Previous month:
January 2010
Next month:
March 2010

Zinc Music News Update

It may seem that Zink Music has been lazy lately, but the fact is quite the contrary! They have stopped doing promotion, marketing and distribution for other record companies to be able to fully focus on the label, and they promise - 2010 will be a great year! 

Peterfriestedt-thelaproject 

April 16th sees the next release, it is a much asked for re-release of the first “LA Project” album from Peter Friestedt, which have been out of print for several years now. The artwork has been reworked, still using the original picture though, lyrics are added as well as liner notes from the likes of Bill Champlin, Bill Cantos and from Peter himself. This reissue also added five bonus tracks, two live cuts, two great alternative takes and one previously unreleased tune. 

License-hogtspel
On May 21 Zinc Music will release what is one of the biggest Swedish Westcoast classics of all time, namely the debut album “Högt Spel” by Licence, from 1981 and now for the first time available on CD! Hailed as Sweden's answer to Airplay, a marvelous piece of music featuring Björn Ström (Fingerprints & West Of Sunset) on vocals and Jana Persson on guitar. All songs sung in Swedish, except for one of the two bonus tracks, the album was remastered using the original master-tapes! More details to follow soon on both of these two and also on some other releases… 

Will follow some cool titles: Spin Gallery “Embrace”, Bronk “s/t”, Johannes Zetterberg ”Luna Nueva”, Corin & Edman “Roc de Light”, Tim Feehan “s/t”, Sayit “s/t” and Toys Of Joy “One of These Days”.


Discover the music of Easton Corbin...

Easton
Easton Corbin knew he wanted to be a country singer well before he learned how to play guitar. 

After earning a business degree through the College of Agriculture at the University of Florida, Easton took two important steps. He got married on September 2, 2006, and on October 14 the couple moved to Nashville where he used making regular trips to Nashville to perform at writer’s nights. 

When a distant cousin, also a professor of music management at the University of Montana, heard Easton’s music, he asked if he could send it to some of his Nashville contacts. Among those who were impressed by Easton’s music was booking agent James Yelich, and Joe Fisher, who had recently joined Universal Music Group Nashville as Senior Director of A&R. The two men were blown away and Fisher quickly signed him to the label. 

Easton, whose musical influences include George Jones, Merle Haggard, George Strait and Keith Whitley, found a kindred spirit in producer Carson Chamberlain, who years earlier had toured with Whitley as his steel guitar player and bandleader. 

The two men began working in earnest. The result is an over-the-top album that includes cuts from Nashville’s top songwriters, including Mark D. Sanders, Wynn Varble, Tony Lane and David Lee, among others. 

Like his heroes Strait and Whitley, Easton is unapologetically country. His songs, while rooted in the present, call to mind simpler times when the back porch was where folks gathered to network. Steel guitars and fiddles are as much a part of his sound as his baritone drawl. 

First single, “A Little More Country Than That,” which was written by Rory Feek, Don Poythress and Varble, paints a picture of rural life that speaks to Easton’s small town sensibilities. Now that his life long dream is upon him, Easton says he’s ready. “I just want to make great country music,” he says. “Just the opportunity to play music for a living is a great thing. I’m just thankful to have the opportunity to do what I’m doing now.”


Watch Giant Exclusive new single "Promised Land"

Giant
GIANT, the powerhouse Rock quartet, now formed by founding members David Huff and Mike Brignardello, together with Terry Brock and John Roth, will unleash their highly anticipated fourth album “Promise Land” on the international markets on February 26th in Europe and March 9th in the USA.

Giant have launched the band’s new official website at www.gianttheband.com and offer to watch the band’s videoclip of "Promise Land" the single off the new album. Enjoy!

Danny Gokey "My Best Days"

Danny

Daniel Jay "Danny" Gokey is an American singer and church music director from Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He was the third place finalist on the eighth season of American Idol. After his placing on the show, Gokey signed to RCA Records Nashville as the beginning of a career in country music, releasing the single "My Best Days Are Ahead of Me." The single debuted at #55 on the U.S. Billboard Hot Country Songs chart for the chart week of December 26, 2009. 

