Band Members:

Carrie Rodriguez:   vocals, fiddle

Press:

Quotes:

“...stunning and massively talented.” - Music
Fog, Nov. 2011 by Jessie Scott 

Full
Article

“Carrie Rodriguez kept a
packed house spellbound for a couple of hours. The year is young, but this
might have been the best show Austin sees all year. “ - Austin 360 - Jan. 2012 by Patrick
Beach

Full
Article

 “She
makes every song sound as if it was written for her, be it her appropriately
forlorn take on Hank Williams’ I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry, or her authentic,
sophisticated senorita reading of La Punalada Trapela. She’s writing, or
co-writing, superb new songs, too, the pick of them being Absence, forged with
Mary Gauthier and capturing a Texas-Louisiana alliance of rich bluesy
substance.” - Herald Scotland - Oct. 2011 by Rob Adams

Full
Article

“Despite her prolific recordings, Rodriguez
is always at her best in front of a live audience...” - Caernarfon Herald, Oct.
2011 by Linda Roberts   

Full
Article

Reviews for We Still Love our Country:

“This record is just about perfect. These two
can sing. And write. And play. And this record reminds anyone who hears it why
country music used to be great, and gives us hope that someday it will be
again.” Bakersfield.com – Dec. 2011 by Scott Cox  

Full
Article

 “The playing throughout is simple and
to the point and there's an adept choice of songs, but above all else the
voices of Rodriguez and Kyle sound like they were made to sing together [We
Still Love Our Country].” - backroadsmusic.co.uk - Nov. 2011  

Full Article

"…they rise to the challenge. It feels like a proper homage to Harris and Parsons but
stands on its own merits." - The
Telegraph, UK – Oct. 2011

"Rodriguez & Kyle harmonize
brilliantly and you can feel the respect that sits between
these two – I hesitate to say passion because this is one of those rare
‘couples’ albums that doesn’t sound as though the two are desperately in love –
they just sound as though they are enjoying the music together." - Andy Snipper / Music News, UK  - Nov. 2011

"Rodriguez and Kyle
bring back to country music some of that old romantic and much missed sparkle." - Northern
Sky, UK  - Nov. 2011 by Allan Wilkinson

Reviews
for Love and Circumstance:

"...simply an understated triumph. Grade: A "  - Glide Magazine – Jun. 2010

“Carrie Rodriguez proves herself an astute interpreter of other
people's material via her latest - and best album to date.”    - BLURT -
Apr. 2010 by Lee Zimmerman

 “...a case of the right album at the right time.”  - Village Records – Apr. 2010

“...her latest absolutely floored me. It’s a dozen covers so skillfully
done that some of the original artists might be tempted to enter the witness
protection program.  If this isn’t her breakthrough album there’s no
justice!”    - Off-Center Views – May, 2010
by Phoenix Brown & Lars Vigo

“This is an album that you do not want to miss.”  - NoDepression.net
 Feb. 2010

Reviews for Seven Angels on a Bicycle:

"On Seven Angels..., Rodriguez embraces
the center of attention, producing the album with Taylor and writing half the
tracks with him as well. While she hasn't abandoned country-folk altogether -
there's plenty of steel guitar and banjo here - standout crossover tracks like
the sexy "Got Your Name on It" are sure to inspire more panting than
pickin'.”-  American Way - June, 2006

"Listening to Seven Angels on A Bicycle
from Carrie Rodriquez is like coasting down a smooth mountain trail, gliding
along effortlessly, while listening to these fresh natural sounds, amazed by
the surprises that await around every turn--or tune. Move over Lucinda, and
step aside Miss Nora Jones, Carrie Rodriguez's pure and deeply-rooted music
will take your breath away. There isn't a bad track or wasted note on the
recording, listen to it all."- about.com - June 2006 by Peter Bochan

More Carrie Rodriguez Press:

“Rodriguez has become equal parts contributor
to and student of American songwriting traditions.”

A.V. Club - Twin Cities

“In addition to first-rate originals “Your
Lonely Heart” and “Fire Alarm,” the duo put their stamp on songs by Townes Van
Zandt (“If I Needed You”), Taylor (“Big Kiss”) and John Prine (“Unwed
Fathers”). They bring things to a close with a lan- guidly paced cover of “Love
Hurts,” which is on par with the famous renditions by the Everly Brothers and
later Nazareth. Here’s hoping Rodriguez and Kyle work together again.”

Jeffrey Sisk - The Daily News

“Fiddler breaks strings, hearts.”

Music Calendar - Austin Chronicle

“Carrie Rodriguez with her two latest
releases — last year’s “Love and Circumstance’’ and a new duets record with Ben
Kyle, “We Still Love Our Country’’ — this singer-songwriter and fiddler
revisited the artists who inspired her. Collectively, the albums include
poignant interpretations of songs by Lucinda Williams, the Louvin Brothers, and
Richard Thompson.”

