From Carsie’s video for her song “Backbone” – Just one example of her ability to get your attention.
75% of all music Kickstarters raise less than $10,000, according to Kickstarter.
Carsie Blanton raised $9,232 in the first 24 hours of launching her “Jazz is for Everybody” project which ends on Saturday, August 31st.
Carsie is not a major touring act with label support or financing. She is a DIY musician who “joined a funk party band at the age of 16 then spent a few years writing songs, dog grooming, and dumpster diving.”
Since then, her DIY approach has earned her a small but mighty fan base the old-fashioned way: by playing over 100 shows a year and releasing new material (including music videos) as often as possible.
She’s now raised nearly $40k with over 1000 backers, and it’s sorta blowing her mind.
“Have I gone viral?” she asked jokingly during a phone interview with Launch and Release.
So how did she manage to strike a chord with people who are outside of her relatively small fan base?
Let’s take a closer look.
Carsie is Anything BUT Conventional
Mrs. Blanton’s take on the state of “jazz records of today” seems to align perfectly with the views of a large group of people who’ve been turned off by jazz snobbery.
As it turns out, lots of people are interested in a sultry, simply-produced album of great vintage songs to play while throwing a classy dinner party or “making sweet, sweet love.”
She Says That Most Jazz is Too Cheesy or Too Weird
Carsie claims that only 1% of current jazz music is “actually good”. Apparently this statement was responsible for more than a few “not so nice” comments on Facebook from jazz fans.
The rest is either too cheesy, too weird, too new-agey or completely non-original. And this comes from a girl who is a self-proclaimed jazz geek! She loves jazz!
If you’ve heard any jazz in the past decade, you may be nodding your head up and down in agreement right now.
Early Jazz Wasn’t Just For Black People or Old People
In her Kickstarter video, Carsie points out that “there was a time when jazz music was not just for geeks and old people. It was for everybody and it still is. It’s not just for musicians or people who went to jazz school or black people…”
Other than the insinuation that current jazz isn’t accessible unless you are black, old, educated, or geeky, Carsie backs herself up when citing her influences from early jazz, some of whom are white (Chet Baker and Cole Porter) and some black (Nat King Cole, Billie Holiday and Teddy Wilson).
The common thread, she points out, is that their recordings:
- are “heavily song-focused” with emphasis on lyrics and melody,
- employ “subtle, sensitive and restrained players”, and
- feature vocalists who sing “simply and straightforwardly… with plenty of emotion” but are “restrained, so they come across as honest, rather than theatrical.”
And Carsie’s observations about these songs and that “jazz is for everybody” are clearly resonating.
Her backers include white dudes, chicks who are young, guys who are old, ladies who live overseas and even some black fella who lives in Brooklyn, NY, whose own Kickstarter project just funded. (Yeah, that’s right, Spike Lee is one of Carsie’s backers!)
Can A Self-Proclaimed Sex Blogger/Musician who is “Not a Jazz Singer” Stack Up With Early Jazz Heavy Hitters?
She seems to think so.
And so do 1000+ other people who have backed her project to the tune of nearly $40,000 at the halfway mark of her campaign!
She can “sing the sh*t out of each song, like [she] means it” which is authentic as all hell especially to modern day pop fans who are used to over-produced artists and studio magic.
Plus, she is a “bona fide songologist” who has devoted her life to the craft of songwriting. She has even received the attention of some big time artists who know a thing or two about crafting a beautiful song such as Paul Simon, Loudon Wainwright III, John Oates and Peter Mulvey who says, “Carsie’s lyrics are an iron fist in the velvet glove of her voice.”
Like A Bold, Fearless Norah Jones but without the Record Label
Just the fact that she’s gotten this far is quite impressive.
Carsie eschewed formal education “to join an artist colony in Oregon, where [she] learned to hitchhike and dumpster dive.”
Carsie has no label and no management.
She does it on her own and she does it well as evidenced by her already formidable artistic credibility, which you can see for yourself below by watching the video for “Backbone” from her last record produced by Oliver Wood of the Wood Brothers. NOTE: This song is NOT jazz:)
And most of all, she does it by being fearlessly true to herself.
At the end of the day, this project has the potential to absolutely knock it out of the park.
Take a good hard look at her Kickstarter project and breathe in the fresh scent of authenticity, panache, and yes, Backbone.
Carsie Blanton stands for something, unlike most artists who make up the 45% of music crowdfunding projects who fail.
