Fayssoux possesses a stunning lead voice on her debut recording, "Early." Fayssoux dropped out of the music business in the 1970s and ultimately became a teacher in her native South Carolina. In 1996 Peter Cooper was writing a book about the extraordinary musical history of Spartanburg, SC (Pink Anderson, The Marshall Tucker Band, Marshall Chapman, Hank Garland, and found that Fayssoux was living in Spartanburg. He wrote about her, she sang at a book release party, and began a new career.
Cooper, now respected music journalist for The Tennessean newspaper, Esquire, Britannica, No Depression; is also singer/songwriter/producer of her first album "Early"featuring Emmylou's harmony, the talent of Ricky Skaggs, the Whites, David Ball, and pedal steel player Lloyd Green; also sublime guitarist Brandon Turner, Spartanburg's latest gift to the music world.
Fayssoux sings her own compositions as well as traditional folk songs, old-time gospel, contemporary country-rock and love ballads.
"Charm, elegance, whippoorwills and Magnolia dewdrops: these are the things that come to mind when I hear Fayssoux sing," says Rodney Crowell, who first sang with Emmylou Harris in Fayssoux's living room.
Fayssoux's singing has drawn the admiration of collaborators like Crowell, Linda Ronstadt, Dolly Parton and Buddy Miller. For decades, that singing was a secret known only to esteemed musicians and astute liner note readers.
"I've always loved Fayssoux's voice. She's one of my favorite singers," says Emmylou.
A native of the small town of Pacolet, South Carolina, Brandon Turner has been garnering attention and praise for his skilled guitar work since he was a teenager. Growing up in a house where his father always had instruments lying around, Brandon received his first electric guitar at age nine and began absorbing the musical traditions of the Piedmont and Delta Blues, as well as studying the styles of guitar legends such as Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix, and Jeff Beck. By age 11, he was playing in open jams and could always hold his own with pickers many years his senior. In his later teens, Brandon began playing with South Carolina music treasures such as Fayssoux McLean and Freddie Vanderford and continues to appear regularly with both artists. Brandon recently co-produced Vanderford’s first solo album, "Greasy Greens", having already played both on stage and in studio with artists such as Harris and Ricky Skaggs while working with McLean.
Peter Cooper, music writer for the Nashville Tennessean said, “Brandon Turner plays guitar with ease, tone and invention, whether trading bluegrass licks with Ricky Skaggs, dueling on searing electric guitar with Will Kimbrough or creating plaintive acoustic parts for songs featuring Emmylou Harris, Fayssoux McLean or Angela Easterling. Hailing from a region that has given us country-jazz master Hank Garland, blues great Pink Anderson and country-rock kingpin Toy Caldwell, Turner synthesizes his native influences into something unique, fresh and pleasing.” |