Guest Spots: Syd Straw

 

Syd Straw isn't a New Jersey native, but she was quickly adopted by the Hoboken scene when she gained notice as a singer with Anton Fier's group The Golden Palominos. Soon she was recording and performing with Coyote Records and Bar/None artists like Chris Stamey, Peter Holsapple, James Mastro, Freedy Johnston, They Might Be Giants, The Schramms, and The Del-Lords.

If you need an introduction to her music, there's a great recent article in Perfect Sound Forever. As the writer says, Syd came out of nowhere but held her own with big names in rock, jazz and the downtown NYC no wave scene on those Palominos records.

Today's compilation includes some b-sides, contributions to tribute albums (including one for The Boss of NJ himself), and guest appearances on other artists' albums. Syd is a gifted harmony singer and a stellar duet partner, and she sings here with Joe Ely, Dave Alvin, Evan Dando, Jeff Tweedy, Eric Ambel, and others.

I recently discovered that Pat Irwin (Raybeats guitarist turned soundtrack composer) posted to Soundcloud his film score for a movie called My New Gun. Included were Syd's version of "That's When I Reach For My Revolver" and a lovely country ballad called "A Picture Of You". Both are included.

Most of the songs are from the 90's, with the exception of a track from 2018's Shoulder To Cry On (where Syd sings with Jimmer Podrasky, former frontman of The Rave-Ups), and her lovely contribution to the Mark Mulcahy tribute album. You may remember that Mark and Syd both appeared on the TV show The Adventures Of Pete & Pete, which took place in the fictional town of Wellsville (an Embarrassment reference!) but was filmed in the idyllic burbs of the Garden State.