NEWS

"How Bambi Lee Savage Broke Down the Studio Boys' Club and Worked on One of the Nineties' Biggest Albums" by Lo Carmen.

Bambi Lee's rockabilly tune from Berlin-Nashville Express, shot at the Old Zoo ruins in Los Angeles.

Live footage of Bambi Lee from over the years accompanies this mix of the song first featured in the film Sling Blade.

Pedal steel guitar punctuates this Americana ode to the blues.

Bambi Lee and her raccoon friend rock out to the country-twang tune.

An Americana/Indie Country/Twang extravaganza!

Long before she even had the thought of relocating to Music City, Bambi Lee Savage began working on what would become Berlin-Nashville Express  while she was living in Berlin in the 1990s. Immersed in punk, alternative, and industrial music, it was the plaintive voice of Hank Williams first heard through the speakers of the infamous Ex n' Pop bar that quite unexpectedly opened the door to her country roots. While she was yet taking it in, a thrift store copy of "Coal Miner's Daughter" introduced her to Loretta Lynn - a fascinating study in purity and feminism with a voice and songwriting that took a stand and cut to the heart. Added to the one core country artist in her repertoire - punk favorite Johnny Cash - her connection to country was established and her songwriting began to reflect it.

"There I was in the heart of Europe, where I had gone to forge an independent, punk-rock-driven path. And instead I was suddenly being drawn back to the soul of Texas, where my parents are from, and the South, where my mom was raised and we lived when I was a child. It was just like the old saying: 'You can run, but you can't hide!'"

In the open and experimental setting of the clubs of Berlin, she began to craft and present her "new-found old-fashioned" musical style and audiences were extremely responsive. Back in the U.S., the multi-genre artist released three independent alternative/pop/rock records, with the constant intention and hope of one day releasing her country material. 

Written in Berlin and Nashville, recorded in Nashville, Los Angeles, Berlin, Denver and Melbourne, Berlin-Nashville Express  features an impressive cast of musicians including Mick Harvey (Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds), Jim Wilson (Daniel Lanois, Mother Superior) and Steve Nistor (Daniel Lanois, Sparks). The record includes a remix of the song "Darlin'" (originally featured on the Sling Blade soundtrack).