Marlon Williams is an award winning singer-songwriter from
town of Lyttelton, New Zealand.
He released his debut solo album to critical acclaim in
April, charting at 4 in New Zealand, and 31 in Australia in its opening week.
The album has been called “captivating” by Rolling Stone, “a revelation” by
Metro Magazine and “wonderfully accomplished” by the New Zealand Herald in a
5-star review. It has also featured on countless ‘Best of the Year So Far’
lists including Double J, Fasterlouder, Herald Sun, The Music and Timber &
Steel
Williams’ sold out album release tour in June/July,
including an epic hometown show at the 1300-capacity Theatre Royal in
Christchurch. Performing with his band The Yarra Benders, the Sydney Morning
Herald review glowed “what a terrific show. Fun and funny, sad and blue, it had
flashes of modernity amid vast swathes of history and offered up the promise of
a future completely unpredictable and completely watchable”.
Williams will spend 2015 touring the album in Australia and
NZ, acting in several film and TV roles, and touring North America, UK and
Europe before he releases the album internationally in early 2016.
With one of the purest voices in modern music, and the
charisma and individuality to match it, the world is about to discover Marlon
Williams.
BACKGROUND
Marlon Williams grew up singing in the Christchurch
cathedral choir, before his punk rock dad turned him onto country music in his
teens.
He founded The Unfaithful Ways at 17, with his high school
friends and their science teacher, and quickly gained national attention,
playing the Big Day Out, touring with Band of Horses and Justin Townes Earle,
and picking up a Critics Choice award nomination at the 2011 New Zealand Music
Awards for their debut album Free Rein.
Williams met acclaimed country singer Delaney Davidson in
2011, and the pair began performing as a duo. Over two years they released
three volumes of the series, Sad But True: The Secret History Of Country Music
Songwriting, garnering critical acclaim, including the New Zealand country song
and country album of the year in 2013.
Relocating to Melbourne in mid-2013, Williams began
performing solo around town and built a cult following playing a residency at
local venue the Yarra Hotel. The buzz built nationally in 2014, with major
festival and television appearances leading to sold out tours of Australia and
New Zealand.
He released his debut solo album in April 2015 to critical
acclaim, and will spend the year touring internationally alongside film and TV
appearances.
ALBUM PRESS
“Picks his marks and hits them…captivating” Rolling Stone
“…his voice soars to the heavens and plucks at the
heartstrings.” The Australian
“One of the most impressive country records this year”
Tonedeaf
“At times impossibly fun, at others bone-achingly beautiful;
Marlon Williams has delivered a gem” The Music
“The whole record is remarkable…” Music Feeds
“…sublime” Herald Sun
“Williams is also a singular artist who mimics none of his
heroes, and has forged his own musical path” New Zealand Herald
“Williams’ combination of youthful enthusiasm, old-soul
wisdom, and solid songwriting makes this debut a wonderfully accomplished
record which justifies the hype he is getting” New Zealand Herald
“It’s a revelation: an album that will still be listened to
and enjoyed a decade hence” Metro Magazine
“Marlon Williams solo debut is so effortlessly great…” Metro
Magazine
“A big part of his charm is that voice, which almost
single-handedly brings back the type of emotive yet eloquent crooning touched
on by both Tim Buckley and his son Jeff, but which hasn’t really been done the
way it needs to be done since those first crooners of rock and roll, those
bedevilled songs of Bing like Elvis Presley and especially Roy Orbison” Metro
Magazine
“Well, I have something to say. Do yourself a favour and buy
this album. Buy it now, because it might just be one of the best
country/folk/alternative/whatever-you-want-to-categorise-it records you listen
to all year!” Speaker TV
Marlon Williams has one of the richest voices you’ll hear
anywhere in New Zealand.” Sunday Star Times
Though this solo debut has been a long time coming he has
built a strong reputation as a live performer across Australia and New Zealand,
and that experience has filtered through on this superb album that never
falters or loses its sense of wonderment across its thirty-five minutes” UTR
“Sorry, New Zealand – in the grand tradition of Crowded
House, Sam Neill and Russell Crowe, Australia will be claiming Marlon Williams
as our own. After all, the Lyttelton-born singer resides in Melbourne now, and
really, he’s just that good, we’re having him” The Age
striking poise and unique polish” Mess & Noise
One of New Zealand’s finest musical exports” Renowned For
Sound
DISCOGRAPHY
2011 – Free Rein by The Unfaithful Ways
2012 – Sad But True Vol 1 by Delaney Davidson & Marlon
Williams
2013 – Sad But True Vol 3 by Delaney Davidson & Marlon
Williams
Dave Mason has been a force to be reckoned with since birth.
