Phil King
October 2, 2016
See 
Photography —Paul Zollo
Jill Freeman
“Letters From Murdertown”
A Handmade Life
Imagine Joni Mitchell, Kurt Weill, and Carl Jung writing songs together? You get Jill Freeman. Freeman is from LA, and has a history of making beautiful, in-your-face music. Her album, A Handmade Life, is your reworking of fairy tales for the present age. Fairy tales themselves are really disturbing, but Freeman has helped translate them so that the modern listener has no doubts that darkness and deep despair behind the tales themselves. Freeman has been joined by Joel Wachbrit – Guitar; George Landress – Guitar; Tommy Reeves – Accordion; Steve Nelson – Bass; and Debra Dobkin – Drums. With these great players behind, Freeman brings new life (or is that death?) to the fairy tale genre. These are not the tales most people would read before bed (I would, of course). But Freeman’s voice is exceptionally beautiful.
