April 21, 2014
After playing live together since 2008, Sasha Dobson, Norah Jones and Catherine Popper have at last taken their collaboration into the studio. No Fools, No Fun – their debut album – will be released on July 15 by Blue Note Records. The trio, known as Puss n Boots after flirtations with such monikers as Fangbanger, Dixie Fried and Shitstorm, will support the album with an East Coast run that kicks off on June 22 with an appearance at the Clearwater Festival in Croton-On-Hudson, NY. They will return to The Bell House in Brooklyn, one of their favorite hometown haunts, on July 15, play the 9:30 Club in Washington DC on July 17 and perform at the Newport Folk Festival (July 26-27). Tickets for the headline shows will go on sale this Friday, April 25.
Recorded at Studio G in Brooklyn with engineer/mixer Joel Hamilton, No Fools, No Fun includes five original songs – two each from Dobson and Popper and one from Jones – and seven spirited cover tunes, all culled from Puss n Boots’ live repertoire. The 12-song collection takes its name from the lyrics of “Bull Rider,” a Rodney Crowell song made famous by Johnny Cash. “Bull Rider” is one of three album tracks that Puss n Boots recorded live in June of 2013 at The Bell House. Over the years, they have also performed at the Bridge School Benefit, played stadiums with the Beastie Boys on the “Get Out The Vote” tour and joined Wilco onstage at Madison Square Garden, singing background vocals on “Jesus, Etc.,” a song that Puss n Boots interprets on No Fools, No Fun.
“We had talked about recording for a long time. A listen to the live recordings of one of the Bell House shows gave us a kick in the pants,” says Catherine Popper. “The record is a snapshot of what we do, warts and all.”
The album will be available for pre-order beginning June 17. Fans who pre-order No Fools, No Fun on iTunes and Amazon.com will instantly receive a download of “Down By The River.” Puss n Boots’ take on the classic Neil Young track will be released as a digital single on June 17.
“‘Down By The River’ is one of my all time favorite Neil Young recordings and I’ve always had this fantasy of playing it and rocking the guitar solo,” recalls Norah Jones. “I never really thought I’d have the guts to do it, but that’s sort of what this band has always been about, trying new things. We always egg each other on, whether it was Sasha playing drums, or Cat singing an original song for the first time on stage.”
“We have always thrived on our live performance. We rage onstage,” says Sasha Dobson. “It’s exciting to think the positive energy that’s created from this band could reach beyond a small club in Brooklyn.”
No Fools, No Fun – Track Listing and Songwriting Credits
1. Leaving London –Tom Paxton cover
2. Bull Rider (live) – Rodney Crowell tune made famous by Johnny Cash
3. Twilight – cover of The Band song written by Robbie Robertson
4. Sex Degrees of Separation – Sasha Dobson original
5. Don’t Know What It Means – Norah Jones original
6. Tarnished Angel (live) – Roger Miller tune made famous by George Jones
7. Jesus, Etc. – Wilco cover
8. Always – Catherine Popper original
9. Down By The River (live) – Neil Young cover
10. GTO – Jeb Loy Nichols cover
11. Pines – Catherine Popper original
12. You’ll Forget Me – Sasha Dobson original
Puss n Boots – Upcoming Tour Dates
6/22 – Croton-On-Hudson, NY @ Clearwater Festival
7/12 – Greenfield, MA @ Green River Festival
7/15 – Brooklyn, NY @ The Bell House
7/17 – Washington, DC @ 9:30 Club
7/18 – Philadelphia, PA @ Theatre of Living Arts
7/22 – Hamden, CT @ The Ballroom at The Outer Space
7/24 – Cambridge, MA @ The Sinclair
7/26-27 – Newport, RI @ Newport Folk Festival
About Sasha Dobson (vocals, acoustic guitar, bass, drums)
Sasha Dobson grew up in Santa Cruz, CA. Her father Smith Dobson was one of the Bay Area’s most influential and in-demand pianists, her mom a well-known singer and her brother an accomplished drummer. By the time she was 12, Sasha was performing with the entire family at the Monterey Jazz Festival. She moved to Brooklyn at 17 and quickly assimilated into the NYC jazz scene, releasing 2005’s The Darkling Thrush, recorded with The Chris Byars Octet, and Modern Romance (2006). The latter, which won praise from TIME Magazine, was produced by Jesse Harris. She began playing in dive bars with her friend Norah Jones, who invited Sasha to join her on tour. Dobson’s most recent album, Aquarius (2013), was recorded with guitarist/producer Joel Hamilton (Black Keys, Tom Waits, Sparklehorse) and hailed by MAGNET as “raw and compelling.” She and her band performed at Farm Aid 2013 and Dobson opened for Willie Nelson on a series of early 2014 dates.
About Norah Jones (vocals, electric guitar, fiddle)
Norah Jones’ self-described “moody little record,” Come Away With Me (2002), introduced a singular new voice and grew into a global phenomenon, sweeping the 2003 GRAMMY Awards and going on to become the #10 best-selling album of the Soundscan era. Since then, Jones has released four more critically acclaimed and commercially successful solo albums—Feels Like Home (2004), Not Too Late (2007), The Fall (2009) and Little Broken Hearts (2012). The latter was produced and co-written by Danger Mouse, who had enlisted Jones for his acclaimed 2011 album ROME, a valentine to classic Italian film score music that also featured Jack White. Jones has also released two albums with her country collective The Little Willies and teamed up with Green Day frontman Billie Joe Armstrong to record 2013’s Foreverly. The 2010 compilation …Featuring Norah Jones showed her to possess an incredibly versatile voice by collecting her collaborations with artists as diverse as Willie Nelson, Outkast, Herbie Hancock, and Foo Fighters. Jones is currently producing the solo debut from Adriel Denae of Cory Chisel and The Wandering Sons.
About Catherine Popper (vocals, bass, acoustic guitar)
North Carolina native Catherine Popper has performed and recorded with numerous artists including Hem, Levon Helm, Michael Stipe, Karen Elson, Rhett Miller, Jim Campilongo, Peter Rowan and Tony Rice, Norah Jones, Mark Olson and Kevn Kinney. She played bass, double bass and sang backing vocals for Ryan Adams & the Cardinals from 2004 – 2006, sharing writing credits on numerous songs. Popper joined Grace Potter and the Nocturnals on tour in 2009 and for the band’s self-titled fifth album, which debuted in the Top 20 of The Billboard 200 in 2010. In 2013, she appeared on Joseph Arthur’s The Ballad of Boogie Christ and Mike Doughty’s Circles Super Bon Bon… Popper will appear on Jack White’s 2014 release Lazaretto.
