Kendl Winter is a dreamer of dark clouds. She has a drawer stuffed with stolen socks, she picks banjo and guitar and makes good driving music. Born in Arkansas and based in Olympia, Washington, Kendl twists those instruments into captivating melodies; Apple Core [KLP224] is Kendl Winter's fourth solo album and her first release for K. On this album apples represent temptation, a prize for beauty, a gift for knowledge, gravity, truth, autumn, and harvest. With its country roots, indie trunk, and sweet soulful sadness fruiting on the branches, Apple Core is apple to the core.

Self-recorded on both a boat in the Puget Sound and a basement in the west-side neighborhood of Olympia, Apple Core features isolated, haunting harmonies, laced with the fabrics woven by community, her guitar and her banjo. Kendl safety pins patches of piano and slide guitar on to the cloth, washes it in a lather of honest and provocative songs, and hangs it on the line to dry in the shy, unpredictable northwest sun.

In addition to her solo performances, Kendl also performs with The Blackberry Bushes, The Pasties, Southern Skies, Angelo Spencer et Les Haut Sommets, and It's All Gotta Go. Kendl knows no boundaries of a performances space: she plays in fields, Farmer's Markets, basements, taverns and bluegrass festivals. Apple Core represents this varied free-range approach to music making, from country to bluegrass; mostly sweet with an occasional bruise.