A home birth on May 10, 1946, in Worcester, England, David Thomas Mason weighed in at 11 1/2 pounds. His only sibling,
his sister Valerie, was 17 years his senior. His parents owned a candy store
called E. Masons, and later an ice cream factory. His father also spent quite a
bit of time at the horse races, a pastime Dave enjoys when he can find time to
attend the track in between his busy touring schedule.
Dave's determination and strong will can perhaps be traced
to a little known, but monumental incident which took place at the age of 5. In
the adjoining stables, Dave went in search of a toy pedal car his parents had
stashed in a ceiling loft. Dave missed a step when reaching for the car and
fell 20 feet to the hard floor. Initially it appeared he was unscathed, but a
few days later it was revealed he had bent, not broken, a hipbone, and because
of the intense trauma to the hip, contracted a condition called Perthes
syndrome. Dave was treated at Aston Hall, the leading medical authority for
orthopedics, for more than 18 months, which included nine months of being held
in traction by strapping him to a metal board. Once released from the board,
Dave underwent intensive physical training, as he had to learn how to walk all
over again.
Dave's initial dream was to become a member of the Royal Air
Force. Yet at an early age, Dave's talents and strength showed up more in
creative endeavors. At 16 he began to play guitar and sing, and by 17 became a
working musician in his first band called The Jaguars. The next year, he formed
The Hellions, where he struck up a lifelong friendship with Jim Capaldi. They
penned their first song together here called "Shades of Blue", and
made a recording with Pye Records with this tune on the B side. The A side was
a Jackie DeShannon song called "Daydreaming of You". The recording
was produced by Kim Fowley, an eclectic man who had a hit novelty song called
"They're Coming To Take Me Away". Capaldi and Mason continued their
work together, forming another group called The Deep Feeling. Shortly
thereafter, music history takes place.
Through Dave's friendship with JIm Capaldi, Dave met Steve
Winwood and Chris Wood. The four joined forces to form what is considered one
of the most influential bands of all time, Traffic.
Traffic Years:
Traffic operated on the cutting edge of the late-sixties
music scene at a time of rapid and remarkable evolution, and expanded rock's
sonic palette. But whereas most progressive British bands were based in London,
Traffic retreated to a secluded cottage in the countryside. A key component of
Traffic's mythology is their communal stone cottage in Berkshire. It was here
the group wrote and rehearsed material for Mr. Fantasy, and Traffic, among the
more remarkable albums of the sixites.
The group's first single was the Winwood/Capaldi composition
"Paper Sun" followed in August 1967 by Mason's "Hole in My
Shoe" which hit number two in the U.K. Mason also appeared in the debut
album, Mr. Fantasy. His whimsical melodies and goodtime feel, incorporating
simple yet rich lyrics, ensured a delightful contrast. His vocals adding a
mellower texture to Winwood's, and an extra interest. His three tracks,
"Utterly Simple", "House for Everyone", and
'Hope I Never Find Me There" having instant appeal. The latter
relating more closely to the group's contributions. Mason became recognized for
his obvious virtuosity on sitar, vocals, and guitar.
Artistically Mason had started the process of establishing
himself. Like Winwood, he was a musical perfectionist, but their approaches
were different. Rather than follow his ideals which would estrange him from the
band, he decided to quit, even before the first album was released in December
1967 he left the band. He recorded a solo single, "Little Woman",
released by Island in early 1968. The B side "Just for You"
subsequently appeared as the opening track of "Last Exit". In pursuit
of a solo career, Mason moved to the US, an environment particularly conducive
for his creative talents, but when Traffic arrived there for their first tour
in March, he rejoined Traffic with a handful of songs.
"Feelin' Alright" was released as the first single
off the second album, Traffic in October 1968.
Mason's journey with Traffic was fitful, yet fruitful. Not quite a month
after the release, Mason left the band again and it broke up shortly afterward.
Steve Winwood joined the band Blind Faith, Mason Capaldi, and Wood teamed with
Mick Weaver in the short-lived Wooden Frog.
Traffic was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in
2004.
Traffic Discography:
1967 - Mr. Fantasy
1968 - Traffic
1969 - Best of Traffic
1969 - Last Exit - Traffic
1971 - Welcome to the Canteen - Traffic
1991 - Smiling Phases - Traffic
Solo Career:
Unencumbered by a commitment to a band in Engand, Mason
moved to Los Angeles and joined Delaney & Bonnie & Friends in 1969. He
played lead guitar and toured with them opening for Blind Faith. Delaney &
Bonnie had a #2 hit with Mason's song "Only You Know and I Know". In
1970 he signed a solo contract with Blue Thumb Records, and began cutting his
debut solo album, co-producing it with Tommy LiPuma. "When we got
together, and he played me lots of the stuff from the album, the material was
just ridiculous," meaning ridiculously good. "He had just bought a
12-string, and he was realy in love with it. The songs were just so strong,
forget it. You had to be deaf not to hear it."
