Garrison Starr
Encyclopedia
Garrison Starr is a singer-songwriter who originally hails from Hernando, Mississippi
, a suburb of Memphis, Tennessee
. As a solo artist, she has recorded seven full-length albums, as well as two EPs and one live album. She is also a founding member of Among The Oak & Ash
.
, and Clay Jones, who would produce her first major-label album. To this day, Starr and Hubbard frequently collaborate. Her second release, the 1995 seven-track EP Stupid Girl, references her experiences at Ole Miss, which were not always pleasant.
, which released her first major label album featuring Bob Rupe
of Cracker
and Silos
, Eighteen Over Me, in 1997. Eighteen Over Me includes the song "Superhero," which is her most well-known song to date.
On the moderate success of Eighteen Over Me, Starr was invited to play on the highly successful all-female festival tour Lilith Fair
, created by Sarah McLachlan
.
Starr left the deep south for Los Angeles
in the mid-1990s. While working on her next album, Starr took issue with the label's request that she submit acoustic demos of her songs for approval. Starr (along with many other artists) was dropped from the Geffen roster.
Between these releases, Starr released two EPs. The first, 24/7, was released by Geffen and included live and acoustic versions of songs from Eighteen Over Me, as well as a cover of The Beatles
' "Taxman
" and a previously unreleased song, "Simple Theme." The second EP, 2000's Somethin' To Hold You Over, was self-released for fans and included several original tracks, as well as a reworking of "Molly" from Eighteen and "5 Minutes," which would appear in a different form on her next album.
In Los Angeles she gained inspiration for two albums, Songs From Take-Off To Landing and Airstreams and Satellites, which was released in October 2004. The former album was released by Virgin Records
' Back Porch Records label. The latter was released by Vanguard Records
.
Starr re-recorded "Superhero" for Airstreams, which also includes a hidden track, "Inside Out," in which she makes her first definitive reference to being a lesbian. In promoting the album, Starr toured with the likes of Melissa Etheridge
, Steve Earle
, Melissa Ferrick
and Mary Chapin Carpenter
. She has been out
since then.
In 2005, Starr appeared with other artists in a series of performances at L.A.'s Room 5 as the North La Brea All Star Conquistadors. These performances were later released in a series of live albums by KUFALA Recordings. The group, consisting of Starr, Gabriel Mann, Jay Nash, and Adrianne, toured the eastern United States in spring 2007.
Also in 2005, Starr returned to the south to Nashville, Tennessee
, where she completed The Sound of You and Me, which was released in March 2006. Released by Vanguard Records, it includes a fellow Vanguard artist Mindy Smith on background vocals for the track "We Were Just Boys and Girls."
Starr recently completed a new collection of songs, Fans' Greatest Hits, Volume One (Live) for which she asked fans to vote for their top 10 favorite songs. She then recorded new acoustic studio versions of those songs. As of February 2007, the self-released album could be purchased through her web site.
Starr released The Girl That Killed September on October 18, 2007 in association with Media Creature Music.
In 2008, Starr formed a new band with Josh Joplin
called Among The Oak & Ash
. Their self-titled debut album was released on June 16, 2009 on Verve Records
.
In 2009, Starr formed a new band with Glen Phillips, former singer for '90s alt-rock band Toad the Wet Sprocket
. They call themselves Plover and released a self-titled album in 2009.
Her cover of Steve Forbert's song "It Isn't Going to Be That Way" appeared on the compilation The I-10 Chronicles, Vol. 2: One More for the Road.
Starr's "Beautiful in Los Angeles" was the featured song on the season one finale of MTV
's original program The Hills.
Starr has performed back-up vocals for artists including Michelle Malone
and Mary Chapin Carpenter
.
Starr appeared on CBS News' Saturday Early Show, performing in the "Second Cup Cafe" on June 22, 2007.
Starr's song "Stay With Me Tonight" from her 2007 album The Girl That Killed September appeared on season one, episode eight of Life Unexpected called "Bride Unbridled." During the scene, Lux talks with Tasha after arriving there on a date with Jones, and Ryan helps Kate with her wedding dress, though the two are broken up.
