Marianne Keith - November 2007 Flower-Powered Artist @ KGRL.fm.

Like this artist? Click here to tune in to our stream and discover NEW Artists.

Official Website: http://www.mariannekeith.com
MySpace Page: http://www.myspace.com/mariannekeith

Music as a career might not work for everybody. It is more like a gamble, you don’t know if you’ll make it through. But if music is really your passion… you can always jump in head-first, believe in what you are doing, persevere, and sacrifice a few things along the way. Who knows? You might just be on your way to an exciting career. That is most probably the tale of most young artists in the music biz these days. But for now, our spotlight falls into one of the most promising independent singers/songwriters this side of Southern California named Marianne Keith.

Our young new FPA was born on July 29, 1985 in Redlands, California. Marianne started singing at an early age of 6, performing solo in a Christmas play. Singing was clearly something that Marianne enjoys, so she joined the group young individuals who enjoy singing join - the church choir. Eventually, she got into a band – the big band type – playing what was her first instrument: the clarinet. Life seems to be going well for little Marianne, like a normal school girl… but music is what she really is into. It took her until 8th grade to realize that she has to pursue her dreams. After all, it’s never too late.

While an artist would do good becoming a singer, it would be much rewarding being both the singer and the songwriter. Marianne knew this very well and so she started writing songs. There are certain key places in one’s life where a complete turn-around happens. It was a pawnshop in Marianne’s case - clarinet for a guitar, it’s a fair trade. She then took couple of guitar lessons but ended up self-taught in both guitar and piano. Luckily, she’s a quick learner. After a seemingly short introduction to these musical instruments, she's all ready to put it all into test.

Rewarding it is indeed, as Marianne proudly performed her own compositions for the first time during one of them open mic nights in Coffee Depot located in Riverside. The songs and the performance itself were well-received. This was the only affirmation Marianne needed to go on writing more songs and performing live. At 18 years of age, she managed to independently release a full-length titled "Make No Mistake." While she is not personally fond of the old record, it definitely helped to jumpstart her musical career.

Schooling is still not out of the picture as Marianne attended Crafton Hills College and then Cal State Fullerton taking up Public Relations. It became a hectic job of alternating between schoolwork and gigging for Marianne. She landed a number of gigs in and around Orange County. It was during this time when Marianne got in touch with the Los Angeles-based singer/songwriter Kirsten Proffit - who in turn introduced Marianne to her present day producer, Bruce Witkin. Upon hearing the talent, Bruce immediately signed Marianne under the newly formed label, Unison Music.

From here on, things went quickly and smoothly. In fact, another record was born… And it is titled, Beautiful Distraction. The record came out on May 31, 2006 and was produced by Bruce Witkin and Ryan Dorn. This was probably the break Marianne was looking for as the release of the new CD along with the full support of her label garnered our FPA awards-a-plenty. She was voted one of the top five artists in Orange County for Best Live Acoustic Female and won the Orange County Music Award in the category of Best Country for the song "Make You Mine," as well as the Orange County Music Award for Best Folk. Also this year, Marianne was in the top five for Best Female in Southern California and received the Fan Favorite Award for the Southern California Music Awards.

For now, Marianne's studies are on hold. Thankfully, even though her parents are non-musical folks, they fully supported Marianne in her career decision. Marianne recently finished a tour with the two other acts under Unison Music: Peech and Noah Sugarman. The tour took the group to various venues from Oregon all the way down the coast to San Diego. Another tour is planned starting this month of November.

At the moment, Marianne has already written over 60 songs – enough for a new record. While Beautiful Distraction was all acoustic-based, Marianne promised a bit of experimentation with the next record – writing songs with her new Fender Mustang electric guitar and interestingly, incorporating a bit of ukulele.

KGRL is proud to present November 2007 Flower-Powered Artist of the Month, Marianne Keith. This month’s feature is full to the brim of Marianne Keith goodies that includes: a CD review of Beautiful Distraction, photos, entire video stream of July 2007 performance at Molly Malone’s and a KGRL special exclusive video performance shot from Unison Music studio. But that’s not all! We are proud to present another KGRL video interview. Get to enjoy this month’s very comprehensive interview not only in audio and transcribed form, but also in video form.

Don’t forget, we’re also giving away three signed copies of the newly repackaged Beautiful Distraction CDs. It’s really very easy! Just e-mail us (contests @ kgrl.fm – remove spaces) on why you deserve to win. Visit the contest page for more info.

