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Head Full Of Hair, Heart Full Of Song

by Pyeng Threadgill

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Wrecka Stow
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Wrecka Stow This is a beautiful journey whose instrumental aspects include sounds of childhood, traditional folk/blues, spoken word, contemporary folk arrangements, and impressionistic orchestrations. The material is sometimes autobiographical and always relatable, with a theme of the cycles of life, known and unknown depths within ourselves and in our relatives past and present. The vocals and lyrics sung have a powerful vulnerability and remind this listener that our own strength is in our own story. Favorite track: Trav'lin All Alone.
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    "Head Full Of Hair..." Limited Edition CD with sizzling artwork by Luisa Muhr & photography by Aria Isadora

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1.
Cotton Candy 01:59
COTTON CANDY When I was I was a little girl my mom used to say "Your hair is just like cotton candy!..." soft light full Cotton Candy moonbeams sticky sweet pink Cotton Candy dreamy lofty plush Cotton Candy thick knotty resilient Cotton Candy cozy Black Cotton transformational Candy.
2.
HEAD FULL OF HAIR, HEART FULL OF SONG Got a head full of hair and a heart full of song Nobody told me change could take so long Got a head full of hair they say Ain’t gonna let thoughts get in my way Got a head full of hair and a heart full of song Good thing that love can be so strong Got a head full of hair hey hey Mind keeps mixing up what my heart say Oooo If I did alright, but it came out wrong Wouldn’t be standing here singing this song Picking out my truth day by day Many mixed messages coming our way Oooo
3.
Black Magic 05:05
BLACK MAGIC I've got my witches brew I've got my spell for you I've got your remedy It waits inside of me A rush comes over me A rhythmic melody A myth I am to be A legacy You press repeat I will you now I've got a sacred charm I've got muscles in arm I've got my grandma's look I've got this catchy hook A whisper in the trees And a drink of holy leaves A myth I am to be A legacy You press repeat I will you now A chant I write each day To wash all negative away And conjure good to stay It's my mama's way You met her yesterday Said “everything’s gonna be okay” The things that I can't touch and I can't see The stories that have been given to me These are a few of my favorite things The things that I can't touch and I can't see The stories I've imagined and believed These are a few of my favorite things The things that I can't touch and I can't see The stories that have been given to me These are a few of my favorite things These are a few of my favorite things These are a few of my favorite things These are a few of my favorite things…
4.
Pearlie 05:04
PEARLIE My maternal grandmother’s name was Pearlie Rice Jones. She got the Jones name from my grandfather when they married. Born in Marshall, Texas on December 30th 1918. Growing up I would visit my grandmother and my other relatives living in Chicago, Columbus, GA or later St Louis. Pearlie, she was quiet and thoughtful. She liked to do crossword puzzles and eat sweets like prepackaged cinnamon rolls and candy and she kept all kinds of things hidden in various plastic bags...within plastic bags. When she walked she would sway kind of like someone coming back from the local bar as she would go to ride the bus, shop for groceries and always buy the paper. Once home she would sit on the porch decorated with reading glasses and ask us riddles like “what’s another name for a sweet pepper?” or “where do flamingos fly?” as her pen or pencil would flap it's wings along the black and white newspaper sky. I spent a lot of time watching my grandmother sitting in the living room or alone in the kitchen. Unlike my paternal grandmother, she didn’t’ talk a lot but she would make these motions in the air as if she was pulling her hair out of invisible rollers, or untying braids and then taking things out of her mouth, maybe things she wished she’d said, and then sewing it back up again. To a child it could have looked like someone making shadow puppets. A butterfly, a dog, an alligator. But I knew better. I had a degree in grown ups. So I would stare at her trying to figure it out and she didn’t mind my staring. Every so often she would knock her knees together like Dorothy clicking her heels to go back home. My mom said that she did try going home once. When she was much younger. After being lured by my grandfather’s sweet talking. She wanted a free pass home. Trying to get away from his temper and habit of taking without asking. But her parents said no. She wouldn’t tell them what he had done, so they wouldn’t agree, said she had to go back. And just like getting a poor move on a board game she kept on playing. After attending Prairie View College with a degree in home economics and science she went on to be a dutiful...house wife…and mother of 6. And I would stare because I could and to be honest I thought she was funny and fascinating. Now I look at all of those old pictures of me as a baby in Marshall, Texas and all that stillness and all that wind. Wind blowing dust. Dust settling in corners we think we’ve cleaned and that dust we hope will keep things hidden and that dust to protect us from the sun cracking open our skin. Now I wonder what was my grandma doing in with those crossword puzzles? Was she just trying to kill time? or fulfill a need to answer unanswerable questions? or had she finally cracked the code that most of us are still trying to crack holding the answers at the crossroads of 12 down and 8 across.
