Mississippi Flatland Blues He’ll Do The Same Thing To You Darkness On The Delta Love Me ‘Til Dawn Fried Chicken Mississippi Number One The Man I Love Careless Love Meet You Anywhere Why Don’t You Do Right Afraid To Let Go Close The Door All Over Me Trouble In Mind Until I Die To Listen to Samples, or to Purchase Online, click here or buy from iTunes.

Midnight Train to Georgia I'd Rather Drink Muddy Water Send Me to the 'lectric Chair Ain't Gonna Be Your Lonely Fool I Can't Seem to Lose This Memory South Africa Ev'ry Time We Say Goodbye Simple Geometry Something Cool Nobody Knows You When You're Down and Out We've Already Said Goodbye To Listen to Samples, or to Purchase Online, click here.

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Mississippi Number One is a tiny, two-lane state highway that meanders through blink-and-you'll-miss-'em communities like Rosedale, Benoit, Wayside, and Grace before it dead ends into Highway 61 at Onward.

In the masterful hands of blues and boogie pianist and vocalist Eden Brent, Mississippi Number One is a state of mind. The album, dedicated to her mother, the late Carole Brent, is Eden's debut for Yellow Dog Records and was released nationwide on April 15, 2008.

Both the self-penned title track and the album's leadoff song, "Mississippi Flatland Blues," which was written by Carole Brent, conjure up images of churning riverboats and prehistoric Indian mounds that rise like mysterious landmarks alongside the highway, the scent of honeysuckle at night, and the sounds that float from a raucous juke joint that stands at the end of a dirt road.

Critics laud Brent's "Bessie Smith meets Diana Krall meets Janis Joplin" attitude, compare her to jazz/pop dynamos Norah Jones and Sarah Vaughn, and wax effusively about that "whiskey-smoke" voice, which makes songs like "Darkness On The Delta" and Brent's own "All Over Me" unforgettable tunes.

Brent's supremely tasteful take on the classic "The Man I Love" makes you pause while time seemingly suspends around you, while an upbeat original, "Meet You Anywhere," encourages you to turn off your cell phone and re-engage in life.

Taken as a whole, Mississippi Number One serves as a uniquely southern correlation to the popular "slow life" movement, the aural interpretation of dictums established by food doyenne Alice Waters and Project Alabama designer Natalie Chanin.

The album fuses blues, soul, pop and jazz (after all, Greenville is located just a few hundred miles up the Mississippi river from New Orleans) into a heady roots-flavored concoction that turns lazy and lush on the bluesy "Why Don't You Do Right," heads straight to the kitchen for a rendition of fellow Greenvillian Jimmy Phillips' homespun "Fried Chicken," then veers into balladeer territory for her own "Afraid To Let Go."

Brent, who apprenticed with blues pioneer Boogaloo Ames for 16 years, actually grew up on Mississippi Number One, in a house located just north of Greenville, Miss., in the legendary Delta region that served as the birthplace for such iconoclasts as bluesman B. B. King, historian Shelby Foote, singer Mary Wilson, and puppeteer Jim Henson.

Her relationship with Ames was captured in the 1999 PBS documentary Boogaloo & Eden: Sustaining the Sound and in the 2002 South African production Forty Days in the Delta.

"A young woman made of less stern stuff would not have braved such an apprenticeship," writes author/journalist Julia Reed in the liner notes for Mississippi Number One. "Boogaloo was notoriously unreliable, often drunk, and never stayed in one place for long… but theirs is a phenomenal story of mutual admiration and need, of an unlikely but very real friendship that went well beyond that of student and teacher."

"Music school taught me to think, but Boogaloo taught me to boogie-woogie," says Brent, who achieved a Bachelor of Music while studying jazz at the University of North Texas, swept the Blues Foundation's 2006 International Blues Challenge, and was a 2004 inductee on the Greenville, Miss., Blues Walk.