The first result of the sessions was a single, "World
in Changes", released in April 1970, followed by the full album, the
classic Rock n' Roll masterpiece and enduringly powerful Alone Together in
June. The album reached the Top 25, stayed in the charts six months, and went gold,
while a second single, "Only You Know and I Know" became a Top 40
hit. His next career move always seems puzzling, but it shouldn't. One of
Mason's earliest friends in Los Angeles was Mama Cass Elliot, and in 1970 they
formed a duo, which they launched with a performance at the Fillmore East in
New York in September, and in the next year released the album Dave Mason and
Cass Elliot. The duo was short lived,
Mason briefly hooked up with a new configuration of Traffic, doing only six
shows yet culled the live album, "Welcome to the Canteen", where we
hear a live version of "Feelin' Alright", and "Sad and Deep as
You". After the shows, Mason stayed back in England and was an original
member of Derek and the Dominos with , prior to Layla. Dave was replaced by
Duanne Allman.
Meanwhile, Mason became Blue Thumb's most successful
recording artist. As was commonplace, he was asked to renegociate his contract.
When Blue Thumb demurred, he stopped working on his follow up to Alone
Together, sued the label, and took the tapes he had recorded so far. Blue Thumb
still had two-track copies of the material and released them as
"Headkeeper" in 1972, and Dave Mason is Alive in 1973. Mason
denounced them as bootleg, and was forced into bankruptcy. Yet it freed him
from Blue Thumb, and he signed then with Columbia.
The Columbia relationship was wildly successful, with two
albums going gold, Mariposa del Oro, and Dave Mason, followed by Let It Flow
going Platinum, and including the classic "We Just Disagree" which
became a top 20 hit. In addition, Mason became a huge success as a major
concert attraction, playing venues such as Red Rocks, Madison Square Garden,
and the Los Angeles Forum during the 1970's. His brand of melodic mainstream
rock had fallen from favor by the start of the 80's, when his Columbia contract
expired. He stayed on the road in spite of it becoming a difficult time for him
personally. "I didn't even pick up a guitar for a year. I stopped writing.
I had my bouts with drugs and alcohol, and I really needed to get away to see
when I wanted in life." Finally, he cut the album Some Assembly Required,
which was released by Maze Records of Canada in 1987, then hooked up with the
Voyager label, distributed by MCA for Two Hearts, released at the end of the
same year. Mason continued to perform, suffering a great blow when his long
time colleague and friend Jim Krueger died in 1993. Shortly after, he joined a
new lineup of Fleetwood Mac in 1994 and 1996. The group toured, then recorded
the album Time, released in 1995, which included two songs co-written by Mason.
By any measure Dave Mason has had a full life, difficult
enough to have discouraged a less determined man and to have defeated a less
talented one. It was always Mason's musical ability, as a writer of classic
songs and a stunning performer able to attract a loyal following that has kept
him afloat personally and professionally. He has always loved the music. As
Bill DeYoung in Goldmine Magazine writes, "Mason made one bad business
move after another, picking the wrong managers, signing the wrong contracts. He
had the usual problems with drugs and alcohol, and with relationships with
lovers, and band members, but at the end of the day, as always, it was the
music that mattered."
In a 2011 interview Mason said, "Living is definitely
not for the weak or faint of heart; its a constant work in progress".
And so Mason continues to follow his heart's calling. He
continues to hold considerable weight in the industry as one who carries a
powerful legacy and indelible mark on Rock and Roll. Not many music legends in
their 60's create and perform with the same energy and vitality that defined
their early days. Dave Mason is a rare exception. He enjoys a zest for live performances in addition to a ceaseless
ethic of writing and recording. In 2008
he released 26 Letters, 12 Notes, his first album release in more than 20
years. With today's technology supportive of his entreprenurial spirit, Mason
is begining to release heretofore private recordings, revealing yet again a new
phase in the dazzling career of Dave Mason.
Discography:
2014 - Future's Past
2006 - Definitive Collection
2002 - Dave Mason: Live at Sunrise.
2002 - Live at Perkins' Palace!
1999 - Ultimate Collection
1999 - Live: 40,000 Headmen Tour
1995 - Long Lost Friend
1987 - Some Assembly Required
1987 - Two Hearts
1981 - Best of Dave Mason
1980 - Old Crest On A New Wave
1979 - The Very Best of Dave Mason
1978 - Mariposa De Oro
1977 - Let It Flow
1976 - Certified Live
1975 - Split Coconut
1974 - The Lonely One
1974 - Best of Dave Mason
1974 - Dave Mason
1973 - Dave Mason Is Alive!
1973 - Its Like You Never Left
1972 - Scrapbook
1972 - Headkeeper
1971 - Dave Mason & Cass Elliot
1970 - Alone Together
Guest Appearances:
In addition to a rich career in songwriting and performing,
Dave Mason was invited to perform on several albums of some of the most
legendary names in music.
