lifeblood: songs: backgrounds: broken wings heal

2015-05-01: live music picks, the atlanta journal-constitution:

atlanta native caroline aiken is renowned for her acoustic shows. but sometimes she hits the stage with her full band, catch a cab (adam poulin, violin; doug peters, guitar; eddie gilkin, percussion; ron crescenti, bass; and mark cooper smith, drums). at the release party for her ninth album, "broken wings heal," aiken also will be joined by longtime friend emily saliers of the indigo girls, who appears on the new album as well, along with athens musical legend john keane and motown's ike stubblefield.

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2018-07-12: singer/songwriter caroline aiken to perform at lawrenceville train depot, the gwinnett daily post:

her career stretches back to the late 1960s. she's played with such legends as muddy waters, john prine and bonnie raitt, and in the early 1980s mentored a young emily saliers and amy ray (indigo girls) and a teenage michelle malone. she also helped eddie owen open the famed eddie's attic in decatur in the early 1990s. the two have remained close and she's performed numerous times at owen's current venue in duluth.

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"when i play anywhere or when i teach or do my radio show, the most important thing is to be here now and be present for the people who are relying on you. they've paid their money, they've come to the show and they want you to be here now for them. i really respect and appreciate that more than anything as a touring musician."

during her previous performance at the train depot in october of 2017, aiken put on an emotionally engaging master class on how a professional musician conducts herself on stage. she plucked songs from among her nine full-length albums, riffed on an old traffic tune when a train rumbled by, and switched from guitar to keyboards to perform a few songs from her 2015 "broken wings heal" album.

the release was dedicated to her daughter page dukes who, in 2007 at age 20 and while addicted to heroin, committed armed robbery and was given a 10-year prison sentence. dukes is out now and doing exceptionally well, attending piedmont college and interning as a journalist for the summer at the marshall project in new york city.

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2019-03-20: athens-based bands stage weekend takeover, the brunswick news:

in addition to touring around the world, she has produced nine albums, the most recent of which is "broken wings heal." it is a personal album, filled with her soulful voice, piano and guitar.

the songs, aiken says, also tell a story.

"this one is full production with an array of amazing musicians, john keane, randall bramblett, emily saliers from indigo girls," she said.

"one of the songs my daughter, paige, actually wrote when she was 12. she won a contest for it and came in third in the country. so i set it to music and put melody to it. there are some songs with a six and 12 string and some where i play the piano."