Her unshakable talent and carefree demeanor have taken her across the country and around the world, with appearances at the Kennedy Center, the 2000 Republican National Convention, the venerable Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, and tours of South Africa and Norway under her belt. Sharing a bill with B.B. King, Brent performed at the 2005 presidential inauguration, and solo, she's appeared at the British Embassy and at the My South celebration in New York. She's also burnished her reputation via appearances on radio shows like the syndicated Beale Street Caravan and XM's Live in the Studio at Bluesville, and at festivals like the Waterfront Blues Festival, Edmonton Blues Festival and the annual B.B. King Homecoming, and aboard the Legendary Rhythm & Blues Cruise.

With the release of Mississippi Number One, Brent is now ready to take her place as one of the fresh voices propelling this vital American music forward. As Chip Eagle, publisher of Blues Revue, BluesWax, and Dirty Linen says, "in Eden's huge playing and singing you can hear the ghosts of Mississippi in duet with the future of the blues."

One doesn't need to unwrap Mississippi Number One, Eden Brent's first record for Yellow Dog Records, to know this is an album filled with vintage sounds. Talk of opening a jewel case makes me feel vintage, too. The cover art for Mississippi Number One reminds us there was a time when CDs were the young whippersnappers and vinyl was the established veteran medium of music buyers. That the album artwork arrangement would feature a photo that looks yellowed with age suggests something about the intent of the album.

The opening sounds of album opener "Mississippi Flatland Blues" provide evidence that the cover is honest to God truth in advertising. There has been no bait-and-switch. The photo on the cover may have been aged artificially but the music has not. The song may have been recorded with modern technology, but this is throwback music from the 2006 winner in the acoustic division of the International Blues Challenge.

The gentle rollick of "Mississippi Flatland Blues" is an aural slice of the South. Brent's voice and delivery and the imagery in the lyrics invite listeners to travel to a different place, musically and geographically. Her delivery and the imagery of her lyrics are an aural slice of Southern living. Her piano work has the bluesy fills that evokes those seemingly invented by the legendary Otis Spann (although lacking his brute force), but also the chorded sensibilities and quick runs of a jazz pianist.

Brent sounds like she spent a few years listening to old Aretha Franklin records in her bedroom on "He'll Do The Same Thing To You." There is a hint of R&B and soul, and the bass pops with the feel of a modern electric jazz player. "Darkness on the Delta" blends a lounge vocal with the kind of ragtime piano sound people used to listen to in their parlor, back when families had houses with rooms they called "parlors."

"Love Me 'Til Dawn" is a classy, classic ballad with a distinct '40s or '50s feel, highlighted by Brent's warm, husky croon. The lack of diva theatrics makes this warm, inviting, and alluring. "Afraid to Let Go" is a slice of sophisticated jazz pop. Brent covers the Gershwin tune "The Man I Love" (just saying that makes me want to watch The Fisher King), one of several covers she mixes with her own compositions.

The album closes with "Until I Die," a song that opens with so many elements of classic Carole King - the vocal and arrangement in particular - that morphs into a gospel production. "Until I Die" does what any great closing song should do. It makes you want to start the album all over again while still providing a satisfying sense of closure.

Mississippi Number One is diverse in sound without being chaotic. The mix of blues, jazz, soul, R&B, and pop is well executed. These differing elements work because so many of them draw from the same roots, and roots are a huge part of what this album is all about. It's a real feat to be this free and easy without being vapid and to be a history lesson and road map of American music without being stiff or dry. From beginning to end, Mississippi Number One is a triumph.
----Josh Hathaway

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Eden Brent sashayed her way into our hearts out here in Arizona with her amazing performance at Back Porch in the Pines two years ago. People were literally walking out from backstage to see what all the commotion was about and stayed to hear her sing.

With the release of her new record, Mississippi Number One, on Yellow Dog Records, the rest of the world can finally see for themselves what the fuss was all about. Her new record features some wonderfully clever lyrics, three songs written by her mother Carole and liner notes written by renowned author and family friend, Julia Reed. It's a brilliant record and one that should garner "Little Boogaloo" a Blues Music Award nomination for newcomer of the year.

