Contante & Sonante proudly presents the new, definitive chapter of the 'Original Demos' series dedicated to the late, unforgettable Warren Wiebe (1953-1998). The departed singing sensation has always been a fixture of our previous releases. All those precious gems touch the hearts and please the ears of quality music lovers in every corner of the world.

2018 marks the 20th Anniversary of Wiebe's untimely passing, so we decided to release 'Original Demos Ft. Warren Wiebe' to honor his memory. The album is a precious, must-have collection of songs that the late singer recorded for a who's who of songwriting stars, including David Foster, Burt Bacharach & Tonio K., Steve Dorff, Tom Snow, Gardner & Fuller, Guy Thomas and Tim Feehan.

'Original Demos Ft. Warren Wiebe' presents fourteen studio recordings, eight of which are previously unreleased gems, never heard on CD before.

A release that truly brings things full circle for our record label. We've worked hard for years to fulfill it, and we're very happy to finally be able to present this collection of songs to all of you. Released in a limited edition of only 1000 copies.

Track listing: 1. The Colour Of My Love * 2. Live Each Day * 3. Never Take That Chance Again 4. Love Made Me Wait * 5. A Little Thing Called Life 6. The Echo Of Your Whisper 7. You're Welcome In My Life 8. Spend A Little Time With You * 9. 17 Years 10. Nothing That I Wouldn't Do 11. The Day I First Saw You * 12. Lorelei * 13. Don't Tell My Heart * 14. Make A Wish * (* PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED)

It's Paul's 17th album, a run that began way back in 1980, but which has been building real, independent momentum since he formed his own Carrack-UK label in 2000 with the landmark 'Satisfy My Soul' release.

Since the turn of the century, Paul has quietly built a huge, loyal fan base, the audience that not only devours his albums, but turns out to see his frequent, extensive tours in their thousands. He's done that the only way he knows, by making high-quality, accessible pop-soul with unmissable hooks and lyrics that say something about all of our lives. That's more true than ever on 'These Days.

' The album's stunning line-up features Paul on keyboards and guitar and regular bandmate Jeremy Meek on bass, joined by Robbie McIntosh (Paul McCartney, Pretenders, Norah Jones, John Mayer) on lead guitar and drummer Steve Gadd, Paul's Eric Clapton bandmate who has graced the work of everyone from Steely Dan to James Taylor. As if their exemplary playing wasn't enough, the album's horn section is hand-picked and overseen by the mighty Pee Wee Ellis, the American saxophone ace who was an integral part of James Brown's shows and records of the vintage 'Cold Sweat' era.

Five tracks on 'These Days' have lyrics by Paul's friend, former Squeeze bandmate and consummate wordsmith Chris Difford. "

"At this point in my life and career, I am happy to be given any opportunities, and I am really, really proud to be doing this album. It’s a project very dear to me – a collection of songs by artists who have departed in the last several years including Leonard Cohen, David Bowie, Tom Petty, Chris Cornell, Amy Winehouse, and George Michael to name a few. I feel these souls have made a real, lasting contribution to the art of the popular song, and to honor them is my deepest pleasure." Ann Wison

Track Listings Disc: You Don't Own Me (feat. Warren Haynes), I Am The Highway, Luna (feat. Warren Haynes), I'm Afraid of Americans, Politician, A Thousand Kisses Deep (feat. Ben Mink), Life In The Fast Lane, Back to Black (feat. Ben Mink), A Different Corner, Baker Street

GROUNDBREAKER is the new musical project featuring singer Steve Overland (FM) and Robert Sall (Work of Art, W.E.T).

The resulting self/titled debut album is simply everything that a Melodic Rock fan would hope and dream of: expect nothing else than soaring hooklines, magnificent melodies and amazing instrumental performances. Mixing the British and Swedish melodic rock traditions, Groundbreaker is truly the best of both worlds and one of the highlights of the entire Melodic Rock season!

The album started with a conversation happened between Frontiers President Serafino Perugino and Overland, eager to start a collaboration with new and exciting musicians from the European melodic rock scene. The idea was immediately work involve Robert Sall of Work of Art in the picture and use Alessandro Del Vecchio’s production. Overland immediately loved the material that was submitted and consequently they started to work on songs.

"I’m the main composer for about half of the songs but Ale and Steve wrote a lot as well,” tells Robert Sall. “I had to write songs with Steve´s voice in mind and that was new and very inspiring to me. But for any fan of FM or Work of Art, I think they will be very familiar with the sound of this record!"

The recording process was really smooth and of course the delightful vocal and instrumental performances made the overall process very pleasant for everyone who was involved. Groundbreaker is keen to play live in selected shows and festivals. Lookout for a true magic gig in a town near you sometime soon!

« It all began at a « Record Your Own Voice «  booth at the Penny Arcade in Rockaway Beach, New York circa in 1958. It’s been quite an adventure and we thank you for keeping our music in your life.

We started this album a long time ago… that’s the way it goes I guess when you don’t have a record company that has you on retainer which is the pressure of, « Hurry up and write more of those great catchy songs! »… Really?

Also we did let life get in the way, which is important! So it took a little longer but we feel so good about this collection of music that we are here to tell you what went into making this album, lots of personal experiences, obviously, but also there are a few interesting stories and inspirations that brought this album about. It might be the best for us to tell you the stories and let you figure out what songs they relate to.. or not.