Carsie’s music is amazing. In fact, as I write this, my “Favourites” shuffle playlist has just started playing her “Every Punch You Throw.” She’s very popular among blues and swing dance DJs these days, and it’s odd to go to a weekend Lindy hop event without hearing “Baby Can Dance”.
I’m excited for the new album, and am sure it’ll be as ear-meltingly amazing as her previous work.
I am not a jazz or pop fan, but am a 60’s “hippie” music fan (being a 60’s hippie myself). When I heard Carsie on Mountain Stage, her presentation was so enthralling and “real” that I had to have her albums. I was able to get the in-print ones of Ain’t So Green, Buoy and Idiot Heart. After listening to these albums hundreds of times, I like her music more and more each time I hear it. What is most amazing is that she is the songwriter and composer of her music, putting it together on a shoe string for our enjoyment.
I backed Carsie on Jazz is for Everybody because I believe that she will put out another great album, despite it being “covers” and not her original works. I am disenchanted with most jazz because I see it as “screeching solos nowhere close to the melody” and she is committed to not doing that. Her basic premise of “simple lyrics with only sufficient background music to do it credence” is right in line with my thinking, and I am hoping to be turned on to some music I had never imagined I would like.
My father, Milton Neul, was one of the well known jazz musicians in the late 1920’s in Chicago, and it was only in the last 10 years ago that I actually found two CD’s with his work on it. This “peppy” 20’s jazz does contain some instrumental solos, but they are restrained in length, while the melody an lyrics are showcased. I grew to like this jazz, and think that Carsie’s project will widen my horizons about other jazz as well.
And, bottom line, I want Carsie to continue to be successful as a singer/songwriter because I selfishly want to continue to hear her new material.
Dion, your comment warms my heart. I was only 12 when the sixties ended, but I was a hippie at heart by then. My parents were born in Chicago in the late 20s and spent much time in jazz clubs in their youth. So, your response to Carsie’s music has deep roots!
–Carsie’s mom
I hope I don’t come across as a jazz snob. Because I’m not. I think she has a cool sound. But is it really different? Is it Jazz? Now mind you the only song I heard is the one in the video above, so keep that in mind.
Anyone can put out any music they want. Matter of fact, she’s even free to call it jazz, even when it isn’t. It’s Pop music, with an acoustic bass. Her vocal phrasing is even very jazzy. No doubt she has listened to jazz vocalists, and jazz in general. And I’m not saying it isn’t good. It’s well done. I even like it! But it doesn’t matter that i like it or hate it. what matters is she is connecting with people. That’s awesome! But ist’s not jazz.
I am sure she is well meaning, and all the more power to her. I would never want to take the wind from anyone’s sails. It may even be stumbled upon by accident, but what it really seems like to me is a good marketing spin. It’s working for people that don’t know anything about jazz or probably hate jazz.
Keep in mind this is all based on JUST the one song.
I applaud her gusto, and I hope she is very successful.
Dude, Backbone isn’t supposed to be jazz. If you want to hear her jazz, look up Baby Can Dance.
Derek, I listened. It’s the same as Backbone. But just because it’s not jazz, does it mean it’s not good. It’s well done too.
Jazz music to non-jazz fans is a hard sell. You want to know why? Because what gets labeled as jazz, with screeching sax solos and all, usually has very little to do with jazz. And she IS right. Probably 95-99% of what either gets labeled as jazz (or is just done poorly) is bad.
Jazz really is a true American art form. It’s sad that the average American has lost the connection to real, toe-tapping, spiritually uplifting, Jazz.
True enough the above song is not really jazz. But the new album she is compiling is NOT the same as her previous albums. The one she has funded through kickstarter will be true jazz music and will be AMAZING I’m sure!
You did read where the author of the article specifically pointed out that backbone wasn’t jazz… Right?
I just updated that:) Should help clear things up a bit!
1% of most genres is good. I don’t think that this article is all that informative. What is probably more appealing is Carsie’s sexiness and bravado. Just watch the video. Let’s put some perspective on this here thing. Jazz isn’t for everybody. If it was I could see more of it and that would be awesome. Many people dislike Jazz. In fact the much of the Jazz music you are referencing in this article is usually in the vocals section of stores. To me the idiom of Jazz has reached the farthest into the spiritual plane of any American musical art form. I love it. I cherish it. And it’s okay if you don’t.
I’ll take Betty Carter any day. Now that you have a ton of money make a damn good record and let that speak for you.
I agree with Elam!
So awesome to see Carsie getting recognized for the awesome music she is producing. I had a blast working with her filming the ‘Backbone’ video, and I hope to collaborate with her again on more creative projects. Keep it up Carsie! 🙂