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PEARL

ASH GANLEY

www.myspace.com/ashganley  

I may be the last to know, but Colorado has a star in its firmament in ASH GANLEY. I recently received a package from Colorado and within it I discovered one of the best-sounding songwriters I have heard to come out of the state in a long time. Check out the MP3s below (and on his myspace site), which may at times bring Dave Matthews to mind in terms of vocal stylings, but this isn't copycat stuff. Ash has a clearly authentic quality to his commercial sound.

Ash is a Lyons, Colorado resident, which is where he takes the name for his band, The Lyons Rock Council. He has a resume that includes extensive touring in the U.S. and Canada over the last 10 years, sharing stages with Little Feat, Derek Trucks, William Topley, B.B. King, The String Cheese Incident, Maceo Parker, Jimmy Cliff, and others. He has performed at numerous high profile venues in the Denver/Boulder area, including Red Rocks Amphitheater, the Fox Theater, and the Boulder Theater.

You would classify Ash a "Roots" or "Americana" rocker based on a lot of his catalog - folksy, bluegrass, country-rock offerings that have the timber of Mark Knopfler's acoustic offerings - but he has a blues-rock side to him too, which brings Eric Clapton to mind. He, like Clapton, has even dabbled in reggae.

Ash has that assured virility in his sound that you hear in guys who have achieved a certain level of professionalism. There is a quality in his sound that says he has arrived at his musical destination, which is powerful stuff.

ABOVE: Ash Ganley in the recording sessions for Dark Fuel. LEFT: Ash Ganley and the Lyons Rock Council in concert.

ANDRIA GANLEY!

These Ash Ganley tunes are really good listening and it occurs to one right away that a principle reason is the background vocals of Andria Ganley, which are spot on perfect! She sounds, to me at least, like one of my favorite singers, Margo Timmons. The quality she brings to the sound of this band really elevates it to a higher level.

Ash Ganley and The Lyons Rock Council are Eben Grace on Pedal Steel, Brian Schey on Electric Guitar, Brian McRae on Bass, Percussion and Drums, and Andria Ganley, Harmony vocals.

ASH GANLEY AND THE LYONS ROCK COUNCIL MP3s:

Ash Ganley MP3s can be heard at his myspace website at www.myspace.com/ashganley.

Ash Ganley and the Lyons Rock Council recently released Dark Fuel, a 13-song LP of roots rock. Ash Ganley released a previous LP, Rainshadow, in 2002.

ASH GANLEY & The Lyons Rock Council and six other Big Bender Records acts contributed tracks to a country-rock compilation, Seven Dead Roses Vol. 1. (2006). Click on the links of the artists below to go their sites:

Ash Ganley & The Lyons Rock Council - "Elysian Fields"

Clint Clymer - "It's All About the Ride"

Brendan McKinney and The 99 Brown Dogs - "Just Like Z's Blues"

Oakhurst - "Arkansas River"

Shitkickers - "Burn It Down"

Spiv - "Not Worth Repeatin'"

The Munks - "Believe"

From Big Bender's website - "Big Bender Records is proud to present pure, true-grit, rootsy, twang- infused music that has an edge, some flavor, and real meaning. Its not about sellout, its not about slick and perfect production, its about what really matters music, energy, passion, and tellin the story the way its supposed to be told."

Click on a link below to go to that artist's website:

Buckskin Stallion
Dalhart Imperials
Honky Tonk Hangovers
Marty Jones
Railbenders
The Earps
The Hideaways

REBECCA FOLSOM

www.rebeccafolsom.com

REBECCA FOLSOM is a native "Boulderite," which makes her rare and right at the heart of things in this site that developed out of Boulder music community connections. She does some swampy and muscular blues-rock that bespeaks a kind of a rebel life experience that includes taking an alternative route to basic education and a lot of travel. Here is how she tells it:

From her myspace - "I was born and raised in the foothills of Boulder, Colorado with the Rocky Mountains in my backyard, and a big city out front. I still love the mountains and I enjoy visiting cities. My number one passion since Elementary School has been music and singing; although I thought about writing and illustrating children's books for a while. I used to sing my sister to sleep every night from the bottom bunk.

