Known as one of Country’s most celebrated voices, Richie McDonald is taking center stage with his much-anticipated CD, Slow Down.  The album features 12 songs, including the title track and the newly released single, Footprints on the Moon. The CD showcases the chart-topping singer/songwriter’s signature style and his unique ability to capture the essence of hope, love, and family life. Slow Down was produced by McDonald and Tommy Lee James.

The award-winning artist describes the project as a musical journey marked with distinct sounds and purpose. "Recording and releasing Slow Down has been a process that started three years ago. Over the years people have associated me as being a ballad singer and I can't lie, I am a softy for ballads. With that in mind, Tommy Lee James and I went into the studio and recorded a ballad album. Every song has a message that will, hopefully, touch someone’s heart and make a difference in their life,” McDonald says.

Richie McDonald’s storied career includes having been the iconic voice and focal point for Country group, Lonestar.  A Grammy-nominated performer, he’s received a mantel collection of CMA, ACM, and BMI honors and awards, plus multiple gold and platinum albums.  Songwriting accolades for the Texas native include songs recorded by John Michael Montgomery, Clay Walker, Billy Dean, Sara Evans, the Wilkinsons, and more.

McDonald lives in the Nashville area with his wife, Lorie, and their three children. He diligently supports various charities such as St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, Feed the Children, the Minnie Pearl Cancer Center and Children’s Miracle Network.

Sonny Axell is a pianist-singer born 1982 in St Etienne, France, to musician parents. He showed great interest in music from a very young age, starting piano lessons at age five, then attending the National Conservatoire Primary School. It is indeed a rare thing that a child, younger than ten, shows such interest in jazz, boogie, and getting albums by Erroll Garner, Duke Ellington, and even Stevie Wonder and Earth Wind & Fire to be played in his bedroom...

The Director of the Conservatoire advised Sonny's parents for him to also attend jazz lessons at the adjacent music school, creating a precedent as later on the two institutions would combine. He took a few singing classes, but finally decided to self teach, whilst accompanying himself on the piano.

The first proffessionel contracts soon followed and he would eventually meet other musicians with whom he would affirm his own personal style.

Incontestably influenced by rhythm'n'blues and Motown, he appeared at many jazz clubs and private events during the next ten years, notably the opening act of the Casino Ruhl in Nice as a trio.

He met Sugarblue in 2007 and accompanied him on tours. Things then moved fast and Sonny decided to start work on his very own project.

Sonny presented his compositions to Pigsound studio in Los Angeles who agreed to support him on the project. Thus it was at the Sound Studios in L.A. that the final recordings took place, an intense collaboration which allowed the album to be finished in the latter months of 2010.

Mainly influenced by Stevie Wonder and Quincy Jones, the album "Ready" has just been released, with a showcase in Monaco, to critical acclaim.

Thanks to Peter Holmstedt at Hemifran

Singer-songwriter Kiki Ebsen has a warm, relaxed, personal style of delivery that lets an audience know they're about to experience a wonderful musical celebration. Her music has drawn comparisons to Carole King, Rickie Lee Jones and Laura Nyro, artists she also pays tribute to on her new album, "Cool Songs Vol 1".

Set for a spring 2011 release, "Cool Songs Vol 1" features adaptations of favorites from the Beatles, Carole King, Cyndi Lauper, Kate Bush, Joni Mitchell and more. Thanks to contributors like Steve Oliver, Kiki delivers a moving collection that is sometimes sparse, at other times full in color, and always captivating.

Buy the hard copy CD now and help benefit horses and humans. 100% of the proceeds will be donated to The Healing Equine Ranch, to facilitate equine assisted growth learning programs and equine mobile visits to senior centers and schools.

Thanks to Peter Holmstedt at Hemifran

TOTO Singer Joseph Williams and acclaimed guitarist/songwriter Peter Friestedt teams up for a new remarkable CD release! The record combines Williams's outstanding vocal performances with Friestedt's top notch guitar work and superbly crafted arrangements.

It is a melodic masterpiece with songs ranging from AOR and Pop to R&B and AC. Joseph's extraordinary vocals blends beautifully with impeccable background vocals arranged by Joseph, Bill Champlin and Lars Säfsund(Work Of Art).

Peter's fantastic guitar work shines throughout the album, going from sensitive acoustic guitar, slick rhythm lines to blistering solos. "Working with Joseph is always a treat, we´ve been doing concerts in Scandinavia together and during this period the idea of doing a whole record together was brought up", says Peter. "It's been an exciting process making this record. The great contributions and dedicated work from songwriters and musicians resulted in a record exceeding all expectations" The line up includes guests such as former Chicago singer Bill Champlin, John "JR" Robinson, Randy Goodrum and Bill Cantos!

