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Artist Brings Americana Sound to MB
By Kent Kimes
Sometimes it's hard to play music in Music City, admits Nashville, TN - based alternative country artist Jill Block. With so much competition, it's a struggle just to be heard, no matter how talented you are. "Everybody's a musician," Block said in a recent telephone conversation from her Nashville home. "Even your housecleaner is a songwriter."
So Block, who performs Saturday at The Royal Oak Pub in Murrells Inlet, relishes the chance at a captive audience and the growing following she has developed on the Grand Strand. "I can't get enough of Myrtle Beach," she said.
Block, who records on her husband's Western Beat Entertainment label, performed earlier this year at the Aloha Motel as part of a concert series put together by local musicians and music lovers interested in Americana and alternative country. "She's a great songwriter and very smooth guitar player and singer, adn she's a pretty girl, too," said Mike Millsaps, owner of the Aloha Motel.
Block is bringing some Nashville friends with her, and some local musicians will also be playing in her backup band. They'll perofrm songs from her most recent album, "Tang the Hump," released in 2002, and cover songs by "The Beatles and Stones and fun rock'n'roll stuff," she said.
So what is alternative country and/or Americana? It's a movement that eschews the slick, pop-oriented approach of commercial country music in favor of a more traditional country, western swing and punk rock attitude. As for Block's sound, she's somewhere in between Sheryl Crow and Lucinda Williams, with a little bit of Bonnie Raitt thrown in, especially on "Love Sometimes," the first track off "Tang the Hump."
And what about the album title? "Tang the Hump" is a term credited to James Brown, used to direct a drummer to ride the bell of his or her cymbal - or, in other words, get in the groove. It's a phrase Block's husband, the drummer, uses frequently. He'll call from the road and ask her, "How are you doing, baby, are you tanging the hump?" she said. "It's all about the groove of life.
The Almanac
Jill Block returns to her roots
By Marjorie Mader
When Jill Rochlitz was growing up in Portola Valley, she had dreams of singing on stage.
Next week, Jill Rochlitz Block, a rising star in the growing alternative country/Americana music scene, returns to her old stomping grounds. She will sing some of her own songs and wield her bright red Danelectro guitar at the Pioneer Saloon in Woodside on Thursday, June 12. She's bringing along friends from Nashville, Tom Mason and Pru Clearwater, to open the show at 8 p.m.
She is married to Billy Block, a drummer and promoter of alternative country music. They describe this brand of music as having its foundation in American roots music from blues to bluegrass and rock to rock-a-billy. Some of the names in this field include Lucinda Willams, Steve Earle, Johnny Cash, Hal Ketchum, The Mavericks and Willie Nelson.
The Blocks live in Nashville with their two sons, Rocky, 6, and Grady, 3, and work together promoting alternative country music in their business Western Beat Entertainment. Nashville is known as the home of country music, and, they say, it's fast becoming the hub of alternative county music.
Now on tour, Jill is promoting her new CD "Tang the Hump," a term credited to the legendary soul-singer James Brown and used to instruct the drummer "to ride the bell of the cymbal." This term refers to the drummer riding the beat by hitting the bell of the cymbal to make a high-pitched tang sound.
"It's all about the groove of life," says Jill, "staying in the groove of songwriting, performing and growing as a person and artist. Sometimes you're just shuffling. Sometimes you've got to rock. Every once in awhile you have to get quiet and slow things down. Then, of course, you have to swing."
Writes Americana music reviewer Scott Homewood about Jill: "The honey-voiced singer plays wonderful country songs featuring all the twangy guitar noise and great rowdy rootsy rock you'd ever want from a country filly."
Jill cites Grace Slick and Neil Young as having a huge impact on her as "they were in my own backyard" as she was growing up and very accessible. "I could feel their inspiration and influence as I grew as an artist," she says.
She credits her parents, Jim and Jean Rochlitz, and many friends who have supported her on a career path that has seen its share of twists and turns.
"I first sang at the Pioneer with the California Cowboys [they're still playing in the Bay Area]," says Jill, after graduating from Chico State University in 1985.
Much earlier, in 1968, she started learning the violin in second grade at Ormondale School, then played the cello and clarinet, and was the first female conductor of the Portola Valley School orchestra in eighth-grade. She performed in musicals for six years with the Portola Valley Children's Theater.
During high school, she dropped her music, focusing on soccer and other sports instead. Realizing how much she missed music, she picked up the guitar in college in the 1980s and sang in coffeehouses, clubs and at fraternity parties while earning degrees in finance and psychology.
"As much as I loved singing and music," says Jill, "I decided I wanted to lead a normal life." She used her finance background to develop a career in software sales and real estate development on the Peninsula in the late 1980s, but she missed her passion, music.
"At 28, I packed up the condo that I bought, sold my car, quit my job and moved into a mobile home with my grandparents in Los Angeles," she says. "I knew I had to figure out how to combine my passion with work and make a living."
Jill started doing a bunch of odd jobs in the music field, went into property management and eventually bartending and waiting on table to provide funds and a flexible schedule. She sang in Monday night jam sessions on the Sunset strip, and found her way to the Palomino Club in the San Fernando Valley where she met friends and musicians who encouraged her. She met house drummer Billy Block, whom she married in 1993.
