Brett Dennen

He came on after M. Ward’s stellar set and I couldn’t imagine anyone coming on after Matt and not paling in comparison. Don’t get me wrong these two are as different as black and green tea and yet they are both the same in one way, extremely talented and unique musicians.

Singer-songwriter Brett Dennen gained a lot of television and touring momentum with his third album, “Hope for the Hopeless,” released last October. He performed single “Make You Crazy” across the daytime and late night talk show circuit (watch his acoustic performance of the song in the video below), and the album, which reached No. 4 on Billboard’s Independent Albums chart and No. 41 on the Billboard 200, is still building.

Dennen’s next single will be a new version of the track “Heaven,” re-recorded as a duet with Natalie Merchant. The song will be available on iTunes on Sept. 1.

“I’m of the generation that grew up listening to Natalie and the 10,000 Maniacs, so doing a duet with her has not only been a dream of mine for a long time, but doing a duet of a song that I wrote is something that I could never dream up on my own,” Dennen tells Billboard.com. “I met her in a studio in the Hudson Valley, and we went for a drive and went to a farmers market and ate some berries and talked about the song, and spent the afternoon recording, and it came out really nice. I think not only my fans but Natalie’s fans will really like it.”

Dennen has toured with John Mayer and completed a headlining tour this year. He’ll launch another trek this fall with Vermont rock band Grace Potter and the Nocturnals, with dates to be announced.

“I’m really excited about this tour because I think it’s going to be a little more rocking than tours I’ve done in the past,” says Dennen. “Before when I’ve taken out openers I’ve had more of a mellow, acoustic evening. But this tour that I’m headlining in the fall, Grace really knows how to rock it.”

In addition, from Sept. 8 through Sept. 22, “Hope for the Hopeless” will be discounted to $5 on the online retailer Amie Street. One dollar from each sale will be donated to the Life is Good Kids Foundation, a non-profit that Dennen took with him on his most recent tour as part of his “Love Speaks” program. For the program, Dennen gives non-profit organizations merchandizing space and stage time to describe their work at each of his concerts.

Lyrics to Heaven by Brett Dennen

Beyond the rules of religion
The cloth of conviction
Above all the competition
Where fact and fiction meet

There’s No color lines or casts or classes
There is no fooling the masses
Whatever faith you practice
Whatever you believe

Heaven. Heaven.
What the hell is Heaven?
Is there a home for the homeless?
Is there hope for the hopeless?

Throw away your myth misconceptions
There ain’t no walls around heaven
There are no codes you gotta know to get in
No minutemen or border patrol

You must lose all earthly possession
Leave behind your weapon
You cannot buy your salvation
There is no pot of gold

(chorus)

Heaven ain’t got no prisons
No government no business
No banks or politicians
No armies and No police

Castles and cathedrals crumble
Pyramids and pipelines tumble
The failure keeps you humble
Leads us closer to peace

—-

For a complete set of photos from this performance see:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/30893898@N08/sets/72157621974039285/

Brett Dennen (born October 28, 1979^[1]) is a folk/pop singer-songwriter from Oakdale, California.

Biography

In 2004, Dennen released his first self-titled album, Brett Dennen. His second album, So Much More, including the singles “Ain’t No Reason”, “She’s Mine” and “Darlin’ Do Not Fear”. Dennen also contributed a cover of “Private Life” to the 2006 tribute album Drink To Bones That Turn To Dust: A Toast To Oingo Boingo. Dennen’s music has been featured in several television shows, including Roadtrip Nation on PBS, Grey’s Anatomy, the House episode “Family“, The Unit episode “Freefall“, and the Scrubs episode “My No Good Reason“. He also appeared live on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno on April 8, 2008, Late Night with Conan O’Brien on February 9, 2009, and The Ellen DeGeneres Show on April 21, 2009. In addition to television series, Dennen’s music has also been used in national advertising campaigns for companies such as Hilton Hotels.

He has toured extensively across the U.S. with his band (including drummer Randy Schwartz), supporting such musicians as John Mayer and guitar duo Rodrigo y Gabriela. In 2007, he toured with Guster and singer-songwriters Meiko and Joshua James.

Dennen has been a part of The Mosaic Project, a San Francisco Bay Area-based non-profit organization, since its inception. The Mosaic Project works towards a peaceful future by uniting young children of diverse backgrounds, providing them with essential skills to thrive in an increasingly diverse society, and empowering them to strive for peace. As The Mosaic Project’s Resident Rock Star, Dennen created an original musical curriculum for the program, which they released as an album called Children’s Songs for Peace and a Better World, in 2003. It won a Children’s Music Web 2004 Award  and a Parent’s Choice 2004 Approved Award.

In November 2007, Dennen was named as one of Rolling Stone Magazine’s “10 Artists To Watch.”^[2]

In 2008, Entertainment Weekly named Dennen one of its eight “Guys on the Rise”^[3] After a spring tour co-headlining with Mason Jennings and Missy Higgins, Dennen entered the studio to record his 3rd album. He spent the summer of 2008 on tour with John Mayer and Colbie Caillat, playing festivals such as the Rothbury Music Festival in Michigan, Telluride Bluegrass Festival and the Mile High Music Festival in Colorado.

Dennen is currently signed to Downtown Records through a partnership with Dualtone. ^[5]

In 2008, Dennen, along with Jason Mraz, contributed the song “Long Road to Forgiveness” to the Survival International charity album Songs for Survival. Earlier in the fall, Dennen toured Australia with Pete Murray. In late October, Hope for the Hopeless, Dennen’s third album, was released on the Downtown/Dualtone partnership. The song “Ain’t Gonna Lose You” was featured on Grey’s Anatomy and topped the iTunes folk charts. The record reached number 6 in the digital charts, and was followed by a successful mini-tour.

In January 2009, Dennen embarked on a 3-month headlining tour of the US, with support acts Erin McCarley and Angus & Julia Stone.^[4] Dennen also announced plans to tour the UK and Europe, including a show at the Hoxton Bar & Kitchen in London on the 7th May.^[7] In 2009, Brett’s song “Ain’t Going to Lose You” was also used in the closing sequence of an Ugly Betty episode. Brett also played a major songwriting roll in the July 14th solo debut release of the Crosby Loggins album “Time To Move”, which also features John Mayer.

Dennen at Newport Folk Festival 2009

On August 1, 2009, Dennen performed at the Newport Folk Festival in Newport, Rhode Island, USA. On the Waterside Stage he and his band performed the following songs to an overflow crowd: “When You Feel It,” “Who Do You Think,” “Wrong About Me,” “Ain’t No Reason,” “Darlin,’” “Heaven,” “I Ain’t Gonna Lose You,” and “She’s Mine.” ^[9]

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M. Ward

I have been a huge M. Ward (Matthew Stephen Ward) fan since I first heard him on NPR in 2005, and have been reading about his sold-out shows from Europe to the U.S. ever since. He’s been featured in Rolling Stone magazine and is a very sought after collaborator. I have wondered what seeing him live would be like; I had even tentatively planned on going to a West Coast show (12 hours away), but it never panned out. Then I read he was going to be in the tiny town of Lyons, Colorado for a folk festival (6 hours away)–a folk festival? Are you kidding me? M. Ward, a folk singer? Well, I guess some might consider that title appropriate that but it’s definitely a bit of an understatement for sure.