Eden and her family grew up in the Delta, living in Greenville, Mississippi and appropriately enough, the first song out of the gate is "Mississippi Flatland Blues," her mother's take on the poor economic conditions that confront everyone living in the Delta. Carole Brent was a talented writer in her own right and it's easy to see where Eden's lyrical abilities come from, "I got a job at Vlasic…putting pickles in a jar…but they shut down and GMAC came and took my car!" Times are tough in the Delta and the spirit of "Mississippi Flatland Blues" brings that to light quite clearly. "He'll Do the Same Thing to You" is Eden's take on a no good man. He'll love you, walk on out you, cheat on you and still come back for more. "He spent all of my money…on someone else's gal…now I'm broke and hungry…and her husband is mad as hell…and I'm warning every woman…he will do the same thing to you!"

"Darkness on the Delta" is a traditional blues that gives us the first opportunity to listen to just Eden and her piano. "When it's Darkness on the Delta…let me linger in the shelter of the night…Lord, I'm lucky…that you found me…where the muddy Mississippi waters flow." The river is home to folks in the Delta and Eden conveys that in her interpretation of "Darkness on the Delta." Eden's piano and the soothing alto sax of Kevin Lewis introduce us to the next song by Carole Brent, "Love Me 'Til Dawn." "It's the night time and the right time…for the kissing we've been missing…so enfold me, Honey, hold me…and love me, love me 'til dawn". "Love Me 'Til Dawn" is a beautiful song and definitely one of my favorites on the record.

We hear the wit and sass of Eden on the next song, "Fried Chicken," written by Greenville's own Jimmy Phillips. Rick Chancey's picking and harmonica work provide the perfect companion to Eden's vocals as we hear the virtues of fried chicken. "Fried chicken... wing takes a breast…leg takes a thigh…rice and gravy…black eyed peas and corn bread on the side…it's a Southern institution…black skillet is preferred…fried chicken…a most delightful bird!" Delightful indeed! The energy of "Fried Chicken" continues with the title track, "Mississippi Number One," paying homage to the other great highway in the Delta. Eden's childhood home sits along side "Number One" and this highway is one of Eden's favorites to travel within Mississippi. "Mississippi Number 1…carry me to my home…where the Delta Blues was born…along miles and miles of sandy loam…I'm Greenville bound… past the Indian Mounds…on Mississippi Number 1!" Definitely a highway we all need to travel one time in our lives.

Next we find Eden alone with her piano interpreting two classics, George Gershwin's "The Man I Love" and a traditional preserved by W.C. Handy, "Careless Love." Both are very well done, but I find myself more drawn to her version of "Careless Love." It's just my preference, I guess. Jim Spake's baritone and tenor saxophone work provide a gritty back drop for another original by Eden, "Meet You Anywhere". "Meet You Anywhere" is a perfect example of classic songwriting by Eden. It's an ode to a lover who has captured her attention to the point he's the only thing on her mind and she would go anywhere to capture that passion again. "The distance between us…is more than a body can bear…I can't wait to meet you anywhere!" Wherever they do meet you can be assured that sparks will be flying.

Eden's inclusion of the classic Joe McCoy song, "Why Don't You do Right," is indicative of her knowledge of classical blues and jazz standards from the turn of the century to now. I've had conversations with her concerning classic blues songs and she's always amazed me with her knowledge. The definitive version of this song is attributed to Peggy Lee, but Eden's version is captivating in its bare bones approach to the obvious self-inflicted poverty of the man she's in love with. "Get out of here and get me some money, too!" Eden sings this song with just the right degree of detachment that lets you know she's totally aware of the character of the man she's in love with.

