Awards
Concert Review
Review
- Homeslices (released fall 2003)
Review
- Substantial Snacks (released april 2001)
Reviews - Cinnamon Bones (released spring
2000)
Newsletter Archives
October 2003: Angie's songs Giving Tree and Ruby
Red Shoes were selected for the finals of the South
Florida Folk Festival songwriting competition.
Angie's first album, Cinnamon Bones, was nominated
by Just Plan Folks for New Folk Album of the Year 2000.
Angie's song Butterfly won 3rd place
in the Oklahoma Songwriters Association Country/Folk category.
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By Troy Gregorino, Athens
Insider staff writer, from Week of Oct. 15, 2003-
The Athens Insider- page 5 Athens, OH
Traditional Folk Musician Angie Heimann makes music
with honest appeal, talent
Angie Heimann successfully pulls off
the traditional folk musician virtues of story telling
and crowd rapport. Underneath her soft-spoken charisma
and humble demeanor is a wealth of sheer talent.
Heimann, a native of Kent, OH instantly
grips listeners with her trademark tremolo-heavy vocals
and intensely melodic acoustic guitar work. Writing
about everything from experiences to lost love to
positive self-image, Heimann creates songs that are
both decidedly sentimental and poetic enough to avoid
wallowing in cliches. She does so in a format that
is full with bright melody lines and a sense of narrative
imagery that often reads like pages from a personal
journal.
Heimann's latest recording effort, Homeslices
has all the honest appeal of her earlier work (released
on Substantial Snacks and Cinnamon Bones)
but is a bit more thorough in its production , placing
more emphasis on layers and vocal harmonies. Heimann
manages to retain her distinctive songwriting style,
weaving humor with emotional confessions and musings,
without reverting to anything that sounds too formulaic
or repetitive.
Homeslices is a solid representation
of Heimann's best work (though The Sky is Red,
from Substantial Snacks remains at least as
good as anything found here). Heimann's songs are
at their best when they're neither too syrupy nor
too intent on using humor as the primary focus. In
both regards, Homeslices delivers. It's a collection
of songs that's heaped with the pristine voice and
vivid writing that have come to define Heimann's music.
Heimann is a singer-songwriter of rare
quality, whose vocal talent alone warrants going to
hear her perform live. Add to that the other artistic
dimensions she offers her audiences, and Heimann becomes
a member of a small class of folk musicians to so
thoroughly engage the discriminating ear. Playing
mostly college-town venues, Heimann is scheduled to
visit Athens Thursday. The show is set for 8 p.m.
at the Front Room, in Ohio University's Baker center.
For information, visit angieheimann.com.
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By Lyre Turner, Copy
Editor, from The Brackety Ack March 22, 2002 Volume
87, Number 20, Salem, VA
Heimann Swept Away Cavern
One Night Stand, a CAB committee, presented
guest artist Angie Heimann in the Cavern on Monday.
Hailing from Kent, Ohio, the folksy storyteller blended
real-life experiences and original acoustics to bring
the small audience under her spell.
Heimann, who identifies her style with
Dar Williams and Patti Griffin, soloed the first act.
She sang selections from her debut album, Cinnamon
Bones, as well as her brand new album, Substantial
Snacks. Her songs ranged from professing love
as an adolescent to the only dream that ever made
her wake up and write a song.
Her connection with the audience was
apparent from the beginning; she joked with them in
between songs and occasionally during one. She drew
the audience into her music with the sound of the
guitar and they were soon wrapped up in the story
of her lyrics, like when she described her parents'
divorce in "The Longest Day": "It's February, the
moon circles slowly/ she sees the broken dish, and
mom and dad are fighting/ And I'm starting to feel
like our family could end."
Her husband, Brek Jacobson, joined Heimann
during the second half, harmonizing vocally and on
guitar. "The Suga Boogie Woogie" featured Jacobson
soloing on the guitar while Heimann sang about him
and included some skat. She also sang about her relationship
with her sister, Jacqueline in "Jacqueline": "How
will we use what we know? / Turn the pain into poetry/
Girl, I think it's in our bones. "Heimann and Jacobson
ended the night with a quiet, intimate duet called
"Backroads Song. Its sweetness captured the audience's
hearts and the lyrics swept them away.
Heimann began her musical career at
the age of 13, continuing through high school. She
first met Jacobson in college, at Miami University
of Ohio. She first began performing seriously two
years ago; when asked when he first became serious
about playing, Jacobson joked, "I'm still not serious!"
While he has traveled with her before, this is their
first tour together as an official act.
Heimann, joined by Jacobson, was a fresh
look at an old approach to music- telling a story,
talking about life. Heimann's genuine love of music-making
and her touching lyrics truly reach the audience while
many college-touring acts are more interested in catering
to popular culture's focus on becoming famous.
If you are interested in learning more,
you may visit her web site at www.angieheimann.com
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By Andrea Iglar/Record
Courier staff writer page B2 RECORD-COURIER Ravenna-Kent,
Ohio Thursday, April 12, 2001
Heimann offers 'Substantial Snacks'
Kent singer/songwriter to celebrate CD relase at Brady's
Cafe
Angie Heimann's career as a folk singer,
songwriter and guitarist began at the age of 13, when
she learned how to play "Puff the Magic Dragon."