"Carol King was one of my first influences. My parents listened to a lot of James Taylor and Elton John. My very first album was the Beatles "Revolver". I liked the artwork on the cover as well as the music. My first concert was Earth, Wind, and Fire. I started my own music collection with Janis Joplin, Joni Mitchell, The Band, etc....I liked the older, more acoustic stuff. The best concert I ever went to, hands down, was Bob Marley’s "Babylon By Bus" Tour.

"I started writing my own music at age 13 and began performing my songs at school events and talent contests. After a few twists and turns I dropped out of high school, and put music on the back burner. I got my GED early and went on to art school with a focus in painting and drawing. I graduated with a mixed focus of painting and performance art. My BFA was done swinging from the rafters of the University Gallery in a graduation gown made of bright blue and purple feathers, while singing a song about being a Phi Beta Kappa. I believe "Gold Star Girl" was the name of the song.

"I returned to singing after a month long trip to Egypt where I experienced toning and chanting in the temples and great pyramids. I was deeply moved by that part of the world and I came home with a renewed desire to sing through everything..."

Go to Rebecca's MySpace site for more information each her recordings.

Because of You

Icarus

I Will Love You

Satisfied

Mimi's Boots

Copyright © 2006-2007 Rebecca Folsom, All Rights Reserved

You can also hear Rebecca Folsom's MP3s at her website and her myspace site at http://www.myspace.com/rebeccafolsom  

DAVE BEEGLE

www.davebeegle.com
DAVE BEEGLE has been a fixture on the Colorado music scene for something like 25 years, since his electric guitar band The Fourth Estate emerged in the 1980s and stayed hot into the 90s.

Fourth Estate produced three LPs, with their recording See What I See, available on CD as a reissue, considered an electric masterpiece in some guitar circles.

Besides working regularly with the Dave Beegle Acoustic Band and occasionally with a reformed Fourth Estate (with Mike Olson and Matt Henderson), Dave reps at trade shows for the "Transperformance Automatic Tuning Guitar, featuring the innovative Digital Tuning System. The device allows guitarists to access thousands of tunings at the touch of a finger" - from Dave's website.

The Dave Beegle Acoustic Band includes bassist Mike Olson, drummer Matt Henderson, percussionist Erik Meyer and guitarist Aaron Lee, and are sometimes augmented by percussionist Christian Teele. The band plays "world and ethno-alternative fusion with a hearty kick of rock-n-roll inspired energy, leaving this progressive acoustic contribution in a unique musical atmosphere sure to interest those with exotic and sophisticated tastes. From Spanish and Flamenco melodies to Middle Eastern and Balkan flavored arrangements, the Dave Beegle Acoustic Band will take you on a journey 'Beyond the Desert' to a place of tuneful bliss." - from Dave's website.

BELOW: 1995's See What I See (left) is available as a reissue on CD. Acoustic Mayhem (center) was just issued in 2006 with the Dave Beegle Acoustic Band.  Beyond the Desert, a Dave Beegle solo release, was issued in 2003. Dave has numerous other LPs available through his website and other music outlets.

"Like Jimmy Page, Brian May and Tom Scholtz, Dave Beegle is a one-man guitar army. A very clever player."...GUITAR MAGAZINE

NICK FORSTER, HELEN FORSTER AND ETOWN

http://www.etown.org/index_flash.php
NICK FORSTER is another of the mega-talented Hot Rize crew who has gone on to subsequent success. He was recently nominated for a Grammy as a producer, and has worked as a sideman to pop artists David Wilcox and Michelle Shocked.

