Anna Lombard to bring band back to Slates

One the best lead singers in Portland has stepped out on her own! Anna Lombard, probably best known for her front woman work with Gypsy Tailwind as well as Anna & The Digs, has decided to go solo and released a powerful, compelling album “Head Full Of Bells” that features eight songs (all penned by Adam Agati) that Lombard makes her own with that signature, soulful vocal styling. She will perform at Slates in Hallowell Monday, Feb. 24, and to that end, a phone interview was arranged where she was reached at her Portland home.

“Head Full of Bells”

Tracklist:

“Leave Town”

“They Want Us Dead”

“Nothing Of Us Left”

“Waiting For Rescue”

“Life Takes”

“Why Did You Leave Me”

“Confessions”

“All For You”

Website: annalombardmusic.com

About the concert

Anna Lombard

Time: 8:15 p.m.

Date: Monday, Feb. 24h

Tickets: $15

Venue: Slates Restaurant, 160 Water St.

Website: slatesrestaurant.com

Phone: 622-9575

Additional Photos

Q: Have you ever performed at Slates before?

Lombard: I have.

Q: When you head back to Hallowell for the show will you have a band or will this be a solo performance?

Lombard: I’ll have a band and the core of who I’ve been working with recently is Trent Gay, who plays acoustic guitar, and he’s also in the band Paranoid Social Club with Dave Gutter; and then their bass player, Jon Roods, who also is in Rustic Overtones, he’s been playing with me, as well. There’s also going to be Tony McNaboe who’s a drummer, he used to play with Rustic a long time ago, and Steve Morin who’s a brilliant multi-instrumentalist, he plays lead guitar with me, and then Mike Taylor will be playing keys.

Q: Your solo debut album has eight songs on it, will you perform other material that Adam wrote … maybe even some of your own compositions, per chance?

Lombard: Yeah, absolutely … even some stuff that Trent and I have co-written together. I love playing Slates so much. First of all just because it is so intimate and the crowd is there to listen. You’re not playing in some basement bar trying to sing over people playing pool, you know what I mean?

Q: I do, for sure!

Lombard: Slates has been one of my favorite places to play because folks are buying tickets to come, sit down and eat incredible food and listen to music. I think that there will be moments throughout the set where maybe the rest of the band will sit band — we’ll dial it back and have it more stripped down — and Trent and I will do a couple of songs acoustic. I definitely have some stuff that I’ll be playing alone, as well.

Q: What does the future look like for you?

Lombard: Well, I don’t want to oversaturate the scene in Portland — there’s such a wealth of talent and there’s music every night — so I just started working with a great, new manager and the goal for us is to branch out regionally like getting to New York and getting some residencies in Portsmouth or Boston. My goal eventually is just to tour but I’ve got to get a few ducks in a row before I can do that, for sure.

Q: Is there you’d like to get across to the folks reading this article?

Lombard: I’m just going to keep on doing what I’m doing and I think this first record is something different — I haven’t put out a soul record yet — it’s also going to help me write my own stuff and build my career. I feel like I’m just starting out again which is scary but it’s also nice. (www.annalombardmusic.com)

Lucky Clark has spent four-and-a-half decades writing about good music and the people who make it. He can be reached at luckyc@myfairpoint.net if you have any questions, comments or suggestions.