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Well, I'm pretty excited about the new Gabe Dixon Band album coming out this summer. From the sounds of the few tracks out on their MySpace, this is gonna be their best record yet.
Gabe Dixon and his band of cronies hail out of the new Nashville songwriter scene that I tend to focus my ears on. I discovered their raunchy piano-driven funk through the likes of Rob Blackledge and Dave Barnes. Gabe is not only a phenomenal piano player, but songwriter as well. He has co-written beside some of Nashville's greatest.
The GDB's first album, On A Rolling Ball, released in 2002, is a mixture of eclectic piano funk jams and toned down ballads. From the highs of songs such as "More Than It Would Seem" and "Happy Woman" to the lows of "Your Last Fool" and "Love Story," this is one album not to be missed especially for the avid keyboard lover. The sound that was captured on this disc is very raw and has an excellent "in the moment" feeling to it.
Gabe and the boys released a small 5-song live EP in 2005 entitled "Gabe Dixon Band: Live at World Cafe." Capturing the beauty of their playing, Live at World Cafe, recorded in Philadelphia at one of the best intimate venues out there, is a masterpiece in just 30 minutes. Many of the tunes on this live EP are carried over into the studio for the new record. Please stay tuned for that.
Discography:
1. On A Rolling Ball - 2002
2. Gabe Dixon Band: Live at World Cafe - 2005
Tracks to Check Out:
1. Your Last Fool
2. Happy Woman
3. Five More Hours
4. All Will Be Well
5. Hey Joe (Jimi Hendrix cover)
The East Coast has often been a vital source of developing creative talent across the board. Boston, specifically, has been a breeding ground for creativity from the poems of Robert Frost and Emily Dickinson to the sweet guitar licks and rockin vocals of legends Aerosmith.
Hailing from the city of the Boston Tea Party comes a new acoustic artist on the rise. Combining snappy acoustic guitar with straightforward piano playing and adding a dash of jazz-hardened vocals creates a mixture called Tim Blane.
With his second album, Clockwork, just being released in the past year, Tim has solidified himself as one of the best acoustic performers and songwriters of the East Coast. Touring mainly in the small club and college circuit, his fans come out in droves. After one little tantalizing taste of his charismatic stories and wit mixed with the down-to-earth account of the world around him in his lyrics, Tim is sure to please any crowd.
I was once told by a former roommate of mine that the sign of a truly great song is if you can play it with a full band or acoustically and you get chills up your spine either way. That's exactly the feeling Blane brings onstage. Whether he's playing in the Northeast with his full band or just rocking the acoustic in the Midwest or anywhere else, Tim has a voice that touches down to the bottoms of a person's soul. You can't help but smile when he strums that first chord and don't expect that smile to go away after you walk out the door either.
When you get a minute, head on over here to check him out:
Really Long Link
Discography:
1. In The Meantime (2005)
2. Clockwork (2007)
Tracks to Check Out:
1. In The Meantime
2. Clockwork
3. What Do We Do Now
4. Tennessee
5. Me Being Me
As a singer/songwriter, the question that I am most often asked is “Where do you come up with this stuff?” Well, to be honest, I wonder that myself. I know I’m not one to often speak of the real “nitty gritty” when it comes to music, but I’m in the mood today. I know, as a musician and a listener, I am constantly in awe of some of the lines, melodies, chord progressions, and thrashing guitar solos that are created and laid into vinyl. Where do these things come from? I’ve always wondered as I’m sure we all have.
Well, where do I get the ideas for songs? For me, personally, songwriting isn’t about the writer as much as it is about the audience. I often tell people that I don’t write songs; I help them write themselves. I recently read an interview with Tift Merritt, a famous country songwriter, who said the same thing almost verbatim. I was shocked, but very happy, to see that I wasn’t the only one. Oftentimes, you feel like a little kid staring into a fish bowl and wondering what the fish are thinking, trying to make sense of why they do what they do.