Nick was (is) the stage spokesman for the quartet, which speaks to his talent for easy repartee and witty rejoinder. In 1990, about the time that individuals in Hot Rize were starting to go their separate ways, Nick came up with the idea for "etown." 

Nick did have some broadcast experience. As a member of Hot Rize he had appeared on Garrison Keillor's A Prairie Home Companion, as well as on Austin City Limits and The Grand Old Opry broadcasts. It was Nick's wife Helen Forster, who serves as co-host and co-executive producer of etown, who brought the production know-how to get the enterprise off the ground.

Helen was former co-owner and co-producer of the annual, and very successful, Telluride Bluegrass Festival. She also had  experience producing and directing stage productions and live "on-the-air" radio theater pieces. She had worked in improvisational comedy and formal theatre, and she, too, had performed on Prairie Home Companion. 

In production since 1990, etown has been an extraordinary succes and is heard on more than 100 radio stations - probably many over 100, I started to count and became confused - throughout North America, including a Winnipeg, Canada station.

Besides co-hosting the show, Nick and Helen both perform with the house band, "the etones" who have supported scores of top name artists. (The list of musicians who have appeared on etown over the years is on the program website and well worth checking.) Nick plays guitar and both sing.

Helen is the skilled editor who pares the two-hour live recording down to "the 59-minute version heard each week on the air...

"In addition to etown, Nick remains an active player in the music world, performing at major festivals and playing recording sessions for various artists like Big Head Todd and the Monsters and Kathy Mattea. He also is an accomplished record producer whose most recent project was nominated for a Grammy." - from the etown website.

"etown is an exciting weekly radio broadcast
We're heard from coast to coast on NPR®, commercial, and community stations. Like old-time radio variety shows, every etown show is taped in front of a live audience and features performances from many of today's top musical artists as well as conversation and information about our communities and our environment." - from the etown website

PODCASTS - etown is offered in numerous pod cast editions available for download from the program website.

This photograph of Helen and Nick came from an article on the Forsters at http://www.bluegrassnow.com/issues/42005/
more/stateoftheunion.htm

OF INTEREST: The Beirut-born Nick Forster is the son of a former State Department worker. Nick came up with the idea of "etown" while on a State Department sponsored concert tour of eastern Europe.

Helen Forster has co-authored three children's musicals.

One of the show's most popular segments is the e-chievement award. Listeners from around the country send in tales of remarkable individuals who are working hard to make a positive difference in their communities and beyond. From massive river clean-ups to programs that help the homeless, from neighborhood environmental activists to national social and environmental organizations, we take pride in celebrating the success stories of ordinary citizens accomplishing extraordinary things. - from the etown website

"DR. BANJO" - PETE WERNICK

www.drbanjo.com
DR. WERNICK – Pete holds a Ph.D. in Sociology from Columbia University – has been a leading innovator in the bluegrass field (and beyond) since the early 1970s. Before moving to Boulder, Colorado in 1976 and founding Hot Rize (with Tim O’Brien, Nick Forster, and the late Charles Sawtelle) in 1978, Pete was a faculty member at Cornell University, host of the only bluegrass radio show in the New York City area, and founder of Country Cooking, which ushered in “bluegrass new wave.”

Pete is President of the International Bluegrass Music Association (IBMA). He has been a successful author of bluegrass instructional books, CDs and videos, including the best sellers Bluegrass Banjo, Bluegrass Songbook, and How to Make a Band Work. (Anyone who has ever spent any time around musicians might find some humor, or some hope, in that last title.) He has also inspired numerous students through his banjo camps, bluegrass jam camps, and clinics.

Pete recorded a solo LP, Dr. Banjo Steps Out (Flying Fish Records) just before launching Hot Rize. The group had several #1 bluegrass radio hits, including Pete’s "Just Like You." Pete portrayed steel guitarist Waldo Otto as part of the Hot Rize alter ego band Red Knuckles and the Trailblazers. (Waldo was the band’s “donut impresario.”) Hot Rize was the first recipient of the IBMA's coveted "Entertainer of the Year" award in 1990 – this before Pete took over as the organization’s President – and the band has been nominated for Grammy awards.