As of September 2009, Danny Gokey has finished his tour with the other idols on the American Idols LIVE! Tour 2009, and he is also working on his foundation, Sophia's Heart, which was set up to help disadvantaged children.

Gokey's debut album, "My Best Days", will be released on March 2, 2010. In support of the album, Gokey will be the opening act on Sugarland's upcoming Incredible Machine tour which begins in April.


Interview with John Robinson at Bluedesert!

Jr02
John "JR" Robinson are currently touring with David Foster on the "Hitman" tour. Beside that working on many on studio sessions, just listen to the latest release from George Benson. John "JR"Robinson has always been one of the "cats" and he is knowed as one of the top drummers in the music industry. Many west coast albums has "JR" featured on the tracks. The Bluedesert team is pleased to present an interview with the musician. "JR"talks about new projects and giving us an insight on some old stuff.

A new album for Toby Hitchcok

Toby
Erik Martensson (ECLIPSE, W.E.T) has been busy writing songs for the first solo album of the fantastic American vocalist Toby Hitchcock. Toby has been singing on three studio and one live album with Pride Of Lions, the band put together by Jim Peterik: founding member of the legendary AOR band Survivor. The whole album will be produced at Martensson’s Blowout Productions Studios in Sweden. Musically will explore some heavier and more contemporary material for Toby, but will still keep some incredible melodies very close to the most recent Journey sound. You can expect a true Melodic Rock gem for the second half of 2010.

Best of Ricky Peterson

Rickypeterson4
Here is a compilation of Ricky Peterson songs that through the years have been hard to get a hold of. These two CD's are most of Ricky's favorite songs that he has recorded through out the past 20 years. "I still feel that they hold up because of the way they were performed, recorded and mixed. Plus I've added three new funky-ass organ tunes that I know you're going to dig" says Ricky. 

The Best of Ricky Peterson is available at cbbaby!


Alan Parsons "Eye 2 Eye" Live in Madrid

Alan-Parsons-CD
 Legendary studio wizard Alan Parsons returns with a live concert recording - Eye 2 Eye - Live In Madrid to be released March 19 in Europe and April 6 in the USA on Frontiers Records.  Eye 2 Eye - Live In Madrid will come out in two separate configurations in CD and DVD format.

Eye 2 Eye - Live In Madrid was filmed and recorded at the May 14, 2004 show in Playa Mayor - Madrid, Spain. The location is a gorgeous plaza surrounded by historic buildings and is a legacy to a very fine performance from an outstanding group of musicians. 

Alan Parsons’ career started aged 19 when he worked on The Beatles last two albums, Let It Be and then Abbey Road, an album recorded in the legendary London studios of the same name. He soon become a well respected studio engineer and producer, working for Paul McCartney, John Miles, The Hollies, Al Stewart and Pink Floyd among others. He is particularly renowned for his work on the Pink Floyd masterpiece Dark Side of The Moon. This classic album was recorded in 1972, and Parsons’ contribution to the album is legendary.

Alan-Parsons

With The Alan Parsons Project, Alan went on to release 10 acclaimed studio albums but never performed live, even after several US and UK Top 20 hits. The Project ended in 1990 when Eric Woolfson and Alan went separate ways. Eric devoted his career to the musical theatre, while Parsons felt the need to bring his music to the live concert stage and to continue to record conceptual symphonic rock music.

As well as receiving gold and platinum awards from many nations, Alan Parsons has received 12 Grammy Award nominations for engineering and production. In 2007 he received a nomination for Best Surround Sound Album for A Valid Path. 

Eye 2 Eye – Live in Madrid features an outstanding performance and for many fans this is the first opportunity to see Alan Parsons' touring band. The musicians’ performances are superb throughout, and this could well be the definitive band line-up that Alan has toured with. An added treat is Alan singing lead vocals on three songs as well as all band members sharing the lead vocal duties.