"It became evident that if we wanted to make a success with our music, we had to move to Nashville, a music hub," says Jill, where companies support and promote musicians through recordings and radio.
They moved to Nashville in 1995 and started their Western Beat business from an office in their home. Her husband now has a nationally syndicated weekly radio show, and Jill performs every Tuesday night at "Billy Block's Western Beat Roots Revival" concert series and radio show. She has appeared on stage at the Ryman Auditorium and Fan Fair in Nashville, toured the Southeast with her band and as solo acoustic artist, and has released two CDs.
To those interested in pursing a career in music, Jill offers some advice: learn an instrument really well. That's especially true for girls so that they can be taken seriously, she says. "Follow your heart, understand the business of music and go where the music industry is -- Los Angeles, Nashville and New York."
Copyright © 2003 Embarcadero Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
The Daily Times - Maryville, TN
For Jill and Billy Block, promoting Americana is a `family business'
2003-07-25
By Steve Wildsmith
of The Daily Times Staff
Perhaps no one has done more to advance the cause of Americana music in Nashville, the capital of mainstream country, than Billy Block.
But his wife, Jill, has worked just as hard, both in conjunction with Billy to support and promote Americana (roots-oriented alternative-country not found on mainstream charts and promoted by independent labels) and to advance her own career as a budding singer-songwriter.
Saturday night, Jill Block will bring her music to Loudon's Lyric Theatre, and while Billy has supported her every step of the way, he's also pushed her almost as hard as she pushes herself, she said this week.
``It's just taken a lot of hard work, and Billy's always told me to get better at what I do,'' she said. ``He tells me that if I want people to take me seriously, I have to be the best at what I do, so it's a constant evolution of learning to play guitar better, to write better songs and to sing better.
``And in the end, it's just a matter of getting out to play music. That's when poeple start looking at you as an independent artist.''
Jill Block grew up in northern California, and her roots shine through on her most recent album, ``Tang the Hump,'' which features ``Somebody to Love,'' made famous by Jefferson Airplane, and Neil Young's ``Cinnamon Girl.''
The album's name, incidentally, comes from ``Godfather of Soul'' James Brown, who coined the term to instruct his drummer to ride the bell of the cymbal in concert. It's fitting, since Billy Block often plays drums in his wife's band. Unfortunately, Billy's commitments -- he hosts ``Billy Block's Western Beats'' every Tuesday night at the Exit/In in Nashville, featuring a showcase of established and rising Americana stars, and hosts WSM-FM's ``Western Beat Radio'' -- will prevent him from appearing Saturday night.
The couple have been married for 10 years, having met in Los Angeles when she was first honing her music skills, playing in blues clubs and honky-tonks. Billy Block was a famous session drummer, having played with such luminaries as Lucinda Williams, Buddy and Julie Miller and Jim Lauderdale. At first, Jill courted Billy to play drums for her, but he declined.
``He later told me he wanted to be my husband, not my drummer, and it wasn't until we got married and moved to Nashville that we started working together,'' Jill said with a chuckle. ``In Nashville, promoting Americana was the most refreshing thing that we could have done. Billy's a drummer first, so when he wanted to make a move from full-time drummer to part-time businessman and entrepreneur, his heart was completely in trying to help the artists we work with, to help them develop a scene and genre of music that they could be successful in.
``We love the music so much, and the people that make it, and that's what we wanted to do with our lives. That's what we committed to do, and we've worked to develop the Americana scene together. It's a family business.''
It's also nurtured Jill Block's own career. Her voice possesses a strength and clarity reminiscent of Allison Moorer and other powerful female singers, making her perfect for songs written for girls and originally recorded by guys, such as ``Do You Think About Me,'' a song originally written by her one-time bass player, Lonesome Bob -- an independent Americana artist in his own right.
``Lonesome Bob and Duane Jarvis -- we cover some of their songs, and they're people that I enjoy and learn so much from,'' she said. ``We've gotten lots of support from major record labels in Nashville, and Billy has made great inroads with all the label and industry people here.
``They have seen how important it is reaching out to all these incredibly talented singer-songwriters of the Americana genre, because they get great songs from them. It's important to everybody, because this is where a lot of great songs that some country stars make popular are coming from.''
But country is just a small part of Jill Block's sound. ``When The Devil Won't Let Go'' features a pop-sounding vibe reminiscent of The Beatles, and the horn-drenched ``If It Doesn't Hurt'' evokes the Memphis soul sound. ``Don't Pity Me'' includes a catchy groove, while ``Alone in a Crowd'' is a somber, melancholy number.
It's anchored in the roots-oriented tradition of country, but it's a little bit of everything. And that, she said, is what Americana is all about. And while her career is her own, she's proud to be linked to the work her husband has done to promote the genre.
``Separating myself from it is something I haven't done, because I love it so much,'' she said. ``I love covering songs from Americana artists who come through town, and now it's just a matter of establishing myself, continuing to get out of Nashville and playing more and more.''
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