And, it isn’t that I think of myself that highly, or that any songwriter does. In fact, most songwriters have a love/hate relationship with their work. For me, it is shown in my quest for my personal Holy Grail, the “perfect” song. I know, deep down, I will never find it, but the passion, the adrenalin, the fire that is burning for that “one” true song is what keeps me going. It becomes almost an obsession or a fever when it strikes. I will write a song, and for the next few days or weeks, it is the greatest song I’ve ever written. I play it at every show, I play it to any friend who will listen, or I play it just to play it as soon as I get home from work. I feel like I’ve tapped the metaphorical vein and that pure gold is pouring out of my lyrics and my guitar. Then, that gold starts to dull. It oxidizes and I’m left with one more song in my repertoire, but it has no more power to change the world. That’s when I either get the fever or I feel a major void. Sometimes the songs come faster, sometimes not at all for months at a time. And, you try and try to force it, but it never comes. Then, you are sitting watching TV one morning, someone says something just off the wall. You have a line, you start humming a tune, you grab the guitar, and there it is… the “perfect” song. At least, until the next one comes along…
As for my inspiration? Well, there’s always my influences in songwriting. I have a few to list so I’ll just wait and post about that sometime in the near future. However, I often find myself at a concert or listening to a new album, or even an old one, and I hear a line or a guitar riff or just a rhythm. It clicks and I feel the need to write a line down. When I first heard the live recording of Jason Mraz’s new single, “I’m Yours,” I immediately had the urge to write a sweet, little reggae lullaby. That song has turned into “For You,” a confessional love struck lullaby. It can be sweet and simple acoustically, or semi-raunchy when live with my band.
Another way that I get inspired, or the way that a song comes up in my head, is through imagery. As a creative person, I spend a lot of time daydreaming. I probably shouldn’t, but I’ve never been one to really live in reality. Being normal never really appealed to me. With that being said, I will oftentimes get an idea for a song, or a poem when the mood strikes, by “seeing” a vision. It isn’t all that “Unsolved Mysteries” as I make it out to be, but I will see a story or a person or an emotion in my head. Clear as day, sometimes. I can smell, touch, taste, hear, and see the world around me. This vision will stick with me until I “get it out” by writing it down. Sometimes, it’s just a single line. That one line writes the song around it. It’s the connective tissue that holds the pieces together. Like I said, there are days that I write something down and I go back to read what I wrote and have no recollection of how it got there.
Well, that’s about all I have for this week’s Music Mondays. Please feel free to visit my music websites and let me know if you have any questions about songwriting, how I came up with a specific song, which songs are your favorite, etc. I’d love to hear the feedback.
Really Long Link
Really Long Link
The state of country music has been under fire in the past few years over whether or not they still have "it." It seems like, these days, pop music is more in line with fiddles and mandolins than the genre that brought these instruments to the forefront.
However, there are a few up-and-coming artists to take note of. Through my travels and through friends, I've discovered a few of these artists to be on the lookout for. The first one of note is a great little acoustic 3 piece Nashville band called Love and Theft. Made up of Brian Bandas, Stephen Barker Liles, and Eric Gunderson, Love and Theft leaves a lasting impression on your cerebral cortex the minute their striking vocals hit your ear drums. Combining their rich harmonies with simple straightforward acoustic guitars and down-to-earth-everyman lyrics, Love and Theft is sure to make a splash with their debut album
[ Click here to read more ]
For a few months now, I've been experimenting in developing a blog about those issues that concern me. Whether they were serious or humorous, I have tried to tackle everything I can get my hands on. That blog, Just A Thought..., has grown into a decent blog of around 50 hits a day. I know in blogger terms that isn't much, but for a guy who is only marketing by word of mouth, that's pretty decent. In the past month alone, I've had almost 1500 readers view the blog.
However, there is still a bit of a void missing from my blogging life. I am a singer/songwriter and I spend the majority of my time performing, writing, attending concerts, or just researching the music industry. I have a passion for acoustic folk rock as well as a knack for all things music-related. After much urging by my readers at Just A Thought and friends who have read the blog, I've decided to start The Acoustic View as a vocal area for the music I enjoy, whether it be 80's pop, classic Motown, or the new folk scene developing in Nashville
[ Click here to read more ]
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