The Folk Opera

Written and composed on the ukulele during a 6-week trip on two distant continents, recorded live at The Tower Studios in SF’s Mission District, and self-released digitally and on vinyl in December 2010, Annie Bacon’s The Folk Opera is a haunting and triumphant extended musical suite written for ukulele, upright bass, fiddle, trumpet, and multiple voices. Described by various delighted listeners as a diverse and eclectic cross between A Prairie Home Companion, Neko Case, Jeff Darnielle, Patty Griffin, Thornton Wilder’s “Our Town,” traditional American folk musicals such as “Oklahoma,” and Bob Dylan’s “Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid” Soundtrack, Annie Bacon’s The Folk Opera is, in fact, a musical world unto itself, with few, if any, antecedents in musical history. In just over a year and fewer than 20 performances, The Folk Opera has achieved a grassroots following so dedicated that the live recording sessions were fully funded by donations from avid fans. Mixed and mastered by ex-Fantasy Records staff engineer David Luke (who worked with Jefferson Starship, Mike Marshall, and The Grateful Dead, among others) The Folk Opera translates equally well to recorded media as it has to the live stage. Featuring some of the San Francisco Bay Area music scene’s most up-and-coming stars, the recording and live show highlight Joe Lewis (Os Beaches, Honeycomb) on the upright bass, Elizabeth Greenblatt (the OSHEN) singing the lead character, Joel Dean vocalizing the Old Man and the Mechanic, Savannah Jo Lack (Ruth Gerson), giving voice to Aunt Sara and playing fiddle, and Annie Bacon herself, playing the ukulele and singing Rita, the waitress. The haunting and simple melodies, beautiful soaring harmonies and captivating folk and bluegrass rhythms are memorable after only one hearing, the characters are so indelibly drawn, you’ll feel like you know them, and the story – tracing the events of a single afternoon that expand into life-changing moments for a few different people in a small town – is as timeless as classic literature. Described by reviewers as “transfixing” and “almost indescribably poignant and beautiful,” The Folk Opera is a comedy, a tragedy, and a love story. It will make you smile, and it will likely make you cry. And in the meantime, you’ll want to sing along and maybe get up and dance. [Geoff Bouvier] Credits: Performers: Annie Bacon (Rita, ukulele) Joe Lewis (upright bass) Elizabeth Greenblatt (Elizabeth) Savannah Jo Lack (Aunt Sara, violin) Joel Dean Stockdill (Old Man, Mechanic) Dave Scott (trumpets) Townsfolk Choir: Karl Mauks-Koepke Megan Keely Geoff Bouvier Lady Sunrise Kate Cockrll Howie Cockrill Benny Lee Caitlin Fahey Benjamin Thorne Recorded live at The Tower Studios, San Francisco Engineered, Mixed and Mastered by David Luke at Ninth Street Opus Studios, Berkeley Produced by Annie Bacon Album art by Geninne D. Zlatkis www.geninne.com Album design by Christopher Ross "Superwaitress (Working Girl Remix)" by Anu Kirk incorporating original tracking by Annie Bacon & Joe Lewis (c)(p) 2010 Annie Bacon (ASCAP) Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. Recording funded by our amazing community via Kickstarter.com