IT'S A BOY!!!

Well, actually it's a girl...sorta. After 9 months(honest!) we're proud to announce the arrival of our new CD, Soul Reason! The title is a play on words that just came to me.  I told Mark(Gibson) "I have an assignment; I wrote music and a title, 'Soul Reason', it means that the woman in your in life is your " Soul Reason" for living, etc. It needs lyrics and a melody." He turned in his assignment and got an A+.  Now that's a song writing partnership!

We're very proud of this new set of songs. Especially because they are ALL originals. We feel we've raised the bar for ourselves and believe these to be on par with the best of what's being recorded today. There's a little somethin' here for everyone; from the Memphis groove of the title track to the swamp blues of "You Ain't Gone" (some of Mark's best writing to date!), to the uptown B.B.King style shuffle, Workin' On Her Sins" (another play on words), to the rockabilly rocker, "Ain't Got Nothin'" and to the jump blues of "Lookin' For A Woman". I believe we've covered a lot of stylistic ground here without losing that special somethin' that our fans have come to expect from us.

Once again we called on a few of our talented friends to help us out and even added some new ones, too! Mick Walker, who has played guitar with some of CNY's finest bands, Downchild, Joe Whiting, the Flashcubes, Marilyn's Chamber, Stroke, and The Shufflin' Hungarians, to name just a few, has also been engineering/producing bands for many years. I especially dug his production work on the Gonstermachers CD. He got a really great 'live' sound that we were looking for.

Last September our good friends, Shirley Woodcock-Kolb and her husband Larry were kind enough to invite us into their country home to record the basic tracks to the songs. It's an old country store that they converted to a house with very tall ceilings and wood everywhere! The acoustics are amazing and we knew it would help us get that 'live' sound we were searching for. We recorded the vocals, drums, bass and guitar all live until we got 'the take' over two days with Mick manning  the recording gear. Shirley and Larry were gracious hosts and even fed us!

Over the following months we added more guitar, keyboards courtesy of Mark Nanni from Los Blancos, and Dan 'Cato' Eaton added some inspired horn work. Mick was also called upon to contribute rhythm guitar to a couple of songs. Mick was the magic ingredient to our blues stew. His great ear, objective viewpoint and sense of humor kept us on track to  making this project a success.

So enough talking already. Where and when can you get your hands on this highly anticipated release you say? Well, It'll be in our hot little hands on July 24th. But most importantly; where can you get it? It'll be available at all of our gigs and of course you'll have the benefit of here those songs performed live by your truly! Locally, Sound Garden will be stocking it and we'll keep you updated as to when it'll be available at CD Baby, Amazon and ITunes.

Watch for CD release party news in the near future featuring special guests! Meanwhile, have a great summer, come on out and see us in Clayton, Auburn, Sylvan Beach and of course A-Bay!  

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