I bought M. Ward’s albums in reverse order of release date…why? Not sure why, never done that before. I started with his 2006 album Post War, then his 2005 Transistor Radio, and then the next four albums; going deeper and deeper into his discography, and hoping after each song for a little clearer look inside Mr. Ward’s head.

The last album I bought was the first he created, and it wasn’t even an album, it was a single song, and I didn’t even buy it, a friend gave it to me as a gift. No matter, the song is Duet for Guitars #2, originally released in 1999, a purely acoustic guitar track, picked beautifully and passionately played with an interesting deep bass beat rising and falling, coming and going throughout the verses, somewhat random, maybe even out of place, it seemed on first listen. But it wasn’t out of place, nor an accident–it was perfectly arranged music the only way M. would want this song to be played.

Some might call Duet for Guitars #2 “old timey” or “down home” style. Whatever you call it, this bass beat was created precisely by Matthew’s right hand thumping on the side of his old Gibson guitar. You can listen to this one song, nearly 10 years old now, and know Matthew Stephen Ward about as well as you ever will as a fan. See what the website GrooveMine has to say about Mr. Ward here http://www.groovemine.com/audiofile_mward

M. Ward is an incredibly talented musician and an extremely complex being who weaves songs together with all his available resources; his mind, his words, his inner and outer voice, his hands and the instruments in his hands, creating a tapestry so rich and pure that you are sure that there is no one that could not love his sound–the same way there is no one that couldn’t love a beautifully woven quilt. No matter if the blanket was 100 years old, or 10 minutes old, as long as the weave was tight, the aesthetic beauty so undeniable and the skill of the craftsman so amazing that you had no choice but to love the piece of work, regardless of color or pattern.

M. Ward’s music is authentic, pure, precise, random, intelligent, playful, stern, dynamic, deep, funny and thought-provoking. His performance at the Rocky Mountain Folks Festival in Lyons, CO, contained nearly all these same attributes. He said almost nothing for the first few minutes of his performance–the tension between an adoring crowd and the nearly speechless artist (and one who admits to disliking performing for the most part)–was so thick, only the music could cut through.

He stood silent, strumming and stoic on the Colorado mountain stage, but the music flowed from his guitar heavily into the evening air, laying down a thick blanket of soothing sound on the hungry ears of this “folk” crowd. You could just feel the mood of the entire 2,800+ crowd ease into the groove like an old arm chair. One reviewer/writer sitting behind me could literally be heard sighing heavily out loud with satisfaction and intermittent audible gasps of amazement in response to the amazing performance. I, on the other hand, felt so proud that he was laying waste to all the nay-sayers who bad-mouthed his ability to perform live! Here in these mountains of Colorado, he performed flawlessly and with the power and passion that is the sign of a true professional and lover of music.

And then he let his humor shine though at about 10 minutes into the set, when he started a looping guitar ditty on top of another looping guitar pattern he had played, thus creating a simple but beautiful repeating fragment of music. Then, with the timing of a stand-up comic, he walked slowly over to his water bottle, looked at the crowd, and drank deeply, as if to say “see how cool I am, I am entertaining you and drinking water at the same time.” He paused after his drink, then glanced again to the crowd and took another deep drink. The crowd erupted–a moment of comic relief after the somber tension set up at the beginning of the set. After that, the crowd now understood this M. Ward dude…he was not aloof, or distant, or anything else–he was just amazing and we were more than happy to be amazed.

When he invited two special guests on stage, Gillian Welch and David Rawlins, the show switched into high gear and Matt seemed so much more at ease, not being the sole center of attention anymore. He led his guests through what may have been the best version of the Stones song Prodigal Son that I have ever heard (I am a die-hard Stones fan and generally dislike covers). My God, these three played it as if it was their own and indeed it was, taking this hoe-down blues/folk song deeper and dirtier than the Stones in their hey day.

For another blow-by-blow breakdown of this performance, please see Nichole Wagner’s review on her fantastic web site, uncommonmusic.org. Here is the link to her review:

http://www.uncommonmusic.org/2009/concert/m-ward-rocky-mountain-folks-festival-co/

Matthew Stephen Ward, known by his stage name M. Ward, is a singer-songwriter and guitarist who rose to prominence in the Portland, Oregon music scene. In the summer of 2006, Ward relocated to New Hampshire and in the fall of 2007 subsequently returned to Portland. Regarding the types of music he grew up listening to, Ward said: “My dad turned me onto Johnny Cash. He was always into gospel and country. My mom listened to classical music.”

Career

His solo debut Duet for Guitars #2 was released by Howe Gelb on his Ow Om record label. Ward’s 2001 album, End of Amnesia, was put out by Future Farmer Records. A collection of live recordings, Live Music & The Voice of Strangers, was a self-released disc that was sold at his shows in 2001. His subsequent albums have been released on Merge Records.

He has guested on recordings by Cat Power, Beth Orton (with whom he co-wrote the title track to her album Comfort of Strangers), The Court & Spark, Bright Eyes (with whom he toured on the 2004 Vote for Change tour with R.E.M. and Bruce Springsteen), Jenny Lewis (whose debut solo album Rabbit Fur Coat he co-produced), and My Morning Jacket.

In 2006, he contributed a song to, and helped produce the John Fahey tribute album I Am the Resurrection. He also appears on Norah Jones‘ album Not Too Late, performing backing vocals and guitar on “Sinkin’ Soon“, and toured as the opener and a member of her “Handsome Band” for the album in the spring of 2007. Also his cover of David Bowie‘s song “Let’s Dance” is featured on the soundtrack of the 2007 New Zealand film Eagle vs Shark. Ward was previously a member of the band Rodriguez with Kyle Field of Little Wings. Their album Swing Like a Metronome was released in 2000 and produced by Jason Lytle of Grandaddy.

In 2004, Ward played guitar for Bright Eyes on a taping of The Late Late Show with Craig Kilborn. During the performance, Bright Eyes’ singer Conor Oberst yelled out “M. Ward for President!” This prompted Newsweek to run an article on Ward and his next album Transistor Radio.

In 2006, he released Post-War, which was described by Vanity Fair in its August 2006 issue as thematic on the question “How will America heal once this craziness in Iraq is over?” Ward said in that article that he looked to the post-war music of the late 1940s and 1950s. “I had the naive, simplistic idea that producers and writers and artists of the time helped in a minuscule way to change the mind-set of America.” The album was released on Merge Records and features cameo performances by Howe Gelb, Jim James and Neko Case.

