Biography
Syd Straw launched her career as a vocalist, songwriter, and guitarist through her tenure with the Golden Palominos, the Anton Fier-led ensemble that cultivated a devoted following during the 1980s. Capricorn Records issued her debut album, War and Peace, in 1996; the project’s distinctive fusion of folk-rock and blues-rock subsequently secured airplay on Triple A stations nationwide. Her earlier release, Surprise, appeared in 1990 and earned favorable notices while documenting her transition into original songwriting after years spent chiefly as an interpreter. Guests on Surprise included Michael Stipe (R.E.M.), John Doe (X), Ry Cooder, Daniel Lanois, Don Was, Richard Thompson, and Marshall Crenshaw.
Raised in Los Angeles as the daughter of film and television actor Jack Straw—best known for his lead performance in The Pajama Game—she gravitated early toward a performer’s life. Immediately after high school she relocated to Manhattan, reaching New York in 1978. Soon thereafter she supplied backing vocals for Pat Benatar before entering the fluid roster of the Golden Palominos alongside Michael Stipe and Matthew Sweet. Her contributions appear on the Palominos’ Visions of Excess and Blast of Silence, and she joined the group for tours across the United States and Europe, including a performance at the Montreaux Jazz Festival.
While promoting and touring behind War and Peace, Straw maintained her presence in the scene by guesting at clubs and adding her voice to projects by Vic Chesnutt, Wilco, Rickie Lee Jones, David Sanborn, and Evan Dando. A recording of her composition “Howl” became the title track for Eric Stoltz’s film Sleep with Me. Capricorn, the Nashville-based roots-rock and blues imprint, made her its first female signing. War and Peace was tracked with the Missouri bar band Lou Whitney & the Skeletons at their Springfield studio near Route 66, employing minimal overdubs. The album explores subjects such as romantic absence in the song “Love and the Lack of It” and isolation in “All Things Change.”
A self-produced effort, War and Peace showcases Straw’s singular artistic perspective, one steeped in country and blues traditions and evidenced by its fourteen original compositions. Although unplanned, she also contributes rhythm guitar to numerous tracks. In the biography issued with the album she states that she does not regard the record as a “comeback” at all, “because things have been constantly busy and changing for me since Surprise came out. But I really threw myself into the new record in a way that I haven’t been inspired to do for a long time.” Further acclaimed releases and broader recognition await this distinctive, cross-genre artist. Her third album, Pink Velour, arrived in 2008.
Raised in Los Angeles as the daughter of film and television actor Jack Straw—best known for his lead performance in The Pajama Game—she gravitated early toward a performer’s life. Immediately after high school she relocated to Manhattan, reaching New York in 1978. Soon thereafter she supplied backing vocals for Pat Benatar before entering the fluid roster of the Golden Palominos alongside Michael Stipe and Matthew Sweet. Her contributions appear on the Palominos’ Visions of Excess and Blast of Silence, and she joined the group for tours across the United States and Europe, including a performance at the Montreaux Jazz Festival.
While promoting and touring behind War and Peace, Straw maintained her presence in the scene by guesting at clubs and adding her voice to projects by Vic Chesnutt, Wilco, Rickie Lee Jones, David Sanborn, and Evan Dando. A recording of her composition “Howl” became the title track for Eric Stoltz’s film Sleep with Me. Capricorn, the Nashville-based roots-rock and blues imprint, made her its first female signing. War and Peace was tracked with the Missouri bar band Lou Whitney & the Skeletons at their Springfield studio near Route 66, employing minimal overdubs. The album explores subjects such as romantic absence in the song “Love and the Lack of It” and isolation in “All Things Change.”
A self-produced effort, War and Peace showcases Straw’s singular artistic perspective, one steeped in country and blues traditions and evidenced by its fourteen original compositions. Although unplanned, she also contributes rhythm guitar to numerous tracks. In the biography issued with the album she states that she does not regard the record as a “comeback” at all, “because things have been constantly busy and changing for me since Surprise came out. But I really threw myself into the new record in a way that I haven’t been inspired to do for a long time.” Further acclaimed releases and broader recognition await this distinctive, cross-genre artist. Her third album, Pink Velour, arrived in 2008.
Albums
Singles
