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MUSIC

Lillie Ruth Bussey

By Doug Wallen

Add Comment | Comments: 0 | Posted Aug. 13, 2008

michael persico

Bianka Allyon Brunson is Lillie Ruth Bussey. Actually, Bussey was Brunson's maternal grandmother, but it's under her name that Brunson lovingly creates and performs quirky folk-pop. Brunson thinks the songs befit her grandmother's spirit, and that she'd enjoy them if she were alive today. Thus the name. And really, you'd have to be some sort of monster not to enjoy such warm-hearted, homespun tunes.

Taking up simple instruments and what sound like toys, Brunson delivers her aptly titled new album Truthful Little Ditties so sweetly and honestly that it feels like a grade-school valentine. As she dresses up her voice in echoes over a gently plunking keyboard melody and beat on "Here We Are," she recalls fellow Philly home-taper Tickley Feather--at least until she starts whistling and humming. "Doors Locked" is similarly sparse, but this time Brunson's dulcet singing is unadorned and all the better for it.

Lillie Ruth Bussey
Wed., Aug. 20, 9pm.
$8.
With Gemini Wolf, Zelda Pinwheel + DJ Bilwa.
Silk City,
435 Spring Garden St.
215.592.8838.
www.silkcityphilly.com

"Can't Help," the immediate standout--though far too short at under two minutes--finds her vocals front and center, cooing the strangely worded refrain "'Cause I can't help but loving you."

Built on a dainty ukulele and a sputtering beat, "Heart You Protect" is another wistful yet light-stepping number, sneaking in a kazoo for good measure. Like other songs of Brunson's, it's all about love, or in this case "this love you gave away."

Truthful Little Ditties marks the latest release from Philly's newish label/collective earSnake, and Brunson's CD-release show will double as a release show for labelmate Gemini Wolf's new single. Billed as an earSnake Jamboree, it's a rare chance to see three bands (and a DJ) that sound completely different from each other but have bonded --thanks to earSnake�--in the midst of our city's increasingly crowded music scene.