What makes this record irresistable is the blend of stellar musicianship and state of the art songwriting! This combined with a high quality production makes it a must have for any fan of classy, melodic music.

The first single "Say Goodbye" is available at ZincMusik store!

"I recieved yesterday this album from Some Kind Of Haven and already played it several times. Beautiful voices and catchy melodies make every song a pleasant moment" Arnaud

Some Kind Of Haven is a collaboration between producer / songwriter Johan Stentorp and singer Alexandra Hamnede. John has over the years written and produced songs for Swedish and foreign artists, including Peter Cox (lead singer of Go West), MLTR (Michael Learns To Rock), Charlotte Perelli, Simon Matthew, Ronan Keating, and others), and previously also been a member of bands The Trampolines and Time Gallery. Alexandra is a trained vocal coach, both live and studio contexts backed numerous artists. She has also collaborated with among other things, Noel Hogan (formerly of the Cranberries) on his solo project, Mono Band. Alexandra was also a former member of ambient band that including Bliss was featured on the soundtrack to the first "Sex And The City" movie that reached second place on the Billboard charts. She has also sung a duet with Boy George, and last summer she was part of the hand-picked choir that backed Stevie Wonder in the last three songs of his concert at Parken in Copenhagen.

How does the Some Kind Of Heaven?
 The duo themselves describe the music as a mix of American singer / songwriter tradition and the more melodic British guitar pop. Throw in a dose of Swedish melancholy and a touch of country music, so maybe you can imagine. "We are influenced by artists like Lisa Loeb, Sheryl Crow, Faith Hill and Aimee Mann, but there are definitely traces of bands like Crowded House, Squeeze, Jellyfish, too."

Thanks to Johan Stentorp & Bjorn Soderqvist

Journey, one of the most popular American rock bands of all time, is gearing up to unleash their latest album of brand new material, Eclipse. The album will be released in the U.S. and Canada on May 24 exclusively at Walmart and beginning June 3 in Europe on Frontiers Records.

To follow the release of Eclipse, Journey will launch the "Eclipse Tour" with Foreigner, and special guest Night Ranger, beginning July 21 at Rio Tinto Stadium in Salt Lake City, UT. Fans can expect to hear new songs from Eclipse as well as classics such as Don't Stop Believin', Any Way You Want It, Faithfully, Lights, Separate Ways, Wheel In The Sky, and many more.

"I'm in love with this record, which I haven't said about one of our albums for a long time," says founding member and lead guitarist, Neal Schon. "It's a rock record and it sounds amazing." Commenting on the upcoming tour, Schon continued, "We've got a lot of hits to play and there's plenty of time to do some new stuff too, so we're gonna mix it up. We haven't toured with Foreigner for over 10 years, so we're really looking forward to this run."

In an interview with the Las Vegas Review-Journal, keyboardist Jonathan Cain recently described Eclipse as "a concept record with some spiritual themes to it…pretty tough, hard-hitting stuff." Jonathan continued, "We just felt like it was time to send a message to the world about how we feel about life in general." Journey toured the world for two years in support of their 2008 release, Revelation. More than a million fans attended the shows, and welcomed new lead singer Arnel Pineda. Completing the Journey lineup is Schon (guitars, backing vocals), Cain (keyboards, backing vocals), Ross Valory (bass, backing vocals) and Deen Castronovo (drums, percussion, backing vocals). Revelation marked the band's biggest first week's sales in more than a decade, debuting at #5 on the Billboard 200 in June 2008 and taking the top spot on the Independent Albums chart. Revelation earned the band their 11th Platinum album certification to date, leading The New York Times to declare that "the band…feels alive."

Since its formation in 1973, Journey has earned 19 Top 40 singles and 25 gold and platinum albums. The band's Greatest Hits album is certified 15 times platinum, bringing Journey into the elite club of Diamond-certified album holders. The group also received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2005.

One of the most popular and defining musicians of his generation, Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Billy Joel has sold more than 100 million albums and consistently sells out arenas and stadiums around the world. From the song which first brought him wide notice, "Piano Man," through such legendary hits as “Movin’ Out (Anthony’s Song),” “New York State of Mind,” “Just the Way You Are," and numerous others, in his upcoming memoir, 
THE BOOK OF JOEL: A Memoir, written with Fred Schruers, Joel brings us along for the emotional ride, unveiling the life events that brought the original inspiration for his songs, then sharing insights into the process of writing and recording them.

