Blame Sally's Monica Pasqual & Renee Harcourt Releasing CDs at Kuumbwa

MONICA PASQUAL & THE HANDSOME BRUNETTES with DEAR JOHN LOVE RENEE – featuring MEMBERS OF BLAME SALLY - Both Releasing New CDs!
Monica Pasqual & the Handsome Brunettes will perform at the Kuumbwa Jazz Center for the official Santa Cruz release of their new album, “Is Fortune a Wheel”. The evening will be a reprise of their sold-out, double CD release concert at the Throckmorton in Mill Valley, with Blame Sally cohort Renee Harcourt. Harcourt’s new project, Dear John Love Renee, is releasing its self-titled debut album. Blame Sally’s Pam Delgado will be sitting in with both bands.

MONICA PASQUAL & THE HANDSOME BRUNETTES:
After 15 years of playing, recording and touring, Blame Sally decided it might be time to take a bit of a rest. The last thing the pianist and songwriter expected was to find herself spearheading a new project. Then she met and began collaborating with a young cellist named Joshua McClain and found the prospect somewhat irresistible. Together Pasqual and McClain create a big, emotionally complex sound, rich in dynamics and moving easily from quiet fragility to unrestrained propulsion. Blame Sally’s fiery percussionist, Pam Delgado, and Bay Area guitarist Velvy Appleton round out the sound, adding rhythm, color and gorgeous harmonies. Pasqual is the winner of 6 Emmy Awards and several Independent Music Awards, both for her solo concept album This Cold Desire, and with Blame Sally

The album is receiving accolades from music critics:

“Is Fortune a Wheel,” a concept album recorded with [Monica Pasqual’s] new quartet, the Handsome Brunettes, is a haunting meditation on love, loss and the stages of grief.” Paul Liberatore, Marin IJ

“There is a rare elegance and subtle drama to her lyrics. The melodies sway and soar, haunting in one moment, majestic in the next….every track is a gem. Pasqual is a very special artist, exploring love, loss and life in profoundly moving ways. To know her music is to love it. Far more people should know it."
Paul Freeman, Pop Culture Classics

“Stunning in its power, cathartic in its depth - Is Fortune a Wheel is a musical triumph born from the ashes of grief.”, Patrick O’Hefferon, Shutter 16

DEAR JOHN LOVE RENEE
Award-winning singer-songwriter Renée Harcourt, and New York City transplant John McConnel are Dear John Love Renée. Together they deliver smart songwriting, tight harmonies and rootsy acoustic guitar picking all hovering in the Americana/Folk/Pop genre. Recently joining them to create the DJLR Trio is Joshua Zucker on upright bass and harmony vocals. Their sound has been compared The Everly Brothers, Simon and Garfunkel and Glen Hansard & Markéta Irglová, with a hint of Broadway, Radiohead and The Grateful Dead.