Born at the Boston Lying Inn somewhere in the sixties, Natalie Flanagan grew up in the western suburbs listening to the local classic rock stations. She admits a weakness for Bob Seeger, and songs that make you cry.

     Natalie went to “Zoo Mass” through 1991 and after graduating, started waitressing at The Middle East in Cambridge MA to try and meet like-minded musicians. She put a few bands together but nothing that gelled. After three years of shaky line-ups she decided to just start booking shows and cross her fingers that she could get the musicians to play them. Some of her mainstays were Larry Dersch, Kenny Dussault, Ken Schopf, Ritch Cortese and Dimitri Fane.

      The unorthodox approach to gaining an audience is a testament to Natalie’s sincere desire to reach and affect them. She is interested in a story and a message. She wants people to really listen to what she’s saying. Natalie hopes that her words and music can make people feel less lonely, more understood and provoke them to speak up.

      “I think I became a musician so that I could write songs, keep people company, make them feel less lonesome. That's what the songs I love do for me.”

      She might have a message but the song never suffers. Much like some of her influences Natalie blends the music to compliment the meaning. Natalie is a big Stones fan. She is also drawn to the bare-bones pictorial songwriters, like Lou Reed, Bob Dylan and Joan Armatrading. She pays homage with a low-fi lazy rock sound that puts her songs, and her heart, right out in the front yard. She gets up there, tells a story, and paints a picture of what she sees as the truth. The delivery is genuine, sweet and just a little melancholy.

     Performing her songs and engaging an audience are what keeps Natalie going up on stage. She loves playing shows with musicians she respects such as Boston favorites Mr. Airplane Man, Red Chord, Tom Leach and Emily Grogan. Her musical career has yielded more than just gigs however. Two years ago she was asked to play a despondent female musician from Allston, MA in the full length independent film “Metal”, directed by Alice Cox.

      “ I got to lip-sync one of my own songs in a scene filmed at The Abbey Lounge. Jay Grimaldi played the booking agent - what a stretch for us!”

      Back track to 1983 and Natalie is at a Neighborhoods show at Pearl Street in Northampton MA watching Dave Minehan kick a heckler right off his stool from the stage. It makes perfect sense that years later she would have Dave “Kick’em outta their seats”. Minehan produces and plays guitar on her new record “LET”, released November 2002. This collection of warm sounds and smoky voiced suggestions serves you vintage Natalie Flanagan. You can catch her equally compelling live sets around Boston and greater New England -you don’t want to miss this.

Feeling a warm glow of sweet sadness.
I've just stepped out of Natalie's world.
It isn't a place that you can necessarily get to quickly; the simple act of placing the disk in your CD player does not guarantee entrance.
You see Natalie does not make it easy for you.
You have to go with respect and understanding. Its a place where aching melencholy is tempered with courage and tenderness. Call it grace under pressure. Natalie doesn't give you the words- she grapples with them as if knowing that in balance they could never really be precise enough. But somehow it is all there in her voice.
If you decide to enter Natalie's world, you will only be given shadows of meaning. These are the ground rules. In "Come In Tokyo" she may or may not be describing the strange bittersweet rush of hearing her music played on the radio with the words: When my lucky light lit up the sky/I got all choked up inside". She dedicates it with love and brotherhood to all her fellow artists in the USA. Perhaps that's a hint. Perhaps it isn't. In "Patience" she talks about the power that is out there and beyond words when she advises the subject of the song: "You'll see what to do once the silence pierces you through".
Each word is a commitment, and as is the case with all the true and best artists, exacts its toll on both singer and listener; nothing is wasted. her delivery embodies the supremely casual cool of Chrissie Hynde and Bob Dylan, but unlike these singers her words are always just under the radar. Its up to you to do the listening. Maybe the key moment on the CD is when she says: "Some folks just can't tell what is or isn't real". If you are someone that can tell, then you will be welcome in Natalie's world.        - David Wildman

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BULK ORDERS, WHOLESALERS, STORES AND ONE STOPS

If you are ordering 5 or more units of "LET", you are entitled to the retail store discount price but, for the next few weeks your order must be made by mail to One Way Productions enclosing a bank or post office check, made out to ONE WAY PRODUCTIONS, 324 Broadway, P.O. Box 45410, Somerville, MA 02145 [please include the PO Box in the address]. The wholesale, bulk order, price for "Let" is $5.50 per unit plus the postage listed on the ORDER PAGE [$5.75 for the 1st 5 units shipped bulk rate US Postal Service and $1.00 per additional CD in that order over 5 CD's.

Commencing 12/01/2002 "LET" will be distributed by 1.01 Distribution, Orchard Distribution, and various One Stops; we are hopeful that other distributers will be added over the next few weeks in order to better provide you with access to Natalie's CD's.

"LET" is always available from One Way Productions on this site and by mail order. Order often and early!

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ONE WAY PRODUCTIONS; 324 Broadway [P.O. Box 45410]; Somerville, MA 02145
Telephone & Facsimile: [617] 776-1415 www.onewayproductions.com
onewayrc@aol.com

ONE WAY PRODUCTIONS HOME PAGE
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GO TO NATALIE'S NEW CD "LET"

GO TO NATALIE'S 5 STAR DAY