M. Ward performing live at the Glastonbury Festival, 27th June 2009.

From the music blog It’s Hard To Find A Friend: “According to the Omaha City Weekly: …Also with recording plans for the winter is Conor Oberst. Beginning in the new year, Oberst is slated to begin recording two new albums — one a solo record in Mexico (the album is self titled “Conor Oberst”) with Jake Bellows playing a role and another with a new band being formed with M Ward”.

In 2006, Ward recorded a duet with actress Zooey Deschanel, a collaboration which resulted in the formation of the band She & Him.^[2] The duo’s album Volume One — which Ward produced — was released on Merge Records on March 18, 2008. Ward and Deschanel performed (along with Yo La Tengo) on Late Night with Conan O’Brien on April 22, 2008. Returning from She & Him duties, M. Ward has released his sixth solo studio album, Hold Time, on February 17 2009. Ward has said that he doesn’t enjoy playing shows very much: “In general I like it. I don’t like being away from home that much. So it’s O.K. It’s a part of the job.”^[3] He has also taken steps recently to restrict fans’ use of cameras—even point-and-shoots—during his live shows.

Both Ward and Deschanel also agreed to be judges for the 9th annual Independent Music Awards. In doing so, She & Him are using their growing influence to assist upcoming independent musicians’ careers.^[

Influences

Ward says that "Amazing Grace" is probably his favorite song. His favorite piece of musical equipment is the TASCAM 4-Track Recorder, which he uses to start every song he writes.^[8]

Discography

Albums

• Duet for Guitars #2 (1999)
• End of Amnesia (2001)
• Live Music & The Voice of Strangers (2001)
• Transfiguration of Vincent (2003)
• Transistor Radio (2005)
• Post-War (2006)
• Hold Time (2009)

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Mia Dyson

Mia Dyson, walked out on the large beautiful wooden stage at Planet Bluegrass in Lyons Colorado for the Rocky Mountain Folks Festival and humbly introduced herself and her band and then promptly launched into a set that can only be described as phenomenal! Picture Stevie Ray Vaughn crossed with Bonnie Raitt, and you will have some idea of what this young woman is capable of.

Being a blues guitarist myself I have a pretty keen ear for technique and skill, I have seen both Stevie Ray and Bonnie play live and I can tell you Mia is an equal in every way. I stood in front of the stage awestruck by this incredible Aussie blues player. After her set I ran backstage like her newest fan and met a beautiful person, inside and out, so humble, likable and so approachable. She gave me her  CD, Struck Down which I have since listened to many times and recommend to any one that likes Bonnie Raitt, Lucinda Williams or powerful music played with mastery.

Mia Dyson, Australia’s ARIA award‐winning (Grammy equivalent) and beloved Blues rocker, has landed in the United States and will inevitably take this country by storm! The combination of soulful lyrics, extraordinary guitar playing, and her gritty, yet gorgeously haunting voice are a winning formula.
Mia broke into the Australian music industry with success at radio and ARIA nominations for each of her three albums in the “Best Female Artist” and won an ARIA for “Best Blues & Roots Album” for her second release “Parking Lots”.

Mia’s reputation and outstanding performances and brilliant musicianship garnered her national tours opening for iconic artists including, Eric Clapton, Bonnie Raitt, and Joe Cocker and has been featured at many major music events including Montreaux Jazz festival, Byron Bay Blues and Roots Festivals (Aus) Winnipeg Folk Festival (Canada) and WOMAD, Falcon Ridge Folk Festival, Salmon Arm Blues and Roots Festival, Vancouver Island Folk Festival, Central Park NY Summer Stage w/Ani DiFranco and many more. Mia has done two North American tours playing from NYC to Los Angeles.

Mia’s long time bassist James Haselwood and sound man Lloyd Barratt have also come to the U.S. with her and have chosen Boston, MA as their home in order to capitalize on its thriving communal music scene, and using Boston’s most talented musicians to tour with her. Mia will be touring North America extensively playing clubs and festivals across the country.

Loaded with deeply‐felt, closely‐milked ballads, Cold Water is a stark, soulful wonder, driven by Dyson’s husky temptress of a voice and her very spare, very bluesy guitar picking and strumming” (four stars) ‐‐Jeff Apter, Rolling Stone

She’s a guitarist, songwriter and singer, but it’s her voice ‐ more guttural than just gravely, more touched than merely smoky ‐ that is the showstopper. Skinny young white girls aren’t supposed to sound this big and soulful.” ‐‐Sydney Morning Herald (Australian Daily)
Struck Down, Parking Lots, Cold Water Albums can be purchased at i‐Tunes. and on line at www.miadyson.com

For a complete set of photos of her performance at the Rocky Mountain Folk Festival see:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/30893898@N08/sets/72157622036497649/

Mia Dyson is on the road. Yeah, we know she’s been there since she was 19, but with her third album, Struck Down, she’s no longer looking back. It stretches forever in every direction. It’s no longer possible to define her by the Australian bush home she left behind, or by how long ago.

“The last three years have been revolutionary for me,” she says. “I finally feel like this is my place, that music is my thing and I’m in love with being a musician. I feel like I’m past the doubt, the struggle. This is what I do.”

Struck Down is an album about finding your place in the wide world and simultaneously getting lost in it. It’s a mature, contemplative surrender to chaos and beauty, confusion and clarity, sadness, strangeness, and to the rich traditions of roots Americana that first made her dream.

Mia’s revolution has been both public and private. To the world at large, it began with a nationally televised milestone, the 2005 ARIA Award for Best Blues and Roots Album for her second album, Parking Lots. (Her debut, Cold Water, had been nominated in ’03).

In a sense, the other bookend to that red-carpet arrival was her invitation to open for one of the household names of the blues, Eric Clapton, across Australia in early ’07. That summer, Mia played to the largest audiences she’s met since she picked up her first home made guitar at the age of 14.

Her profile was also boosted by a song on the soundtrack to the acclaimed Australian feature film, Look Both Ways, and an invitation to join Deborah Conway’s collaborative singer-songwriters’ roadshow, Broad.

Meanwhile, her personal trophies were accumulating somewhere slightly to the left of the mainstream spotlight. Opening for Bonnie Raitt on her recent tour of Australia was a more personal affirmation of Mia’s path.

“She was a childhood hero, very much a part of why I play music,” she says. “It closed a circle for me, cause Bonnie Raitt was the first concert my Dad (Victorian luthier Jim Dyson) took me to when I was 12.

Perhaps the biggest milestone was Mia’s first American tour of June/ July ’06. “I’ve grown up on songs about those places, that countryside; American movies, music: roots music, blues, soul, country, gospel . . . I’ve got an almost nostalgic feeling for America. When I went there, it was all confirmed for me.”