Starr's song "Upside Down" was featured in the Pretty Little Liars
episode "Careful What U Wish 4".
Hernando, Mississippi
Hernando is a city in central DeSoto County, Mississippi. The population was 6,812 at the 2000 census. The 2006 census estimate reflects a population of 10,580. Hernando is the county seat of DeSoto County, the second-most-populous county in the Memphis metropolitan area. US Hwy 51 and the I-55...
, a suburb of Memphis, Tennessee
Memphis, Tennessee
Memphis is a city in the southwestern corner of the U.S. state of Tennessee, and the county seat of Shelby County. The city is located on the 4th Chickasaw Bluff, south of the confluence of the Wolf and Mississippi rivers....
. As a solo artist, she has recorded seven full-length albums, as well as two EPs and one live album. She is also a founding member of Among The Oak & Ash
Among The Oak & Ash
Among The Oak & Ash is an ever-changing collection of musicians led by American songwriter Josh Joplin. The songs are born out of the musical tradition of the Appalachian Mountains and are either adapted from their folk conventions or are entirely original and are written to sound like old time...
.
Early career
Starr's first album, Pinwheels, was recorded in 1993, shortly after her high school graduation. During a 1½ year stint as a student at Ole Miss, Starr played drums for a local band, This Living Hand, in which she met and forged a friendship with fellow artist and producer Neilson HubbardNeilson Hubbard
Neilson Hubbard is an American singer-songwriter, musician and producer. His first band was called This Living Hand formed with Clay Jones . They signed to Adam Duritz's label, E Pluribus Unum. After the band split up, Hubbard went on to record three solo albums, The Slide Project, Why Men Fail and...
, and Clay Jones, who would produce her first major-label album. To this day, Starr and Hubbard frequently collaborate. Her second release, the 1995 seven-track EP Stupid Girl, references her experiences at Ole Miss, which were not always pleasant.
Geffen Records
Starr was signed to Geffen RecordsGeffen Records
Geffen Records is an American record label, owned by Universal Music Group, and operated as one third of UMG's Interscope-Geffen-A&M label group.-Beginnings:...
, which released her first major label album featuring Bob Rupe
Bob Rupe
Bob Rupe, born in Detroit, Michigan on September 16, 1956, was co-founder of the NYC based indie band Silos. He was lead guitarist, writer and producer for the band from 1985-1991. Bob Rupe was also a member of the indie supergroup Gutterball in 1992. Bassist for Cracker from 1994-2000...
of Cracker
Cracker (band)
Cracker is an American alternative rock band featuring founders/songwriters singer David Lowery and guitarist Johnny Hickman. They are best known for their platinum-selling 1993 album, Kerosene Hat, featuring the hit songs "Low", "Euro-Trash Girl", and "Get Off This".Founders Lowery and Hickman...
and Silos
Silos
Silos is the plural of silo, a farm structure, typically cylindrical, in which fodder or forage is kept.Silos may also refer to:* Santo Domingo de Silos Abbey, famous for Romanesque carvings and recordings of Gregorian chant...
, Eighteen Over Me, in 1997. Eighteen Over Me includes the song "Superhero," which is her most well-known song to date.
On the moderate success of Eighteen Over Me, Starr was invited to play on the highly successful all-female festival tour Lilith Fair
Lilith Fair
Lilith Fair was a concert tour and travelling music festival, founded by Canadian musician Sarah McLachlan, Nettwerk Music Group's Dan Fraser and Terry McBride, and New York talent agent Marty Diamond. It took place during the summers of 1997 to 1999, and was revived in the summer of 2010. It...
, created by Sarah McLachlan
Sarah McLachlan
Sarah Ann McLachlan, OC, OBC is a Canadian musician, singer and songwriter. Known for her emotional ballads and mezzo-soprano vocal range, as of 2006, she has sold over 40 million albums worldwide. McLachlan's best-selling album to date is Surfacing, for which she won two Grammy Awards and four...
.
Starr left the deep south for Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
in the mid-1990s. While working on her next album, Starr took issue with the label's request that she submit acoustic demos of her songs for approval. Starr (along with many other artists) was dropped from the Geffen roster.