Next up is another original by Eden, "Afraid to Let Go." Eden is at obvious odds with her feelings for the man in her life. On the one hand, it's sweet, sweet love and on the other hand, a love too good to be true, so why jump in. "Another lover hurt me…wasn't worth the chance…of a broken-hearted morning…after one night of romance…aren't you worried, Baby?...worried where this might lead?" As a listener you're not quite sure which way Eden is going to take this relationship. "Close the Door," the last song on the record written by Carole Brent, is more definitive. The liner notes, written by Julia Reed, tell us that Carole wrote this song after Eden's father stayed out late one night. Her response was simple, "But I'm not the one…you tell your lies to...I'm not the one who's in your dreams…and on your mind…so close the door…and walk away!"

"All Over Me" finds Eden reflecting on a good man and true love in her life, a love that moves her like no other has. "Even if I knew we could never be free…you'll always be the best thing…that has happened to me…all over me." Julia Reed notes that, "'All over Me' is so straightforwardly beautiful it brings tears to the eyes." Eden writes straight from her heart and at times her lyrics can be as gut-wrenchingly painful as they are joyously happy. It's the only way she knows how to write.

The inclusion of Richard M Jones' "Trouble in Mind" is another astute musical choice by Eden. "Trouble in mind…yes, I've been blue…won't be blue always…sun's going to shine in my backdoor…someday!" The final song on Mississippi Number One is the gospel-influenced, "Until I Die." There were many nights driving back home to Greenville where Eden listened to gospel radio, to songs such as "The Blessings of Abraham" by the Tri-City singers. With a choir consisting of Van Duren, Darrell Bonner, Daunielle "Pie" Hill, Joyce Cobb, Jackie Johnson and Reba Russell, Eden pays tribute to the gospel music she loves and listens to quite often. "Suddenly in the night…your love took me by surprise…and I know, yes I know…I will be with you…until the day that I die!" "Until I Die" brings to a close a record that has been a delight to listen to from beginning to end.

Unfortunately for me, I've only known Eden after her mentor and friend, Abie "Boogaloo" Ames, passed on so I don't have a great feel for what that period of her life was like other than video I've seen of them performing together. My sense is that Mississippi Number One is a coming out record for her on so many fronts --- it firmly establishes her as a performer in her own right, it shows great respect and honor for the writing talents of her mother, Carole Brent, and it shows Eden's maturation as a songwriter since the release of her first record, Something Cool.

Eden's hard work has paid off and Mississippi Number One will have most of us dancing the night away long after the bar has closed. I'm sure the easiest way to grab a copy of this disc is from Yellow Dog Records on their website. But better yet, catch Eden playing somewhere for yourself and see why Dawn Hopkins was right, "Eden Brent is the crown jewel of the Delta!"
---- Kyle Deibler

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Several years ago, I stumbled onto a documentary on PBS called Sustaining The Sound. It told of the unlikely friendship between an old bluesman, Abie "Boogaloo" Ames, and a young lady from Greenville, MS named Eden Brent. It was an amazing thing to watch because the rapport between the two was incredible. Coming from two totally opposite worlds (Ames was a 70-something black man inclined to wandering from place to place, often drunk and undependable, while Brent was a young white woman who came from a privileged background and studied jazz formally at the University of North Texas), the two just appeared to have an inseperable bond as musicians and as friends. It was a relationship that paid dividends for both parties….Brent was able to learn the blues from a master and Ames was completely reinvigorated and was fairly active performing until shortly before his death in 2002.

Even more amazing was watching Eden Brent perform. Though still a work in progress at the time, not only was she an accomplished pianist in jazz and blues, her voice sounded like the voice of someone mature beyond her years: deep, husky, and smoky. That was nearly ten years ago and she sounds even better now, as proved by her latest release, Mississippi Number One (Yellow Dog Records).