1968 - Electric Ladyland - Jimi Hendrix
1968 - Beggars Banquet - Rolling Stones
1969 - Lily The Pink - Scaffold
1970 - All Things Must Pass - George Harrison
1970 - Delaney & Bonnie & Friends on Tour with Eric Clapton
1971 - Motel Shot - Delaney & Bonnie
1971 - Songs For Beginners - Graham Nash
1971 - Winwood - Steve Winwood
1972 - Bobby Keys - Bobby Keys
1972 - Graham Nash & David Crosby
1972 - History of Eric Clapton - Eric Clapton
1972 - Oh How We Danced - Jim Capaldi
1973 - Wild Tales - Graham Nash
1974 - Phoebe Snow - Phoebe Snow
1975 - Venus and Mars - Paul McCartney
1975 - Get Off II Various
1976 - You Can't Argue With a Sick Mind - Joe Walsh
1978 - Thoroughfare Gap - Stephen Stills
1979 - Gimmee Some Neck - Ron Wood
1979 - Skatetown USA -movie with Patrick Swayze
1983 - Airborn - Don Felder
1988 - Classic Rock, Volume 1
1988 - Crossroads - Eric Clapton
1990 - The Best of Delaney & Bonnie - Delaney & Bonnie
1992 - Sounds of the Seventies: FM Rock II
1994 - Soccor Rocks the Globe - with Fleetwood Mac - various
artists
1995 - Finer Things - Steve Winwood
1995 - After the Love - Various
1995 - All Day Thumbsucker Revisited - Various
1996 - The Fleetwood Mac Family Album - Fleetwood Mac
1996 - Time Life Guitar Music Rock 1970-71 - Various
Rock n Roll Hall of Fame:
Traffic operated on the cutting edge of the late-Sixties
music scene at a time of rapid and remarkable evolution. Along with such
kindred spirits as Cream and the Jimi Hendrix Experience, Traffic expanded
rock’s sonic palette. But whereas most progressive British bands were based in
London, Traffic retreated to the British countryside. A key component of
Traffic’s mythology is their communal stone cottage in Berkshire, where the
group could soak up bucolic inspiration and work without distraction. It was
here the group wrote and rehearsed material for Mr. Fantasy and Traffic, among
the more remarkable albums of the Sixties.
Those albums were early chapters in what turned out to be a
fitful yet fruitful career. The Traffic story is marked with breakups, reunions
and personnel realignments. Between 1967 and 1974 they had as few as three and as
many as seven members. However, the group always revolved around the trio of
keyboardist/guitarist Steve Winwood, drummer Jim Capaldi (drums, vocals) and
hornman Chris Wood. And despite the changes, they remained one of the most
organic bands of the rock and roll era.
A union of musicians from Birmingham, in the British
midlands, Traffic was designed to be experimental and open-ended. Yet because
they all loved blues, soul and jazz, their foundations made them accessible, as
well. As vocalist and organist with the Spencer Davis group, Winwood had
already tasted pop success with such soul-tinged pop hits as “Keep On Running”
(#1 U.K.., #76 U.S.), “Somebody Help Me” (#1 U.K., #47 U.S.), “Gimme Some
Lovin’” (#2 U.K., #7 U.S.) and “I’m a Man” (#9 U.K., #10 U.S.).
Winwood was only 15 when he joined the Spencer Davis Group
with his older brother Muff, who played bass. Having turned 18 in the heady
year of 1967, the precocious teenager wanted to explore the more creative side
of the burgeoning music scene and his own far-ranging interests in jazz, blues,
rock and skiffle. He joined forces with Capaldi and Wood, late of Deep Feeling,
a Birmingham-based psychedelic group. The fourth member was Dave Mason, who’d
been a Spencer Davis Group roadie. It was a potent union of talented, visionary
musicians. Even in his teens, Winwood’s voice bore hints of Ray Charles soulful
fire, and he could play a variety of instruments. Capaldi was a powerful
drummer and adroit lyricist. Chris Wood’s reeds brought a jazzy, exotic flavor
to the music. Mason was a fluid guitarist and superb songwriter.
Capaldi conjured the name Traffic while standing on a
streetcorner, and he catalyzed the group’s formation. Traffic’s third single,
“Here We Go Around the Mulberry Bush” (#8 U.K.), was the title track for an
obscure movie. Their first album, Mr. Fantasy, appeared in 1968. The British
and American versions differed markedly, from their covers to the music inside.
In the U.S., two cuts were dropped and four others added, and the running order
was radically rearranged. Both versions had “Dear Mr. Fantasy” - a smoldering
union of soul and psychedelia - in common. Traffic’s experimental chemistry
flowered in the countryside, and they paid tribute to the rural environment
that sustained them in “Berkshire Poppies.” “We try to get as much color into
our lives as possible,” the group said of life in their beloved stone cottage.
