5/5/21 - Arno Uit Ochten, a Country artist from the Netherlands, has just released a great new version of Barroom Hell on the Country Roads Record Label!
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2/8/20 - New things in the works! Joey Hagen (Echota Records) and I finished a new track that I wrote and produced for him that we released today, The Keeping Kind. I have some other new tracks coming out from Angel Mc in the very near future, She Wrote The Book, Next Times and our own reworking of Stormy Monday. Some good stuff we'll be bringing your way.
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11/2/19 - Big day today for my friend, client and artist, Kelvyn Raye! His new CD, With All My Love was officially released today and up for sale. You can order the CD HERE in the Store. Kelvyn is one hell of a singer and songwriter in a variety of styles from Americana to Rockabilly to Country and Country Blues. I had a great time producing this album and playing guitar and mandolin under the umbrella of my new production company, Itsmysong Music Productions. Check it out, you won't be disappointed!
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2/13/19 - Well, I don't even know where to begin on getting everything updated. After the Josie Award nomination last year, I started writing and picking songs for a new CD and getting tracks recorded. I found out during this time that I finally had the go-ahead to get my back surgery done in November. I kind of backed off on my project and decided I'd just wait and put a new CD out a little later. I had Jason Hill and Angel Mc come to me about recording some of my songs and producing the tracks for them, so I threw myself into those projects and I'm really glad I did. Truly proud of the work we did together, and I look forward to future projects. Sitting on the gurney and waiting for them to take me to surgery, my surgeon comes in and tells me the surgery is off because a mass had been found in my left lung during xrays. Long story short, (not really at this point) it was cancer and a chunk of my lung was removed on January 28th. In about 8 weeks I'm going to have to do a few doses of chemo for anything residual. With all of this and several ribs broken during the surgery, I feel like a bug that hit the windshield. And at some point when it's all said and done, I STILL have to get the back surgery. Long story still long but getting shorter all the time, (trust me on this one) I had no idea when I was going to be able to get back to writing and recording, so I decided to go ahead and release what I had done. This is how "The Cowboy Way" was born. It's a 4 song EP of acoustic instrument mixes that go from rough and rowdy on the title track with a kicking zydeco accordion to soft and thoughtful through the other tracks with acoustic guitars, fiddle and dobro. While I heal up and get ready for what's next, I'll be up for Josie's this year under Songwriter and Producer for my work from Texas Soul and the projects I did with Jason Hill and Angel Mc. I'm also a finalist in the ISSA Awards for Mixing/Sound Engineer (Producer) for those same projects. I'm going to keep my fingers in all of the pies that I can and stay busy. You can't keep a good man down! Or me either apparently...
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5/25/18 - Received notice today that I've been nominated for Songwriter of Year once again at the Josie Music Awards. Very honored, thank you!!! A lot going on right now. I've been getting some writing done, working on recordings, looking forward to getting out playing again when I get through this back surgery. I know, "patience is a virtue". I've been called a lot of things, but I don't remember "virtuous" ever coming up in the conversations...
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10/20/17 - The Josie Awards are done this year, and I'd like to give a huge congratulations to James Breedwell for taking home Songwriter Of The Year. Well deserved to a great talent! I'm very honored to have been nominated and included in the running with the talent this year! Working on songs for the new CD. It's going to be a mixture of new songs and recutting songs that I've let lie for too long. I tend to go back over old demos that I've recorded and find things that I like, but I never went on with and cut them. That's what happened with The Ballad of Brushy Bill Roberts that finally made it onto Texas Soul this year. I cut a demo of it back in 2002 and it's been one of my most listened to songs and viewed videos, but I'd never recorded an album cut of it. Better late than never I guess! I'll keep everyone in the loop as it progresses!
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6/16/17 - It's official today! The Josie Music Awards released the official nominations list this morning and I'm up for Songwriter Of The Year (ALL GENRES/FULL BODY OF WORK). Several friends are also nominated in various categories, including Benny Pitsinger, Kimberly Smoak, Billy G. Benson and others. My good friends Gaby and Peter of Fair Play Country Music (last year's winners) are nominated once again for Music Industry Magazine Of The Year. Here's wishing us all good luck!
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6/2/17 - Well, it's been quite a month! After the award nomination a couple weeks ago, I get the picture in (below) where I am the cover for the June issue of Fair Play Country Music Magazine! I'm extremely honored and would like to thank Gaby and Peter for all they do for indie Country artists. We couldn't do it without you!!!
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5/21/17 - Wow! Just received word today that I have been nominated for Songwriter Of The Year at the 2017 Josie Music Awards! It will be September 17th at the Nissan Stadium in Nashville. I'm extremely honored and would like to thank those who nominated me for this!
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5/10/17 - Alright! I have some exciting things in the works. I have an artist back home in Texas that is cutting a song of mine and I can't wait to hear it. I also just signed a new writing/publishing deal with JPaul Music Publishing ASCAP back on the 5th and I'm really looking forward to seeing where that takes me. The CD is doing great! Thanks to all of you for your support and taking this crazy ride with me!
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3/1/17 - Okay!!! Texas Soul is now available for download in the Store from these sites: CD Baby, iTunes, Amazon mp3, EMusic, Spotify, Google Play and Napster. Should be up and running on CD at Amazon pretty quickly. Thank you for your patience...You are doing much better than me!!!
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3/1/17 - She's HERE!!!Texas Soul is available today from two of the distributors, CD Baby and iTunes. Hopefully in the next few days the rest will have it up and running and it will be out on Amazon, Google Play and other outlets. Yep. It's always something...God, how I LOVE this business!!! Well, buy it, find all you favorite new songs and make me a rich and miserable man!