A concert celebrating the end of an era: The Beatles opened it and Billy Joel closed it. The Last Play At Shea, staged on July 16 and July 18, 2008 before a combined 110,000 fans, comprised the final performances ever at the historic stadium. Live At Shea Stadium contains two and a half hours of hits and album favorites, featuring special guests Paul McCartney, Tony Bennett, Garth Brooks, John Mayer, John Mellencamp, Steven Tyler and Roger Daltrey. Live At Shea Stadium captures the music and memories of a generation.

Escape Music are pleased to announce the release of the brand new Shadowman album Watching Over You, due out April 22. Produced by Steve Morris and mixed by Tommy Hansen, the album is set to feature 12 new songs.

It has been seven years since the debut album by Shadowman was released ("Land of the Living"). The album was warmly received by all who had a penchant for good old British melodic hard rock. As you would expect Shadowman had elements of both Heartland and FM deeply embedded in its grooves, yet it was highly original and was often touted as the best British melodic release of 2004. Two years later in 2006 and the eagerly awaited follow up "Different Angles" became an important album for this quartet that also includes both Harry James and Chris Childs of Thunder. The unmistakable guitar trademark sound of Steve Morris and the vocals of Steve Overland will always shine through at a very early stage.

Shadowman is a band that is all about great rock music who will win you over with charm. Quality rock music is so hard to find these days and it is reassuring to know that it hasn't lost its way. Enter "Watching Over You", a brand new release for 2011. These boys just mature nicely as time passes and new songs like "Renegades", "Waiting for a miracle" and "Are you Ready" will set pulses racing.

After the acclaimed movie "Crazy Heart" staring Jeff Bridges, a new movie focuses Country Music: Country Strong!

The story: Soon after a rising young singer-songwriter gets involved with a fallen, emotionally unstable country star, the pair embark on a career resurrection tour helmed by her husband/manager and featuring a beauty-queen-turned-singer. Between concerts, romantic entanglements and old demons threaten to derail them all.

The Original Motion Picture Soundtrack for the film Country Strong includes original songs from the movie performed by Gwyneth Paltrow, Garrett Hedlund, Tim McGraw, Chris Young, Patti Loveless, Lee Ann Womack, Ronnie Dunn, Hank Williams Jr., Faith Hill, Trace Adkins and Leighton Meester.

A second cd was released to complete the soundtrack titled Country Strong (More Music from the Motion Picture).

It’s spring! As we celebrate the start of the baseball season, the end of the basketball season and the release of Tower of Power’s 40th Anniversary album, the operative phrase in everyone’s ears is “We Came To Play.” But then, Tower of Power has “come to play,” every single time they take to the stage over the last 42 years. The horn driven soul and funk machine has toured consistently playing to so(u)ld out crowds around the world. And after 40 years, four of the original musicians still play with the band.

Similar to sports teams, however, Tower of Power has had numerous players take free agency with other musical prospects. So the 40th Anniversary show gave the band an opportunity to stage their version of “Old Timer’s Day,” bringing 20 former members to work with the ongoing ten player line-up.

“When we were young and we’d lose somebody, it seemed like the end of the world,” TOP founder Emilio Castillo told Gary Graff. “But it started happening at such an early age in our career, and we always overcame it and always got great people to come in.”

Captured live at the Legendary Fillmore Auditorium in San Francisco in 2008, this extraordinary show welcomed such former members as Greg Adams, TOP’s trumpeter and arranger for 20 years and subsequently one of the architects of the “smooth Jazz” sound; Chester Thompson, who moved on to play keys for Santana and Elton John; and chart topping “smooth jazz” sax player and first call session guy Richard Elliott.

At a show recorded on the band’s actual anniversary, former TOP member Lenny Pickett, long time sax player for the Saturday Night Live band, joined in. He’s in the bonus footage and is interviewed. Legendary vocalist Sam Moore, of Sam and Dave, added to the funkified festivities with “I Thank You,” and Otis Redding’s “Mr. Pitiful.”

The DVD is dedicated to Steve “Skip” Mesquite, long time alto player for TOP, who made the show and passed on shortly afterward.

The CD and DVD package is a slam dunk of soulful funk, with such great Tower of Power hits as “What is Hip?” “You’re Still A Young Man,” the ever timely “Only So Much Oil In The Ground,” and “This Time It’s Real.” After 40 years, this band can clearly still hit it out of the ballpark.

“It was probably the most special night of our entire career,” said Castillo. “Getting together and playing again with those guys we’d spent so much time with on the road. It was magic.”

Thanks to Anne Leighton