Boston Globe

“Carrie Rodriguez bends the boundaries
between country, folk, and rock. She also performs songs so sexy that they're
what Barry White would have done if he had worn a skirt and sung with a Texas
twang. ”

Rob Weir - Valley Advocate

“Carrie Rodriguez and Ben Kyle’s “We Still
Love Our Country” follows a very simple formula: Beautiful female vocals +
easygoing male vocals + country standards + gentle acoustic-based accompaniment
= an album of duets that’s an absolute gem, because they found an excellent
plan and stuck with it for a wonderful half-hour. Fans of the acoustic guitar
need this album. That’s all there is to it. ”

Stephen Carradini - Oklahoma Gazette

“Two thoughts come quickly to mind on the
second listen to WE STILL LOVE OUR COUNTRY by Carrie Rodriguez & Ben Kyle:
1)it's not a jingoistic nod to the red, white, and blue, but a tribute to
traditional and new country music that sounds kinda traditonal, and 2)Rodriguez
remains star material no matter who her duet partner may be and, for that
matter, as a solo artist.”

Tom Geddie - Buddy Magazine

“We Still Love Our Country finds Carrie
Rodriguez teaming up with Ben Kyle, the Belfast-born frontman of the Midwestern
alt-country band Romantica, for an album of duets that hark back to the classic
country pairings of Loretta and Conway and Dolly and Porter. Most of the tunes
are covers, but they make them all their own. ...the Rodriguez/Kyle co-write,
“Fire Alarm,” is a flirtatious duet with a playful lyric and, thanks to their
vocals, plenty of sizzle.”

J.Poet - Lone Star Music Magazine

“Ben Kyle, on busman's holiday from the
Celtic/Americana of Romantica, joins Rodriguez in this endearing nod to the
exalted Gram Parson/Emmylou Harris partnership. Kyle's upbeat You're Lonely
Heart sets the tempo: a spirited, dance-floor shuffle on which Kyle's crooning
swoon takes lead while Rodriguez wraps her kittenish wiles around. Van Zandt's
once-in-a-lifetime If I Needed You, is a dreamy, passionate plea. The catchy,
co-written Fire Alarm, a humorous country swing about two oddballs in love,
carries us into mentor Taylor's Big Kiss a doozy of a yearner that the two get
to the very bruised heart of, a miraculous feat Parsons & Harris did with
frightening regularity. John Prines' ever poignant Unwed Fathers gets the
definitive cover version, soft acoustic picking and Carrie's weeping fiddle.
Love Hurts will never have anyone forgetting the Gram & Emmylou iconic
performance, but it does set the stage hopefully for another, longer running
disc from this deeply simpatico duo.”

Mike Jurkovic - FAME - Folk & Acoustic
Music Exchange

“Carrie Rodriguez didn't allow a cold to
detract from a set long on tenacity in her Southern California return... (her)
interpretive strengths allow her to put a face of determination rather than
pity on a melancholy lyric, and the rough edges from her cold added to the
effect. But Rodriguez comes armed with the added instrument of her fiddle, and
on Sunday, that voice shone particularly bright, bringing "I Don't Want To
Play House Anymore" and "Never Gonna Be Your Bride" into foot-stomping,
testifyin' mode and providing some very tasty instrumental tension in the lead
break of "Waterbound." A late highpoint in the set was Rodriguez'
husky-voiced take on "La Puñalada Trapera," Rodriguez voice, now
hoarse and cracking, laid in a smoky and steely character to the already
dramatic tune, imbuing it with a cinematic quality that's discernible in most
Rodriguez performances, but even more so with a touch of fight against the
elements in the air. (Live Show Review)”

Richard Tafoya - Sound Spike

“Carrie Rodriguez doesn’t just cover the love
songs in her fourth album, she inhabits them. Love and Circumstance, which has
a big, polished sound rich in texture and instrumentation. Rodriguez’s voice is
arresting whether she’s slowing down Lucinda Williams’s “Steal Your Love,”
giving a fresh interpretation to Richard Thompson’s “Waltzing’s for Dreamers,”
or belting it out on “Big Love” (Little Village). This is masterful
musicianship, with primacy given to the guitars, which blend beautifully yet
inhabit different spaces within the songs, so that the character of
each—tremolo, acoustic, electric, tenor—shines. There are lovely touches on
every cut, like the ecstatic single lines on “La Puñalda Trapera” that play up
Rodriguez’s soulfulness or the way Frisell’s guitar dances jazzily around the
single repeated notes chiming from Rodriguez’s mandolin on Hank Williams’s “I’m
So Lonesome I Could Cry.” A stunner. (Ninth Street Opus)”

Celine Keating - Acoustic Guitar

“Captivating Texas-born and -bred singer,
fiddler and songwriter Carrie Rodriguez continues her ascent.”

Stewart Oksenhorn - The Aspen Times

“This Townes Van Zandt psalm/psong is
timeless, and so dang good that it’s hard to imagine someone ruining it. I
stumbled across this version when I found myself wandering around looking for
whether Carrie Rodriguez had come out with anything new recently. Voila! She
made an album of duets with some dude named Ben Kyle. I first listened to it
while trudging across the tundra of the Public Garden and Boston Common. On
several of the songs, I snuck a look around to see if anyone was near me, and
seeing no one, I sang along loudly. I rarely give into that temptation, and I
experience it a lot, but something about these songs was just irresistible. You
try listening to the bouncy, swingy “Fire Alarm” without singing along. Or
two-stepping. I dare you. But first listen to this lovely psalm/psong.”

