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Jim
Roll and Sari Brown
 Novelist
Rick Moody, author of “Demonology” and “The Ice
Storm” (the latter of which became a 1997 Kevin Kline film) called
Jim Roll’s 2000 CD, Lunette, “one of the best singer-songwriter
albums of the last five years.” Jim had given Rick that CD to spark
interest in a songwriting alliance. The first fruits appear on
Inhabiting the Ball and Rick's not the only guest lyricist, either.
Poet and fiction writer Denis Johnson (of “The Name of the World”
and “Jesus' Son” fame) was actually the first author Jim enlisted.
The Rock Editors for Amazon.com picked Inhabiting the Ball as one of
their top 10 CD’s of 2002 along with Elvis Costello, Beck and Peter
Gabriel. Don't miss this
chance to see why the LA Times, National Public Radio, and the New
Yorker have also raved about Jim’s music.
Jim is also a
noted record producer and has worked with many local favorites
including Jo Serrapere and the Willie Dunns, John Latini and Paul’s
Big Radio.
 Sari
Brown materialized mysteriously in the city of Ann Arbor a few years
back, emerging seemingly out of nowhere. Her roots have now been
successfully traced back to the smallest nooks and crannies of rural
Michigan, where she had spent most of her life hiding from the law.
(Her childhood activism of
freeing animals from laboratories caught up with her quickly.)
A consummate guitar and ukulele player and ear-to-ear grinner,
her night job is excitedly and passionately performing the songs that
she’s made up.
Over
the course of 8 months, while saving her pennies working as a
secretary in Oakland County, through becoming a producer and arranger
without having had any previous experience, after many thousands of
hours rehashing, rehearsing and rerecording, and because of the
occurrence of several small miracles, Brown released her CD in May of
2004 under the title “For What is the Journey.” It is widely
agreed that she succeeded in every way with her complex artistic
intentions for the album, and that at the same time she was able to
communicate a universal and accessible piece of work.
Perhaps
the key to the universal appeal of the album is the playful,
genre-bending nature of its music. Though the album swings from country to soul to rock ’n
roll, the talent and consistence of the backing instrumentalists, and
Brown’s abilities as a producer, fuse everything together with a
continuity that makes it feel like a catchy and clever Cake record, if
John McCrea sang all gospel songs.
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“As music goes,
Roll does just right. He's man who knows how to make great music,
period. Those instincts have been translated on this disc into
some stunning fare, indeed.” – Aiding and Abetting
“Sounding
a bit like michelle shocked, sari calls [her cd for what is the
journey] a collection of spirituals—but this ain't your
mama's religion....a standout....a cool groove.”
-Sing
Out!
Magazine
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