THE SUBDUDES

www.subdudes.com

THE SUBDUDES did the unthinkable after coming together in New Orleans at Tipitina's. They moved to Colorado to further their music career. You don't get that many successful band who have fashioned their sound around a tambourine. On their website the subdudes offer a timeline of their band's history similar to that provided for Firefall on this page, and they explain their name. Turns out they needed to be a little more subdued than their naturally brassy selves.

www.leetrees.com
LEE TREES has been one of Boulder's more enigmatic musical genius types for something like 30 years. In the golden years of the Boulder club scene, Lee laid claim to a certain musical real estate, which I recall being smooth jazz of the Airto, Flora Purim variety. He had a Latin rhythm sensibility and playful attitude in mixing time signatures. He was sweet-voiced like Stevie Wonder, and he had a small but fanatical following. In a village where a lot of people expected to become a star, Lee seemed distant and deserving, like a guy who had other things to do. In the 1980s he did try the music scene in Los Angeles, at the same time as did his friend Steve Conn, but like Conn he returned to Boulder. 

Lee didn't release his first CD until 2004, which typifies his approach to his career. He put out a polished release that featured some of the Boulder area's top jazz talents and included the now Nashville-located Conn. The release showed that Lee was busy evolving in the years leading up to Shadow Play.  The music from the CD veers more toward Americana R&B than I might have expected. It is all smart, sophisticated stuff, beautifully performed. Lee is a talented singer and a guitarist who is able to lay down a sweet rhythm structure or toss out a Larry Carlton lead lines with fluid grace. It is impressive stuff, more accessible than I recall Lee being when he was younger; more Steely Dan at times, more southern-rock at others. That Lee is so good only advances his mysterious nature. It still feels like this guy could take it global.

LEFT: This photograph from Lee's website is pretty much the Lee Trees I have perceived him to be: serious, inwardly drawn, smart. 

Lee is good friends with Steve Conn, having shared both a Boulder and a Los Angeles music experience. They seem like a good match, both bright and political.

Lee is interested in performing in association with political campaigns.

www.jockbartley.net

From Jock Bartley - "...my 1st-ever solo CD is finally finished & out, yea!  It's been getting rave reviews (thank god) and is starting to sell.  It's available at 6-8 local Colo. retail outlets currently, more as the week progresses.. And selling on-line.  You can hear clips of all 13 songs on line at www.jockbartley.net."

As you can see from the design of the CD cover to the right and the examples of his work below, Jock is an accomplished painter. Check his LP out to hear his accomplished guitar work. Former Firefall Producer Jim Mason has an interesting story on his website about Eric Clapton commenting on young Jock Bartley's guitar playing at the dawn of Firefall's recording career.

JOCK BARTLEY ART

Hutchinson, Kansas-born Jock Bartley had a lot going for him as a kid, with talent in music, fine art, and writing. He went to the University of Colorado as an Art Major before dropping out to play rock guitar. He feels playing guitar is what he does best, but look around. Jock does a lot of things really well. His paintings are done in series that range from photo realism to children's and cover art. Josh is a big Beatles fan and has several paintings in a new art book out focused on the Fab Four (see below).