Joy Howie - The Crooked Line (blog)

“Together, the pair complement each other’s
strengths and make each track worthy of belonging on a honky tonk jukebox.
(from a review of WSLOC)”

In Art Media

“Attention to hayseed detail helped place
this one-off in the Top 10 of the AMA charts, where Decembrists and Gregg
Allman are also holding court at this writing. The EP’s title was an
unfortunate choice, as some people might run screaming from anything
threatening to be NASCAR-ified ‘Let the Eagle Soar’ chest-thumping celebrating
our rapidly failing state; but I suppose people expect everything nowadays to
be a Tin Pan Alley play on words and will correctly expect John Prine-style
tearjerking and old school honky-tonk. Twenty-somethings still love them their
hipsterisms, so the LP begins with ‘Your Lonely Heart’, written by (Romantica
frontman) Kyle most likely while coming down from a Cowboy Junkies bender. From
there, though, it’s throwback city – solemn renderings of ‘Love Hurts’, Luke
McDaniel’s ‘You’re Still On My Mind’ and Prine’s ‘Unwed Fathers’ broken up at
one point by the Dwight Yoakam-ish honky-tonk original ‘Fire Alarm'.”

Eric Saeger - Spike Magazine

“Rodriguez’s charming, low key vocals mesh
perfectly with his (Ben Kyle's), making this a match made in contemporary
folk/country heaven. The sparse production rightly focuses on the vocals with a
backing band that’s in the pocket yet appropriately reserved... they should
continue this sympathetic partnership and expand it to an album of originals. -
from review of WSLOC”

Hal Horowitz - American Songwriter

“For the better part of the past decade, the
term "angelic" has been oft-applied in discussing the multi-talented
Carrie Rodriguez and her music. To be sure, the molasses-coated twang she
imparts is very much the stuff of heavenly creatures. So are her skills with
almost any instrument bearing strings, especially the fiddle. These days,
though, Rodriguez's most angelic attribute is her sharing of the spotlight.
Early this month, she and Romantica's Ben Kyle teamed up for the immaculate We
Still Love Our Country, an album that is without a doubt stone-cold country,
but sweet enough to lack any pretense. Yep, that halo sure fits nicely atop
Rodriguez's curly locks.”

Kelly Dearmore - Dallas Observer

““[Love & Circumstance] brings the
lifelong musician and longtime sidewoman front and center, at long last
establishing Rodriguez as one of Americana's biggest up-and-comers.””

Chris Gray - Houston Press

“We can all see ourselves in varying degrees
in sad songs, particularly sad country songs. Personally, I love them,
especially when they are done right. Doing it right is what goes on in the
Carrie Rodriguez and Ben Kyle (of Romantica) duet release, ‘We Still Love Our
Country’. Their voices match as much as the heart and soul they put into their
version of six classic tracks and two originals. As the title tells you,
country runs proud and free in these songs. The country sound honored can claim
a few addresses. Some come in from east, country songs that made AM radio’s
shine in the 50’s/60’s. Others have a feel of the time when country and rock
started hanging together in the late 70’s L.A. Cosmic American Music days.
Wherever the origins, the songs have found a home, with Carrie and Ben serving
as proud parents.”

Danny McCloskey - The Alternate Root

“Albums twice as long as this rarely get to
as profound a place of loss and longing as what Rodriguez and Kyle discover in
these eight songs, theirs included. Flat nail it, they did. (from review of We
Still Love Our Country)”

David McGee - The Bluegrass Special

“Kyle and Rodriguez blend beautifully
together. Often their voices almost become one all-encompassing, graceful
dual-tone (from review of We Still Love Our Country).”

Austin Music

“The Acoustic Café Tour is smartly arranged
as a study in post-Lilith Fair, singer-songwriter contrasts. Veteran songwriter
Mary Gauthier sings with a cutting drawl and writes brutal fables that merit
comparisons to both Flannery O'Connor and Townes Van Zandt. Carrie Rodriguez
also knows how to hold an audience with a sculpted lyric, but her method is a
sweeter science, part fiddle brilliance, part Texas soul. The youngest of the three,
Erin McKeown, brings some levity and pop impulses to the bill and should be a
draw for fans of Ani DiFranco's satirical groove folk. If you're looking for a
night of dainty songbirds in polished folkie cages, disappointment is certain —
this trio has sharper, shrewder songs to share.”

Roy Kasten - Riverfront Times

“Rodri­guez hit the ground running with
2006's country-minded debut, Seven Angels on a Bicycle. Last year's album, Love
and Circumstance, centers on singer-songwriter twang, particularly the cuts
featuring Buddy Miller. Rodriguez's croon has a husky tinge like honey with a
touch of spice, and she takes some clever lyrical turns: She compares someone
with a "'50s French Movie" (When do I take my clothes off?) and
confesses, I learned all the words of love in my dictionary. Expect more of the
singer's sultry voice and subtle wit at her Acoustic Café Tour date at
Knuckleheads.”