Gail Swanson "Simple Truth"

SimpleTruthCoverforAmazon
Doobie Brother Pat Simmons has recently produced some songs on the new album Simple Truth by Maui singer-songwriter Gail Swanson. The album has just been released, and other familiar names of those participating in the project include: John McFee, Michael McDonald, James “Hutch” Hutchinson (bass player for Bonnie Raitt), Hawaii’s amazing John Cruz, and music icon Willie Nelson

Says Pat, “Gail is one of my closest friends here in Maui. She opened the Doobies’ first concert at the Maui Arts and Cultural Center 15 years ago. Since then we have played together many times, shared a lot of musical ideas, and enjoyed the opportunity to explore writing and recording together. It’s been so much fun, and I’m real proud of her and the CD.” Pat’s wife, Cris collaborated with Gail to write the song “The One That Got Away.” 

When they played the first mixes for Willie Nelson, he liked the song so much, that he asked to sing and play on the track. After he was finished, he was so happy with the result, that he decided to include the song on his album of duets, tentatively titled, “Willie And The Girls”. 

Michael McDonald makes his debut on the ukulele, playing and singing with Gail on the beautiful song, “End Of The World.” John McFee’s incredible dobro playing can be heard on “Matter To You”, along with Hutch, Mike, and Pat, joining in on various instruments and background vocals. 

Gail’s amazing cover of the John Cruz tune, “Missing You” (with the writer singing backgrounds and playing guitar) is inspiring, and is definitely one of the high points of the the album. We could go on and on here, but you should check this wonderful ten song album out for yourself. Click here to go to Gail’s website where you can listen to clips and purchase the CD.

 


AURAS "New Generation"

AURAS
Hailing from Brazil, Auras is one of the most exciting new acts to hit the AOR-rock scene in the past few years and with the release of their debut album New Generation they are ready to prove the world that acts such as Journey, The Storm, Toto and Survivor have found a credible heir from South America! 

Auras was formed in the beginning of 2007 by singer Gui Oliver and guitarist Ferpa Lacerda. Tired of playing in cover bands and feeling they were musically mature enough, both musicians decided to write some new music. The first song coming out of this collaboration Hungry Hearts was sent out to several producers and musicians around the world, gathering some very warm response. Gui and Ferpa therefore kept on writing more material until their songs landed on Frontiers Records desk who some immediately some concrete interest, making Auras the first band from South America to sign with the label. 

New Generation is the result of years of hard work and faith in our music, explains Gui Oliver. It sounds corny, but it’s really a dream that came true especially for a Brazilian band where this kind of music is not very popular. We really have to thank Frontiers for their trust and support. Being a real band, not just a studio project, Auras had their live debut supporting their idols Jeff Scott Soto and Jimi Jamison in Curitiba, Auras hometown. Hearing the band play, Jamison mentioned that Auras songs took him back to the eighties and reminded him of the great bands of that period. 

Aurasd

Artists like Toto, Journey and Survivor, tells Gui, are known worldwide and in Brazil it’s not different: their classic hits are still on the radio. Their music touched me in different ways. It was not only the beautiful and amazing melodies, but their songs also had great lyrics. Ferpa also grew up in a very musical family and this kind of music was always part of his life. Definitely melodic rock and AOR in Brazil is not for the masses but we have a faithful and loyal audience. We received lots of emails of people saying how proud they were of us about the album. During the recording process the great jazz drummer Edu Sallum, who had already played with Rafael Moreira (Pink, Christina Aguilera, Rockstar INXS, Paul Stanley), joined the band, and the local studio musicians Matheus Brandon and Hemerson Vieira helped to complete New Generation. 

The album was finally mixed and mastered to sonic perfection by Dennis Ward (Pink Cream 69, Sunstorm, Place Vendome, Khymera etc.). Love, dreams, faith and hope are what Auras music is all about.