Sonicbids Sunday: Unsigned artists profiled

The purest way to discover new artists has always been, and always will be live performance. Second to that, the Internet has provided a variety of interesting forums, from MySpace to YouTube, to individual artist sits.

One of those forums is a site called Sonicbids. At Sonicbids.com artists or bands can submit an electronic press kit, or EPK, to a variety of promoters, venues, and media outlets for consideration for anything from gigs, to publicity, to inclusion on a CD compilation, to a spot in a performance showcase. In my case, the artists are looking for press coverage.

One of the things I like most about Sonicbids is the wide variety of artists who participate. There are musicians and artists from every style and genre of music from all around the world represented. Many are quite good. So good in fact that I’m often surprised they are not already signed to a record contract. Some are what I call diamonds in the rough – artists who have talent but perhaps need seasoning or a good producer to make their music shine. Sure, a few of the artists leave you scratching your head, but those are the exception and not the rule.

Every Sunday, I’ll profile a few artists who recently found their way into my “Sonicbids Dropbox” (as it’s so cleverly called) that are definitely worth checking out.

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Andy Hawk & The Train Wreck Endings, Tin Can Town – Hawk accurately describes his sound as “mid-'60s Bob Dylan singing with the Old '97s.” Tin Can Town serves up 13 whiskey-soaked slices of folk/blues Americana that recall a night spent with friends at a favorite watering hole. Some of the tunes lend themselves to spontaneous sing-alongs, others will have your toes tapping, and some will cause both.

This is Hamilton, Virginia-based Andy Hawk’s fifth album since 2004, and his second with his band, The Train Wreck Endings. Hawk might look like the high school English teacher he is by day, but judging by the quality of his singing and songwriting, music is much more than a part-time hobby. The Train Wreck Endings - Chuck Bordelon (bass), Steve DeVries (mandolin, banjo, harmonica, backing vocals) Branden Hickman (drums) and Gary Rudinsky (lead guitar, backing vocals) provide strong support throughout.

The album kicks off with “Think Too Much,” a bright, catchy tune driven by DeVries mandolin playing. Hawk pairs introspective lyrics about a lost relationship to a bouncy melody:

“It's 3 a.m. and I can't help but wonder what went wrong/
Though I fill my glass, it looks half-empty to me/
I'm misty eyed and true and tried, alone with all I fear/
I can't go back or forward while I'm here”

The title track is one of the album’s most “Dylan-esque” tracks, with Hawk relating a tale of small town life in a rough-around-the-edges vocal.

“Maybe Someday” is a contagious piece of pop perfection, with a hint of Rubber Soul Beatles added for good measure, while the equally catchy “Real Gone Girl” amps up the country flavor. Hawk again acknowledges his Beatles/Dylan influences on mid-tempo acoustic tracks like “Music From Another Room,” “I Never Thought To Ask,” and “Ferris Wheel” – the latter featuring a tasty guitar solo from Rudinsky. The album comes full circle thematically and returns to the bar for the closing track, the lighthearted “The Last Two In The Bar.”

There a few minor missteps on Tin Can Town – weak lyrics spoil “Good Night,” and “Pitchy & Time-Erratic Blues,” and the latter tune seems out-of-place stylistically on the album. But overall, Tin Can Town is a remarkably strong independent effort the compares favorably to major label releases in the genre. You can purchase a copy, as well as Andy Hawk’s other albums through iTunes, or at CD Baby.

Hawk’s performance schedule keeps him in Virginia. If you’re down that way, here are the currently scheduled dates:

June 7, 11:00 a.m. - Celebrate Fairfax Festival - Starr Hill Stage (Fairfax, VA)
June 12, 5:00 p.m. - King's Court Tavern (Leesburg, VA)
July 11, 9:00 p.m. - King's Court Tavern (Leesburg, VA)

For complete up-to-date information, visit Hawk’s website: www.andyhawk.com

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Charles “Big Daddy” Stallings, Blues Evolution – If you didn’t know Baltimore-based Charles Stallings was a blues guy, all you’d have to do is take one look at the man. Smartly dressed, usually in black, a trademark red fedora (which, of course matches his Les Paul guitar and his point tip shoes) sits atop his large frame. Okay, he’s either a blues cat or an old-school rapper.

But Stallings is definitely a blues cat. He was born in Columbia, South Carolina and raised on a farm in Hobbsville, North Carolina, with his ten brothers and sisters. After moving to Baltimore, Stallings began performing in local R&B and Jazz bands, but always dreamed of recording with his own blues band.

