Ed Woltil (Solo)
Beyond The Ditchflowers1. When We Fall In Love
2. The Lie
3. If the Sun Forgets to Shine
4. Migrator
5. Crying In Your Sleep
6. Make Me
7. Do Or Die
8. Living In Between the Lines
9. A Matter of Time
10. Fourteen Angels
11. Carolina wren
12. Give It Away
One In My Tree
Remember the year 2020? Of course you do—that was the year Ed Woltil released his second solo album in the middle of a pandemic.
Well, what else was there to do? Following up on the success of his widely acclaimed Paper Boats, Woltil’s latest collection bridges the gap between the gentler, more contemplative acoustic flavor of his solo debut with the more baroque full-band excursions that perked the ears of Ditchflowers fans.
What the critics said:
“A first rate power pop effort, with stylistic breadth…like a warm embrace from an old friend. [It’s] the kind of album for which you’ll want to set aside time to listen intently. Woltil has an uncanny knack for writing personal songs that also evoke and comment on world conditions.” —Eric Snider, Creative Loafing
“Another set of perfect pop songs…that will never age and will always be there within reach for those times when we need something to pull us through and remind us just how important artists of Woltil’s caliber are to help steer us through these troubled, crazy times.” —Malcolm Carter, pennyblackmusic.com
1. Algebra
2. Random Access Memory
3. Hiding in Plain Sight
4. If Somebody Loved Me
5. Someone Else's Life
6. Illinois Sunset
7. The One and Only Anderson
8. Open
9. The Shortest Distance Between Two Hearts
10. One in a Row
11. Foul Weather Friends
12. Boys
13. Dance With Me One More Time
Paper Boats
In the early part of 2013, Ed Woltil felt himself turning unmistakably toward writing mode. Following the process of completing his band The Ditchflowers’ second disc—the meticulously ornamented baroque-pop opus Bird’s Eye (“a charming album chockablock with lush, grown-up guitar pop”—popmatters.com)—Woltil’s muse was now whispering in his ear that sometimes a sketch can be more evocative than an oil painting.
Keeping his focus tight, personal and intimate, Woltil dove in and surfaced with a dozen new songs. The result was the defiantly gentle Paper Boats. True to his muse’s advice, he maintained a fast and fresh approach in its execution, recording most of it in his home studio. Built around his sumptuous acoustic guitar work and emotively supple voice, production touches were kept to a minimum, bringing the writing and Woltil’s soulful delivery to the fore.
Although Woltil’s McCartney-centric tendencies are in evidence throughout much of Paper Boats, many of the songs here hearken to American influences such as Paul Simon, Randy Newman, Harry Nilsson and Jimmy Webb. Rounding out the 12 new songs to a baker’s dozen is a fresh take on an old Ditchflowers favorite, Boys from Carried Away.
What the critics said:
“The songs on Paper Boats are marvels of construction…each a three or four minute work of art. A literate and intelligent, fresh-sounding collection…It’s a warm album, a ship’s log full of life insights and observations.” —Rob Caldwell, MusicToEat.com
“Paper Boats is the album that Harry Nilsson had made in my mind backed by the Beatles, the one where every song is a little gem and where every lyric mattered and either raised a smile, a knowing nod or had my eyes filling up for various reasons. ‘Paper Boats’ is, quite simply, a perfect pop album.”
—Malcolm Carter, pennyblackmusic.com