Alongside her tenure with Catherine Irwin in Freakwater, Janet Beveridge Bean is also known as singer/drummer of the equally celebrated Eleventh Dream Day with partner Rick Rizzo. Dragging Wonder Lake pools a collective of like-minds both old and new (pedal-steeler Jon Spiegel; ex-EDD’er and Tortoise/For Carnation’s Doug McCombs; backing vocalist Kelly Hogan) and was recorded by the ubiquitous John McEntire in seven days. Whether peeping out from behind clouds of piano-led jazz smoke (Neil Young’s “Soldier”), skittering like a pooch on linoleum (“Cutters, Dealers, Cheaters”) or leading from the front (ballsy rocker “My Little Brigadoon”), Bean’s voice is never less than emotively suspenseful.
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