Brent comes from a musical family, most notably her mother, Carole, who was an accomplished singer and actress who passed away in 2006. Apparently, she was a pretty gifted songwriter as well, judging by the three songs she contributed to Mississippi Number One, including the lively opener, "Mississippi Flatland Blues," which should strike a familiar chord to natives of this region. Her other contributions include the dreamy "Love Me 'Til Dawn" and "Close The Door."

Songs like "He'll Do The Same Thing To You," and "Meet You Anywhere," which feature Brent with a full band including a horn section, definitely have soulful roots in the Bluff City, while her delivery of close friend and fellow Greenvillian Jimmy Phillips' "Fried Chicken" should make any southerner worth his salt start thinking about supper time. The dynamic title track (named for the state highway that runs basically parallel to the Mississippi River from around Onward to just north of Friar's Point) could be defined as the perfect driving song, even with $3 a gallon gas. She also does an atmospheric reading of "Darkness On The Delta," a track that "Boogaloo" Ames played on for Cassandra Wilson's Belly of the Sun disc shortly before his death.

Best of all are the songs featuring Brent accompanied only by her piano. Mississippi Number One was originally intended to be a solo record and these songs show that there wouldn't have been any problem if that was how it had ended up. Most of these songs are Brent's fresh interpretations of songs by the Gershwins ("The Man I Love"), W. C. Handy ("Careless Love"), and Kansas Joe McCoy via Peggy Lee ("Why Don't You Do Right").

If you haven't heard of Eden Brent, that should be changing soon if there's any justice in the world. Mississippi Number One is a delicious slice of blues, soul, boogie, and jazz that should be in any discerning music fan's collection. ---- Graham Clarke

For listeners who have never heard "Boogaloo" Ames, Brent suggests her album's take on "I'd Rather Drink Muddy Water." "There's a right-hand lick in the middle of the piano solo that is something Boogaloo taught me note for note. I have added something to it over time, but the original idea is note for note Boogaloo." Her death-row interpretation of "Send Me to the 'lectric Chair" would give Judge Judy cause to rethink this sentence.

Brent is also a proficient songwriter. "Ain't Gonna Be Your Lonely Fool" and "We've Already Said Goodbye" will appeal to Pop fans, while "I Can't Seem To Lose This Memory" and "Simple Geometry" tend more toward Jazz. "South Africa," the jewel of her originals, is a vivid tribute to the nation she toured after Ames' death in 2003. Brent's take on Bessie Smith's "Nobody Knows You When You're Down and Out" reveals the depth of her spiritual ties to the music of Ames' generation. Throughout the album, Brent artfully tackles the complex human emotions contained within these American musical standards. This is one voice that should be around the Blues world for years to come. - Art Tipaldi, July 5, 2006, BluesWax.com

'This woman's parents knew what they were doing when they named their daughter Eden. Eden Brent's voice can only be described as Paradise. And her piano skills cannot go unrecognized.

Eden Brent is completely immersed in her music. The album, Something Cool, consists of 11 tracks-5 of which are Eden originals. If you removed Eden's voice from the tracks, you still haven't deleted her contribution to the sound because she also plays the piano on every song. And she plays well.

Brent is from Greenville, MS and was blessed to have fellow Greenville native, the late Abie "Boogaloo" Ames as a mentor. Along with going to music school, Brent developed as a pianist under Ames' tutorage.

As a result of learning from these two very different, yet skillful guides, Brent has a style all her own.

And her voice can be likened to singers such as Angela Winbush, Dionne Farris, and Norah Jones. The music is jazzy, but her voice creates the Bluesy tone that is present throughout Something Cool.

Eden Brent's voice is phenomenal and her skills as a pianist are undeniable. Something Cool is an album that satisfies the craving for Blues, but tempers it with the mellow tones of jazz. - by: Rosilyn Parashis, July 2004, BlueSpeak.com, Memphis Online Music Magazine

'Greenville, Miss., artist Eden Brent - a longtime student and touring partner of late blues pianist Abie 'Boogaloo' Ames - takes her piano and voice for a classy, century-spanning stroll on recent album Something Cool.