Chris Parker - The Pitch

“The instrumentation is perfect, subtle, and
played with ease as Rodriguez and Kyle’s voice melt together like butter onto a
hot biscuit. It’s a winning combination that fuels this eight-song record with
laid-back passion. ... Fire Alarm,” the other original, gets the toes tapping
again with playful lyrics and warm accompaniment that make you long for more
originals from the tandem. ... Carrie Rodriguez and Ben Kyle are the real deal
and We Still Love Our Country is a great calling card.”

Andrew Greenhalgh - soul-audio

“Fiddling phenom Rodriguez and Romantica
frontman Kyle harmonize on six classic country love songs and two originals.
The latter, "Your Lonely Heart" and "Fire Alarm," have the
album's sweetest taste of yearning honey and funniest honky-tonk kick,
respectively. Teardrops will conceivably fall as you listen to their renditions
of Townes Van Zandt's "If I Needed You" and Hazel Houser's "My
Baby's Gone." ... Carrie and Ben sing pretty together... ”

Bob Strauss - LA Daily News

“I've become a pretty big fan of Rodriguez
over the past two years. She just released an excellent new album with Ben Kyle
titled 'We Still Love Our Country,' and I would imagine a few of those songs
will be on display. Rodriguez's 'Love and Circumstance,' which came out last
year, was also wonderful, so she's at the top of her game (and her last show at
The Old Rock House was top notch). - from preview to "an Acoustic Cafe evening"
show”

Jason Gonulsen - Metromix St. Louis

“Coming closely on the heels of last year's
well received Love and Circumstance, Carrie Rodriguez takes an unexpected
detour to connect with newcomer Ben Kyle for an EP largely consisting of
covers. Having weaned herself away from her apprenticeship with Chip Taylor, it
shows she's still quite comfortable as a collaborator. ...We Love Our Country
measures up as a worthy addition to Rodriguez's growing catalog. The title
refers to the duo's fondness for old timey Americana, a common thread that
weaves its way through all eight of its offerings. ...the pair's original
material parallels those prototypes. "Your Lonely Heart" and
"Fire Alarm" maintain an easy ramble, Rodriguez's fiddle and the
duo's lilting harmonies affirming their down home designs. It may seem a
somewhat unassuming entry, but regardless, We Love Our Country creates a
favorable first impression.”

Lee Zimmerman - Blurt Online

“Austin, Texas-based Carrie Rodriguez hooks
up comfortably here with indie kindred spirit Ben Kyle in a loose tribute to
Gram Parsons and Emmylou Harris, the founders of what became
Americana/alt-country—the rootsy, left-field sub-genre that honors country’s
legacy and its notable songsmiths (traditional and otherwise). Reprising Parsons’
take on “You’re Still on My Mind” (from The Byrds’ landmark Sweetheart of the
Rodeo album), the two pare the track down to its basics and find its emotional
core, treating it simply as a song rather than saying, “Hey, check out this
really hip old country song.” This blend of respect and unself-consciousness is
the biggest contribution the duo makes to songs better known elsewhere in
definitive versions. We Still Love Our Country effectively nods to the
endurance of well-crafted songs and traces a rough historical arc for a younger
generation. ”

Steve Morley - Country Weekly

“Austin fiddler Carrie Rodriguez knows how to
wrap her voice around a tune as well as let her instrument wail, weep, and
laugh in accompaniment. And Romantica’s Ben Kyle understands the importance of
keeping the music earnest, even deadpan, no matter how serious or silly the
song. Together, the pair complement each other’s strengths and make each track
worthy of belonging on a honky tonk jukebox. It’s no insult to say Rodriguez
and Kyle do not surpass the past masters. The intent seems more to pay tribute
to their forbears. The important thing is that the disc offers plenty of
pleasure and enjoyment, and the pair sounds like it had a good time making it.
No new ground may be broken here, but as Neil Young used to wryly sing, “In the
field of opportunity, it’s plowing time again”. We Still Love Our Country
offers the occasion to enjoy good country music, and that’s reason enough to
reseed familiar ground.”

Steve Horwitz - Popmatters

"You will miss sunrise, if you close
your eyes, and that would break, my heart in two." Choosing to cover
Townes Van Zandt is pretty popular these days. But when you do it beautifully,
as Carrie Rodriguez and Ben Kyle do on their new album, We Still Love Our Country,
it sounds as fresh as ever. To me, "If I Needed You" should be the
gold standard for any songwriter trying to achieve honesty in his or her
lyrics. Its simplicity has always spoken to me, no matter who is singing its
words; it's undeniably timeless. Smartly, Rodriguez and Kyle don't try to
invent the wheel here. Their version is gentle, and Rodriguez's harmonies are
in that Emmylou Harris category -- you know, the kind that softly linger in the
back of your mind for days. Frankly, Rodriguez is a star in my book, and she's
only getting better. We Still Love Our Country is available now. I'd recommend
giving it a shot.

