Carolyn Wonderland
- HOMETOWN:
- AUSTIN, Texas
- MYSPACE:
- myspace.com/carolynwonderland
- WEB SITE:
- carolynwonderland.com
Rock / Blues / Jam BandA musical force equipped with the soulful vocals of Janis and the guitar slinging skills of Stevie Ray, Carolyn Wonderland reaches into the depths of the Texas blues tradition with the wit of a poet. She hits the stage with unmatched presence, a true legend in her time. “She'd grown up the child of a singer in a band and began playing her mother's vintage Martin guitar when other girls were dressing dolls. She'd gone from being the teenage toast of her hometown Houston to sleeping in her van in Austin amid heaps of critical acclaim for fine recordings Alcohol & Salvation, Bloodless Revolution, and most recently, Miss Understood.Along with the guitar and the multitude of other instruments she learned to play – trumpet, accordion, piano, mandolin, lap steel – Wonderland's ability to whistle remains most unusual. Whistling is a uniquely vocal art seldom invoked in modern music, yet it's among the most spectacular talents the human voice possesses.That vocal proficiency was well-established in the singer's midteens, landing her gigs at Fitzgerald's by age 15. She absorbed Houston influences like Little Screamin' Kenny and soaked up the Mad Hatter of Texas music, Doug Sahm. The Lone Star State was as credible and fertile a proving ground for blues in the 1980s as existed, especially in Austin with Stevie Ray Vaughan & Double Trouble, the Fabulous Thunderbirds, Angela Strehli, Omar & the Howlers, and Lou Ann Barton all in their prime. By the following decade, Austin's blues luster thinned, but Houston, always a bastion of soul and R&B, boasted the Imperial Monkeys with the effervescent Carolyn Wonderland as ruler of the jungle.In the early 1990s Wonderland & the Imperial Monkeys were invited to the Guadalupe Street Antone's in Austin. There, they were treated like royalty with the singer as the queen of hearts in the club's post-Stevie Ray Vaughan stable, which included Toni Price, Johnny and Jay Moeller, Sue Foley, Mike and Corey Keller, and the Ugly Americans. It was a good bar for the Monkeys to hang, and Austin felt so comfortable that when the band called it quits a few years later, she set her sights on Austin at the start of the millennium.Living in Austin renewed Carolyn Wonderland's focus on her multiple talents, underlining luxurious vocals with fine guitar work, trumpet, and piano, as well as that remarkable ability to whistle on key. A series of each-better-than-the-next discs began with Alcohol & Salvation in 2003 ("songs about booze and God; records are a time capsule of what happened that year"). Her music played in television series such as Time of Your Life and Homicide.Her circle of musician friends and admirers broadened to include not only Ray [Benson, who produced Miss Understood] but also the late Eddy Shaver, Shelley King, and yes, Bob Dylan, who likened her composition "Bloodless Revolution" to "a mystery movie theme." She began co-writing with locals Sarah Brown, Ruthie Foster, Cindy Cashdollar, and Guy Forsyth; sat in with Los Lobos, Robert Earl Keen, and Ray Wylie Hubbard; recorded with Jerry Lightfoot; and toured with Buddy Guy and Johnny Winter. She also claims membership in the all-girl Sis Deville, the gospel-infused Imperial Crown Golden Harmonizers, and takes aw-shucks credit for inspiring Amsterdam's annual WonderJam.It was magic in the studio, too, as Miss Understood came to life, a canny mix of Benson's production, Wonderland's compositions, and select covers of Terri Hendrix, J.J. Cale, and Rick Derringer that punched her sound up a notch. As soon as the album roared to life, it was clear the singer-songwriter-guitarist-whistler had delivered on her long-awaited promise.”
UPCOMING EVENTS |
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Carolyn Wonderland, Guy Forsyth, Imperial Golden Crown Harmonizers, Papa Mali, Cyr...
Sat. 12/20 @ Saxon Pub (South Austin)
Ray Henning Tribute and Birthday w/ Carolyn Wonderland, Paula Nelson, Jimmie Vaugh...
Tue. 12/16 | 7:00PM @ Antone's (West Fifth)
Armadillo Christmas Bazaar
Fri. 12/12 | 11:00AM - Wed. 12/24 @ Austin Convention Center (Downtown)
The 33rd annual Armadillo Christmas Bazaar will once again be at the Austin Convention Center. It remains the same truly Austin honky-tonk bar shopping experience that has made the Armadillo C…more»
Carolyn Wonderland - Early Show
Sat. 11/29 | 7:00PM @ Antone's (West Fifth)
7 People Like this Event. I Like It share
She cuts her blues with swing, surf and country moves. You never know exactly what you’re going to get from Wonderland and her guitar, but you know it will be soulful and rich. — Joe Gross more at www.austin360.com
Jodi Adair CD Release @ The Amsterdam w/ Carolyn Wonderland
Sat. 10/25 | 9:00PM - Sat. 10/25 @ The Amsterdam
SATURDAYOct 25 2008 @ The Amsterdam121 West 8th St. & Colorado St.Austin, TX 78701 8:00pmAimee Bobruk 10:00pmJODI ADAIR CD RELEASE - Settle Down Easyw/ CAROLYN WONDERLAND, Cole El-Saleh …more»
Texas Wine & Song Festival
Sun. 10/19 | 3:00PM @ Copper Tank Events Center corner of 5th & Trinity
The Texas Wine & Song Festival was created in 2007 with the purpose of celebrating Austin's most popular export, live music, while educating and exciting participants …more»
Dave Gonzalez, Mario Matteoli, Stoney LaRue, Randy Rogers Band, Ray Wylie Hubbard,...