“We see movements and roam through the temple of our minds.” The group applied
such outré touches as sitar and backwards drum tracks to cuts like “Hole in My
Shoe” (#2 U.K.) and “Paper Sun” (#5 U.K.), which were both big hits in their
homeland. In America, by contrast, Traffic was the consummate album band, never
charting a Top Forty single.
Traffic’s self-titled second album, also released in 1968,
was a masterpiece. Traffic included a bluesy plaint from Mason, “Feelin’
Alright,” that later became a hit for Joe Cocker. Winwood gave an emotive
performance on the tormented “No Time to Live” and cooked up a New Orleans
groove on “Pearly Queen.” The group explored psychedelia on “40,000 Headmen”
and incorporated West Indian rhythms in “Vagabond Virgin,” cowritten by Mason
and Capaldi. Mason also contributed an infectious singalong, “You Can All Join
In.”
All through this period, Mason was an on-again, off-again
member who wasn’t even pictured on the American version of Mr. Fantasy. Musical
wanderlust drew Winwood away in 1969, when he joined Eric Clapton and Ginger
Baker (of Cream) and bassist Ric Grech (of the British group Family) in the
short-lived supergroup Blind Faith. A third Traffic album, Last Exit, was
assembled from non-album singles and live recordings. The group proved to be a
phoenix, however, reassembling sans Mason to record John Barleycorn Must Die
(1970), their highest-charting album (#5). It was highlighted by the haunting
title track, a traditional British folk song; the funky instrumental “Glad”;
and the stormy “Freedom Rider,” whose urgency and drive captured Traffic at its
best. Mason briefly rejoined for a half-dozen British concerts, from which
Welcome to the Canteen (1971) – which included the old Spencer Davis Group hit
“Gimme Some Lovin’” – was culled.
For its next chapter, Traffic grew in size. Musicians who
passed through the band in the early Seventies included bassist Ric Grech,
African percussionist Reebop Kwaku Baah, drummer Jim Gordon, and David Hood and
Roger Hawkins of the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section. The early Seventies yielded
Low Spark of High-Heeled Boys (1971), Shoot Out at the Fantasy Factory(1973),
and the live On the Road (1973). The brooding, jazzy “Low Spark of High Heeled
Boys” - which ran for over 11 minutes - triggered Traffic’s greatest
popularity. Low Spark sold over a million copies as Traffic became one of the
darlings of album-oriented radio.
Yet Winwood came to feel the group had run its course, and
Traffic gave its last performance on August 31, 1974. Having contracted to a
four-piece band - Winwood, Capaldi, Wood and bassist Rosko Gee - they cut one
more studio album, When the Eagle Flies (1974), before calling it a day.
Winwood and Capaldi thereafter pursued solo careers. Chris Wood died in 1983
after a long illness. The book on Traffic seemed to be closed, but then Winwood
and Capaldi teamed up in the early Nineties, tapping into the group mystique
one more time for an album, Far From Home (1994), and tour. At some stops they
opened for the Grateful Dead.
Winwood has spoken about what made Traffic unique and
different. “We just wanted to make music that had our own freedom and was more
natural,” he said. “If we wanted to do a nine-minute song, we’d do a
nine-minute song. If we wanted a two-and-a-half-minute intro before the vocal
came in, or if the hook didn’t come in until five minutes into the song, we
didn’t care about it.” By caring more about music than commercial
considerations, Traffic tapped into a magical motherlode.
David Roberts is a guitarist and singer-songwriter from
Herefordshire, now based in Cardiff. He released his debut album 'St Clears' in
late 2014.
www.davidroberts-stclears.com
While his recordings also make use of larger and more
elaborate arrangements, Roberts' live solo performance is a chance to see the
unique voice and intricate guitar playing that are at the centre of his music.
PRESS QUOTES:
Simon Holland, FolkRadioUK “…compelling…exquisite…extraordinary…blissfull.
Cascading figures that seem to defy gravity”
Alex Gallagher, FolkRadioUK “The name David Roberts may well
be new to many of you although with the release of his new album St Clears that
will change'
Michael Kennedy, Welsh Connections "David's delicate
vocals seem to float over the intricate melodies and the effect is quite
mesmerising... "a classic collection of finely written and executed songs.
This album surely puts David Roberts at the forefront of contemporary singer-songwriters
in Wales.”