Speakers in Code

“It's really an homage to our favorite duet
singers and our favorite duets. We're both huge Gram Parsons and Emmylou Harris
fans. It was just kind of a tribute to our heroes and the music that we love.
In calling the album, "We Still Love Our Country," we wanted to make
an album of good country songs. Country can get a bad rap, with all the new pop
stuff, which is not really country music. They put a pedal steel guitar in
there, but it's 90 percent pop. There is so much great history in the country
genre, and we wanted to pay tribute to that. - Carrie Rodriguez (quoted)”

Eric Schelkopf - The Total Scene

“Austin-based singer-songwriter Carrie
Rodriguez teamed up with Minneapolis-based Irishman Ben Kyle, lead singer of
the folk-pop band Romantica, for this eight-track collection celebrating their
love of classic country and Americana. They mostly do right by their choice of material,
giving heartfelt readings of Townes van Zandt’s “If I Needed You” and John
Prine’s “Unwed Fathers” among others. Of the set’s two originals, the standout
is “Fire Alarm,” a totally adorable opposites-attract love song that some smart
guy-girl vocal duo (Lady Antebellum? Little Big Town?) will turn into a country
radio hit.”

Phoenix Metromix

“...it should really be titled “we still love
our country music”. After Rodriguez knocked a couple of classic country covers
out of the park last year on Love and Circumstance, I suppose this is a natural
progression. To start with the last song on the album, Love Hurts, she does it
again in a duet with her partner on the album, Romantica front man Ben Kyle. I
feel like the standard for duets was set by Gram and Emmylou with this song,
but I have to say Carrie and Ben are in the same league. I loved Fire Alarm, an
original that’s so John Prine it comes off like a tribute. And speaking of John
Prine, they also cover his Unwed Fathers tune. It’s a reminder there are a lot
of country gems written before country was cool. With an old soul take on
several of them here, this album will push you to go back and listen to a few
of those classics again.”

Shawn Underwood - Twangville

“Some singers are like good chocolate, they
make just about everything they touch better. Carrie Rodriguez is well on her
way to becoming chocolate. Her sublime duets with Chip Taylor are a must have
for any fan of alternative country. Her solo albums are near Americana
perfection. Now she is back with a new album of duets and a new singing
partner. Ben Kyle is the lead singer of the Irish Folk/Rock band Romantica, who
has also done some work with Ryan Adams. Rodriguez and Kyle have partnered
together on We Still Love Our Country, a collection of deliberately country
covers of classic country songs. ...this a remarkable and memorable album. The
harmonies are a shimmering thing of beauty, which may well be a joy forever.
This album is a deliberate and loving tribute to country music, back when it had
real meaning and real twang. And, as such, this is an album fans who have been
missing that sort of country will enjoy for years to come.”

Stormy Lewis - Roughstock

“A good boy/girl country duet can cross many
boundaries, and Carrie Rodriguez and Ben Kyle's breezy new collection, "We
Still Love Our Country," does that in several ways. The album finds the
Texas songstress and the Irish frontman of Minneapolis alt-twangers Romantica
harmonizing sweetly through Alt-Country 101 staples from John Prine, Townes Van
Zandt and the Gram Parsons songbook, plus two fun originals. ”

Minneapolis Star Tribune

“Carrie Rodriguez is the Texas-based
singer/songwriter with numerous exceptional albums to her credit and Ben Kyle
is the Irish-born singer/songwriter from the acclaimed Minneapolis band
Romantica. Together, they deliver a sweet taste of Americana on this relatively
brief (eight song) album, mixing a couple of originals with a series of
classics and near-classics. In truth, one of the best and most playful songs on
the set is “Fire Alarm,” a track they wrote and harmonize on about the lustful
attraction between two near complete opposites. Elsewhere they turn in superb
renditions of material penned by Townes Van Zandt, “If I Needed You;” John
Prine and Robert Braddock’s masterpiece “Unwed Fathers;” and the timeless “Love
Hurts,” which was written by Boudleaux Bryant and recorded by everyone from the
Everly Brothers to Gram Parsons and Emmylou Harris. This one is classy and
gently alluring recording from start to finish.”

Kevin O'Hare - Springfield Republican

“This eight-track EP pays homage to country
singers and songwriters who thrived outside Nashville Inc. Six of the eight
songs are covers, including Townes Van Zandt’s “If I Needed You,” which was
famously covered by Emmylou Harris and Don Williams; Boudleaux Bryant’s classic
“Love Hurts,” which Harris even more famously recorded with Gram Parsons; John
Prine’s “Unwed Fathers”; and “You’re Still on My Mind,” a song Parsons and the
Byrds recorded for “Sweetheart of the Rodeo.” At the website Direct Current Music,
Kyle said of the cover of “Love Hurts”: “(It) seems a bit wildly ambitious in
that Gram and Emmylou recorded a ‘duet for the ages,’ that I can’t imagine ever
being surpassed in feeling and delivery, but Gram and Emmy were a deep
inspiration for this project and so you could say we chose this song as an
acknowledgment or a sort of homage to them.””

