Have One on Me
Have One On Me is the third studio album by the American singer-songwriter Joanna Newsom, released on February 23, 2010, via Drag City. It is a triple album produced by Newsom and mixed by Newsom's longtime collaborators Jim O'Rourke and Noah Georgeson, with arrangements by Ryan Francesconi.
Have One On Me continues Newsom's use of cryptic, pastoral lyrics, with a further progression of elements of her sound such as the orchestral accompaniment and the arrangements – with the inclusion of diverse instruments like the tambura, the harpsichord and the kaval. The production also flirts with genres such as jazz and blues in some of the tracks, while adding drums and the electric guitar in others. The album is also her first since The Milk-Eyed Mender to include songs played on the piano instead of the harp. Because of health problems, Newsom's voice was damaged during the sessions, consequently affecting the overall recording process and forcing her to change her singing style.
The album title and release date were announced on January 12, 2010, through a comic strip. Information surfaced slowly, mostly being kept secret by the press and Drag City. Advance copies were only sent to music critics a few weeks before its release in an attempt to prevent a leak, since Newsom's previous album leaked months early after it was left unprotected on servers belonging to music review website Pitchfork. It ultimately leaked on February 18, 2010.
Have One On Me was acclaimed, earning Newsom several accolades and favorable comparisons to singer-songwriters such as Judee Sill, Joni Mitchell, Laura Nyro, Rickie Lee Jones and Kate Bush. Conversely, like her previous releases before it, the album has received its share of criticism. The majority of them were made towards its triple disc format – described by some critics as overly ambitious – and some of its tracks' lengths. Commercially the album earned Newsom her best chart positions yet and fared well. In the U.S. Have One On Me debuted and peaked at number 75 on the Billboard 200 and number 16 on the Top Digital Albums, selling more than 7,000 copies in its first week. It also spent four consecutive weeks atop of the Folk Albums chart and peaked inside the top 10 of the Independent Albums chart. In the UK, it peaked at number 28, becoming her second album to reach the top 50. Additionally, Have One On Me is her first chart appearance in Canada.
Background
Recording
On March 28, 2009, Newsom performed over two hours of new material at a "secret" concert at the Fernwood Resort in Big Sur, California with fellow Nevada City singer-songwriter Mariee Sioux, under the pseudonym The Beatles's. Those in attendance reported that about one-third of her new material was played primarily on piano, with a backing arrangement of banjo, violin, guitar and drums. Plans of recording an album appeared earlier that year with the help of Francesconi and Neal Morgan, who performed the percussion. According to an interview made by Time, the three of them crawled through the songs bar by bar, talking about each of their "meaning, mood and thematic stuff". During the recording, especially when she went to lay the basic vocal tracks, it was discovered that she had lost her voice. This put a freeze on recording the vocals, although she continued to record all of the piano and the harp tracks. By the end of the year she had completed the album and mastered it in Tokyo.Release
On January 12, 2010, an entry cryptically titled "@!?*(%$#!!" was posted on the Drag City website where it contained a link leading to a short comic strip titled "Joanna Newsom 'Have One on Me'" with a date of February 23, 2010. It was later confirmed by Spunk, Newsom's Australian label, that the title and date represented the title and release date of Newsom's upcoming album. The album was reportedly to be released in Australia on February 19, 2010, but it was later postponed to February 22. A week later, Clash reported that Newsom's upcoming album would contain the four following tracks: "Jack Rabbits", "Ribbon Bows", "Autumn" and "In California". Newsom also described the album as a "cross between her last two" On January 22 of that same month, less than three days after the interview, Clash removed the article and the interview, citing that "the information given was not part of any exclusive interview with, or authorized, by Joanna Newsom and that the words expressed were solely those of the writer." Also, according to the magazine, "none of the quotes should be credited to Ms. Newsom". They concluded by apologizing to "Ms. Newsom and her record company for any distress caused by the article." That day, NME reported that the album would contain three discs.On January 26, the album was made available for pre-order. Pitchfork also reported that Drag City revealed the cover, which the webzine described as "utilitarian cover art, a far cry from the fancy portrait that adorned Ys". It was also confirmed that Have One on Me would be a triple album. At last it was reported that Have One on Me would be released worldwide from February 23, including Australia. Less than a week later, Drag City revealed a new album cover, confirming rumors that the black one released before containing only Joanna's name and the album title was only provisory and not the final design. Pitchfork described it as a "picture of Ms. Newsom lounging amidst too many antiques and animal prints. She looks comfortable."