Frank Hennessey, BBC Radio Wales - ‘Poetry, Jazz, Folk… A
fascinating voice’
Dai Jeffries, Folking.com - ‘Remarkably mature… very
beautiful’
Mike Ainscoe, Fatea Records - ‘It almost feels like Roberts
is delivering an invocation”
Aidan Sheehan, Whitchurch Folk Club ~ “Masterful guitar work, haunting vocals and tasteful string
accompaniment”
“An excellent live performer, exuding calmness and serenity
and able to hold the attention of a large crowd. Clubs take note - David
Roberts is currently "a hidden treasure" yet I doubt he will remain
so“
"David Ian Roberts will capture your musical
subconscious and then lead you into relaxing serene moments with wonderful
tunes like “Slow Gold” & “Indian Blues”. Here is real Subtle infectious music
made with passion" ~ Stewart
Brennan, World United Music
Joshua is a modern folk musician from Abbotsford, British
Columbia, Canada, an amalgam of influence in the classically romantic tradition
of Damien Rice, Ryan Adams, Iron and Wine, and Sufjan Stevens. Like the said
ballyhooed folksters before him, Joshua is inspired to write largely as a
result of the people and relationships surrounding him, while also subjecting
his songs to his own vulnerabilities, doubts, and conflicts. He integrates
these revelations with his agenda of lyrical candidness, creating an expressive
and open artform.
With all of Joshua's ability and potential, what really sets
him apart is his faultless ability in the live venue. Josh will silence the
crowd with his soft and consistently pitch perfect vocal control while and draw
the audience towards his unmistaken aura for being one of the good guys.
Considering the idiosyncratic confluence of ability he boasts, it is fair to
say that Joshua spins a web of charm that makes him inimitably great.
Wish You Well – (Album: Where the Mountain Meets the Valley
– 2012)
Nowhere Left to Go – (Album: Where the Mountain Meets the
Valley – 2012)
Do Not Let Me Go - (Album: Where the Mountain Meets the
Valley – 2012)
If I Were a Better Man – (EP: Cold Wind – 2011)
More about: Joshua Hyslop
Every songwriter finds his or her own way to summon the
muse. Some lock themselves away in a bedroom, a hotel suite, or a studio and
wait for inspiration to strike. Others deliberately choose, in the words of
Robert Frost, a road "less travelled by." Joshua Hyslop took the
latter route on his way to Where The Mountain Meets The Valley, the debut album
by the 24-year old Vancouver native. And it did, indeed, make all the
difference.
Hyslop's first forays into songwriting were the result of an
unhappy accident of sorts: at the age of 15, he moved with his family to
Scotland, where he had difficulty transitioning. "I went from attending a
school with 90 students to a public school with something like 1200," he
recounts. "And I just had a tough time dealing with that. My first year
there, I got in a lot of fights. So, I picked up a guitar that my dad had been
given and just kind of locked myself in my room for hours and hours. I wasn't
the kind of kid who was in love with music and I hadn't really ever sung in
public. I listened mostly to what my mom had…Simon & Garfunkel, Cat
Stevens. That's how I got started."
There are still echoes of classic folk in the spare,
pastoral beauty of Hyslop's acoustic guitar-based soundscapes, and in his
intimate, softly-sung delivery on the album's opening track, "Do Not Let
Me Go," a deeply felt confessional that resonates with the power of a
personal prayer. Indeed, in a move that even Hyslop felt was a bit risky, he
recorded his own bare-bones version of the Dylan classic "Shelter From the
Storm" for Where The Mountain Meets The Valley. "I was hesitant at
first," he admits. "But when you think back to the early days of
Dylan, everyone was covering everyone else's songs and it was taken as a complement.
So, yeah, I'm nervous that there are going to be people who have a problem with
it. But I did my best to do the song in my own style. It was either a brave or
very stupid thing to do," he acknowledges with a knowing laugh.
As Hyslop's interest in songwriting broadened, so did his
musical vistas. When he was 17, he discovered Damien Rice, Ryan Adams, Iron
& Wine. At which point, he began to
develop his own take on a kind of rootsy indie-folk. "I've always been
drawn to the lyrics and the sound of an acoustic guitar," he explains.
"I really like the austerity of one person on the guitar with a simple
accompaniment."
That may have been the starting point for Where The Mountain
Meets The Valley, but with the addition of strings, piano, mandolin and drums,
much of the album Hyslop lands squarely in the heart what might best be
described as artful rendered Americana. Yet, he wasn't in the heartland of
America — or his native Canada, for that matter — but halfway around the world
in a desolate part of Northern India that Hyslop eventually stumbled upon the
primary inspiration for the album. He was in the midst of recording his debut
EP, 2011's formative Cold Wind, when wanderlust struck, and he left home for
what he hoped would be an enlightening four-and-a-half month trip to the Far
East, his very own road less travelled. But the journey took an inauspicious
turn early on: abandoned for three days in a desert bordering Pakistan with no
food or water followed by a rather complicated twist of fate, Hyslop would
endure two near-death experiences that not only tested him physically, but
emotionally and spiritually, as well.