With her past and present, dreams and reality in harmony, Mia checked into a quiet cottage in Lorne, on Victoria’s windswept south coast, to define the next step in her extraordinary journey.

Struck Down was again co-produced with Lloyd Barratt, but a new rhythm section seals an advance in her musical convictions. Drummer Angus Diggs had carved a formidable reputation with Jeff Lang, Don Walker and Wilson-Diesel. A new bond was strengthened when he recommended bassist James Haselwood midway through the Parking Lots tour.

“I wanted a band that was deeply into the kind of music I wanted to make,” Mia says. “As a trio it’s not like they’re in the background and I’m up front, it’s a lot more intimate than that. They bring in a really unique and exciting feel but also a passion for this music. It makes it very different.

From the first, keening chords and windscreen-wiper rhythm of Struck Down, the band’s feel and passion are indivisible. It’s a song of everyday wonder that sets the album’s warm, wood-grained tone and theme of dawning discovery.

“There’s definitely a theme of journeys, driving, being alone,” Mia reflects. “Struck Down is about grasping the scope of the world you live in as opposed to just looking at the steering wheel, being open to everything out there.”

The album’s emotional panorama ranges from the half-amused caution of People Will Turn On You to the hypnotic voyeurism of Cars Fly By to the near hysterical venting of World’s On Fire – songs respectively inspired by Australian tabloids, American gas stations, and everything under the sun.

For the first time, too, Mia truly surrendered her songs to the sublime talents of her guest players: that’s Garrett Costigan (Tex Don and Charlie) playing pedal steel; Matt Walker plays harmonica on Heavy and lends his voice to Cars Fly By; Steve Grant plays horns, accordion and piano, Jodi Moore (of Dirty Lucy) plays viola and Carl Pannuzzo sings back up.

In various permutations, they borrow a little of The Band’s loose, rolling, back porch vibe, or some of Little Feat’s restrained soul in the album’s only cover, Long Distance Love. They also know when to stand back, most obviously for Mia’s solo acoustic take of With The Blue Sky, with nothing but the creek behind the house for accompaniment.

“As a listener, I don’t need dancing tunes, I don’t need entertaining tunes, I like emotive tunes,” she says. “It doesn’t matter if a whole record is slow for me, as long as it’s pulling me in.

From the rollicking waltz of Never Felt Young to the climactic lament of My Country, Struck Down is an album that pulls you in and takes you for a ride. And this is just the beginning.

“I feel like I’ve written some of the best songs I’ve written,” Mia says. “I’ve made a few steps forward and I’ve taken a couple of steps back. I feel excited that I’ve progressed as a songwriter, but mainly I’ve reaffirmed that I can keep going.”

Struck Down is out independently August 25th 2007, through MGM Distribution.
Cold Water (Shock Records) and Parking Lots in stores now independently through  MGM Distribution.

———————————————————————————————————

Parking Lots 2005

When Mia Dyson packed her guitars, her band and a portable recording studio into her car and headed out to a friends’ mud brick house in Daylesford Victoria, she had no idea she was about to make one of the most talked about debut albums of 2003. Cold Water was nominated for an ARIA award and jettisoned the then 22 year-old into a continuous touring schedule both here and overseas. Taking in major festivals such as the East Coast Blues and Roots, Falls, Womadelaide, NXNE in Canada and The Edinburgh Festival in Scotland, Mia was wholeheartedly embraced by audiences and critics alike. In 2005 she has returned with her self-produced sophomore album Parking Lots, cementing Mia’s place as one of Australia’s most exhilarating songwriters.

Recorded by co-producer Lloyd Barratt and mixed by internationally acclaimed producer Nick Launay (Lou Reed, Nick Cave, Silverchair) Parking Lots delves into raw, impassioned territory. It launches from a rock solid ground of roots influences, with wild songs of love, devotion, gratitude and dispossession. There is a sense from the album’s opener ‘Roll Me Out’ that one is in assured hands, Mia Dyson has arrived.

Mia plays electric, lap steel, baritone, slide and acoustic guitar on Parking Lots. The focus of the album, like her live shows, is as much about Mia’s dynamic guitar playing as her extraordinary voice. Hailing from the surfing town of Torquay along Victoria’s west coast, Mia grew up in a house passionate about music. Her father Jim Dyson, a respected guitar maker and musician, played Mia records by Ry Cooder, Bonnie Raitt and Little Feat whilst her mother Gail introduced her to the likes of Nick Cave and Leonard Cohen. It was Mia though, who sought out the work of Lucinda Williams, Gillian Welch & Will Oldham.

Parking Lots was recorded at a holiday house in Victoria’s Mt Martha with Mia’s band Lucas Taranto (bass) and Daniel Farrugia (drums). Stage two saw the studio move back home to the bungalow in Mia’s backyard, where she was joined by special guests Matt Walker, Steve Hesketh (Jet/Dan Brodie) Carl Panuzzo and Sime Nugent. Last but by no means least came diva Renee Geyer, who added backing vocals during the album’s mixing stage at Sing Sing, Melbourne.

Parking Lots is a stirring collection of inspired songs, delivered with the kick and command of an artist who has found her voice and isn’t afraid to use it.

What the critics say:
“Dyson has one of the most powerfully emotive female voices
in the country. On Parking Lots, she now demonstrates the songwriting
maturity to let that voice truly soar.”
Patrick Donovan – The Age

“Tough, rocking rhythms and slow grooves on one guitar behind a voice that has control
and a whole lot of welly…it’s easy to see why Australians are getting excited about Dyson.”
Rob Adams – The Herald (Edinburgh) Monday August 23, 2004

———————————————————————————————————

Cold Water 2004

Mia Dyson plays Jim Dyson guitars. That’s not a sponsorship announcement, it’s a fact of life. She’s been breathing her luthier father’s sawdust since the day she was born, in a mud brick house her parents built in the Victorian bush an hour North East of Melbourne.

What’s harder to believe – given the extraordinary depth of passion in her voice, her soulful feel for electric and lap slide guitars, the maturity of her writing and rare magnetism as a performer – is that that day was only 22 years ago.

It was to a very similar house that Mia returned to record her first album, Cold Water , in the winter of 2002. The first tangible fruit of a rapidly escalating stage reputation on Australia’s east coast, it was promptly acknowledged among ARIA’s Best Blues and Roots Albums of 2003.

With a characteristic lack of studio fairy dust and second-guesses, Cold Water resonates with the unadorned spontaneity of the most affecting roots music. Mia’s slide wavers and falters like breath, her voice sighs and breaks over vivid, real life scenarios and simple arrangements.