Now he’s got one. He plays live with a seven-piece outfit that features core members Ronnie Jenkins (drums), Wayne Johns (guitar), Kelvin O'Neal (trumpet), and Joe "E Flat" Thomas (sax). They all appear on Blues Evolution, along with some notable guests, including keyboardist Bill Pratt, bassist Gail Parrish, and harp player Mark Wenner of the Nighthawks.

Blues Evolution plays like a live party album, opening with “Into Blues/Let’s Boogie” an extended instrumental in which the band gets to show off its considerable chops. Over the course of 15 tracks, Stallings and the band serve up just about every flavor of blues imaginable.

First up is some good ol’ dirty blues, “Going Down South,” which shows off Stallings strong vocals on a tune that may or may not be about the pleasures of travel and eating.

Wilmington gets name checked on the next track, “Blues Train Express,” which take the listener on a blues journey down the East Coast:

“Philadelphia, PA, where we’re not gonna stay/ Wilmington, Delaware – you wanna go, you gotta pay”

“Hard Times / Good Times” is a traditional slow blues, featuring Wenner wailing on the harmonica throughout.

Blues Evolution kicks into full-on party mode with the next track – “Blues Line Dance” – one of several tracks that applies the blues to some less traditional musical styles. On “Blues Line Dance,” the mash-up works well, especially when the horn section of Thomas and O’Neal drops in a little James Brown tribute. It’s not hard to imagine the song catching on and becoming another “Electric Boogie.”

“Cha Cha 3000” and “Hola Senorita” mix the blues with cha-cha and Latin styles respectively. “Hola Senorita” pushes the envelope a bit far and winds up sounding more like a parody, but the instrumental “Cha Cha 3000” brings the two divergent musical styles together surprisingly well.

Stallings seems to want Blues Evolution to be an album for blues fans and non-fans alike. For extra insurance, he throws in “Hand Dancin’” – a pretty good straight-ahead soul number. The album ends with “Thank-You Boogie,” in which Stallings calls out all the band members and guests that appear on the CD.

Blues Evolution has already received quite a bit of national attention, with reviews in Living Blues, Blues Review, and DownBeat Magazine, and has received enough airplay to reach the national blues radio charts. If Stallings and his band are as much fun live as they are on record (and I’ll bet they are), they must put on a heck of a party.

Here’s Stallings and his band performing live at the Surf Club in Bladensburg, MD on November 17, 2007:





You can purchase a copy of Blues Evolution, as well as Stallings’ first album, One Night Lover through iTunes, or at CD Baby.
Stallings performance schedule keeps him in Maryland. If you’re down that way, here are the currently scheduled dates:

May 29 - WEAA Spring Fundraiser Eubie Blake Cultural Center (Baltimore, MD)
May 31 - Chesapeake Bay Wine Fest - Terrapin Park (Stevenville, MD)
Jun 20 - City View Bar & Grill (Woodlawn, MD)
Jun 21 - Patterson Park Concert Series - 6-8 p.m. (Baltimore, MD)
Jun 27 - Bare Bones Grill & Brewery (Ellicott City, MD)
Jun 28 - Federal Hill Main Street Blues & Jazz Fest – 3 p.m. (Baltimore, MD)
Jul 4 - Blues Concert - Quiet Waters Park Concert Series – 6 p.m. (Annapolis, MD)

For complete up-to-date information, visit Stallings’ website: www.bigdaddystallings.com

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THIN LIZZY: OUT OF THE VAULTS & "STILL DANGEROUS"

With new albums by U2 and alt-country rocker Neko Case grabbing the lion’s share of media attention the week it was released, the “new” album by the Dublin, Ireland-based classic rock band Thin Lizzy – Still Dangerous: Live at the Tower Theatre Philadelphia 1977 (VH1 Classic Albums) – flew in a bit under the radar.

True to its somewhat cumbersome but descriptive title, the ten-song collection was compiled from tapes discovered a few years ago “in the vaults” according to Thin Lizzy guitarist and album co-producer Scott Gorham.

“We pulled all these boxes down, and I didn’t even realize how many we had!” Gorham says in a press release. “One of the engineers was cataloging each reel, and one box came up marked `Philadelphia 2.’”