Recent career
It was five years after the release of Eighteen Over Me before Starr released her next full-length album, 2002's Songs From Take-Off To Landing. In those years, the songs that she had begun working on at Geffen evolved and changed significantly before reaching the final versions that appear on the album.Between these releases, Starr released two EPs. The first, 24/7, was released by Geffen and included live and acoustic versions of songs from Eighteen Over Me, as well as a cover of The Beatles
The Beatles
The Beatles were an English rock band, active throughout the 1960s and one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music. Formed in Liverpool, by 1962 the group consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr...
' "Taxman
Taxman
"Taxman" is a song written by George Harrison released as the opening track on The Beatles' 1966 album Revolver. Its lyrics attack the high levels of progressive tax taken by the British Labour government of Harold Wilson.-Composition:...
" and a previously unreleased song, "Simple Theme." The second EP, 2000's Somethin' To Hold You Over, was self-released for fans and included several original tracks, as well as a reworking of "Molly" from Eighteen and "5 Minutes," which would appear in a different form on her next album.
In Los Angeles she gained inspiration for two albums, Songs From Take-Off To Landing and Airstreams and Satellites, which was released in October 2004. The former album was released by Virgin Records
Virgin Records
Virgin Records is a British record label founded by English entrepreneur Richard Branson, Simon Draper, and Nik Powell in 1972. The company grew to be a worldwide music phenomenon, with platinum performers such as Roy Orbison, Devo, Genesis, Keith Richards, Janet Jackson, Culture Club, Lenny...
' Back Porch Records label. The latter was released by Vanguard Records
Vanguard Records
Vanguard Records is a record label set up in 1950 by brothers Maynard and Seymour Solomon in New York. It started as a classical label, but is perhaps best known for its catalogue of recordings by a number of pivotal folk and blues artists from the 1960s; the Bach Guild was a subsidiary...
.
Starr re-recorded "Superhero" for Airstreams, which also includes a hidden track, "Inside Out," in which she makes her first definitive reference to being a lesbian. In promoting the album, Starr toured with the likes of Melissa Etheridge
Melissa Etheridge
Melissa Lou Etheridge is an American rock singer-songwriter and musician.Etheridge is known for her mixture of confessional lyrics, pop-based folk-rock, and raspy, smoky vocals...
, Steve Earle
Steve Earle
Stephen Fain "Steve" Earle is an American singer-songwriter known for his rock and Texas Country as well as his political views. He is also a producer, author, a political activist, and an actor, and has written and directed a play....
, Melissa Ferrick
Melissa Ferrick
-Early life:Ferrick was raised in Ipswich, Massachusetts. Herfather John was a well-liked public school teacher who managed several free-jazz bands on the side. As a child, Ferrick would often accompany her father to clubs on Boston's North Shore to watch the bands play. She began taking...
and Mary Chapin Carpenter
Mary Chapin Carpenter
Mary Chapin Carpenter is an American folk and country music artist. Carpenter spent several years singing in Washington, D.C. clubs before signing in the late 1980s with Columbia Records, who marketed her as a country singer...
. She has been out
Coming out
Coming out is a figure of speech for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people's disclosure of their sexual orientation and/or gender identity....
since then.
In 2005, Starr appeared with other artists in a series of performances at L.A.'s Room 5 as the North La Brea All Star Conquistadors. These performances were later released in a series of live albums by KUFALA Recordings. The group, consisting of Starr, Gabriel Mann, Jay Nash, and Adrianne, toured the eastern United States in spring 2007.
Also in 2005, Starr returned to the south to Nashville, Tennessee
Nashville, Tennessee
Nashville is the capital of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat of Davidson County. It is located on the Cumberland River in Davidson County, in the north-central part of the state. The city is a center for the health care, publishing, banking and transportation industries, and is home...
, where she completed The Sound of You and Me, which was released in March 2006. Released by Vanguard Records, it includes a fellow Vanguard artist Mindy Smith on background vocals for the track "We Were Just Boys and Girls."