“Loaded with deeply-felt, closely-milked ballads, Cold Water is a stark, soulful wonder, driven by Dyson’s husky temptress of a voice and her very spare, very bluesy guitar picking and strumming” (four stars)

- Jeff Apter, Rolling Stone, October 2003

“Cold Water is a remarkably accomplished debut…Her breathless rasp soars and sinks with the kind of measured beauty that transcends the usual lovelorn blues.”

- Julie Hosking, Melbourne Herald Sun, April 2003

Mia’s apparent overnight success began at the family piano when she was five years old. She remembers playing the rhythm part to Ry Cooder’s version of “Dark End of the Street”, with her sister Ariel on guitar and Dad playing slide, when she was all of six or seven.

“It was quite an isolated existence,” she remembers of her first home, just outside the spring water town of Daylesford. “I think the significance of that time was that I wasn’t exposed to any trends or fashion or commercialism. It was straight-up country living. All I heard was Mum and Dad’s records.”

With Ry Cooder, Bonnie Raitt, Little Feat, Steely Dan and Bob Dylan firing Mia’s nascent musical imagination, the family moved to the seaside town of Torquay when she was eight.

Turned off the piano by an overbearing teacher, Mia picked up one of her father’s guitars at 14. “I took it up under the terrible pretext of keeping up appearances,” she confesses, “but within six months I was totally in love with it.”

She started writing songs at 16, feeling for the qualities she’d long admired in roots music: “music from the heart,” is the best way she can describe it, “music that’s trying to be honest. Genuine music.”

With the new aspirations came new influences: Lucinda Williams, Gillian Welch, Allison Krauss, Tom Waits, Nick Cave. “I learnt by imitating people, trying really hard to sound like them,” she says, “but then over a stretch of about a year, I started finding my own voice.”

In her last two years at highschool, Mia started performing in local pubs with a variety of rock and roots ensembles. Then, one New Year’s Eve, she wrote a song called “Precious Thing”. It was a revelation. For the first time in her modest writing experience, it was a song she really liked.

“I don’t know why, but I didn’t enjoy performing,” she remembers. “lt was the songwriting that got me excited about the possibilities of playing and it was that particular song that drew me into the idea of being able to continue and grow, the possibility of writing, recording and performing better and better songs.”

Jim gave Mia a lap steel guitar for her 19th birthday. She’d been inspired by revered Melbourne blues player Matt Walker and approached him for a few lessons. “I’m not an expert by any means,” she insists. “I wanted it as a tool for songwriting more than anything. If it can spark an interesting song, I’ll use anything.”

Moving to Melbourne, Mia hooked up with bassist Dean Addison and drummer Carl Pannuzzo for her first residency, at the Dan O’Connell Hotel in Fitzroy, in November 2000. Over the following six months, they threw themselves into the songs that would become Cold Water .

“It seemed natural to head back into the bush to record,” she says. “It was another mud brick place that belongs to friends of my family. We had rooms to stay in, left the recording gear set up. We just recorded the songs we’d been playing, basically live, over a period of a week.”

In the immediate wake of Cold Water , Mia sought out a permanent rhythm section to pursue a growing demand for her live performances. Bassist Lucas Taranto and drummer Daniel Farrugia became an integral part of the sound, the arrangements and the dynamic live momentum of her new material.

Mia intends to record her second album “when it’s ready”. Meanwhile, a steady trickle of new songs has fuelled her shows from the Port Fairy Folk Festival to the internationally renowned Byron Bay Blues and Roots Festival, from pin-drop supports for the likes of Eric Bibb, Tony Joe White and Renee Geyer to ever-swelling crowds at her headlining gigs.

Whatever the bill, Mia Dyson’s arresting voice, her sometimes poignant, sometimes fiery guitar technique and palpable, infectious belief in the power of song ensure a rapt gathering of instant converts.

“I feel quite awkward on the microphone,” she admits with a laugh. “It doesn’t seem to matter though. I’m aware from going to concerts myself that people just want to hear a bit of who you are. I guess when you’re open to an audience, they’ll be open to you.”

Mia Dyson’s first trip to Europe and North America is currently being sketched out for 2004. Cold Water is available through Black Door Records distributed by Shock

Michael Dwyer, January 2004

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Jim Dyson (Mia’s Father, Guitar Maker)

Jim Dyson was a late starter, learning the rudiments of guitar playing from a friend at the age of 20. The same friend suggested that if Jim learned Classical guitar, he would be able to play anything. Not knowing any better Jim launched into a 3 hours a day practice regime, teaching himself to sight read as well as appropriating technique from books and friends. This was the early 1970’s and Jim’s listening habits were moving away from Classical back to the popular music of the day; The Rolling Stones, The Band, Little Feat, Steely Dan, Ry Cooder, Bob Dylan and the blues. After a couple of years of study it was becoming clear that Classical technique and sensibility was good for Classical and not much else. With the encouragement of friends and yet more books, Jim’s finger-style technique was put to good use learning blues songs arranged by the likes of Stefan Grossman, Leo Kottke and most notably Ry Cooder. The penny finally dropped about the importance of the backbeat while watching film of a Ry Cooder recording session from the album INTO THE PURPLE VALLEY. At about this time Jim was initiated into the pleasures of slide guitar and he found he had a natural aptitude. From that day to this, Jim’s been on a quest for tone and groove and along the way, with help from Elmore James, Muddy Waters, Hubert Sumlin, Albert Collins, Albert King, Freddy King, Slim Harpo, Johnny Guitar Watson, Ry Cooder, Jimmy Vaughan and others Jim has developed a distinctive R ‘n’ B style where playing “in the pocket” with the rhythm section is the main aim. It’s been five years since Marisa and Jim formed CHUBBY RAE & the ELEVATORS and almost four with the settled lineup of Karl Inderberg on drums and Craig Chiller on bass and Jim still often pinches himself to check that he really is lucky enough to be playing with such great players who are also good friends. Previous to CHUBBY RAE & the ELEVATORS Jim had been in a number of bands – Another Roadside Distraction, Black No Sugar, Fritz the Cat- all of which had one thing on common; they all broke up not long after their initial gigs.
Tone wise it’s been a great journey. In 1972 Jim made his first guitar, a Classical. Teaching himself from a book, he used top quality tone woods and a lot of patience and managed to build an instrument that not only sounded and looked good but one that inspired him to build more. Several Classicals followed and then in 1975 a steel string flat top acoustic, followed quickly in 1976 and ‘77 by his first two electric guitars, both modeled on the Gibson Les Paul. Jim’s love affair with electric guitar was germinated. It bloomed and blossomed over the course of the next 28 years to the point where in the music fraternity Jim’s reputation as a maker of world class electric guitars, lap steel guitars, basses and guitar and bass pickups extends across Australia and beyond.
In Blues circles Jim is also known for his tone, his stripped-back incisive playing and his impeccable wardrobe.
In 1999 when Jim’s youngest daughter Mia –and last to leave home- set off to pursue her musical ambitions in Melbourne, Jim found the extra time and energy he needed to pursue his blues interests. With an ambition only to play some blues and make new friends Jim began attending the Sunday afternoon jam sessions at the Sleepy Hollow Blues Club. At one session in early 2000, seconds after hearing Marisa launch into Steam Roller Blues, Jim was inspired to ask if she was interested in putting a blues band together. Marisa’s answer was an immediate yes, and what followed was a seven year blues journey leading CHUBBY RAE and the ELEVATORS through 2 CD albums and hundreds of shows at pubs, clubs and festivals across 5 states and the ACT