It turns out that the show was recorded for broadcast as part of the “King Biscuit Flower Hour” syndicated radio show. Thin Lizzy – at the time featuring the classic lineup of singer, songwriter, and bassist Phil Lynott, guitarist Brian Robertson, drummer Brian Downey, and Gorham – was touring the U.S. in support of its Bad Reputation album, which had been released a month earlier.

As part of that tour, Thin Lizzy played two consecutive nights at the Tower (which those of us in the Tri-State area know is located in Upper Darby, Pennsylvania - not Philadelphia). The tracks on Still Dangerous were recorded at the first show on October 20, 1977 (ironically the same night three members of Lynyrd Skynyrd and their road manager were killed in a tragic plane crash).

My guess is that some of you reading this were in the audience one of those nights (shoot me an email if you were). But even if you weren’t there – even if the only song you know from Thin Lizzy is “The Boys Are Back In Town” – this is a CD you should add to your collection.

Thin Lizzy never found the audience it deserved here in the States. Drug and alcohol abuse among the band members took its toll (Lynott died in 1986 at age 36). But the quality of Lynott’s songwriting, the band’s stellar musicianship, and Thin Lizzy’s continued influence on rock music can’t be denied.

Producer Glyn Johns (Led Zeppelin, Rolling Stones) came out of retirement to remix and remaster the album. The results sound remarkably good, especially considering the source tapes are over 30-years-old.

Purists might quibble that the entire 16-song set that was recorded that night (available for streaming at Wolfgang’s Vault ) should have been included on the CD. However, the 10 songs that are featured offer a nice mix of hits (“Jailbreak,” “The Boys Are Back In Town,” “Dancing In The Moonlight”), fan favorites (“Cowboy Song,” “Massacre” “Don’t Believe A Word”) and rarities (“Soldier Of Fortune” and “Opium Trail” – neither of which has ever appeared on a Thin Lizzy live album). The band’s pioneering twin lead guitar attack is in full force, and the concert setting only enhances the depth and variety of Lynott’s songwriting.

Here’s the complete track listing for Still Dangerous: Live at the Tower Theatre Philadelphia 1977:

1) Soldier Of Fortune

2) Jailbreak

3) Cowboy Song

4) The Boys Are Back In Town

5) Dancing In The Moonlight

6) Massacre

7) Opium Trail

8) Don’t Believe A Word

9) Baby Makes Me Cry

10) Me And The Boys

Enjoy this classic video of "Dancing In The Moonlight (It's Caught Me In Its Spotlight)":

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CD REVIEWS

Secret Journey; Omar Akram (Real Music) – Fans of smooth jazz and new age music may already be familiar with the music of Omar Akram, who was known simply as Omar on his first two albums, 2002’s Opal Fire and 2004’s Free As A Bird. On his new release, Secret Journey, Akram continues to explore exotic musical textures, weaving strong melodies around multi-cultural rhythms and once again challenging the notion that new age and smooth jazz are best suited for elevators and long naps.

In fact, Akram might be the perfect artist for those who appreciate the soothing, uplifting aspects of the genre, but find themselves frustrated and bored when the music meanders for too long, or abandons all rhythmic foundations. Akram is a skilled composer, and has learned to anchor his melodies, whether soaring (as in lead track “Run Away With Me”) or tranquil (as in “Shimmering Star”), to distinctive rhythms.

Secret Journey also benefits from its unifying theme. In addition to the title track, all of the tunes were inspired by what might be seen or felt on a special trip. The approach allows Akram to incorporate exotic musical flavors from around the world. The son of a U.N. diplomat, Akram spent decades living around the globe, soaking up musical influences from far flung locales such as Afghanistan, Cuba, France, Switzerland and the Czech Republic.

“I look around me and see people who are bored, restless, stagnant,” he explains, “and I know they often take ‘secret journeys’ in their mind as they daydream about other places they could be. The lucky ones get to take an actual trip where they escape from the pressures of their lives. They see new places and have uncommon experiences. I like to think the music on my album can serve as the soundtrack for their journey, whether it is a mental or a physical trip. Everyone needs to get away sometime.”

Akram is accompanied by a group of world-class musicians, including keyboardist Gregg Karukas, and guitarist Ramon Stagnaro, who shins especially bright on the standout track, “Passage of the Heart.”

Secret Journey is a wonderful album with tremendous cross-over potential. Like the work of Kenny G, Kitaro, John Tesh, it will appeal to both devotees of the genre as well as to those who would rarely listen to new age or smooth jazz. Both camps will find many pleasures on this Secret Journey.