All paintings © JJB Art Enterprises

BEATLES ART

JOCK BARTLEY has four pieces in "BEATLES ART - Fantastic New Artwork of The Fab Four," edited by Linda and Jeff Webb for Boxigami Books, released nationally in August 2006. On top of that, Jock wrote the book's Foreward, which begins..."It’s no secret. The Beatles are the best rock & roll band ever. They were back then, they are today and will always be. Paul, John, George and Ringo changed the entire world and human experience like no other group could ever hope to."

www.chrisdaniels.com
Chris Daniels has been a happening act so long that he qualifies as a historic figure in Colorado music. Pretty impressive for a guy who really isn't that old. Sort of a legend in his own time. Following early exposure in New York City backing future-Doll David Johanssen, Chris was part of the seminal band Magic Music, which lit up the early/mid 1970s Colorado music scene, providing an area soundtrack to the post-hippie era. It is the band that brought the great slide guitarist Sonny Landreth to Boulder. Sonny has gone on to become an internationally renowned player, and Chris has just gone from one successful project to the next. He fronted Spoons throughout the later 1970s and into the '80s, then toured with former Amazing Rhythm Aces front-man Russell Smith. In 1984 he put together a big band for a one-off Blue Note show and it has never ended. Chris and the Kings are flat-out great and have entered a pantheon of big horn bands that includes Blood, Sweat & Tears and Chicago, though I think Chris has better songs. He is also a superior showman, a guy who seems in the moment with an audience. And he is a wonderful singer and guitarist. Stop me! Is there anything this guy can't do? 

Chris Daniels, rhythm guitar, vocals
Colin "Bones" Jones, lead guitar
Chris Stongle, drums, vocals
Kevin "Bro" Lege, bass, vocals
Dean LeDoux, keys, vocals
Darryl "Doody" Abrahamson, trumpet, vocals
Jim Waddell, alto, tenor sax, flute, vocals

Chris is very good about keeping in touch with people and he has contributed significantly to the development of the Links at RARWRITER.com. Check out his great MP3s below. 

Chris Daniels & The Kings MP3s:

50/50 - features Sonny Landreth on slide guitar, Steve Conn on B3, Sam Bush on mandolin, and Richie Furay (Buffalo Springfield, Furay-Hillman-Souther) on back up vocals

Howlin' At The Moon - features a horn arrangement by horns arranged by Tony Klatka (Blood, Sweat & Tears) and represents Chris Daniels & the Kings at their best

Copyright © Chris Daniels, All Rights Reserved

"As for the Kings, we are moving into 2007 with some new songs and looking at studio sometime in May for a 2007 CD. Working title is They Call Me Naughty Lola -- but it will probably change. We may be going back to Europe for our 16th tour. This spring we will play for the 75th Anniversary of one of the oldest and best Steeple Chase Horse Races in the country, the Carolina Cup in Camden, South Carolina. Also slated to be doing a series of festivals this summer."

Chris has been mentoring young songwriters, some of whom are probably encouraged by the huge success of one of their own. Explains Chris - "I am teaching at two colleges, Arapahoe Community College and CU Denver. Lots of budding new songwriters and fun new music. It is the school that brought you Isaac and his band The Fray which is up for a Grammy and lots and lots of sales!"

I was so pleased to get an email message from Brad Elliott, with the above subject line: proof that musicians aren't born they are made in odd hours. Turns out Brad has lived next door this entire time. Well, no, not really - he lives on the north side of the 707 area code up in Pengrove, California. We all remember Brad as all around good guy and drummer for Gris-Gris. Brad remembers fellow drummer Michael Clarke and wrote this in his email message: "I was thrilled to see some old chums still playing music. I miss those folks terribly and feel fortunate to have known such wonderful people during such a musical period. The Michael Clarke short brought back fond memories of always keeping a spare snare head in my van just in case Michael stopped in and wanted to sit in. I started playing relatively late in life and never really developed the strength to hit hard. I have never really even dented a drum head. I saw a Remo ad once with some poor member o the Elephantidae family standing with one foot on such a membrane. I remember Michael breaking two of my heads in one night. "Sorry man. It was tuned a little loose." I was in awe!  A week or so later I tried to break a snare head. I tried two hands with marching sticks, a baseball bat, and finally succeeded with some sort of carpenter's tool. I never told any of my band mates this story. What a wimp!"