Jim’s Gear
Guitars,
Main guitar, regular tuning; Jim Dyson TONE DELUXE Standard, black w/black pearl pickguard, made in 2005.
Slide guitar, Open D tuning; Jim Dyson Strat copy (Mia’s original guitar), navy blue tint w/whit pickguard, made in 1995.
Slide guitar, Open G tuning; No name Strat copy, black w/mirror pickguard and Jim Dyson pickups. Date of manufacture not known.

Amps
1965 GoldenTone Bassmaster 20 watt head, in Jim’s hand made cabinet and covered in Zebra print
1964 GoldenTone Bassmaster 40 watt 2 x 12 combo
1965 GoldenTone Reverbmaster 40 watt head, in Jim’s hand made cabinet and covered in Zebra print
1966 GoldenTone Bassmaster 60 watt head, in Jim’s hand made cabinet and covered in Leopard print
1965 GoldenTone 10 watt 1 x 12 combo
1965 Diason 10 watt 1 x 12 combo
1966 Maton V20, 10 watt 1 x 12 combo

Speaker cabinets
2 x 12 Speaker cab hand made by Jim, loaded with early 70’s Celestion Green Backs and covered in Leopard print
2 x 12 Speaker cab hand made by Jim, loaded with early 2005 50watt Eminence Legends and covered in Zebra print

Pedals
Ibanez Stereo PanDelay
Ibanez Soundtank Tremolo
Marshall Stereo VibraTrem
Hot Cake Overdrive
The Healer Overdrive
Boss Blues Driver
Jens Crybaby Wah
Boost Driver by David Heard
Amp Tech
All Jim’s amps and pedals are expertly maintained and/or modified by DAVID HEARD of Geelong, ph 03 5229 5037
Shoes by Rocco’s, 43 Station St Malvern

Jim’s Guitars

I began making acoustic guitars in the early 70’s, starting out with 5 Classicals in two years and finally a flattop steel string, which I designed and built as a scaled down version of a Gibson J200 in 1975. This guitar is still in use and can be heard on all of Mia Dyson’s three albums. In 1975 my love of the electric guitar, particularly in roots music, started me on a journey in search of electric Tone; the kind of tone that’s inspired the great players since the very birth of the electric guitar and stimulated music lovers ever since.
It didn’t take long to realize that Tone resides in certain woods, and, that it can be liberated. After exploring and experimenting with the tonal possibilities of Alder, Ash, Rosewood, Ebony, Mahogany, and Maple I went looking for similar potential in woods from my own Australian backyard. This part of the journey hasn’t ended yet but I’ve arrived at some sweet destinations along the way; Queensland Maple (a close cousin of Mahogany), Queensland Silver Quong Dong (tonally similar to Alder), Western Australian Jarrah (between Rosewood and Ebony on the hardness scale) and my favourite Tone Wood, Victorian Ash.
Victorian Ash is the backbone of the Jim Dyson sound. It needs to be carefully selected and is difficult to work and to finish, but it’s well worth the extra effort ‘cause consistently, the payoff is singing sustain, a heap of dynamic response and bags of Tone. I use it for both necks and bodies in my Jim Dyson Tone Deluxe range of guitars and basses and it’s my first and last choice for a lapsteel.
I had been making guitars for over twenty years when in the mid 90’s I decided to try and do something about a perceived lack of Vintage sounding replacement single coil pickups. With a homemade winder/counter and a reel of 42-gauge wire I began fooling around with rewinds and then experimenting with my own designs using Australian magnets. In a couple of years I’d designed and built a full range of single coil replacement pickups for guitar and bass. It wasn’t long before some fine Australian players were switching to my pickups for that Vintage Tone. I could finally feel comfortable calling myself a Guitar Maker. Now a few more years down the track the list of highly regarded players who use my pickups and guitars is both long and varied and recently Jason Mowery, Nashville session player with the Keith Urban Band and The Wreckers bought the first Jim Dyson lapsteel to go to the USA.
In very recent times I’ve tried with great success on guitars and basses an even better sounding neck wood than Vic Ash; that wood is Huon Pine, which is every bit as responsive as Vic Ash but delivers an even sweeter tone.
Even more recently I’ve perfected a vintage PAF style humbucking pickup with the kind of clean tones and definition that can work wonders when played through a quality tube amp. As with all my pickups, customer feedback is 100% positive.
For many years my friend Dave Heard in Geelong has been maintaining and modifying the seven Goldentone amps that Mia and I own between us. During that time Dave has made several one-off experimental amps ranging in output from 10-50 watts. They’ve all been very cool but not quite cool enough to persuade me to give up my goldentone sound. However couple of years ago Dave agreed to try making an amp that had the sound and response that I’ve been hoping was possible in a 30watt single-12 combo. It’s been a frustrating two years for Dave who many, many times went back to the drawing board after I would play through his latest creation for as little as a minute before declaring it not what I was looking for. With great determination and not a little genius Dave finally produced a stunning EL34 powered dynamo of an amp that’s got it all; superb, full, clean tones with loads of bottom end, satisfying mids and some sparkle on top; barking, sizzling overdrive with definition so crisp it simply inspires a player to play better; and the facility to go from one to the other purely as a result of how hard you pick. We’ve got the amp and speaker (JENSEN) sorted, in a few months we’ll have the cabinet finalised and the Jim Dyson 30watt combo guitar amp will be on the market. Mia has already sampled and approved the tone and response of this amp; she could well be our first customer.
the story continues…

www.jimdysonguitars.com.au

Guitars and Pickups have been used on recordings by:
Ash Grunwald
The Badloves
Billy Bragg
The Black Sorrows
The Casuals
Chris Joannou
Joe Creighton
The Dirty Three
Mia Dyson
Stuart Fraser
Rene Geyer
Steve Hadley
Jimi Hocking
Leonardo’s Bride
Paul Kelly
Magic Dirt
Manic Suede
Mark Seymour
Midnight Oil
Jason Mowery
Overnight Jones
Pre-Shrunk
Silverchair
Something for Kate
Michael Spiby
Jeff Wells
Chris Wilson
Wilson Diesel

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Blind Pilot

Too much of anything is bad right? Well there is an exception and that is in the case of good music, after 3 relentless days of great folk music at the Rocky Mountain Folks Festival in Lyons Colorado I was ready for a break but alas, there would be no rest for the weary. We arrived late this Sunday morning from the previous nights very late show, just in time for Blind Pilot’s set, originally a Portland-based duo comprised of singer/guitarist Israel Nebeker and drummer Ryan Dobrowski, Blind Pilot strike a balance between mellow folk and West Coast indie pop.

