ON HER JUST-RELEASED EP, The Voices (DistroKid), Los Angeles-based guitarist and singer Angela Petrilli comes on like a true original, delivering smart, tough and soulful blues rock that brims with blood-pounding guitar playing on a set of songs that artfully examines the highs and lows of the human spirit without being obvious or overdrawn.
The record is a triumph all right, but it's one Petrilli hadn't planned on making. Until 2019, the guitarist was one half of the Americana duo Roses and Cigarettes. On the heels of the release of the group's second album, Echoes & Silence, Petrilli's longtime bandmate Jenny Pagliaro passed away from stage 4 breast cancer. While grieving her friend and musical partner, Petrilli didn't pick up the guitar for months. The very sight of the instrument reminded her too much of what she'd lost.
"My time in Roses and Cigarettes was so beautiful, and I had to honor it properly," she explains. "I decided I had to live my life. I traveled to places where I have an accent. When I got back home, I still didn't know what I would do, but my friend Eric Tessmer invited me to play a show in Austin. Getting back onstage, I thought, Oh...this does bring me joy! I remember this, and I missed it." Petrilli got back to it with a vengeance.
She assembled a group she dubbed the Players - bassist Brett Grossman, drummer Stephen Haaker, keyboardist Bobby Victor, percussionist Vic Vanacore III and harmonica player Matt Lomeo - and tested out her new material at shows in and around L.A. ahead of recording sessions at the famed Sunset Sound Studios. "It was one of the best and easiest times I've ever had making a record," Petrilli says. "I never thought I'd be a band leader, but it turns out that I actually like it.
This story is from the {{IssueName}} edition of {{MagazineName}}.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Sign In
This story is from the {{IssueName}} edition of {{MagazineName}}.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
How I Wrote..."Year of the Cat"
AI Stewart reflects on his beguiling hit, some 10 years in the making.
UAFX
Teletronix LA-2A Studio Compressor
LINE 6
POD Express
MAN OF STEEL
He brought the Dobro to centerstage with his dazzling talent. As he drops his first album in seven years, Jerry Douglas reflects on his gear, career and induction in the Bluegrass Hall of Fame.
HIGH TIME
The new MC5 album took more than 50 years to arrive. The band members have all passed on, but the celebration is just beginning.
58 YEARS OF GUITAR PLAYER
As Guitar Player moves full-time to its online home, we look back at some of its greatest stories in print.
DRAGON TALES
In a Guitar Player exclusive, Jimmy Page sheds light on the amplifiers behind his Led Zeppelin tone and how they live again in his line of Sundragon signature amps.
CLOSER TO HOME
Rehearsal space, studio, vessel and abode Diego Garcia's boat is the home base for his new album, as well as his musical life as the seafaring Spanish guitarist Twanguero.
Funk Noir
With The Black Album, Prince made his greatest-and most infamousmusical statement.
Medium Cool
Striking the middle ground between its Thinline brethren, Gibson's ES-345TD remains a versatile, if underrated, gem.