Sun. 10/12 | 1:00PM @ Gruene Hall (South Austin)
Austin Yam Jam Benefit
Sun. 10/05 | 3:00PM @ Threadgill's South World HQ (South Austin)
he Austin Yam Jam - Back For Seconds concert will be at Threadgills in Austin, Texas at the corner of Riverside and South 1st. The lineup has been finalized and we are very excited about this …more»
Carolyn Wonderland w/ Lou Ann Barton, The Bluebonnets, Bettysoo
Fri. 09/19 | 8:00PM @ Antone's (West Fifth)
7 People Like this Event. I Like It share
She cuts her blues with swing, surf and country moves. more at www.austin360.com
KGSR's "Unplugged at the Grove" Presents: Carolyn Wonderland w/ Lisa Mills
Thu. 09/11 | 7:00PM @ Shady Grove (South Central)
Free Thursday night music outdoors at Shady Grove (1624 Barton Springs Rd)! Join us every Thursday night, for a free show starting at *8pm! Enjoy great food and beverages ($2.00 Zeigenbocks an…more»
4th Annual BATFEST! 2008 featuring Flobots, Ludo and More!
Sat. 08/30 | 7:00PM - Sun. 08/31 @ First Street Bridge
Batfest!, Will feature Arts, Crafts, Music, Food, Bat Watching, Children's Activities, and Educational Displays. Estimated attendance is around 40,000! With Scenic backdrop of Town Lake an…more»
183 People Like this Event. I Like It share
Ludo and Flobots? I’m there.
The Regulars (6:00), Carolyn Wonderland, Clay McClinton (9:00)
Fri. 08/29 | 6:00PM @ Saxon Pub (South Austin)
KGSR Live at the Lake - Carolyn Wonderland
Sun. 08/03 | 6:00PM @ Lakeway Resort and Spa
Join 107.1 KGSR for the Live at the Lake Concert Series at Lakeway Resort and Spa! Free Shows on Sundays this summer, with gates opening at 4pm (no earlier!) and LIVE music from 6pm to 8pm in …more»
Women's Show w/ The Great Barbara Lynn, Carolyn Wonderland, Cindy Cashdollar, Rosi...
Tue. 07/29 | 7:00PM @ Antone's (West Fifth)
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“People couldn’t believe their eyes, seeing a young girl playing left-handed! It was so odd for them, both men and women, to see a young black girl, especially around these parts, playing a left-handed guitar and singing the blues.”
Barbara Lynn started rocking Beaumont clubs while still in high school, fronting an Elvis-loving all-girl band. At age 20, the soulful southpaw shot from bars to American Bandstand as her self-penned 1962 single, “You’ll Lose a Good Thing,” bumped Ray Charles from atop the R&B charts.
“My manager and I sort of had a good idea that this song might hit, but we thought ‘Lonely Heartache,’ the flip side, would go,” Lynn explains. “It just so happened that they put ‘You’ll Lose a Good Thing’ for the A side, and it really took off.”
Lynn walked away from music in the 1970s, moving to California to raise a family. When she picked up her guitar again in the late 1980s, Clifford Antone was among the first to call.
“Clifford would always say, ‘Barbara, you need to put all that other music down and come in the studio and let us record a strong blues album with you.’ He felt all that other music was just garbage. He said the blues will always be around, and he told the honest-to-God truth.”
At 66, nearly five decades since her chart-topping debut, Lynn’s career is far from done: “I might be signing up with Daptone Records out of Brooklyn. Boy, they have been calling me.”
Lynn cuts a single for the catalysts of Sharon Jones’ retro-soul revival in September and hints a full LP could follow. Now that would be a good thing. more at austinchronicle.com
KGSR Blues on The Green - Carolyn Wonderland
Wed. 07/23 | 7:30PM @ Zilker Park (South Austin)
KGSR's free Concert Series at Zilker Park brings you the Guitar Goddess Carolyn Wonderland. Bring the family, or just a dog on a leash. Some of the best local Austin restaurants are on han…more»
Carolyn Wonderland at The San Marcos River Pub
Sun. 07/13 | 7:30PM @ San Marcos River Pub & Grill (South Austin)
Carolyn Wonderland playing blues for your soul.
Ranked nationally as one of the top arts and craft shows, the Armadillo Christmas Bazaar is just about the most Austin event of the holiday season. more at www.austin360.com