Josephine Foster Dons Sheep's Clothing

Much to her credit, folk chanteuse Josephine Foster just wasn't made for these times. A walking, crooning anachronism, Foster's haunting warble, Victrola-ready production, dated album covers, and prairie-daughter wardrobe would place her comfortably at home amid the 78s in your great-granddad's attic.

But don't be so quick to pin-down J-Fost, oh no! Deep within the sheep's garb lies a regular rock 'n roll wolf, primed to rip your nose off.

Take my concert-going highlight of 2005: hearing petite Miss Foster yelp "SHUT THE FUCK UP!!!" after her opera-trained voice and delicate finger-picking got swallowed whole by the din of barfly badinage during Chicago's Two Million Tongues Festival. And shut up they did. Even the folks who came that night to see Whitehouse.

Bottom line, when it comes to Josephine Foster, expect the unexpected. We can, however, reasonably expect this: Josephine will kindly offer up her latest batch of songcraft on April 11 via Locust Music. Appropriately titled A Wolf in Sheep's Clothing, the seven-track affair consists of reconstructions of 19th century German and Austrian songs, composed by the likes of Franz Schubert, Johannes Brahms, and Robert Schumann. So much for escaping the "woman out of time" tag!

Ooh, and be sure to scope the eerie, reversible cover graphic.

Classic:

01 An die Musik
02 Der König in Thule
03 Verschwiegene Liebe
04 Die Schwestern
05 Wehmut
06 Auf einer Burg
07 Nähe des Geliebten

Foster will take to the road after Wolf drops, so can it and listen. For the first string of dates she'll be joined by her own psych-rock troupe, The Supposed. Later solo dates feature support from kazoo-toting freak-folks The Cherry Blossoms and their sister band Arizona Drains.

1900 or bust:

04-13 Lexington, KY - Mecca Gallery *
04-14 Louisville, KY - Lisa's Oak Street Lounge *
04-15 Cincinnati, OH - Publico Gallery *
04-16 Nashville, TN - The Church *
04-20 Chicago, IL - Hideout *
04-28 Akron, OH - Lime Spider *
04-29 Columbus, OH - Little Brother's *
04-22 Indianapolis, IN - Harrison Center for the Arts
05-14 Newport, KY - Southgate House
05-15 Knoxville, TN - Pilot Light
05-16 Atlanta, GA - Eyedrum
05-18 Asheville, NC - Ship to Shore
05-20 Charlottesville, VA - Tea Bazaar #
05-22 New York, NY - Tonic ^
05-23 Brooklyn, NY - Brooklyn Fire Proof ^
05-25 New Haven, CT - Café Nine #
05-27 Easthampton, MA - Pioneer Arts #
05-28 Providence, RI - AS 220 #
05-30 Buffalo, NY - Sound Lab #
05-31 Hamilton, Ontario - Casbah
06-02 Montreal, Quebec - Casa del Popolo

* as Josephine Foster and the Supposed
# with Arizona Drains
^ with The Cherry Blossoms

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Posted by Matthew Solarski on Mon, Apr 3, 2006 at 12:00am