In the summer of 2024, AUK writer Paul Kerr reviewed an album that whetted his appetite from a talented banjo player based in Texas. The album “Peaches and Apple Pies” was highly recommended. This coincided with a message I received from an old friend.
Way back in the late eighties, I worked with a young apprentice, let’s call him JJ, for that was what we all affectionately knew him as. JJ, like me, is really into his music. The bond drew us together as friends as we swapped records, cassettes and recommendations. He lent me a copy of his Joni Mitchell album “Blue”, which blew me away, especially ‘River’, arguably one of the most beautiful songs ever written. I, in turn, introduced him to one of my favourites, Nanci Griffith. The albums “Poet In My Window”, “Lone Star State Of Mind”, and the classic live album “One Fair Summer Evening” were handed over for JJ’s listening pleasure. The Griffith album included a fantastic version of ‘Love At The Five And Dime‘ with the lyric “Rita was 16 years / Hazel eyes and chestnut hair / She made the Woolworth counter shine”.
He now lives and works in Texas. Recently, he contacted me about a singer he enjoyed listening to in a local bar called Rita Bliss. JJ had caught up with Bliss after the show, and the two had discussed music and their love of the late Nanci Griffith. Based on that recommendation, it was time to research and explore his suggestion. Now Rita Bliss is a little older than 16 years, and I don’t think she has worked at a Woolworth store, but JJ said she did make that bar stage shine with her music.
Bliss is a folk musician from Rochester, New York, now based in Austin, Texas. She is an outstanding banjo player. Her music has an old-time feel without feeling retro, and as one of her lyrics says, “Where nothing is old / And nothing is new.” Bliss captures the essence of Nanci Griffith and Joni Mitchell and wraps it all up into something new. Her debut album, “Peaches And Apple Pies,” is lyrically strong and musically beautiful—an album made with love, including precious sentiments and stunning musical moments.
Bliss’s parents are both guitar players. Raised in the Rust Belt, which stretches from New York to the Midwest, she was exposed to the music and lyrics of John Prine, Paul Simon, Joni Mitchell, and Nanci Griffith from an early age. Bliss started her musical life learning the violin at four years of age, but this only lasted a few months, and she moved on to her second instrument, a keytar. We wonder if this instrument will be used on future albums. Classical guitar followed, leading onto playing electric guitar in a band that mainly did Counting Crows covers. She worked in a local guitar shop, behind the cash register, and restrung guitars in the back room. Another change in instrument followed with Bliss taking up the bass guitar. All this before she even left high school. A time of musical discovery for Bliss, a true multi-instrumentalist. It wasn’t until her twenties that she picked up the banjo.
Returning to her early musical influences for the songs with her newly chosen instrument, Bliss’s solo work has a flavour of all the aforementioned artists. The artist’s writing process is based on words or phrases that spark a musical connection, verse and chorus. Real-life conversations had or overheard that spark something in Bliss’s imagination are used to produce something of beauty.
The tunes have been honed and developed playing numerous live gigs in and around her new home state of Texas. The song ‘The Best Bar in Texas’ is based on a real-life experience of playing in a smoke-filled bar in Texas. Intimidated by the initial atmosphere, Bliss blew the crowd away with an exceptional set. She claims every line in the song is true. The lyrics firmly put us amongst the action, “They’re all smoking cigarettes / No one seems to have big regrets / the best place for a Thursday night / As long as Charlie doesn’t start a fight”. Charlie must have behaved himself as Bliss describes the gig as a “special night” and wrote about it beautifully.
As a first collection of songs, “Peaches and Apple Pies” captures some memorable moments. ‘Mountain Time’ is a love song written for her wife and captures that feeling as you travel home and get close to where you want to be. It is simple and creative with a lilting banjo.
After over thirty years, JJ has eventually come up with a recommendation where there is something special. My friend, we didn’t hit the spot with all our endorsements. No matter how good we thought they were, The Blue Nile was not the next big thing. Lyrically, musically and vocally excellent, we await further music from Rita Bliss. When Bliss offers to ‘Drive You To Kentucky’, you know it will be a good journey, and you can sing along to ‘Ford Econoline’, ‘Souvenirs’ and ‘Both Sides Now’ all the way home. Throw in some of her songs, too; they will not be out of place.