5.
DRUMS ARE HERE TO SAVE YOU NOW ...drums are here to save now! drums are here to save you now!... drums are here to save you now oh yea oh yea drums are here! drums are here! drums are here!...
6.
LOOSE CHANGE IN MY SHOE I’ve gotta build a thick skin Don’t let the dirt in They say it’s sink or swim Wooh oh oh oh oh When I was born I shone bright Power was out I brought the light They say my dreams will take flight Just watch where you go at night Loose change in my shoe Loose change in my shoe ooo ooo Throw stones in my view Close range I see you ooo ooo Loose change in my shoe Loose change in my shoe yea Bark, bite at my hue Laugh, still I heal you ooo I’m full and possibility There’s hope dancing round my tree Ancestors I’m waiting to meet And change at my feet The beat goes And the street knows While the leaf blows This time around The night owl Will sing us back Loose change in my shoe Loose change in my shoe ooo ooo Throw stones in my view Close range I see you yea Loose change in my shoe Loose change in my shoe yea Bark, bite at my hue Laugh, still I heal you ooo Change at my feet Change at my feet Change at my feet yea Change at my feet yea Change at my feet Change at my feet Change at my feet yea Change at my feet yea...
7.
Four Hours 01:27
FOUR HOURS Four…hours four hours four hours four hours it’s hours and ours it's ours four hours and ours and ours it’s hours and hours and ours and hours…
8.
I WENT TO THE WATER I went to the water Didn’t want to wet my hair I went to the water Didn’t want to wet my hair Just couldn’t go there Didn’t want to go there I went to the water I met my twin there I went to the water I met my twin there She caught my eye Gave me a long long stare, oh yea Clear, clear my mind Sweet, space and time If any parts was lost, They’re in me, you’ll surely find Spotted a rainbow No umbrella that day I spotted a rainbow And no umbrella that day Well I took to the rainbow ‘Cause we all gonna get wet anyway, anyway And it’s gon’ Clear, clear my mind Sweet space and time If any parts were lost Right here they’ll be easy to find If any parts were lost Right here they’ll be easy to find If any parts were lost Right here they’ll be easy to find
9.
LITTLE CREATURES ...they come to me they're like these little creatures...
10.
JACARANDA CITY I was born by the Jacaranda tree purple haze lining every street What a place of natural beauty like my face still so hard for you to see to see We sit Half the day Each part Perfected Each braid Uniform Our genius neglected We sit Half the day Each part Perfected Each braid Uniform Our genius neglected In these fertile valleys thousand rivers and screams Keeps the land so green even winter it sings even winter screams We sit Half the day Each part Perfected Each braid Uniform Our genius neglected We sit Half the day Cater to Each wave and coil I bloom Wating for ya’ To catch on All we taught ya’ Read my riddles They’ve been woven Secret language Bent, not broken My line It caught The dirt In your look Brushed off The crown You grabbed You took I am fine throw sticks and I’m Divine I always draw outside your lines I was born by the Jacaranda tree tho I’m native they still question me such a place of natural beauty like my face still so hard for you to see like my face still so hard for you to see like my face still so hard for you to see
11.
MISSING MISSISSIPPI What business do I have talking about Mississippi? What’s a girl like me from New York City got to do with Mississippi? All I know is what I heard from my grandmother, sayin’ that she heard there was lots of Threadgills in Mississippi. A whole town full…named Greensville or Greensboro. Feel like she kept switching between the two. And you know when somebody’s gone missing…like a WHOLE line of your ancestors, just like a tribe standing in line at the airport but instead of meeting their relatives they get surgically lifted into outerspace never to be seen or heard from again…except for these faint whispers, nightmares, and fantasies... My great great grandfather was named Henry Threadgill and he went missing. I mean he was around in the end dying of cholera or cancer or some other disease in Chicago but we don’t know where he got his beginning. Somewhere in the middle of his tale he and his brother get split and he’s the one who heads up north. And that’s part of what’s got me missing Mississippi. That trace of my history winding down a long unknown river that soon everyone will have forgotten. Well, that and…missing parts of fathers like soldiers' limbs spread on a battlefield and no one cares to put them back together again so that you can actually know one another. I really want to meet Morgan Freeman some day because I heard he knows a lot about Mississippi. Told my dad once that there was a famous music teacher there by the name of Threadgill. I’d like to think that his parts and pieces that are lingering in our thoughts and fingers and voices helping us to write out our song. And that when I get an inspired interdisciplinary approach to teaching some musical concept like a G major seventh chord, that it’s him and a cup of the elements helping me to move kids to keep on enjoying music and wanting to learn and wanting to play and wanting to practice. So I think those are some pretty good reasons for missing Mississippi. Don’t you?
