Album Marks 1st Ever Violin Commission Between Two Black Women, Luthier and Violinist, in the U.S.
“A cosmic consciousness that exhibits a spiritual, humanist philosophy.”
–No Depression
“Harris definitely is onto something special… equally adept at her vocals, as well as her fiddle.”
–All Music
“Anne is one of the best rock lead guitarists in the U.S. Even more impressive ‘cause she’s playing fiddle.”
–David Lowery, founding member, Cracker, Camper Van Beethoven
“Brilliant self-expressive fiddle player… To hear her music is to be enchanted, to see her combine music and dance in performing is to be beguiled. To speak with fiddle player Anne Harris about her musical journey is to travel down a historical and spiritual path deep in roots music.”
–Living Blues
Chicago-based fiddle player/singer/songwriter Anne Harris today announced new Americana album I Feel It Once Again (Rugged Road Records), sharing the first single, “I Feel It Once Again,” and a beautifully choreographed music video introducing her daughter dancer/choreographer Ara Krossovitch. The album, produce by Colin Linden (ABC/CMT’s Nashville, Bob Dylan, Rhiannon Giddens, John Prine, O Brother Where Art Thou, Inside Llewyn Davis) marks the first recordings on her newly commissioned violin, the first ever official violin commission between two professional Black women, luthier Amanda Ewing and violinist Harris, on record in the US.
“I Feel It Once Again” music video (WATCH/SHARE)
Of the commission, Harris wrote in No Depression, “Even as a lifelong fiddle player, and someone who has made music my career for the last 26 years in spaces where I was, without exception, a minority, it never occurred to me that I would ever play a violin made by someone who looked like me… What is so astonishing to me about this isn’t the fact that up until that point I had never seen an African American woman violin luthier, but rather that I had never even questioned why this was. It just was. That’s the way things were.”
Highlighting her eclectic influences, Harris has performed, toured, or recorded with artists as varied as Cracker, Guy Davis, Anders Osborne, Living Colour, Amy Helm, Los Lobos, Shemekia Copeland, and Vieux Farka Toure. She has performed at the Philadelphia Folk Fest and Chicago Blues Fest and won Living Blues Magazine’s 2024 Critic’s Choice Award for Best Musician [Other] Violin. She toured with legendary Trance Blues artist Otis Taylor for 9 years, recording on 4 of his critically acclaimed albums, and drew inspiration and resonance from his pioneering Black Banjo Project.
Out today is the music video and title track, which was written by Harris with Dave Herrero and GRAMMY Award-winning producerJacob Olovson (Camilla Cabella, Frank Ocean, Diplo, Mark Ronson). Of the song, Harris says, “The night is a time of the revelation of things we mask during the day. It’s when the subconscious mind, and all we’ve hidden, simmer up to the surface and beg to be seen, felt, acknowledged.”
The galvanizing second single “Everybody Gotta Rise Up” comes out March 18, meeting this historical moment. “I Believe In Being Ready” is a traditional Appalachian spiritual arranged by Harris and Linden.
The album’s coda is “Time Has Made a Change,” a midcentury gospel song written by Harkins Frye. Harris makes it feel like a personal meditation, singing softly atop delay-soaked guitars. The song comes out as a single in April.
The rolling, jangle-y “Can’t Find My Way” is an album centerpiece. The song finds Harris drawing inspiration of the farmlands and woods of rural southwest Ohio, where she grew up. Speaking of the song, she says, “Those roads and that land are indelibly etched into my dreamscape. This song is about my family’s journey of aging and dementia, and how over time those roads, once familiar as the lines on our palms, can reconfigure and twist.” Legendary vocalist Regina McCrary adds her voice here.
Another highlight of the album is Harris’ performance of the instrumental “Snowden’s Jig,” which she first heard via the Carolina Chocolate Drops. It was written by Thomas Snowden of Clinton, Ohio and performed regularly by the Snowden family Band, the longest lasting black string band of the 19th century. It was originally (and mistakenly) credited to and popularized by Dan Emmett, the most popular minstrel performer of his day, and called “Genuine Negro Jig.” Harris says, “The Snowden Family Band holds a very important place in my spirit because two of its members, sisters Sofia and Annie, both played fiddle in the band, and were possibly the only females known to do so at the time. This fact was used on handbills advertising shows because it was such a rarity. I get chills when I play this song knowing that the first hands to play this song looked like my own. Here I’ve respun it as a Surfer Rock meets traditional fiddle tune.”
Joining Harris on the album are bassist John Dymond (Bruce Cockburn, Linda Ortega, kd lang) and drummer Jerry Roe (Brittany Spencer, Mickey Guyton, Dolly Parton, Darius Rucker, Rodney Crowell, Molly Tuttle, Jerry Reed).
Harris first was inspired to pick up the violin as a child after watching the movie Fiddler on the Roof. I Feel It Once Again is her eighth album.
I Feel It Once Again Track Listing
1. Opus in E Minor (instrumental)
2. Can’t Find My Way
3. Oh My Love
4. I Believe In Being Ready (Traditional)
5. Snowden’s Jig (instrumental, Traditional)
6. I Feel It Once Again
7. Everybody Gotta Rise Up
8. Quilting Circle (Instrumental)
9. I Feel Alright
10. Time Has Made a Change (Harkins Fry)
I Feel It Once Again Credits
Produced by Colin Linden
Recorded by Colin Linden and Anne Harris
Mixed by Colin Linden
Mastered by Kim Rosen at Knack Mastering
Opus in E Minor- written and performed by Anne Harris
Can’t Find My Way- written by Anne Harris
Anne-vocals, fiddle, mandolin
Colin Linden- guitars , mandotar, bass
Jerry Roe- drums
Regina McCrary- vocals
Oh My Love- written by Anne Harris, Markus James
Colin Linden
Anne- vocals, fiddle
Colin Linden- guitars, vocals
John Dymond- bass
Megan Coleman- drums (recorded by Johnny Karkasis)
I Believe in Being Ready- traditional, arranged by Anne and Colin
Anne- vocals, fiddle
Colin Linden- dobro, bass, programming
Snowden’s Jig- written by Thomas Snowden & the Snowden Family, arranged by Anne
Anne- fiddle
Colin Linden- guitars, baritone guitar
I Feel It Once Again- written by Anne Harris, Dave Herrero, Jacob Olovson
Anne- vocals, strings
Colin Linden- guitars
John Dymond- bass
Jerry Roe- Drums
Everybody Gotta Rise Up- written by Anne Harris
Anne- vocals, mandolin, fiddle
Colin Linden- guitars, bass, programming
Jerry Roe- Drums
Quilting Circle- written by Anne Harris
Anne- fiddle
I Feel Alright- written by Anne Harris
Anne- vocals, fiddle
Colin Linden- guitars, bass
Jerry Roe-Drums
Time Has Made a Change- written by Harkins Freye
Anne- vocals, fiddle
Colin- guitars