KGRL had a chance to go on a very comprehensive one on one interview with the young and amazingly talented, Marianne Keith. The interview was held in Unison Music's studio - 10.11.07. Enjoy another KGRL video interview! Full transcript as well as high/low quality audio segments of the interview is available in the interview page.

Watch the exclusive Marianne Keith video interview using the player below!
*The player uses Javascript - be sure to enable it in your browsers.

Marianne Keith Video Interview (Click to launch the player!)
You can use the "pause" "back" and "forward" buttons to skip back or forward each of the Q&As.
This video is embeddable - you can use it on your blogs, myspace, website, etc.!

Having trouble viewing the video interview? Hit this link for IE7 Users!

Listen to Marianne Keith's responses in High Quality MP3 Stream using the player below:

Transcription excerpt from the interview:

KGRL: Can you tell us what you do to make your music stand out from amongst other pop artists?

Marianne Keith: You know when I started music, I thought a lot about "I need it to be a hit song. I need it to sound like this or sound like that…" The more I got into it, the more I realize it just isn’t genuine if you do that. So, I really just write from the heart and however it comes out it’s just how it comes out.

Like now, I don’t try to write hit songs – I don’t try to write songs I think other people will like. It just really is whatever is on my mind; whatever is in my heart that’s what comes out in my music. I really hope that people like it, but at least I know that it’s sincere. So, I just try to be honest with what I write.

KGRL: We understand that you are a student at Cal State Fullerton, taking up Public Relations. But schooling is on hold as you are currently a full-time musician. Are you planning to go back and finish schooling at
some point?

Marianne Keith: Yeah, it’s on hold right now. I don’t have that much left of it – probably like another year. And yeah, I think one day maybe I’ll go back to school. But at the same time, this is my love, you know?

Going to college is a great experience, I’m glad I did it. But you go to school and a lot of people find themselves there and they find out what they want to do with their life. But for me, I already know… and I know that this is what I want to do. So, if I can be successful in this, I don’t feel like I need to. But stay in
school kids!

-> READ the full transcript along with high/low quality mp3 of the Interview by Clicking Here! <-

What is Beautiful Distraction? Beautiful Distraction is the title of the third record by Marianne Keith and it is also the title of the first song. But more than that, it’s the record that has sparked a new phase in Marianne’s young but very bright musical career. The CD was not only well-received by critics and fans alike, it also won Marianne several awards and recognition throughout Southern California. Taking aside the accomplishments achieved with this record, how does it really stack up? Does it really deserve the buzz and attention it has generated? I guess we’ll find out…

Listeners are immediately greeted with a warm sunny California welcome with the song Beautiful Distraction. The intro guitar strumming is enough to provoke that feeling of a perfect summer down the beach, it’s refreshing and relaxing. Even though it conveys a happy feeling throughout the rhythm, the lyrics talk about someone who needs to listen to this song. This is where Marianne’s lyrics and song-writing talents succeed. Instead of creating a song wallowing in despair, she crafted one that embodies the Beautiful Distraction people are looking for… an escape from the mundane, or perhaps even gloom, into the happy sunny beautiful side of life.

One might expect something of a rock-out-loud song for something titled The Angry Song. But listening to Marianne’s Angry Song doesn’t make me feel all that angry, although the lyrics and the vocal delivery reflects some of that anger – “I’m so over you. And all of the shit that you do, you take everything to heart.” While it doesn’t make me feel angry, it definitely packs that catchiness enough to make me sing along with the chorus. Maybe someday, with Marianne’s new electric guitar, we will hear that rock-out-loud version of
The Angry Song.

At last, an aptly titled song! Marianne sure seems to be the happy type gal and Happy Girl definitely reflects it. All that warm fuzzy feeling packaged neatly into a song. Happy Girl is an autobiographical account, a slice of Marianne’s life if you will. “I’ve never really been out of California” “But if there’s one thing in this life I’ve learned… It’s that I don’t have to travel the world to be a happy girl.” How can anyone not like this song? It’s the perfect weapon against emo folks.

I’m going to have to say that, like Marianne herself, the song Too Late is one of my favorites. It just works on all levels. The mood, rhythm and life-inspired lyrics match. The vocal work is top-notch, soulful and seductive. The background music serves to complement the mood as well. As much as lyrics don’t really pull all that much heartstring with me, as I’m more on the music side, Too Late’s lyrics really carry that honest true-to-life feeling that makes the song emotionally captivating.

Of course, what’s a pop album without a melancholic song? Maybe Next Time is one of these melancholic tunes in the CD. Even with its upbeat accompaniment of drums, bass and acoustic guitar, the gloominess is apparent. It’s a solidly-crafted well-written composition that is highly recommended for suckers of pop ballads.