Timothy Finn - Kansas City Star

“Americana's odd couple return for a final
spin, with an album that is mostly a "best of" from their decade
performing together, but which also boasts four new numbers by the prolific
Taylor. The veteran songwriter ("Wild Thing" and "Angel of the
Morning" are his) and young fiddle player add up to more than their sum,
whether on the easy-going "Let's Leave This Town" or lachrymose
slowie "Play it Again Sam", with her pungent drawl playing foil to
his seasoned growl. Along with tricky love affairs, Texas's open roads and
genial music bars are always on hand, with Taylor's two 60s warhorses given a
live run-out. - review of The New Bye & Bye, The Best of The Trainwreck
Years (2002-2009)”

Neil Spencer - The London Guardian Observer

“Shot through with wistful melancholy and
unflinching honesty, every song is a minor masterpiece, and Taylor and
Rodriguez blend their voices together like coffee and cream, the results a rich
blend that’s smooth yet endlessly intriguing. Highly recommended! ”

John Taylor - Blog Critics - review of The
New Bye & Bye, The Best of The Trainwreck Years (20

“Sometimes it seems as though Willie Nelson
invented the unlikely duet. Chip Taylor and Carrie Rodriguez may have perfected
the concept. Sure, a former professional gambler from New York and author of
Wild Thing paired with a Texas-born and Berklee-trained fiddler and vocalist 38
years his junior - who didn't know that would work? An audition of their five
previous albums together is nothing so much as a debunking of demographics. The
pairing does work, and its disparate virtues are all on display in this
retrospective fortified with four new songs. Taylor's pungent, distinctive
lyrics and melodies - check. Rodriguez's aching fiddle and equally expressive
and wide-ranging voice - check. Humor and passion - check and check. The
contributions of both partners are not only deeply complementary, but well
balanced. One can certainly understand why this duo's parting kiss would be
fraught with melancholy.”

Don Armstrong - Country Standard Time -
review of The New Bye & Bye

“The New Bye & Bye really isn't an album
you analyze but one you let wash over you. Taylor & Rodriguez don't so much
tell stories as create moments for the listener to experience, the sort that
usually might only be found on a back porch on a Texas summer night (with
gracious nods to Appalachian folk). If your taste in music runs to the roots of
country, rock and folk as played on back porches across post-frontier frontier
then you need to be listening to Chip Taylor and Carrie Rodriguez. The New Bye
& Bye is a great place to start, offering the best work of their years
together and some nice new surprises. Taylor and Rodriguez are very capable of
making magic on their own. Together they combine those collective talents with
the sort of chemistry you can't buy or force. The New Bye & Bye is
essential listening.”

Wildy Haskell - Wildy's World - review of The
New Bye & Bye

“I liked the more upbeat songs "Sweet
Tequila Blues" with its catchy line "take me back to Austin, damn I
miss that town" and "All The Rain" with "I can't believe
they didn't drown with all the rain in their heart". I really enjoy Carrie's
twangy "I don't give a damn" attitude with the calm, collective
melody from Chip. And speaking of accents, wow, you haven't heard "Wild
Thing" until you hear their version. They ought to change to the title to
"Wild Thang". ”

Vu Nguyen - We Heart Music - review of The
New Bye & Bye

“There’s cover versions and there’s cover
versions... And then there’s those in which the singer pays respect to the
material but imbues it with their own spirit so that, unless you knew
otherwise, you’d believe they’d written it. Such is the case with Rodriguez’s
third solo album (Love & Circumstance), a collection of love songs by
artists she counts as inspiration and influences, produced by Lee Townsend,
recorded with her regular band and featuring guest contributions by Bill
Frisell, Buddy Miller, Greg Leisz, and Aoife O'Donovan. After two previous
albums, it also underlines her increasing confidence and strength as a
vocalist, finding both tenderness and muscle in equal measure. ...musically and
thematically, it’s a labour of love.”

Mike Davies - Net Rhythms

“With her drop-dead sultry beauty and equally
stunning vocal and instrumental chops, it’s no surprise that many a songwriter
would enjoy the opportunity to crawl under the covers with Austin-based
musician Carrie Rodriguez — musical covers, that is. Rodriguez’s latest
release, “Love and Circumstance,” is an all-cover record, and a choice one at
that. ”

Linda East Brady - Hersutah

““Rodriguez has taken a handful of classic
tracks from her genre and truly made them her own. ... what makes the album is
her sweet yet powerful vocals."”

Daniela Garcia - Venus Zine

“a superior collection of Americana-flavored
country-pop, delivered with exquisite taste, and proves a fine showcase for
Rodriguez’ marvelous voice and interpretive skills. Recommended! Read more:
http://blogcritics.org/music/article/music-review-carrie-rodriguez-love-and/#ixzz0sLUqxOY4”

John Taylor - Blog Critics

“ “Taken as a whole, the album is a slow burn
reminiscent of Emmylou Harris’ Wrecking Ball. ...the best showcase of Carrie
Rodriguez’s talent to date.” ”

Juli Thanki - Music & Musicians

“...simply an understated triumph. Grade: A ”

Glide Magazine

“Taken as a whole, the album is a slow burn
reminiscent of Emmylou Harris’ Wrecking Ball. ...the best showcase of Carrie
Rodriguez’s talent to date.”