Blind Pilot

The two friends first banded together in college before combining their musical talents and touring the northwestern Oregon circuit. By 2006, however, they’d decided that a change of scenery might help fuel their songwriting. Blind Pilot consequently relocated 90 miles north, where they spent three months inside an Astoria warehouse while recording demos for a full-length album. The sonic pleasure derived from this set can not be over stated, the silky smooth sounds created by this band are so catchy and contagious it should be called into the WHO, the hell with swine flu! They remind me a bit of Toad The Wet Sprocket for some reason, check them out any chance you can and until then go buy their CD 3 Rounds and a Sound.

Blind Pilot is an American indie pop band based in Portland, Oregon. The group’s single, “Go On, Say It”, was chosen to be a Single of the Week on July 7, 2008 on Apple Inc.’s iTunes Store, potentially yielding approximately 2 million downloads.^[1] As of July 22, 2008, their debut album, 3 Rounds and a Sound, has reached number 13 on the Billboard Top Digital Albums chart.

The band completed a bicycle tour in 2008, biking from Bellingham, Washington to San Diego, California, carrying their instruments on custom bicycle trailers they fashioned themselves. They made more than two dozen stops along the way, including Port Townsend, Seattle, Olympia, Portland, Corvallis, Eugene, Coos Bay, Arcata and Santa Cruz.

In 2009, Blind Pilot added four more touring members to match the sound of their album, 3 Rounds and a Sound. The group started a new U.S. tour in March 2009, the first with the six-member lineup. They headlined in clubs across the country.

The band also filled support slots for Langhorne Slim and Gomez on a handful of dates during this tour. In May 2009, the band traveled to Europe for a series of gigs opening for Counting Crows and The Hold Steady.

Blind Pilot returned to the U.S. in June to join The Decemberists on the road as their opening act. They followed this run with another tour of clubs in the Northeast, Mid-West and Canada.

In August 2009, the band will perform at the Lollapalooza music festival in Chicago, Illinois, and the Outside Lands Music and Arts Festival in San Francisco, California.

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Susan Tedeschi

Susan Tedeschi’s set at the Rocky Mountain Folk Festival was a quintessential power blues set that spellbound the folks at Planet Bluegrass on August 15, 2009 in Lyons Colorado. I had heard that she was a killer blues player and vocalist, and I even remembered reading a quote a while back from her husband Derek Trucks, (who is in my opinion one of the top 10 guitarists on the planet today), he said  “She comes back from a tour and I see she’s taken her music to a higher level and think “Damn I better step it up a notch or get left behind”. The power and precision of Susan’s music was stunning, her mastery of the guitar, particularly the blues side of things was a joy to witness, her incredible voice, powerful and passionate, gritty and smooth. I love Janis Joplin and I cannot help but compare Susan Tedeschi’s voice with hers but also I hear Bonnie Raitt, but the most important thing is I hear is something totally original, unique and passionate, and really all that matters in music, comparing music is like comparing flowers.

Below is a photo story on her show:

Susan Tedeschi (pronounced te-DES-ki) (November 9, 1970 in Boston, Massachusetts) is an American blues and soul artist, who has risen to fame with multiple Grammy Award nominations, her powerful singing voice, fearless stage presence, and her marriage to Derek Trucks of the Allman Brothers Band. She is also known for the “Soul Stew Revival”, a conglomeration of both her band, that of The Derek Trucks Band, and assorted other personnel.

Susan Tedeschi was born on November 9, 1970 in Boston, Massachusetts but was raised in Norwell, Massachusetts. Tedeschi had always been musically inclined, and made her debut public performance as a 5 year old understudy in a Broadway musical, which she enjoyed, as well as singing for family members, and listening to her father’s record collection of old vinyl recordings of Mississippi John Hurt, and Lightning Hopkins.

Raised as a Catholic, she found little inspiration in their chorus, and so attended predominantly African-American Baptist churches, feeling the music was “less repressed and more like a celebration of God.” She’s played in bands since the age of 13 and formed her first all-original group at age 18 in the nearby town of Scituate, Massachusetts, called the Smokin’ Section.^[1]

Tedeschi attended the Berklee College of Music where she sang in a Gospel choir; performing show tunes on the Spirit of Boston and received her B.A. degree in musical composition and performance. During that time, she began sitting in with local blues jams at venues there, and immersed herself in the Boston music scene. She additionally has many country artist influences.

Early days

Tedeschi formed the Susan Tedeschi Band in 1994, featuring Tom Hambridge and Adrienne Hayes. In 1995 she began playing guitar and honed her skills and in December the band released Better Days to regional audiences. Record contracts were difficult to keep together; however, recording sessions from 1997 were acquired by Richard Rosenblatt, and the band was signed to indy label Tone-Cool Records and Just Won’t Burn, featuring young guitarist Sean Costello, was released in February 1998 to very positive reviews from blues publications.

1999 found Tedeschi playing several dates in the all-woman traveling festival, the Lilith Fair, organized by Sarah McLachlan.^[1] Throughout 1998 and 1999 she toured extensively throughout the United States and her stage presence and powerful voice drew larger crowds.

Opening acts

Eventually Tedeschi was opening for John Mellencamp, B.B. King, Buddy Guy, The Allman Brothers Band, Taj Mahal and Bob Dylan. In 2000, Just Won’t Burn reached Gold record status for sales of 500,000 in the United States, rare for a blues production. She recorded two tracks with Double Trouble band members Chris Layton and Tommy Shannon for their album.

She opened for the Rolling Stones in 2003 and played in huge venues, gaining national exposure. Somewhat surprisingly, the gig wasn’t financially lucrative. According to Tedeschi,

“They pay, but it’s not great. I don’t make any money ’cause I’ve got to pay all my [sidemen]. I’ll be lucky if I break even.”^[2]

In 2004, Tedeschi was featured on the PBS show, Austin City Limits, flanked by William Green, on Hammond organ, Jason Crosby, playing keyboards, violin, and vocals, bassist Ron Perry, and Jeff Sipe, on drums. The performance was extremely well received.^[3] In the same year, Tedeschi turned a few heads when she was listed by Peter Gammons of ESPN in his list of “all time top 20 favorite albums.” She came in at a respectable #15 for her album, Just Won’t Burn. Not to be outdone, husband Derek Trucks also made the list, at #9 for Joyful Noise, both surprising accomplishments, given that both artists play blues, a genre often overlooked. In addition, the other musicians on the list were some of rock’s elite, Jimi Hendrix, The Rolling Stones, Little Feat, and Jackson Browne, to name a few.