12.
HEART BEATIN' FAST I’ve been raisin’ it wastin’ and bravin’ it I’m still makin’ it gracin’ and blazin’ it I’ve been raisin’ it wastin’ and bravin’ it I’m still makin’ it gracin’ and blazin’ it Oh, whatcha gonna do? Heart beatin’ fast Hidden in my sleeve Talkin’ to my past Walkin’ my path From dawn to eve Roads crossin’ Tip toein’ Holdin’ myself back I’ve been raisin’ it wastin’ and bravin’ it I’m still makin’ it gracin’ and blazin’ it I’ve been raisin’ it wastin’ and bravin’ it who will dare?...only you I’m still makin’ it gracin’ and blazin’ it Oh, whatcha gonna do? Truth on my back Lookin’ for a map But seeing at last Ahead of the pack Surrendered…and rendered in black Standing up to the mast I’ve been raisin’ it wastin’ and bravin’ it who will dare? only you I’m still makin’ it gracin’ and blazin’ it oh, whatcha gonna do? I’ve been raisin’ it wastin’ and bravin’ it I’m still makin’ it gracin’ and blazin’ it Oh, whatcha gonna do? I’ve been raisin’ it wastin’ and bravin’ it who will dare?...only you I’m still makin’ it gracin’ and blazin’ it Oh, whatcha gonna do? Oh whatcha gon’ do?...
13.
TRAV'LIN ALL ALONE I’m so weary and all alone Feet are tired like heavy stone Trav’lin, trav’lin all alone I’m so weary and all alone Feet are tired like heavy stone Trav’lin, trav’lin all alone Who will see and who will care Bout this load that I must bear Trav’lin trav’lin all alone Prayers are sent from heaven above ‘Bout my burdens woes and love Head bowed down with misery Nothing now appeals to me Trav’lin trav’lin all alone I’m so weary and all alone Feet are tired like heavy stone Trav’lin trav’lin all alone Who will see and who will care Bout this load that I must bear Trav’lin trav’lin all alone Give me just another day There’s one thing that I must say Friends are well when all is gold Leave you always when you’re old I’m so weary and all alone Feet are tired like heavy stone Trav’lin trav’lin all alone Trav’lin trav’lin all alone Trav’lin trav’lin all alone
14.
SECRET PARADE Secret parade secret parade secret parade secret parade You need a remedy I'll be that remedy between the fruit and the vine open your mind you need a remedy Secret parade secret parade secret parade secret parade We got chemistry you and I got chemistry impossible to confine oh step up take your time we got chemistry Got you so close got you like this making you know know all your bliss we are Got you so close got you like this making you know know all your bliss we are You need a remedy I'll be that remedy between the spaces and lines open your mind you need a remedy Secret parade secret parade secret parade secret parade Got you so close got you like this making you know know all your bliss we are Got you so open open like this making you know know all your bliss we are Secret parade secret parade secret parade secret parade
15.
16.
That's All 03:58
THAT'S ALL That's all... PICK A BALE OF COTTON Jump down turn around, pick a bale of cotton Jump down turn around, pick a bale a day Jump down turn around, pick a bale of cotton Jump down turn around, pick a bale a day Oh Lordy, pick a bale of cotton Oh Lordy, pick a bale a day Oh Lordy, pick a bale of cotton Oh Lordy, pick a bale a day Me and man gotta pick a bale of cotton Me and my man gotta pick a bale a day Me and my man gotta pick a bale of cotton Me and my man gotta pick a bale a day Oh Lordy, pick a bale of cotton Oh Lordy, pick a bale a day Oh Lordy, pick a bale of cotton Oh Lordy, pick a bale a day Me and my friend gotta pick a bale of cotton Me and my friend gotta pick a bale a day Me and my friend gotta pick a bale of cotton Me and my friend gotta pick a bale a day Oh Lordy, pick a bale of cotton Oh Lordy, pick a bale a day Oh Lordy, pick a bale of cotton Oh Lordy, pick a bale a day Me and my ma’ gotta pick a bale of cotton Me and my ma’ gotta pick a bale a day Me and my ma’ gotta pick a bale of cotton Me and my ma’ gotta pick a bale a day Oh Lordy, pick a bale of cotton Oh Lordy, pick a bale a day Oh Lordy, pick a bale of cotton Oh Lordy, pick a bale a day Jump down turn around and pick a bale of cotton Jump down turn around, pick a bale a day Jump down turn around and pick a bale of cotton Jump down turn around, pick a bale a day Oh Lordy, pick a bale of cotton Oh Lordy, pick a bale a day Oh Lordy, pick a bale of cotton Oh Lordy, pick a bale a day Me and my pa’ gotta pick a bale of cotton Me and my pa’ gotta pick a bale a day Me and my pa’ gotta pick a bale of cotton Me and my pa’ gotta pick a bale a day Oh Lordy, pick a bale of cotton Oh Lordy, pick a bale a day Oh Lordy, pick a bale of cotton Oh Lordy, pick a bale a day Ain’t we all gotta pick a bale of cotton Ain’t we all gotta pick a bale a day Ain’t we all gotta pick a bale of cotton Ain’t we all gotta pick a bale a day Oh Lordy, pick a bale of cotton Oh Lordy, pick a bale a day Oh Lordy, pick a bale of cotton Oh Lordy, pick a bale a day