Juli Thanki - Music & Musicians

“The music world is populated by performers
who can do it all: sing, write songs and play several instruments and do it all
with personality and panache. Some of them are well-known or famous; others
aren't and deserve to be -- which is the category Carrie Rodriguez falls into.
- from live review of Kansas City show May 16, 2010”

Timothy Finn - Back To Rockville blog -
Kansas City Star

“Those who have been following Carrie
Rodriguez throughout her career will find Love & Circumstance an exciting
addition to her oeuvre, new fans will get a glimpse of the rising star’s
influences; both will revel in the sterling musicianship and heartfelt
interpretations of new and classic songs. “This is a really important record
for me,’ says Rodriguez, ‘not just because it gave me the chance to go back to
my roots, but also because it celebrates my family.””

Barry - Birdland

““...her latest absolutely floored me. It’s a
dozen covers so skillfully done that some of the original artists might be
tempted to enter the witness protection program. If this isn’t her breakthrough
album there’s no justice."”

Phoenix Brown & Lars Vigo - Off-Center
Views

“If you're not familiar with Rodriguez's
work, Love & Circumstance, which was released on April 13th, is a wonderful
place to start. It's warm and striking. And it's as real of a collection of
tunes that you'll find. Please don't let this one slip past your ears.”

Jason Gonulson - Speakers in Code

“...since we live in darker, more hostage
mentality times, beautifully crystalline efforts like Love and Circumstance
will undoubtedly, unjustly, and undeservedly go unheard and mostly unheralded.”

Mike Jurkovic - Folk and Acoustic Music
Exchange

“t’s one thing to sing someone else’s song.
It’s another to make it sound as if you wrote it yourself. On “Love and
Circumstance,” Carrie Rodriguez pulls that feat off 12 times over. With
unhurried phrasing, accented by hints of a Texas drawl, hushed whispers and
resigned, wistful sighs of cynicism or regret, she convinces us every emotion
she conveys is truly her own. Of course, she knew just which musical well to
draw from: Family favorites, and Americana royalty like Little Village, Buddy
and Julie Miller, Townes Van Zandt and Lucinda and Hank Williams. Her delivery
of tunes such as Richard Thompson’s “Waltzing’s for Dreamers” and the David
Rawlings/Gillian Welch composition, “I Made A Lover’s Prayer” is so intimate,
so confessional, it’s almost as if she doesn’t know we’re listening. Finely
detailed instrumentation adds nuanced elegance to her lovely alto.”

Lynne Margolis - NH Let's Go

“Carrie Rodriguez proves herself an astute
interpreter of other people's material via her latest - and best -album to
date, the tellingly titled Love and Circumstance. The new album provides the
perfect mesh of singer and song. Her take on Richard Thompson's starry-eyed
"Waltzing's For Dreamers" retains the song's innate vulnerability but
adds an extra measure of soothing contemplation at the same time. Likewise, she
settles comfortably into the melancholy gaze of "I'm So Lonesome I Could
Cry" and "I Started Loving You Again," and if she doesn't
necessarily illuminate the sentiments any further, she certainly finds them a
comfortable fit. John Hiatt's "Big Love" and Buddy and Julie Miller's
"Wide River To Cross" are similarly compelling, restless narratives
that meld comfortably with her tattered worldly view. Clearly she's convincing
in these settings, and in today's world of artifice and skewered perspectives,
authenticity offers its own rewards.”

Lee Zimmerman - Blurt

“Carrie Rodriguez knows all about living in a
man's world. The sultry singer-songwriter has been hanging with the opposite
sex ever since she was discovered by Chip Taylor at Austin's South By Southwest
in 2001. Being one of the boys doesn't seem to be a problem, though, for the
constantly moving Rodriguez, who is back on the road this April promoting her
third studio solo album. A calm but comforting collection of covers, Love and
Circumstance was released April 13 by her new label. Just a little more than a
month ago, the classically trained violinist turned fiery fiddler (who also
plays electric mandolin and tenor guitar), served as a supporting sister figure
on the Acoustic Brotherhood Tour. As the lone woman appearing on the same stage
with a Tex-Mex mix of machismo that included Alejandro Escovedo and Los Lonely
Boys, Rodriguez was well-received during a short but sweet warm-up set March 1
at the Boulder Theater in Colorado. More...”

Michael Bialas - The Huffington Post

“When a well-established songwriter makes a
covers album, listeners often assume it's a chance for the songwriter to pay
relaxed homage to his or her influences. (John Lennon was quite relaxed for at
least part of 1975's "Rock 'n' Roll," which was begun in the midst of
heavy drinking.) When a lesser-known songwriter such as Carrie Rodriguez makes
a covers album (and only her third solo album overall), it's a more daring
proposition. However, her experienced musical mind guides her song choices, and
her lovely, lucid voice does the rest. Lee Townsend's production is at once
lush and simple, allowing Rodriguez the space necessary to interpret not only
standards (Hank Williams' "I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry") but also
relatively obscure songs (Little Village's "Big Love," M. Ward's
"Eyes on the Prize"). She serves the selections best by treating them
as if they were her own: with delight and care.”