Thanks Brad. Confession is good for the soul. Maybe you'll sleep now.

www.4nikators.com
THE LEGENDARY 4-NIKATORS have long existed in a theatrical terrain of bizzarro subtlety, youthful silliness, intelligence and rock'n roll, where people enjoy shaking a tail feather and spotlighting soul and R&B bellweathers. Bandleader Harold Fielden's venture into this great beyond began in 1958... That's right, around the year of that Impala pictured there to the right, that came with girl legs. (And damned fine girl legs, too, I might add.)  Then the band finally came into existence in 1979, after its playlist had finally been written, recorded, and seared into the minds of debauched people of a certain age (my age).

On some levels, the 4-Nikators were what Flash Cadillac and the Continental Kids and Zephyr became in their next lifetimes. Besides Harold, from FCCK, the 4-Nikators had the Givens, Candy and David. I saw the original 4-Nikators many times and they brought as much, if not more, electricity to the stage as any Boulder band of the era. For one thing, people knew their show and had a pretty good idea what they were going to do, which was going to be silly, a little naughty, and a lot like we all must have thought those '50s caravan tours of early rockers must have looked like. The 4-Nikators had all that going for them, plus an element of nervous tension because one felt absolutely anything could happen at their show. They were live theater on the burlesque side. Audiences knew the music was going to be good, because the 4- Nikators were always an experienced professional act.

RAR NOTE: Okay, call me juvenile and worse, but this logo exercises a certain control over me.

The band, with Harold Fielden at the wheel, has just continued on in the tradition. The personnel keeps changing and yet seems remarkably stable if viewed over the entire 27-year history of the band. Harold always pulls from the best available talent, which these days includes guitarist Chip McCarthy, keyboardist Joey Conway, and multi-instrumentalist Ron Aguiar.

Rock'n Roll Timeline

There is a site I like at http://www.digitaldreamdoor.com/pages/best_timeline-r1.html that provides a really entertaining timeline of rock'n roll history.

You can read more about Chip McCarthy and his company Accentual Audio Productions on this page.

4-Nikators of Cuba - Chip McCarthy

LEFT: You have to admire a guy (Chip McCarthy in this case) whose creative life so completely merges with his everyday existence. Chip - who has been a 4-Nikator for quite some time now -  took this photograph on one of his many travels to Cuba, where he goes to study Cuban music. (That's what this picture says to me, complete immersion in the culture of a people.)

Here's Chip - "Well, I have been traveling to Cuba under a general license researching  Afro-Cuban music, teaching "folk" and "rock" guitar, and studying congas along with an indigenous guitar-like instrument called "el trés", which I am in love with (you know me and those chimey sounding instruments). Last February, whilst studying, teaching and performing there, I had an epiphany, if you will (my mom says "mid-life crisis"). In teaching music and giving away everything I brought with me, I saw that I was having a profound  effect on people's lives. I suddenly felt, for the first time, that I actually had a heart and a soul, and that if I were to die tomorrow, I would not be happy with my legacy as a good salesman for corporate America. Upon my return, I gave notice and threw in the towel, giving up a very comfortable package of salary and benefits. Hey, I held a job with the same company for 34 years, and they had got me everything I needed. Since March, I have been immersing myself in music and working extremely hard to build my music business (click to go to Accentual Audio below) from a "paid hobby" to something that will support me for the rest of my wretched life. And, more importantly, get my own music immortalized on CD (now that I have the facility). But, it's scary to be self-employed...wondering if I'm gonna be able to pay the bills. So, I'm livin' lean.

"The other part of my fascination with the island is a medical student named Eliza, who is studying to become a nurse and took care of me last July when I got destroyed by giardia and couldn't finish my program. I'm going back down to spend Christmas with her and her family, and see how they celebrate the holiday and with what kinds of music. It'll be my first Christmas outside of the USA in my life, and I will be living in extreme poverty, but I'm looking forward to it. I will also be continuing with private instruction on the trés and have been asked to "sit in" with my instructor's group at the Hotel Vedado en La Habana. Cool, eh?"

www.myspace.com/hardfusion

Wild Game is Boulder keyboardist/drummer Steve Sirockin's new metal fusion unit. The band uses ideas from multiple genres to perform otherworldly instrumental music. Wild Game alternates between free improvisation and intricate written parts without resorting to conventional fusion tropes.