Nearly a decade later, the Kent native is entering the
local music scene full-force with her new self-produced
album, "Substantial Snacks" (Cinnamon Bones
Music).
Heimann, who created the Cinnamon Bones
record label last year, will celebrate the disc's release
Saturday at Brady's Café', located at the corner
of East Main and South Lincoln streets in Kent.
Friends, family members and local musicians will join
Heimann in playing music for the show, which will run
from about 8:30 to 11 p.m. There will be a $3 cover charge.
"Hopefully this is an album of substantial
snacks and little slices of life and stories that can
hit home for people and be inspiring," Heimann said
Tuesday from her home in Kent. "And hopefully people
can find something in them that's satisfying."
Heimann usually performs live acts solo, but "Substantial
Snacks" includes some guitar by her husband, Brek
Jacobson, and some bass and percussion by DeDe Vogt of
Sound and Fury Studios in Georgia. Vogt, who has recorded
with the Indigo Girls, engineered, recorded and mixed
the album.
Since Heimann released her debut album,
"Cinnamon Bones," in May 2000, the 24-year-old
has made a living performing at coffeehouses, bars, colleges
and festivals throughout Northeastern Ohio. In Kent, she
plays at the Zephyr every Wednesday and hosts open mic
night at Mugs Brew Pub each Sunday.
While growing up in Kent, Heimann stumbled
into songwriting through the art of journal writing. Her
father proceeded to teach her guitar, starting with "Puff
the Magic Dragon." As a teenager, Heimann was part
of a band and sometimes performed at Brady's.
After graduating from Theodore Roosevelt
High School in Kent, Heimann attended Miami University
of Ohio and earned an interdisciplinary degree that combined
creative writing, women's studies and literature studies.
Heimann's intellectual interests obviously influenced
her narrative songwriting style, which is specific, colorful
and approachable, like a short story or friendly piece
of poetry.
Heimann masterfully weaves her stories around
everyday occurrences that often reveal potent ideas about
family, about how people perceive love relationships and
about the importance of women finding happiness and fulfillment
within themselves before sharing their lives with a lover.
"I want it to be fun and friendly and lighthearted,
but I do want the messages to come through," Heimann
said of her new album. "Some music sort of hits you
over the head with a moral. I listen to music with blatantly
political messages, and I like it, but I'm not comfortable
writing that kind of music."
Instead, Heimann hits upon general truths by describing
in detail events that could be banal to a less keen observer.
"It goes back to 'show, don't tell.' The only things
I can be sure about are the things I know personally.
To share those experiences is a good way to connect to
people and be honest with people."
One of the best tracks on "Substantial
Snacks" is "Haircut," a song detailing
the frenzied morning "Angie Scissorhands" gives
herself a haircut that ends up looking rather goofy. "Art
is good, but not on my head. Annie's swell, but not on
my head. Greg Brady's groovy, but not on my head,"
Heimann sings. It was so fun and so liberating to have
the scissors in my hands, (although) the process was a
lot more fun than the actual product," Heimann said.
"But that is the same kind of energy I like to use
when I'm doing initial songwriting. It's kind of spontaneous,
fun but you're not afraid."
Copies of "Substantial Snacks"
and "Cinnamon Bones" are available at Heimann's
shows, Borders Books and Music, and Barnes & Noble
Booksellers. In Kent, discs may be purchased at Woodsy's
Music, Time Traveler and the Zephyr Café. They
also may be ordered online by visiting www.angieheimann.com,
by e-mailing arheimann@earthlink.net, or contacting Cinnamon
Bones Music at P.O. Box 1673, Kent, OH 44240.
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SOUTHEAST
PERFORMER, July 2000
page 56, by Blake Guthrie
Cinnamon
Bones is a clever,
witty and touching collection
of songs from this Ohio
native, who has called
Atlanta home for the
last couple of years.
Angie Heimann probably
holds the record for
winning (or becoming
a finalist) at more
Eddie's Attic Open Mic
nights than anyone else
in the history of that
famed competition. Her
sweet waif-like voice
is as infectious and
charming as her songs.
If she had recorded
this CD in a closet
on a hand-held tape
player, it would still
be good. Heimann always
manages to put a refreshing
twist on what would
otherwise be just an
ordinary love song:
she 's not afraid of
being quirky or sentimental,
adhering to the motto
of "just be yourself"-
which is always easy
to say if you're an
artist, but is also
one of the hardest things
to achieve as a songwriter.
GETMUSIC.COM
by Zac Johnson
Angie
Heimann's sweet contemporary
acoustic music is a
refreshing change from
much of the acerbic
urban folk coming from
women like Ani DiFranco
and Michelle Shocked.
On Cinnamon Bones,
Heimann sings about
love and travel in a
homespun voice with
spare six-string guitar
and occasional mandolin
accompaniment. Songs
like Butterfly
and Maggie Mae Peaches
Heimann (about a
dog gone to that great
kennel in the sky) are
almost blushingly private.
While quite personal,
the songs on Cinnamon
Bones contain such
intriguing details that
they never provoke discomfort.
Capturing snapshot moments
of relationships and
back roads, Heimann's
intimate tunes don't
really break any new
ground, but are warm
and friendly as a sunbeam
on a hardwood floor.
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