Loretta Hagen

 Loretta will be joining Jon Stein in the studio at WTBQ on Friday July 11 2008. (The Hootenanny Cafe) airs Fridays at 6PM (est) and Saturdays at 11PM (est)  on  AM 1110,  99.1FM and
 / or  www.wtbq.com
Online is best if folks are located outside of the
 Orange County borders. Loretta will also be joined by guitarist Gary Hagen, and back ground vocal singer Sara Gallmann.

Gods of Music Review by: Chris K.

ARTIST: LORETTA HAGEN.  SONG: I’M COMING UP.  GENRE: FOLK/COUNTRY

FOLK/AMERICANA SIMILAR: MARY CHAPIN-CARPENTER/SHELBY LYNNE/

KIM RICHEY.

I’m Coming Up is Loretta Hagen playing to her strengths and succeeding, magnificently. Loretta falls somewhere between Mary Chapin-Carpenter, Kim Richey, and Shelby Lynne; a songwriter’s songwriter and a passionate performer. Loretta’s intonation, inflections, and diction are the kind you hear from legendary artists. Her ability to weave a story places her squarely in the pristine company of her aforementioned peers.

This is a summer time song, the kind I’d put in the cd changer for the car so that I can go out and tool around the Rocky Mountain canyons. Now I do have an edge here, because I’ve been listening to this song almost daily from the time I first heard it three months ago. I put this in the player along with Emmy Lou Harris, Chris Hillman, Steve Early, Shelby Lynne, and Mary Chapin-Carpenter, set the cruise and settle back for a nice drive. Loretta’s music on this song soars. It’s the kind of song I’d dream of hearing in the background while I lay alongside a Colorado Rocky Mountain stream watching eagles. It has that kind of imagery for me. The harmonies on this recording, provided by Bob Delevante, are tremendously sung. The players Loretta is surrounded with here are studio masters, and the production makes this song perfectly suited for the NPR/PBS crowd. I’d expect to see Loretta perform at any festival in the country where folk, country, bluegrass, and Americana, come together. Is it good enough for commercial radio?...straight up! Matter of fact, this review ends here with this: I cannot think of or hear one single thing I’d change in this song….this is as perfect as it gets for me.