''Lonesomers'' is the second

studio album An album is a collection of audio recordings (e.g., music) issued on a medium such as compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl (record), audio tape (like 8-track cartridge, 8-track or Cassette tape, cassette), or digital distribution, dig ...

released by

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, p ...

singer and actress

Mare Winningham Mary Megan Winningham, known professionally as Mare Winningham ( ; born May 16, 1959), is an American actress and singer-songwriter. She is the recipient of two Primetime Emmy Awards and has been nominated for an Academy Award, two Golden Globe ...

in 1997.

Background

Winningham has worked on a musical career at the same time as her better known work as an actress, fronting several folk-rock bands in the 1980s, doing live shows. It was not until 1992 that her first solo record got released on an independent small label based in the

San Francisco Bay Area The San Francisco Bay Area, commonly known as the Bay Area, is a List of regions of California, region of California surrounding and including San Francisco Bay, and anchored by the cities of Oakland, San Francisco, and San Jose, California, S ...

, which received a very limited release. With her Oscar-nominated role as a folk singer in the 1995 movie ''

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States Georgia may also refer to: People and fictional characters * Georgia (name), a list of pe ...

'', her vocal and musical skills got more noticed by the general public and she started work on her second album. ''Lonesomers'' is a folk rock album with songs mostly dealing with relationship issues. Winningham solely penned all the songs on the album except for a cover of

The Rolling Stones The Rolling Stones are an English Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1962. Active for over six decades, they are one of the most popular, influential, and enduring bands of the Album era, rock era. In the early 1960s, the band pione ...

' " The Last Time", as well as playing the guitar and

dulcimer The term dulcimer refers to two families of musical string instruments. Hammered dulcimers The word ''dulcimer'' originally referred to a trapezoidal zither similar to a psaltery whose many strings are struck by handheld "hammers". Variants of ...

. The album was produced by former The Textones vocalist

Carla Olson Carla Olson (born July 3, 1952) is an American, Los Angeles-based songwriter, performer and record producer. Biography Born and raised in Austin, Texas, Olson moved to Los Angeles, California, in 1978 where she formed the Textones, whose deb ...

Release and reception

Despite critical acclaim for her voice and guitar playing, looking for a label contract proved difficult for Winningham. "Some labels looked at me skeptically when I was looking for a deal, they were viewing me as an actor who sings, instead of as a singer who acts.", she recalled. When she couldn't secure a record deal, she first released the record on her own label in mid-1997 and sold the album on her live shows and locally around

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, where she was based at the time. Winningham then negotiated with label

Varèse Sarabande Varèse Sarabande is an American record label, owned by Concord Music Group and distributed by Universal Music Group, which specializes in film scores and cast recording, original cast recordings. It aims to reissue rare or unavailable albums, as ...

to reissue the album for a wider distribution, but the deal fell through, and ultimately it was the label

Razor & Tie Razor & Tie was an American entertainment company that consisted of a record label and a music publishing company. It was established in 1990 by Craig Balsam and Cliff Chenfeld. Based in New York City (with additional offices in Los Angeles and ...

who signed Winningham and finally re-released the album on June 30, 1998. This marked Winningham's first album that achieved a major nationwide distribution. The original release and the Razor & Tie release include a slightly different track listing as well as different artwork. The album received good reviews, with

Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

Stephen Thomas Erlewine Stephen Thomas Erlewine (; born June 18, 1973) is an American music critic and former senior editor for the online music database AllMusic. He is the author of multiple artist biographies and record reviews for AllMusic, as well as a freelance ...

favourably remarking Winningham's voice and songwriting, calling it "a humble, appealing album that relies on craftsmanship instead of flash", despite some songs being "slightly monotonous". He awarded the album three stars out of five.

Track listing

The first, self-released edition of the album consisted of 12 tracks. When label Razor & Tie picked up the album, two songs from the original version were not included: a cover of

Ian & Sylvia Ian & Sylvia were a Canadian folk and country music duo which consisted of Ian and Sylvia Tyson. They began performing together in 1959 (full-time in 1961), married in 1964, and divorced and stopped performing together in 1975. History Early ...

's " Someday Soon" and the Winningham original "Big Dirt Bed". However, the Razor & Tie reissue included a new original song, "Leave It Alone".

Track listing

References

{{Authority control 1997 albums Razor & Tie albums