On February 8, Japanese website Metropolis reported that Have One on Me would be released in Japan on March 4. Also according to the article although "details and samples of the new album have been kept closely under wraps", there was "an invite-only listening party for press last week" that "revealed Have One On Me to be Newsom's magnum opus".
Advance copies were not sent to critics in an effort to avoid a leak according to Uncut; Newsom's previous album, Ys was leaked two months before its original release when it was left unprotected on servers belonging to Pitchfork; However, Have One on Me leaked and became available on P2P networks and BitTorrent on February 18, just days before its official release date.
Promotion and touring
Drag City streamed three tracks, starting January 26 and ending on February 15, with each one of them being streamed during seven days. "'81" was the first to be streamed at the label's website and the resulting wave of web traffic overloaded their website. On February 2, the label streamed another new track via its website, "Good Intentions Paving Company". Pitchfork awarded the song the "Best New Music" tag. The reviewer compared Newsom favorably to Rickie Lee Jones and suggested that the song "may be the most humanizing song we've heard from Newsom", aside calling it a "rare thing, then-- an unapologetic love song that feels, you know, new." On February 9, the nine-minute "Kingfisher" became the last one released.Newsom performed "Soft as Chalk" at Late Night with Jimmy Fallon on March 6, 2010. Newsom performed "81" and "Jackrabbits" on Later with Jools Holland on May 4, 2010. Newsom also appeared on the cover of Under the Radar magazine for its May 2010 issue and in the August 2010 issue of Mojo Magazine. On August 12, Newsom performed "You and Me, Bess" and "'81" on Jimmy Kimmel Live! The performance of "You and Me, Bess" was filmed in black-and-white. She also performed in festivals such as the Green Man Festival and All Tomorrow's Parties, the latter curated by Matt Groening also earned her a Simpsons cartoon by Groening. During the tour, Newsom alongside Fleet Foxes's Robin Pecknold performed a cover of Kid Rock's "Picture" to critical acclaim. Also, her song "On a Good Day" was covered by Pecknold and by punk-rock icon Billy Bragg for The Voice Project. Joanna Newsom also performed this song, incorporating a new instrumental section, in December of the same year on the Late Show with David Letterman.
Reception
Commercial performance
In the week it was released, Have One on Me reached the top 10 of online music stores such as Amazon and iTunes in the U.S. It debuted and peaked at number 16 on the Top Digital Albums chart and at number 7 on the Independent Albums chart. On the Billboard 200, it debuted and peaked at number 75, selling more than five thousand copies, making it not only her highest-charting album, but also her best first week sales yet. It also debuted and peaked atop of the Folk Albums, making Have One on Me her second album to reach the top spot of a Billboard chart. A week later, it fell to number 104 at the first and stayed another week at the top of the latter, becoming, so far, her most successful chart performance. On its third week, the album fell to number 140, though it continued to top the Folk Albums chart. Have One on Me spent a total of four weeks inside the Billboard 200 and it charted inside of the top 40 and the top 5 of the Independent Albums and Folk Albums charts, respectively for a few more weeks. By the end of the year, it had sold more than 50,000 copies in the U.S. alone. The album also became her first chart appearance in Canada, debuting and peaking at number 80.In Europe, the album also became Newsom's highest chart appearance to date in the majority of the territories, where it peaked at number 46 on the continent's overall chart. In the UK, it debuted and peaked at number 28 selling 8,481 copies that week, her second album to chart inside the top 50, since Ys peaked at number 41 back in 2006. In Ireland, it debuted and peaked at number 24, falling to number 32 a week after its debut. The album peaked inside the top 20 of the Norwegian Album Charts, and reached the top 100 of others such as the Switzerland's, Netherlands's and Belgium's albums charts. The album charted lower than its predecessor in France, where it debuted and peaked at number 171.