Westcoast Rendez-Vous

Dean Owens "Whisky hearts"

February 27, 2009

Edinburgh based Dean Owens is one of Scotland’s most acclaimed and established singer / songwriters.

Previously the front-man of the much loved and lauded Americana act ‘The Felsons’, Dean has subsequently been recording and touring as a successful solo artist for the last three years. His first two solo albums ‘The Droma Tapes’ and ‘My Town’ were both very successful and attracted significant critical acclaim on release, while his new album ‘Whisky Hearts’, generally agreed to be his finest work to date, is set for its full commercial release on Navigator Records on the 15th September 2008. The release will be preceded and followed by a series of live dates around the country.

The album itself will be subject to a major national advertising campaign, while the sleeve notes for it are penned by no less than Irvine Welsh of ‘Trainspotting’ fame - a big fan of Deans. A track from ‘Whisky Hearts’ is also set to appear on a ‘Rock n’ Reel’ cover CD, exclusively featuring Navigator Records artists, in the August edition of the magazine.

Dean recorded ‘Whisky Hearts’ exclusively in Nashville, Tennessee with a band that featured many internationally acclaimed musicians from that area. They include Al Perkins (Flying Burrito Bros, Gram Parsons, Bob Dylan, Rolling Stones and, most recently, Solomon Burke); Thad Cockrell, Will Kimbrough (Americana Instrumentalist of the Year award winner / Rodney Crowell Band); Jen Gunderman (Jayhawks) and Robert Reynolds and Paul Deakin (The Mavericks) among others.

On its initial release in 2007 on Vermillion Road Records, ‘Whisky Hearts’ attracted highly positive national media reviews and radio play via the likes of Russell Brand, who recently played a track on his Saturday evening BBC Radio 2 programme - and followed this by affording Dean a rare live session on his show. The album also secured air time on the Radcliffe / Maconie and Aled Jones Radio 2 shows, and has been featured extensively on Radio Scotland, most notably the Tom Morton afternoon show, where Dean recently performed a live session and interview. Although not a country music artist as such, Dean has supported artists such as Steve Earle, Emmylou Harris and the Mavericks on UK tours, while he is now set to join Nanci Griffiths at the Royal Concert Hall in Perth on 1st August, 2008 during the ‘Southern Fried’ Festival.

Thanks to Peter Holmstedt - Hemifran

Posted by Arnaud LEGER on February 27, 2009 in About new material | Permalink | Comments (0)

Dropkick "Patchwork"

February 27, 2009

Dropkick's new album "Patchwork" was released on 1st November 2008. It is the band's first release on Swedish label Sound Asleep Records. Dropkick is a Scottish band who play catchy, countrified pop music with great harmonies and melodies that will stick in your head forever. Imagine Buddy Holly playing "duelling banjos" with Paul McCartney and you’re halfway there…

They were formed at school in a small town in Angus in 1995 by drummer/singer Andrew Taylor, guitarist Alastair Taylor (brothers) and bassist Ian Grier. At this time the band played original punk-pop songs but over the years, Dropkick's sound has gradually evolved from its punky origins into a much more mature alt-country style, yet without losing any of the punchy simplicity and immediacy of the songs.   The Taylor brothers have played with a variety of different musicians over the past decade including Martin Black (guitar) and Craig Hendry (who now plays drums for the Sugarbabes).

Founding member Ian Grier also had several lengthy spells in the band, most recently playing guitar and mandolin from September 2005 to August 2006. The current line-up is completed by cousin Stuart Low and the unrelated Roy W. Taylor. Dropkick have written over 600 songs and most of these have been recorded in some form or other. They have released 6 albums and 1 EP on their own Taylored Records label. The latest Dropkick album “Turning Circles” shows off their songwiting skills and multi-instrumental talents to the full. It is also their most diverse album and features, for the first time, songs written by Roy W. Taylor. The album has already been awarded a 5 star review by Scottish independent music magazine Is This Music?

Thanks to Peter Holmstedt - Hemifran

Posted by Arnaud LEGER on February 27, 2009 in About new material | Permalink | Comments (0)

Aggieland "Heading for the sun"

February 27, 2009

In times of falling CD sales, due mainly to 'free' downloads of digital music, you've got to have a better excuse then being a dumb blond to make your debut album. Well, initially singer songwriter Aggie de Kruijf wasn't thinking of a CD at all. She just wanted to record her first songs ever. As a singer of The Very Girls she was touring the USA in 2002. Spending a lot of time on the road listening to the radio in the tour van, the band criticized songs they heard on the car radio.

Guitar player Stephan Jankowski challenged Aggie to write some lyrics herself. She accepted, providing he'd come up with a melody for it. To make a long story short: she started making songs and writing lyrics. The simple recording plan for this material soon turned into a more complicated process of co-writing songs, playing live music, recording their creations and enjoying fantastic contributions of guest musicians. One result of this process was the launch of their debut-CD 'Welcome to Aggieland' in 2005. In Aggieland the makers express what's on their mind. Everyday life as well as the world we live in are observed, and reflect in the lyrics and melodious, subdued singer-songwriter-folk-music.

Participating with Working Wonders in the (United Nations) International Music Aid Music Awards in 2006, Aggieland was voted Best Band for the Netherlands!

Thanks to Peter Holmstedt - Hemifran

Posted by Arnaud LEGER on February 27, 2009 in About new material | Permalink | Comments (0)

Jon Brooks "Moth Nor Rust"

February 27, 2009

Upon his return from a 1997 pilgrimage to war ruined Bosnia-Herzegovina, Jon Brooks traded guitar for pen, claiming his faith in popular music as a legitimate healer had been challenged. In 2005 - after 8 years of neither writing music nor performing - Brooks declared an opposing view to be equally true: that "only the art of song carries within itself the means toward greater social justice and community survival”.

Brooks: “I aim to comfort the disturbed and disturb the comfortable. I want to improve our world by showing it, as truthfully as possible, to others. As well, I believe I owe you, the listener, some hopeful argument as to why we should believe our world could be improved. I believe songs can afford us the rare chance to see others as we might see ourselves. In this sense, the folk singer is simply trying to politicize love, hence, my contention that today’s songwriter should be a lobbyist for compassion to be our principle representative in government office”.  

In 2006 he released 'No Mean City', a weighty and conceptual exposition of the modern urban soul’s homelessness and moral fatigue. 2007 afforded Brooks only superlative acclaim with the release of 'Ours And The Shepherds', a CD of Canadian war stories inspired by James Loney, Senator Romeo Dallaire, Sgt. Tommy Prince, and John McRae among others. The collection earned Brooks a ‘Best Songwriter’ nomination at the 2007 Canadian Folk Music Awards. Penguin Eggs deemed it “a thoroughly wonderful and truly important addition to the canon of Canadian folk music”. 'Ours And The Shepherds' is now among the collections of The Canadian War Museum and The John McRae Society.  

His third CD, ‘Moth Nor Rust,’ is an investigation into all the living things that neither “moth nor rust” can touch: love, hope, memory, justice, faith; in a word, peace. More than a celebration of the inner life, 'Moth Nor Rust' is an implicit reminder of how the folk song may be a means toward lifting humanity in the 21st century.

Thanks to Peter Holmstedt - Hemifran

Posted by Arnaud LEGER on February 27, 2009 in About new material | Permalink | Comments (1)