by Joe Boone, December 25, 2014 "Beat It, 2014" Memphis Flyer
As for live music, Big Ass Truck's reunion was the highlight of the year. Just kidding; we stunk. The best live band in town is Marcella & Her Lovers. It takes courage to sing like Marcella René Simien. The emotional flood gates open up with every note. Her rhythm section can split hairs and topple buildings with equal panache. And guitarist Dave Cousar is sublime. His atmospheric, harmonic style lends an otherworldliness to her earthy vocal. This is one magically idiosyncratic band.
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by Chris Herrington | Commercial Appeal | November 6, 2014
If modern Memphis music is any one thing — and it isn’t, but play along — it’s not a sound. It’s not blues or soul or garage rock or rap. But it might be a perspective on the past.
Austin and Nashville (even in its classier “Americana” form) imply a sound. New Orleans’ more cross-cultural gumbo has a specific flavor. Memphis implies an attitude. True to its musical crossroads/melting-pot heritage, the city continues to both lure and develop musicians who are grounded in tradition but who interlace various roots strands in ornery or idiosyncratic ways. Resistance to commonality is itself a common denominator.
One of the latest and most interesting embodiments of this civic spirit is an accordion-playing 23-year-old Louisianan of Creole ancestry and zydeco upbringing who loves singing Brian Eno and Outkast songs. Meet Marcella Simien, though chances are you already have.
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by Chris Shaw | Memphis Flyer | May 15, 2014
When Marcella René Simien first moved to Memphis to go to Memphis College of Art (MCA) and join the local music scene, she had a bit of a leg-up on her contemporaries making noise in basements at house parties. Trained on piano, mandolin, guitar, and drums and well-schooled by her Grammy Award-winning father, Terrance Simien, Marcella quickly left the house-show scene and began playing at clubs like Bar DKDC, the Beauty Shop, and the Mollie Fontaine Lounge. Since then, it's almost impossible to have a week go by without Marcella Simien appearing somewhere in town.She's at the Hi-Tone on Monday. We sat down with Marcella to find out more about what drives this immensely talented Louisiana native, how she's made music her career, and what it was like to sing a song on a Grammy-winning album.
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by J.D. Reager | Memphis Flyer | November 13, 2014
There is perhaps no current Memphis musician with more buzz surrounding him or her than Marcella René Simien. The past couple of years have seen Simien evolve from a largely unknown Louisiana transplant/art student playing house shows to a very much in-demand solo act and bandleader about town. Last week, Simien and her band, dubbed Marcella & Her Lovers, unveiled a long-awaited debut EP titled The Bronze Age. And to my ears, anyway, it absolutely delivers.
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I am so proud of my father Terrance Simien and his incredible band the Zydeco Experience for winning the GRAMMY in Best Regional Roots Album of the Year (Terrance's second GRAMMY win since 2008). I was so honored to be a part of this recording as a featured vocalist on the track "Ava Magnolia" written by George G. Receli (of Bob Dylan, Keith Richards); with special guest Kenny Wayne Shepard on lead guitar.
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