about

Pyeng Threadgill: vocals/wurlitzer
John Shannon: electric & acoustic guitar
Derek Nievergelt: electric & upright bass
Tyler Wood: clavinet/B3 organ/piano
Kassa Overall: drums

Derek Nievergelt: vocals on "Head Full Of Hair, Heart Full Of Song"
Amma What: vocals on "BlackMagic" and "Heart Beatin' Fast"
Amma What, Nhumi Threadgill, Luna Starr Threadgill-Moderbacher and Mieke Hutt-Nievergelt vocals on "Drums Are Here To Save You Now Reprise"
Martha Redbone: vocals on "Pick A Bale Of Cotton"

Pyeng pre 5 years old appears courtesy of Mom & East 6th Street Recordings

credits

released July 19, 2018

All words & Music by Pyeng Threadgill, Copyright 2018, except for "Trav'lin All Alone" and "Pick A Bale Of Cotton". "Pearlie" played by John Shannon, Derek Nievergelt and Kassa Overall. "Cotton Candy" played by John Shannon and Derek Nievergelt. All songs co-arranged by each specific ensemble, except for "Trav'lin All Alone" original arrangement by Brandon Terzic, Tim Keiper and Pyeng Threadgill.

Produced by Derek Nievergelt and Pyeng Threadgill.
Recorded by Tyler Wood & Derek Nievergelt with assistant engineer Colin Mohnacs at GB's Juke Joint, Long Island City, NY (January, 2018).
*except for "I Went To The Water" recorded by Derek Nievergelt at Orange Fish Music, Brooklyn, NY (2016).
Background vocals for "Black Magic", "Heart Beatin' Fast", "Jacaranda City", "Head Full Of Hair, Heart Full Of Song", "Pearlie" and "Drums Are Here To Save You Now Reprise" recorded by Derek Nievergelt at Orange Fish Music (2018).
All songs mixed by Tyler Wood at Sauce Farm Studio, NY (2018).
All songs mastered by Kevin Blackler at Blackler Mastering, Brooklyn, NY 2018.

Photos: Aria Isadora
Hair Art: Thema Taylor of Natural Edgez
Make-up: KeKe Cifferello
Clothing Design: Royal Jelly Harlem
Graphic design: Luisa Muhr

Thank you ALL for helping to MAKE this record!!! You make my heart beat. Thank you to my gorgeous band and crew of collaborators, my mom, dad, stepmom, Eileen & Johannes. Thank you to my husband Nikolai always on the chair, always “on my side":). This album is dedicated to all my ancestors but especially the women in my family who may not have always been able to give voice to their power, pleasure or pain. May your voices ring! And to my daughter Luna may you always shine like the sun, moon and stars. You got it all in you. Xoxo

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Pyeng Threadgill New York

Described as “charmingly eclectic" by St Louis Today Pyeng Threadgill sings ‘New Porch Music’ crafting an intimate journey through folk and Jazz with Afro- electronic inflections. In the midst of developing her fourth solo album and a multimedia project entitled "Head Full of Hair, Heart Full of Song", Ms. Threadgill shines a light on hair, adornment, and ancestry, and the power and pain therein. ... more

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