Frankie Valli called us and said « Write me a feel good party song, kinda like « %@#(*… we said ok and wrote « Let It All Out ». Frankie loves the song. Hopefully, it’ll be on his next album but while we were producing our version of it, Billy had this haunting piano piece which we then wrote a ballad for Frankie, « All I Want ».

Inspiration can come from the passion you can feel about a dog or a cat! Suitcase is inspired by the look in Billy’s dogs eyes when he brings down his suitcase to get ready for a work travel! His dog would sit in the suitcase with the saddest look! We couldn’t resist but write « Suitcase » Then there is the adoration we cat lovers can feel for our feline friends! Fred, was a stray that would show up on Bobby and Camilla’s property.

Sometimes in the rain! He was afraid to trust people for a reason we’ll never know. They say that the pet picks the owner. Fred was a beautiful red freckled need cat that became a strong family member but for way too short of time. He passed away early in his young life. This is the beautiful inspired track called, « For Fred ».

« Life’s A Cliche » co-writer Mike Ricciardella sent us this great Beatle-ly guitar riff that inspired the song! Thanks Mike.

« Top O f The World » reminiscing on the early days of riding the entertainment roller coaster.

« Fly Away » How you feel when your girlfriend goes back to Brazil. « Zombie Love » Bobby’s wife Camilla loves Zombie movies and shows. Now it’s true love.

« Pelagias Song » Just a beautiful piece of music from the Captain’s Mandolin that we love to play. « On The Water » One of our favorite place to be.

Enjoy! B&B

“Greetings from Kauai, Hawaii, 21 degrees north by 159 degrees west. A bit of  backstory. I've been singing professionally since I was 12 years old. Released my first 45 rpm single at 17, became a songwriter at 19, and have released 5 previous studio albums of original material thus far. My whole life has been about the making of music, and that has led to this, my newest recording 'Two Sides To Every Story'. 

Written and recorded over the last 6 years this collection of songs could possibly be my most far reaching album yet. Blending elements of soul, blues, jazz, rock and singer songwriter, the resulting album contains 8 songs with vocals, and 7 instrumentals. 

Ranging from a solo acoustic guitar slack key instrumental to full-blown ensemble tracks with some of the worlds tastiest musicians, including players from Steely Dan,  the  James Taylor Band, Yellowjackets and Crosby Stills & Nash, plus many other stellar studio cats and kittens from Kauai, Nashville, and Los Angeles. Needless to say, I'm beyond stoked at the performances of my musical compatriots. ‘Two Sides To Every Story’ was mixed in Montreal by multi platinum engineer Paul Northfield (Rush, Dream Theater). 

Several compositions, like 'Dating Game', a dude's eye look into some of the head scratching scenarios in online dating, and 'Geezer Talk', a lighthearted laundry list of the daily ailments thrust upon unsuspecting baby boomers aim to induce some much needed humor. A few tunes express the wishful thinking of one who dreams big, as in 'If Only' and 'Is That Asking Too Much?', while 'Troubled Times' takes an unflinching look at the darkly disturbing aspects of our current worrisome world. Most of the songs have been written in recent times, but the instrumental  'In Search Of' goes all the way back to Malibu, California, in 1973. Some things take a while.

Instrumentals and vocals. Humor and deadly serious. Two sides. Looking towards an August release, stay tuned.” - Allan Thomas

Thanks to Peter Holmstedt at HEMIFRAN

Emerging americana folk artist Nichole Wagner is set to release her full length debut, ”And The Sky Caught Fire”, on August 24th, 2018. For this album, the Austin based singer songwriter delivers emotionally intense lyrics spiked with hard truths bookended by her soulfully broad, raspy tinged vocals and thoughtful arrangements.

"This is unashamedly a relationship record, and all of the songs on it are very honest, though I may have slightly shifted a few very specific details, just to keep from hurting anyone unnecessarily”, confesses the straight shooting Wagner, who not coincidentally grew up obsessing over every heart tangled note of Fleetwood Mac's ”Rumours”.

Produced, engineered, mixed, and mastered by Justin Douglas, the album was recorded at Austin's King Electric Studio and features 9 original tracks written or co-written by Wagner along with one heartbreaking cover of Warren Zevon’s “Reconsider Me”. Wagner enlisted several of her americana contemporaries to lend a musical hand, including lead guitarist Will Sexton, Rod Picott and Terry Klein on vocals, Jan Flemming, keys, Grant Himmler, bass and Chris Hausler, drums.

Album opener “Winner Take All” pulses with dreamy guitar licks and the palpable tensions of love coming undone. The blues hued “Dynamite”, one of the two songs she co-wrote with fellow Austin songwriter Terry Klein exhibits matter of fact conviction.

“Yellow Butterfly” is a gorgeous, folk laden track with ethereal piano compositions that was written right after the loss of legendary Tom Petty, while “Rules Of Baseball” uses America’s favorite pastime and its long and arduous season as a metaphor for the demise of a relationship.

Haunting and sparse, "The Last Time" addresses the finality of love having given up the ghost or perhaps having never even been in the room at all. “This Kind of Love” is a poprocker retelling of a break up that took the better part of two years, condensed into three minutes. As arresting as those songs are, it’s “Fires of Pompeii” featuring Picott on vocals that simmers with the album's longest slow burn.

Current and new fans will get a chance to see Wagner perform songs from ”And The Sky Caught Fire” this summer and fall. She’ll tour extensively throughout Texas and the Southeast. Stay tuned for tour announcements and updates.

Thanks to Peter Holmstedt at HEMIFRAN