StLJN Saturday Video Showcase: Regina Carter's Southern Comfort

Today, let's check out some videos featuring violinist Regina Carter, who will be back in St. Louis next week to play Wednesday, May 13 through Saturday, May 16 at Jazz at the Bistro. Carter will be performing music from her album Southern Comfort, which was released early in 2014, not long after the last time she played the Bistro, backed by a straight-ahead piano trio, in November 2013.

The Detroit native has said that Southern Comfort continues a process she began with 2010's Reverse Thread, which offered interpretations of African folk and roots music through a jazz lens. (Her Reverse Thread band played the Bistro in 2010, and you can see some videos of them here.)

This time, Carter began with folk music that her grandfather, a coal miner in Alabama, might have heard during his lifetime. She wound up recording a collection of songs that also included gospel, Cajun and even a Hank Williams tune, with an ensemble sound that evokes Americana, old-time country music, and bluegrass as much as jazz.

Carter talks a bit about her process in the "making of" promotional video for Southern Comfort that's embedded at the top of this post. Then after the jump, you can see her playing several songs from the album, backed by Will Holshouser (accordion), Marvin Sewell (guitar), Chris Lightcap (bass), and Alvester Garnett (drums).

The first concert video has performances of "Miner's Child" and Hank Williams' "Honky Tonkin'," both recorded last year at an outdoor concert in Italy. That's followed by a version of "See See Rider," from an appearance on radio station WNYC, and a performance of "I'm Going Home" from the Montreal Jazz Festival.

The final video is an extended interview with Carter, recorded last May before her set at the Burlington Discover Jazz Festival in Vermont. For more about Carter and the Southern Comfort project, listen to her interviews recorded last year with WNYC's "SoundCheck" and NPR's "All Thing Considered."

You can see the rest of today's videos after the jump...