's Vineyard Times, May 2008
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