Jon M. Gilbertson - Milwaukee Journal
Sentinel

"Carrie Rodriguez brings brilliance to
Van Dyck" - headline of show review

Michael Eck - Albany Times Union

"Rodriguez is not only an agile
instrumentalist, a talented songwriter and a sweet, sweet singer, but – as this
album proves in spades – she’s also quite a masterful, poignant
interpreter."

Greg Haymes - Nippertown

“...a case of the right album at the right
time. ”

Village Records

“This is an album you do not want to miss.
(And Carrie is on tour now, you don’t want to miss that either).”

NoDepression

“...Rodriguez is like an Emmylou Harris for
the MTV generation: audititorally pleasing and visually appealing at the same
time. ”

Simon Thalmann - Kalamazoo Gazette

“If there was such a genre called “post-Americana”,
I think Carrie Rodriguez would be the poster child. In fact, she may have
invented the genre without meaning to or knowing it. For those non-music geeks,
the label “post” usually refers to indie rock that is darker, has crunchy
guitar riffs and typically lots of angst. ”

Austin Vida

“...a masterpiece of erotic persuasion, a
haunting meditation of rhythmic sounds. ...a work of voodoo. ”

Shelton Ivany - his review of Live in
Louisville - National News Bureau

“Flirty, dirty and pretty, Live in Louisville
is Rodriguez at her best. ”

Michael Swanger - from his review of Live in
Louisville - Des Moines Cityview

“The cinematic scope of "Mask of
Moses" and the overly sexual "50's French Movie" will have some
listeners thinking Nickel Creek has melted into Sonic Youth. ”

Gene Armstrong - from his review of Live in
Louisville - Tucson Weekly

“”Fiddle” and “deadly” don’t usually appear
in the same sentence together – unless you’re talking about Carrie Rodriguez.
Austin-born and bred and ready to take on the world. She closed out the night
with some attitude on stage. ...she brought the crowd to their knees with her
songs of love and regret, and a bit of vengeance.”

Jason Claypool - Denver Post

“Fiddler and singer/songwriter Carrie
Rodriguez is a breath of fresh air in the too-often stale and stuffy cupboard
of American acoustic music. Radio stamps like Americana, chick-rock, and new
traditionalist don’t come close to all that she’s doing in that overlooked
vacant lot between straight-up rock and instrumental virtuosity. Though she
hangs with bona fides like Gary Louris and Lucinda Williams and Alejandro
Escovedo, Rodriguez has the brains and balls to go after music as if she’s
never heard anyone else make it before.”

Chris Barrett - Metropulse (Knoxville, TN)

“Carrie Rodriguez plays fiddle on only three
songs for her second solo album, “She Ain’t Me” (Manhattan). Yet her fiddler’s
vocabulary of old modal melodies centers her songs about faraway loves and
spiritual prospects, bringing concision and gravity to every one of them. Ms.
Rodriguez chose collaborators well: she wrote with Mary Gauthier, Gary Louris
from the Jayhawks, Dan Wilson from Semisonic and the producer Malcolm Burn, who
enfolds her Americana with resonant electric guitars and steadfast march beats.
Behind the sorrows and longing is a determination that’s grounded, implicitly,
in tradition.”

Jon Pareles, from his review to She Ain't Me
- The New York Times

“…shifting between electro-mandolin-driven
morality tales and hooky folk-rock, illuminating personal dramas with the skill
of a young Lucinda Williams (who gets in some guest wailing on “Mask Of
Moses”), and flirting with another Carrie’s (as in Underwood)
bitch-on-twang-pop wheels. “Whoever Ms. Whoever is, she ain’t me,” she sings on
the albums’s title track, calling out the competiton...and the threat drips
sweetly from her lips.”ie the lyrics are given their due and each word—and each
ache in her vocals—can be heard…Carrie Rodriguez takes a bold step on She Ain’t
Me. She’s got nowhere to hide. Despite what the title says, it is all her.
Rodriguez deserves applause for doing such a good job of presenting the many
sides of herself. ”

Steve Horowitz, from his review of She Ain't
Me - Popmatters

Contact Info:

US Press contact:
Monica Hopman @ THINK PRESS, (818)
291-9513
monica@thinkpress.net
www.thinkpress.net

US Radio contacts:
Andy Cahn @ Public Media Service, (718)
674-6677
andy@publicmediaservice.org
www.publicmediaservice.org

US Label Contact:
Sara Mertz @ Ninth Street Opus, (510) 981-1876, ext. 203
sara@ninthstreetopus.com
ninthstreetopus.com

Management:
John Porter - Mood Indigo Entertainment
319 W. 134th Street, Ste. 5W
New York, NY 10030
(212) 404-0786 (office)
(917) 301-7528 (cell)
johnporter@moodindigoentertainment.com
www.moodindigoentertainment.com

Booking:
The Rosebud Agency
P.O. Box 170429
San Francisco, CA 94117
(415) 386-3456
drew@rosebudus.com
www.rosebudus.com

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