As Hyslop recounts, the wrenching yet redemptive lyrics to
"Do Not Let Me Go" — lines like "There are moments in this life
when you can't fake it/There are moments I would walk another road/There was
something in the broken way you said it/Singing 'Please, oh God, do not let me
go'" — came to him when awoke in a strange hotel room after passing out
from dehydration, discovered unconscious on a random street. "I just laid
there and felt the worst I've ever felt in my life," he details.
"Some people would call it a prayer, some people would just say it's
speaking out loud or whatever. But I was basically lying there and the words in
that song are words that I was speaking. Like, when you're almost dead, or you
feel like you're dying, or someone tells you that you came close to dying, your
real character shines through and it makes you see things in a very honest way.
There's no false humility and none of the aspects of the personas we wear
day-to-day. It's just, 'this is who I am, and this is what's happening.' So
that song is my little journal entry saying 'please do not let me die, I'm
scared, I don't know what's going on, I'm alone in a country I’ve never been
to, and I don't know what else to say.'"
Hyslop persevered and, four months later, returned home with
a new perspective on life. He also had the raw material for the eleven songs
that would become Where The Mountain Meets The Valley, including a poetically
meditative title track that captures the essence of what it's like to see life
through fresh eyes at the young age of 24. "When all that you have hoped
for/And all that you have loved, comes undone" Hyslop croons against a melancholy
backdrop of fingerpicked guitar, simple piano chords, elegant violin, and a
surging backbeat, "When faith in what you see is not enough/Don't say that
you believe, but do no love."
"I live in a valley surrounded by mountains," he
explains. "It's beautiful. But it also became a metaphor for the highs and
lows of my own life, and how dramatic they can be. In the last year, I've been
close to death twice, I've lost 45 pounds, I've been very very low, the worst
I've ever been. But, at the same time, I got signed to a record label and I got
to travel the world; I saw things that I'd never get to see normally. So, it's been an incredibly up year and an
incredibly down year. And that's really the dynamics of life.”
A young man in his early 20s, yet wise beyond his years,
Hyslop sums it up best, “it's so easy to waste time and we don't even stop to
notice it. And time really is this silent killer. You hope that you're using it
wisely and always wondering whether you could have done more."
Matthew Perryman Jones has a voice that calls out with
intensity, truth and emotion. Jones began his career in 1997 in Decatur, GA,
and then, after moving to Nashville to pursue music full-time, he issued his
first solo release, Nowhere Else But Here, in 2000. As American Songwriter
describes, “Matthew’s voice ensnares listeners with a rare authenticity and
gritty strength.”
In 2006, Jones released Throwing Punches in the Dark, a departure
from his previous Folk/Americana sound toward Pop Rock. In 2008, Swallow the
Sea with break-out hit “Save You,” solidified Jones as an artist worth
watching. Performing Songwriter Magazine noted Jones as a talent that follows
“in the footsteps of Leonard Cohen and John Lennon.”
In 2011, Jones released Until The Dawn Appears which
contains retellings of his most popular songs including “Save You,” whose video
features Jaimie Alexander (Kyle XY, Thor, The Last Stand). Written shortly
after his father’s death, Jones’ latest CD, Land Of The Living, is a courageous
personal Odyssey through life’s most troubled waters of love and loss.
One of the most sought-after songwriters in Nashville, Jones
builds on his accomplishments with his 2013 single, “Anymore of This.” The
duet, written and recorded with Mindy Smith, was featured on ABC Family’s
“Switched at Birth” in January.
Jones’ songs have also been featured in television shows
including Grey’s Anatomy, Private Practice, Bones, Pretty Little Liars, NY Med,
Flash Point, One Tree Hill, The Hills, and Eli Stone as well as in the 2012
movie release What To Expect When You Are Expecting.
In addition to Jones’ own headline tours, he has shared the
bill with Katie Herzig, Matthew Mayfield, and Joshua James and has opened for
such artists as Ingrid Michaelson, Shawn Colvin, Patty Griffin and Paula Cole.
Jones is also an original member of the nationally acclaimed Nashville
collaborative artist group “Ten Out of Tenn”.
Ian first hit
internationally in 1973 with "Painted Ladies". With a Juno award,
four SOCAN classic awards for Painted Ladies, Right Before Your Eyes, Hold On
and Pilot, a UNICEF Danny Kaye Humanitarian award, Juno and Gemini
nominations,15 albums and nearly as many top twenty records later, Ian has now
added author to the mix with two novels, Bequest (Manor House 2006) and his
latest The Lost Chord (Manor House 2008).
