Patresa Hartman, a one-woman wolf pack, will celebrate her new album with a release show at xBk Live
By Fred Love
Iowa songwriter Patresa Hartman let the wolf run wild on her latest album, which she’ll celebrate with a release show at xBk Live on Monday, Oct. 20.
The album, titled “Wolf in a Lady Suit,” explores the wilder side of Hartman’s subconscious mind, she said during a recent interview, the part that chafes at following all the rules and pleasing everyone, the part of her that longs to “run and howl.”
The album weaves together Hartman’s signature soul-folk sound with expert musicianship and sharp lyrical storytelling. Hartman’s bluesy vocal delivery takes the spotlight in each of the record’s 10 songs. Purchase tickets to the album release show at https://wl.eventim.us/event/patresa-hartman-wolf-in-a-lady-suit-album-release-party/664250?afflky=xBkLive .
A Nearly Abandoned Project
Hartman finished recording much of the album in 2019 at Midday Studios in Des Moines, and even released a couple of singles from the sessions, before the covid pandemic shut the process down cold.
She largely abandoned the project even when live music started to return. In fact, as time dragged on and months turned into years, she nearly gave up writing songs and performing altogether. Hartman said she’s always battled stage fright, and she wondered whether releasing the album was worth the stress and anxiety she felt while performing.
But as her 50th birthday approached, she started to reconsider quitting music.
“I was looking at my 50th birthday, and on those big mile-marker years, you think about what you did or didn’t accomplish and I still just had this record that I hadn’t finished,” Hartman recalled.
She returned to music and had to shake off the rust, re-learning her old songs. She took a stab at writing again and came up with “Wild West.” She said she was surprised how much she liked it and eventually recorded it and two other new compositions to include on the new album.
“That broken clock says I’m right on time/ But I’m all played out and six steps behind,” Hartman sings on the the chorus of “Wild West.”
“I was feeling kind of washed up and thinking maybe I don’t have any songs left in me,” Hartman said. “I wanted to see if I had something left in there, and “Wild West” sort of spilled out.”
In the years since she’d last worked on the album, Midday Studios had closed, so she contacted Bryan Vanderpool at Golden Bear Records to get the project across the finish line. She scratched a few of the older songs and added the three new ones, and the result is a 10-track album, Hartman’s third full-length record, featuring a crew of some of the most accomplished musicians in central Iowa.
In addition to Hartman’s keys and vocals, Russ Tomlinson and Renee Potts play percussion on the album, Amanda Drish contributes violin, Steph Graham plays double bass, Tommy Doggett provides saxophone, and Jenny Kohls plays electric guitar. In a particularly poignant moment, the song “The Bride” features both Hartman’s mother and 13-year-old son on cello. Patrick Riley composed the orchestral arrangement, and oversaw its playing and recording, for the song “Lion’s Den,” a Hartman composition about school shootings and gun control. Riley was so moved by the lyrics he asked Hartman not to pay him but to donate his fee to Sandy Hook Promise, an advocacy group that seeks to prevent gun violence.
The live performance at xBk on Monday will feature Evander Ellsbury on electric guitar as well as Sara Routh on backing vocals.
The Wolf Inside Patresa Hartman
Hartman finished “Wolf,” the track that gives the album its title, years ago and initially thought of the song as a novelty because it reminded her too much of a show tune. But as the album neared completion, she realized the song’s themes showed up time after time throughout the rest of the album, making it the best choice for the title track.
“All the songs seem to revolve around this theme of wanting to please people and be a good girl and do all the right things, while there’s still something in me that wants to push back on that,” she said. “What if instead of trying to be good all the time, what if I just embraced this inner wild thing that wants to run and howl?”
“Wolf in a Lady Suite” is currently available to stream and available on CD via Hartman’s Bandcamp page at https://patresahartman.bandcamp.com/album/wolf-in-a-lady-suit.
xBk Live Presents Patresa Hartman – “Wolf in a Lady Suit” album release party w/ Sara Routh
Monday, Oct. 20
Doors 6 p.m. Show 7 p.m.
All Ages