Time for another acoustic pop song… or wait… Surprisingly a rocker of a tune, Something Real fills in the need for something edgy. This is something we might see Marianne Keith play electrifyingly kickass live someday - definitely a good live material. Ok, the next track is the acoustic pop song. Kiss Me In The Rain has some of the country music overtones in it. It’s not what could be strictly categorized in the country music genre, but the guitar work and drumbeats are akin to country music. It’s a pleasing and appealing track that will not alienate non-country music loving folks.

That’s Just How Love Goes on the other hand is one of the weak tracks in the CD. The old-radio static-y intro is nicely done but the song as a whole just doesn’t appeal to me as the tracks before it. It’s not a bad song. It is probably just a song that I won’t be putting much on repeat. The vocal work is a little shaky in the chorus. With the song Make You Mine, I can see where the folks who describe Marianne’s music as country music are coming from. Maybe Marianne was not thinking of it as a country music when she composed it but the end result with the full-band accompaniment places it under that category.

While the experimental-type percussive intro to On The Line works, the song as a whole does not stand out like the rest of the first third of the record. It’s a rocky tune like Something Real, only the later has a much better song construct. Sideways Rain on the other hand is simply a wonderful piano ballad. It wouldn’t surprise me if this would be one of the tracks ending up in everyone’s favorites. Some people listen to an album to find their next “perfect love song.” For this CD, this is it.

The original CD ends with a track called Good Times. It is what it is, Marianne having fun around with her friends/sister. It features Marianne playing the acoustic guitar with her friends hanging around in the recording. It is intimate and sounds more like an impromptu track – fun to listen to. The track even includes giggles and laughs to show just how they all are having a real good time. It might not even be on your repeated tracks off the record but it will surely put a smile on the first listen.

The repackaged CD takes away Good Times but comes with a new track, titled I’m Not The Girl For You. The new track is a bit more band intensive and mature sounding than the jolly Good Times. While the tracks Good Times and I’m Not The Girl For You does their job well, of closing the album, I’m leaning a bit towards Good Times – if only for sentimental sake.

I guess this all puts us back to the question… Does it really deserve the buzz and attention it has generated? I would say a resounding YES! There’s a reason to fall in love with the talent of this young singer/songwriter. She can write pretty ballads and pop songs. She does sing very well, which is really a sight to behold in her live performances (see videos below): a small-framed girl packing a powerful voice.

Beautiful Distraction, despite a couple or three tracks being weak, is a nice showcase of Marianne Keith’s amazing talents. It is an easy recommend to lovers of pop/pop-rock and ballads. I am quite interested with how writing songs with an electric guitar might change her style. We are only left to imagine what to expect next from this fine young artist.

Beautiful Distraction - Buy It Now (CD Baby | iTunes)!

Tracklist:

Beautiful Distraction
The Angry Song
Happy Girl
Too Late
Maybe Next Time
Something Real
Kiss Me In The Rain
That's Just How Love Goes
Make You Mine
On The Line
Sideways Rain
Good Times (Before Repack)
I'm Not The Girl For You (New Song - After Repack)

First 8 photos are KGRL exclusives taken by Marianne Keith's sister, Nicole Keith (Thanks!).
The live photos were taken from Molly Malone's - 07.08.07 by Suzanne Allison.
The last row of photos were shot by KGRL and are thus exclusives.

*The slideshow uses Javascript - be sure to enable it in your browsers.

Play Slideshow!

KGRL proudly presents the Artist Name Show/Performance Date. The streams can be viewed using our embedded flash player. We do hope you will enjoy these wonderful videos! Sideways Rain video was recorded in Marianne's record label (Unison Music) studio - 10.11.07. It was recorded as a very special exclusive performance for this feature. The rest of the videos were recorded at Molly Malone's - 07.08.07. Enjoy!

*The flash videoplayer uses Javascript - be sure to enable it in your browsers.

Sideways Rain - KGRL Exclusive Performance - 10.11.07

Molly Malone's - 07.08.07

*You're No Good is a cover song.
Originally recorded and released by Betty Everett and Dee Dee Warwick.
The song later became a #1 hit for Linda Ronstadt.
*The Angry Song was performed with Peech and Noah Sugarman.

Happy Girl

Kiss Me In The Rain

*You're No Good

Make You Mine

*The Angry Song

Feature Credits:

Special thanks goes to Marianne and Nicole Keith, Peech, Noah Sugarman, and Unison Music.