Recorded locally at Sounds Unreel with Dawn Hopkins behind the board, Brent's 11-track debut has been released, oddly enough, halfway around the world on Rhythm Records, a label based in South Africa where Brent has toured and made something of a name for herself.

A South much closer to home largely guides the jazz-and-blues-imbued performer, however. Opening with a moving reading of the Gladys Knight milestone "Midnight Train to Georgia," Brent touches on tunes by Cole Porter, June Christy and Bessie Smith (notably a great go at "Send Me to the 'lectric Chair"). The newcomer also penned a good half of her set list, a sweetly diverse and informed group of songs that alludes to folks from Sarah Vaughan to Carole King. One highlight, the balladic homage "South Africa," even borrows from Elton John's bag of pop keyboard hooks. by: Bill Ellis, June 12, 2004, The Commercial Appeal

'Despite a decidedly drab Eighties-looking cover design, Eden Brent's album has much more substance than one might think, and she packs an unexpected emotional punch. She's got a gorgeous voice and courageously takes on the blues without breaking a sweat, whether she's covering Midnight Blues to Georgia (not a brilliant cover, but a worthy attempt) and music by Cole Porter or performing her own well-written compositions, of which there are five included on the album. On South Africa, one of her own, she "sends all my blues to South Africa". We accept. - by: ZA@Play, entertainment guide at Mail & Guardian Online, South Africa's First Online Newspaper

'An album by a Mississippi songstress on the Digest? How come? Well, Eden Brent is currently in South Africa for her appearance with Valiant Swart on the "Rainbow Blues" show at the KKNK. And to sing about South Africa, the country she loves so much. Read on...

'Something Cool' is Eden Brent's debut CD, but hey, this gal she sure ain't no beginner. Eden Brent was born in Greenville, Mississippi, but she had this cool piece of work recorded at Sounds Unreel Studio in Memphis, Tennessee and she also produced it. The gentlemen who made this piece of art possible with her, are Donnie Brown on electric bass, Mike Dill on drums, Chuck Lawson on double bass and Kevin Lewis on alto saxophone. Engineering and mixing went through Dawn Hopkins, while the mastering was & well & truly mastered by Brad Blackwood.

Eden first made people look up from their TV-dinners when she appeared on blues broer Valiant Swart's TV series, 'Veertig Dae Deur Die Delta'. The unsettling way she can find her way blindfolded through a piano, her sunny smile, her dance in the setting sun, her stunning voice - like the colour of nutmeg, and of course her gentle rapport with old Boogaloo Ames*, playing and singing alongside him on the piano while Valiant was strumming away on the guitar. A truly unforgettable scene.

So it's quite normal to want more from Eden. Lo and behold, here's 'Something Cool', a mix of slow deep intense blues, here and there a crisp jazzy beat, and honest words from deep within Eden's heart. Something rather astounding can be found in Track 6 - 'South Africa' - a song dedicated to the country she recently met, the people, her footprints through the land. It speaks to you. Other tracks from her heart are 'Ain't Gonna Be Your Lonely Fool', 'We've Already Said Goodbye', the frisky cool 'Simple Geometry', and 'I Can't Seem To Lose This Memory'. Lift your bourbon an' ice to many more tunes like these.

Eden also does her magic quite langourously with 'I'd Rather Drink Muddy Water' and the succulently slow 'Nobody Knows You When You're Down and Out'. At the end of this one, she sends the piano out - first to thrash you, then smooth your trenchcoat, and finally she sets you off to Neverland with the blue voice that sees everything.

Yes, Eden beckons you closer - to come on the 'Midnight Train to Georgia'. But she'll bring you right back with 'Send Me To The 'lectric Chair'. And you'll stay in her world of smooth blue warmth and bewitching vocal cords - simply because you want to. (CL) by: Amuzine, South African Music Magazine



*Eden dedicated this CD to her dear friend and mentor Boogaloo Ames, who died in February 2002.