Starr recently completed a new collection of songs, Fans' Greatest Hits, Volume One (Live) for which she asked fans to vote for their top 10 favorite songs. She then recorded new acoustic studio versions of those songs. As of February 2007, the self-released album could be purchased through her web site.
Starr released The Girl That Killed September on October 18, 2007 in association with Media Creature Music.
In 2008, Starr formed a new band with Josh Joplin
Josh Joplin
-Biography:Joplin was born in Washington, D.C., but grew up in Conestoga Valley, in the heart of Lancaster, Pa., until at the age of 12, when his family relocated to Columbia, Md....
called Among The Oak & Ash
Among The Oak & Ash
Among The Oak & Ash is an ever-changing collection of musicians led by American songwriter Josh Joplin. The songs are born out of the musical tradition of the Appalachian Mountains and are either adapted from their folk conventions or are entirely original and are written to sound like old time...
. Their self-titled debut album was released on June 16, 2009 on Verve Records
Verve Records
Verve Records is an American jazz record label now owned by Universal Music Group. It was founded by Norman Granz in 1956, absorbing the catalogues of his earlier labels, Clef Records and Norgran Records , and material which had been licensed to Mercury previously.-Jazz and folk origins:The Verve...
.
In 2009, Starr formed a new band with Glen Phillips, former singer for '90s alt-rock band Toad the Wet Sprocket
Toad the Wet Sprocket
Toad the Wet Sprocket is an American alternative rock band formed in 1986. The band consists of singer/guitarist Glen Phillips, guitarist Todd Nichols, bassist Dean Dinning, and drummer Randy Guss. The band enjoyed chart success in the 1990s with the singles "Walk on the Ocean," "All I Want,"...
. They call themselves Plover and released a self-titled album in 2009.
Other media appearances
Starr's song "Superhero" has appeared on several compilations, including Live at World Cafe and CMJ magazine's sampler. It was featured during ABC-TV's coverage of the Women's World Cup Soccer in 1999.Her cover of Steve Forbert's song "It Isn't Going to Be That Way" appeared on the compilation The I-10 Chronicles, Vol. 2: One More for the Road.
Starr's "Beautiful in Los Angeles" was the featured song on the season one finale of MTV
MTV
MTV, formerly an initialism of Music Television, is an American network based in New York City that launched on August 1, 1981. The original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by on-air hosts known as VJs....
's original program The Hills.
Starr has performed back-up vocals for artists including Michelle Malone
Michelle Malone
Michelle Malone is an American rock and blues singer-songwriter and guitarist.-Biography:Malone was born and raised in Atlanta by her mother and grandmother, both professional singers...
and Mary Chapin Carpenter
Mary Chapin Carpenter
Mary Chapin Carpenter is an American folk and country music artist. Carpenter spent several years singing in Washington, D.C. clubs before signing in the late 1980s with Columbia Records, who marketed her as a country singer...
.
Starr appeared on CBS News' Saturday Early Show, performing in the "Second Cup Cafe" on June 22, 2007.
Starr's song "Stay With Me Tonight" from her 2007 album The Girl That Killed September appeared on season one, episode eight of Life Unexpected called "Bride Unbridled." During the scene, Lux talks with Tasha after arriving there on a date with Jones, and Ryan helps Kate with her wedding dress, though the two are broken up.
Starr's song "Upside Down" was featured in the Pretty Little Liars
Pretty Little Liars
Pretty Little Liars is a series of more than 10 young adult novels by Sara Shepard, from 1981–present, which have been made into a television show . The series follows the lives of four girls — Spencer, Hanna, Aria, and Emily — whose clique falls apart after the disappearance of their leader,...
episode "Careful What U Wish 4".
Discography
| Year | Album Title |
|---|---|
| 1993 | Pinwheels |
| 1995 | Stupid Girl |
| 1997 | eighteen over me |
| 1998 | 24/7 (EP) |
| 2000 | Somethin' to hold you over (EP) |
| 2002 | Songs From Take-Off To Landing |
| 2004 | Airstreams & Satellites |
| 2006 | The sound of you and me |
| 2007 | Fans' Greatest Hits, Volume One (Live) |
| 2007 | The Girl That Killed September |