Current band members

• Susan Tedeschi- vocals
• Ron Holloway – Tenor Saxophone
• Matt Slocum – Keyboards and Hammond B-3 Organ
• Dave Yoke – Guitar
• Ted Pecchio – Bass Guitar
• Tyler Greenwell – Drums

Influences

Susan Tedeschi’s voice has been described as a blend of Bonnie Raitt and Janis Joplin, though she explains this is due to sharing the same influences as the two. Her guitar playing is influenced by Buddy Guy, Johnny “Guitar” Watson, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Freddie King and Doyle Bramhall II.

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JJ sang with such emotion that he literally brought tears to the eyes of many including myself, which made it a bitch to focus but I did my best. He sang such passion and anger about how rampant real estate development has destroyed much of his precious homeland, especially pristine rural area’s where JJ said “gave him someplace to rejuvenate from the hectic world”.

For a complete set of photos from this show see:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/30893898@N08/sets/72157622216178698/

G“Rich, funky swamp grooves…Grey is a singer-songwriter [who]celebrates life’s most fundamental joys with unforced talent and deep feeling.” –The New York Times “Smoldering Otis Redding-inspired ballads…full-bore blues-rock, down-home roots and country-soul…uproariously funky and melodic homespun tales that are gritty and deeply personal, confrontational and universal. Grey’s resonant vocals are potent and authoritative, mature beyond his age.” –Harp

“Grey and Mofro fuse rock with plenty of soul and groove-heavy blues, and dirty, infectious funk. The deep and introspective lyrics are a breath of fresh air.” –Relix Like Florida’s state flower, the orange blossom, musician JJ Grey’s songs are fascinating, beautiful, and complex. Both are products of the same ground: the rich, fertile and ancient soil of the Sunshine State.

Born and raised just outside of Jacksonville, Florida, Grey comes from a long tradition of Southern musical storytellers and, like the best of the great Southern writers, he fills his songs with details that are at once vivid and personal, political and universal. His multi-textured music overflows with dynamic rhythms and thought-provoking lyrics. From raw funk to deep soul, blues and rock, JJ and his band Mofro deliver devastating live and recorded performances.

Debuting in 2001 with BLACKWATER, following up in 2004 with LOCHLOOSA (both albums reissued by Alligator in 2007), Grey steadily built an intensely loyal following. In 2007, with his first Alligator release, COUNTRY GHETTO, Grey reached an even larger audience, doubling both his album sales and his concert attendance. Now, with his new album, ORANGE BLOSSOMS, JJ Grey takes another giant step forward.

ORANGE BLOSSOMS, produced by long-time cohort Dan Prothero and Grey, was recorded in north Florida and boasts some of Grey’s most profound and moving music to date. The album features 12 songs (including 11 Grey originals) inspired by Grey’s life experiences and visionary observations.

With long-time friend and guitarist Daryl Hance, bassist/organist Adam Scone, drummer Anthony Cole, and the Hercules Horns of saxophonist Art Edmaiston and trumpeter Dennis Marion, Grey moves effortlessly from gospel-tent fervor to Southern-fried rockers to deeply emotional soul. ORANGE BLOSSOMS is a groove-driven masterpiece fueled by JJ’s gritty, smoldering vocals and intense, funk-infused guitar and keyboard work.

JJ Grey’s songs blend front porch realism with the best musical and literary traditions of the South. Whether it is a narrative passed down to him from his grandmother or the tribulations of a childhood friend, Grey’s ear for detail rings through in true storytelling fashion.

His voice delivers with an unflinching strength that makes the personal universal and paints a vivid portrait of an exact time or place. Like his songs, Grey’s rich, soulful vocals are forceful and commanding, seemingly wise and experienced beyond his years. Grey’s songwriting influences are widespread. “I like people who tell their story,” he says, naming Muddy Waters, Stevie Wonder, Tony Joe White, Jerry Reed, Otis Redding, Dr. John, Sly & The Family Stone, Van Morrison, Bill Withers and Dan Penn.

What these writers and performers have in common is a love for simplicity and the ability to evoke complex emotions with a minimal number of words and notes. As a performer, Grey is influenced by the sexually charged blues of Howlin’ Wolf, the country soul of George Jones, the hard funk of James Brown, and the smooth R&B of Donny Hathaway, as well as by local personalities like the street preachers and radio disc jockeys of his youth.

In 2001 Grey’s debut album, BLACKWATER, was released under the name Mofro (a name Grey conjured up while working at a local lumberyard). Soon thereafter JJ, along with guitarist Daryl Hance, hit the road hard (playing over 175 shows a year) with an ever-changing Mofro line-up. A National Public Radio feature in 2001 brought JJ’s music to scores of new listeners, helping to open doors at press, radio and venues across the country.

2004’s LOCHLOOSA brought Grey even more attention, as the band performed at the first Bonnaroo in 2005 and opened for Widespread Panic, Ben Harper, Galactic, B.B. King and Jeff Beck. Word of their live shows spread quickly, and offers to appear at festivals and concerts around the world increased. 2007 was a watershed year for Grey.

The release of COUNTRY GHETTO brought widespread critical and popular acclaim, garnering piles of positive press with reviews and features running everywhere from The New York Times and USA Today, to Harp and Paste magazines. Commercial and public radio embraced Grey as well, as COUNTRY GHETTO received regular rotation on nearly 100 stations and was featured on hundreds more. In addition to countless live in-studio performances at stations around the country, he and the band appeared on National Public Radio’s World Café, the syndicated program E-Town, and played live on the Paul Jones Show on BBC2 in the UK. JJ Grey & Mofro toured constantly in 2007.

He and the band played over 120 dates headlining clubs and concert halls and performing at scores of festivals across the United States and Europe. Highlights included The Voodoo Music Experience, SXSW, The New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Fest, Wakarusa, Langerado, The Austin City Limits Festival and a Southeast run with the Allman Brothers. On Labor Day weekend 2007, Grey was able to fulfill a lifelong dream by hosting his own roots music festival, The Blackwater Sol Revue in St. Augustine, Florida. The all-day event featured Los Lobos, Tony Joe White and Florida favorites The Legendary JC’s and The Lee Boys.

The second annual Blackwater Sol Revue happens on August 30, 2008 and features one of JJ’s favorite performers, Toots And The Maytals. From gritty funk and juke joint romps to contemplative country soul and blistering rockers, Grey’s music is in a class by itself, at once contemporary and classic. Now, with his latest release, ORANGE BLOSSOMS, JJ Grey will bring his singular musical vision and hip-shaking, soulful live show to his ever-growing fan base, showing how his songs speak to people all over the world and how far-reaching his Southern roots can spread.

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