Faded Memories by Stacy Jagger

CDBaby describes her record as a “delicate and exquisite mix of country folk, bluegrass and Americana….Reminiscent of Emmylou Harris, Patti Griffin and Alison Krauss, she has a shimmering quality to her breathy, candy sweet voice….” Five songs from the album are featured in the award-winning film documentary, “A Journey Home,” (along with The Peasall Sisters'/Brother Where Art Thou) and Jagger has begun to co-write with Grammy award-winning hit songwriters.

But the opportunity Jagger is most excited about at present is a recent collaboration with the Ad Deum and Revolve Dance Company in Houston, Texas. Both companies choreographed to Stacy’s music, alongside choreographic works by Hope Boykin of the Alvin Ailey Dance Company, and Steve Rooks of the Martha Graham Dance Company. “I cannot explain the feeling I got by singing my songs on stage with these incredibly gifted dancers interpreting my music. I absolutely love working with the dance community, and I am so honored to have the opportunity to collaborate with such excellent artists.” Jagger explains her enthusiasm, “I guess when I write I always see choreography in my head. I think, too, that the emotion in my singing has something to do with learning to use my whole body with emotion as a dancer, growing up.” In fact, much of Jagger’s love of music originated in the songs she heard first at the dance studio, which may also explain the range of musical styles on her album. “The dance studio was my safe haven from a crazy alcoholic home life,” she recalls, without a trace of bitterness in her voice. “I escaped into music and the arts, mostly dance at an early age, probably starting around age three – tapping to Duke Ellington, ballet classes with Mozart and Tchaikovsky, and jazz classes with Lionel Ritchie and Chaka Kahn. Then I went home and sang old hillbilly and western and trucker songs with my dad who loved The Sons of the Pioneers and Jim Reeves.”

After graduating with a degree in Music from Belmont University, Jagger began teaching dance and voice lessons, finding a deep love for mentoring young artists, with some of her students landing major record deals and performance opportunities. Ironically, during this same time, Stacy and her husband came to a point where they were seeking a simpler, downwardly-mobile life than the frenetic striving they saw all around them. Thus, they embarked on a year and a half of being “commuter pioneers” – working their regular jobs in town during the weekdays, but living a frontier home life in an 1860’s cabin out in the Tennessee countryside. “I wasn’t poor,” Jagger says, “I was just living in a non-electric cabin, taking showers in a converted milk trough, pumping well water for cooking, and stoking fires in the middle the night to keep warm.” She pauses before she adds with a laugh, “And leaving during the day to teach ballroom.” One of her favorite memories is of the night she attended a formal ball in Nashville, and then drove the long, winding way back to the cabin, arriving at the stroke of midnight, just in time to make it to her outhouse, Cinderella ball gown and all!

A down-home girl at heart, Jagger was excited to find, tucked away in her grandmother’s old trunk, a faded black and white photograph of her own family ancestors. It’s the photograph featured on the cover of “Faded Memories,” and it shows her great-grandfather holding a mandolin, her great-grandmother holding Jagger’s grandmother as an infant, and other family and friends gathered around. Captured in one long-ago moment, this is the legacy that this artist and new mother, Jagger, lives in and carries on. Music. Family. And oh yes… Memories.

"Stacy Jagger and her Faded Memories - I must say she had me from the first 8 bars of the first song on this fabulous release. First song is "Faded Memories" and on the very first chord change I reached over for volume control. There have been less than one handful of albums I have joked that I could put in a playlist loop and call it radioioACOUSTIC... This is one of them. If you have loved, if you have lost, if you have lived, hoped, dreamed, breathed... this album is for you"

-Zoe Montana/RadioioAcoustic

http://www.radioio.com/radioioacoustic.php

The broad musical and emotional range that Stacy Jagger shows in her debut project Faded Memories definitely shows that a singer-songwriter is in the house. There is plenty of room for her on stage to tell her stories in song…it’s all good.”

-Mark Collie (singer-songwriter, “Carry On” and “Forget About Us” for Tim McGraw)

"The voice of Stacy Jagger just completely takes one's breath away. Matched with a light, delicate and exquisite mix of country folk, bluegrass and americana, her voice is absolutely the highlight of the music. Reminiscent of Emmylou Harris, Patti Griffin and Alison Krauss, she has a shimmering quality to her breathy, candy sweet voice and the earthy simplicity she exudes. And with an ability to slide into the bluesier side and touch on the ache of bluegrass, there's nothing left to desire from her release, "Faded Memories." Absolutely gorgeous." --cd baby

"With a voice angelic as Margo Timmons and Jane Siberry...Stacy Jagger's latest music project skillfully mesmerizes the listener with a spirit for eternal hope and passion. Much can be said about about a style that merges Gospel, Roots and Americana with a vibrant hint of Soul. With simple lyrics and songs that harkens to the days gone by, she manages to convey a contemporary sense of belonging, security and comfort that skillfully embrace the inner warmth that we all seek within ourselves. This is music that moves and possesses an endearing quality that we should be so lucky to listen to." --Frank Wing/Concert Agent/Agency for the Performing Arts

“Simply beautiful…beautiful melodies and stellar singing.” --Margaret Becker/recording artist

"My faded memories are haunting me tonight" and this debut album from Nashville singer/songwriter Stacy Jagger contains some haunting music. Stacy's voice is a fine instrument in itself, as these are songs of love and loss, yearning and seeking. A couple of up-tempo belters let Stacy show the power in her voice, but it's in the haunting beauty of the ballads that she is most effective.” Cross Rhythms/UK

“The lyrics and the production are out of this world…” –Eugene Foley, Foley Entertainment, Inc.

"This is the best CD I've listened to all year..." -Five Stars from The Phantom Tollbooth

“Part Americana, part country, part folk with a dash of bluegrass and a hefty dose of come-hither torchy R&B, “Faded Memories” combines traditional American storytelling with heart-on-her-sleeve, honest emotion. The result sounds something like Sophie B. Hawkins singing lead for Creedence Clearwater Revival; or maybe Alison Krauss fronting the Soggy Bottom Boys. Aw, forget the comparisons – if there is any justice in the world, before long reviewers will be saying, 'That new up-and-comer sounds a lot like Stacy Jagger.'”

-Mike Parker, buddyhollywood.com

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