Ian’s lyrics have
been utilized in English textbooks while his songs have found international
success with many artists such as Santana, America, Manfred Man, Chicago, Bette
Midler and Ann Murray. He also records and tours the country regularly
with good friends Murray McLauchlan, Marc Jordan, and Cindy Church in a band
called Lunch At Allen’s. From 1990 to 2000, Ian wrote &recorded four albums
and toured with his band “The Boomers” who were comprised of some of the
Canada’s finest musicians - Peter Cardinali, Rick Gratton and Bill Dylan. When
you add twenty movies as a film composer, six seasons on the Red Green Show as
character Dougie Franklin and over a thousand commercials voicing characters
from Clive Firkin of Firkin Pubs to Snap the Rice Crispie, the credit list
starts getting ridiculous.
2009 saw Ian
touring both as a solo artist and with Lunch At Allen’s, while completing the
music for the animated series The Adventures Of Bob and Doug McKenzie and
scoring two Hallmark Movies, The National Tree and Fairfield Road. With the new
Lunch At Allen’s CD completed and 2010 underway Ian is currently writing and
recording a long awaited new solo album. To hear him live is to spend time with
a master songsmith and humorist. Ian lives with his wife of nearly 40 years in
the Niagara wine region of Ontario because he likes both wine and his wife.
Christina has shown a true passion and love
for music and especially singing from a very young age. Born into a very
musical family, she was surrounded by all types of music growing up from Classical
to Classic Rock. Influenced by her parents as well as several other members of
her family, music became a huge part of her life early on. She performed in
several musicals, concerts and operas throughout the years and had the honor to
be chosen to sing as part of a small jazz ensemble with Doc Severensen at
Phoenix Symphony Hall. In recent years she has been chosen to sing the National
Anthem for several major sporting events and recently was chosen to sing the
National Anthem for the Freedom Rocks Concert with Phoenix based rock band CTS.
With a vocal repertoire that includes several genres of musical styles such as
Pop, Jazz, Broadway and Classical, Christina's YouTube channel has become
extremely successful with currently over 5500 Subscribers. Through YouTube, she
has had her music featured on radio stations in Florida and the United Kingdom.
Her YouTube listeners have described her voice as "ethereal and
haunting," "pure and crystal clear,"
"a true joy to listen to." Her
goal and dream is to have a very successful career doing what she loves,
singing.
Pauline Alexander is an emerging
unsigned Scottish Singer-Songwriter based in Glasgow. Her music is extremely
easy on the ear and encompasses Easy Listening, Folk or Acoustic elements. She
cites Eva Cassidy, Joan Baez or Karen Carpenter as her main influences.
There are a growing band of radio
stations playing her music at home or abroad. She was recently the recommended
album of the week on BBC Radio Scotland with Iain Anderson. Something that was
echoed by the listeners of Revival FM on Iain Arbuckle's radio show when they
nominated her their favorite artist of the week .
2011 has been a busy year for
Pauline as she has been performing at a number of festivals in Scotland. These
have included The Arran Folk Festival in June, playing at Glasgow Cathedral for
the Merchant City Festival and a performance at Perthshire Amber's Cabaret
Amber concert on the 1st of November 2011.
In short, Pauline is a girl who
sings with passion. Her vocals are reassuringly soft like velvet and easy on
the ear.
Influential artists include, amongst others
Joan Baez, The Carpenters and Eva Cassidy. Annie Lennox
Psychedelic, Alternative, New Wave, Dark Wave – (2000 to 2019)
Psychedelic, Alternative, New Wave, Dark Wave – (2020 to 2029)
Rock, Alternative - (2010 to 2019)
Rock, Alternative – (2020 to 2021)
Soft Rock, Lite Rock, Alternative – (2010 to 2019)
Soft Rock, Lite Rock, Alternative – (2020 to 2021)
Pop Rock – (2000 to 2019)
Pop Rock - (2020 to 2021)
Folk Rock, Acoustic – (2010 to 2019)
Folk Rock, Acoustic – (2020 to 2021)
Hard Rock, Heavy Metal – (2000 to 2019)
Punk Rock, High Energy Rock n Roll – (2000 to 2019)
Southern Rock, Alt Country – (2000 to 2019)
Classic, New Age Classic
New Age Alternative
Ambient, Electronic, Relaxation
Music for the Revolutionary Mind
Welcome!
World United Music (W.U.M.) was dedicated to promoting a variety of music by Independent, Signed, and Unsigned artists. The goal of this project was to help artists gain recognition for their music by Fans across the World while also offering additional support to established artists that continue to create.
World United Music gathered the very best music and put it right here in one place to help listeners discover new music.
If you like what you hear, please consider sharing the music with friends and family.
I'm not in phase with what mainstream mediums have to offer, nor do I like being lied to. So I decided to build my own World where creativity, music, and truth prevail. Therefore I’m a photographer, Writer, Video Producer, News Reporter, Music Promoter, Radio DJ, Poet, Activist, Critical Thinker, and Problem Solver. Be sure to visit all my websites linked below for more of my world.
Posts