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2/9/17 - Well...she's DONE!!! Texas Soul is recorded, mastered and ready for her release on March 1st! Now. for the next month I'm doing the promo bit, interviews, hustling to get the single on the radio...all the stuff you know I just LOVE about the music business (was that sarcasm too light? Certainly wasn't meant to be...). Be sure and request Texas Soul on your favorite radio station and let's get this thing cookin'!
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1/28/17 - Well, about a month to go before we release Texas Soul and we're already getting quite a few bites! Josie Passantino picked one up for Country Blast Radio, KDRT 95.7 FM in Davis, CA on the Independent and Local show at 11am and 4pm, and others! Be sure to request your favorite songs, even if you don't know they're your favorites yet! Really looking forward to getting this released!
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1/2/17 - HAPPY NEW YEAR!!! Well, if you're reading this, we all made to 2017. Got some good things in the works for this year. First and foremost, working on the new CD. Three songs to go and this puppy is DONE! Really proud of this one so far (I know, I say that every time, but it's always true!). It's going to have all of your new favorite songs on it, but you'll have to buy 'er to find em. Titled Texas Soul, it will be out somewhere in the March-April neighborhood. New gigs in the works, artists looking at some of my tunes to record and a new CD coming...2017 lookin' pretty good so far!
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9/17/16 - Some interesting things going on out here in the Sunshine State! Been playing the Acoustic Den in Roseville, the H.art Lounge in Placerville and I have a show coming up on Oct 6th at Nicholson's Musicafe in Folsom. Come out and see me and we can shoot the bull for awhile, I'll tell you some lies, show you some new songs and we'll just generally have a large time!
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8/30/16 - Well...we made the big move! Due to some family health problems, Cathi and I have relocated to Orangevale, CA for a time. Lining up new shows out here and meeting a lot of great people along the way! The current list of shows are in the calendar above. Hope to see all of you in the area come out and make them great nights. Bringing a Texas flavor to California!
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7/28/16 - I will be doing a couple of Thursday acoustic shows (August 11th and September 1st) at Tx Pub in Porter, TX ( 23388 TX-494 Loop), anyone in the area come on out! I will also be at the Riverstock Music Festival at Warren County Park in Warrensburg, NY on September 10th and 11th for my buddy DJ Robert Rivers of Riverhead Radio. The following week on the the 17th and 18th we will be in Nashville to attend the Josie Music Awards with good friends Peter and Gaby Agrikola of Fair Play Country Magazine. Looking forward to seeing a lot of old friends and family and making new ones!
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5/17/16 - Guy Clark Passes Away At 74 - I can still remember clearly my first introduction to Guy Clark's music. That haunting piano and harmonica intro to LA Freeway on Jerry Jeff Walker's self titled album back in '72. The words just took me over and to another place. It was the honesty that got me. Made me see and feel the sadness of losing one home and the hope of finding another down the road. There were a few more cuts by Jerry Jeff before I actually got to hear Guy sing them. That Old Time Feeling, Like A Coat From The Cold, Desperado's (Waiting For A Train). Once I heard Guy's Old No. 1 album I was hooked for life through everything he did that followed! I wrote quite a few songs that were filed in the trash can before I finally kept Whiskey and Tears. It was the first one where I actually gave a piece of myself into the song and shared that honesty. He has always been the benchmark I have set for myself as a writer and always will be. I don't feel I've ever achieved his greatness and probably never will, but he left the bar to reach for. Though we never got to meet, you were the greatest teacher I ever had. RIP
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4/24/16 - Been a busy week! Did an on-air interview on AVA Live Radio with Jacqueline Jax on the 20th, reiceved a nice write-up from it in American Pride Magazine on the 22nd and then another on-air with Robert Rivers at Riverhead Radio on the 23rd. Finalizing rehearsal on the new material today and ready to start gigging! Looking forward to playing the new songs!
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4/18/16 - Pieces Of Me is now up and running and available at your favorite download site: iTunes, Amazon, emusic, Google Play, Rhapsody and Spotify. Still waiting for Amazon to get the CD's up and running, but they should be available in the next week or so...(fingers crossed)
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4/18/16 - I'll be doing a live interview on AVA Live Radio Wednesday April 20th at 5:20pm CT (6:20pm ET). Be sure to tune in. As usual, anything can happen!
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03/15/16 - The new CD, Pieces Of Me, is finally done and up for sale in the Store! It's now available on itunes, Google Play and CDBaby and will be available soon on Spotify and Emusic. It will be at Amazon in both download and CD. I'm always proud of my newest, but I think Pieces Of Me is my finest work so far. My musical tastes and influences come from all directions and that's the album I wanted to make. It starts off with a Southern Rock smoker called Greed Is The Devil's Handshake, then runs the gamut of acoustic ballads, straight country, blues and more rockers. I hope you enjoy it...I hope you buy it...I hope you play it til you wear it out and have to buy a new one!
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10/26/15 - Just got some really cool news. A project we have been working on, a new book called "Memory Lane Edition 1", put out by Gaby Agrikola and Fair Play Country Music, is at the publisher! It's full of stories on indy Country artists from around the world, including Scott Sharp, Annemarie Picerno, and yours truly! Really looking forward to seeing the finished product. Let ya know when it's ready to go. Stay tuned....
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10/24/15 - Got picked up by two more radio stations, Riverhead Radio and Radio Medusa out of the Netherlands, which is pretty cool! Thanks to Robert Rivers and Tony Medusa for the plays.
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9/10/15 - Doing a lot of writing lately and working on tracks for the new CD. It will have a little different approach as I'm getting back to my roots a little more. This one will have both electric and acoustic guitar leads, as well as more mandolin and harmonica. It will be a broader mix of Blues, Folk and Country and a little Southern Rock. Already feeling like a fun record!