Joe Johnson brings a hyper technical post-shred guitar sensibility to Wild Game. A transplant from the Philadelphia metal scene, his previous credits include Wastoid, Shadowdance, and The Great Kat. His use of the guitar has been compared to Gallagher's use of the watermelon. "It was going very fast, but I'm still not sure whether it's funny."

Forest Lauck lays down the five-string funk that keeps Wild Game catchy. Equally at home in gypsy modes or afro-cuban rhythms, his unique perspective keeps the bass in the forefront where it belongs. Lauck's technical prowess allows him to execute runs that would ordinarily be the province of lead guitar, providing the band with enormous arranging flexibility.

Steve Sirockin's energetic drum style drives Wild Game, setting the mood in the tradition of Elvin Jones, Billy Cobham, and Terry Bozzio. He has performed or recorded with Carole King's band Navarro, Robin Crow, folk rocker Buzzy Linhardt, Acoustic Junction, and members of the Rippingtons, Michael Murphy Band, Jerry Jeff Walker Band, and Firefall.

In the 35 years since "Bitches Brew," fusion has given rise to its own genre conventions, often obscuring the goal of bringing together divergent styles of music. Wild Game returns to the fusion concept in its original, literal sense. Each player is responsible for his own instrument. Aside from being highly schooled, their musical backgrounds are vastly different. The resultant sound is distinct, expansive, challenging, and playful.

Wild Game has four MP3s playing on their myspace site that you should check out. Wild stuff from Wild Game.

www.otistaylor.com

ABOVE: Otis Taylor on stage with daughter Cassie Taylor playing "trance blues"

OTIS TAYLOR, the banjo-harmonic-guitarist-mandolin-ukelele playing singer-songwriter, has a resume that includes work with  Zephyr and the Legendary 4-Nikators. In the 1980s, Otis like his friend Eddie Turner (profiled below) dropped out of the music business and stayed out for two decades. Then around 1995, Otis got together with Kenny Passarelli and Eddie to do a low profile show in Boulder and he (and Turner) have been back ever since. In fact, Otis Taylor has released five LPs since then and written a song - "If The Devil Ain’t Right" - for the film, Skin Deep (2003).

Since his reemergence, Otis, doing what he calls "trance blues," has won a W. C. Handy Award for Best New Artist Debut. Taylor teaches in the National Blues Foundation’s "Blues in the Schools" program and continues to play with Passarelli and Turner, as well as cellists Ben Sollee and Zachary Miski, bassist John Paul Grigsby, drummer Josh Kelly, and backup vocalist/bassist Cassie Taylor, his eldest daughter. John Richardson is an occasional guitarist with the band. As you can tell from that instrumentation, Otis has another idea. His music tends toward the candid and the political.

OTIS TAYLOR MP3s:

Rosa, Rosa - a reverential ode to Rosa Parks and the cause of freedom

Copyright © Otis Taylor, All Rights Reserved

www.eddiedevilboy.com
Eddie devil boy? I met EDDIE TURNER one day in the office of Audience Magazine many years ago. He came in with Candy and David Givens and I was thrilled to meet him because I had just seen him on stage and thought he was just coolest. He had real star power - something about the way he held the guitar, moved and looked. There was that quality about him that you saw in Jimi Hendrix, a kind of other worldliness, and he played that way too, emitting strange sonic expressions that were beyond the usual tray. I recall Candy Givens, that day in the office, seeming very thrilled to be associated with him - her bands had always been built around flashy guitarists (Tommy Bolin, Jock Bartley). Eddie seemed like an extension of the line, and Eddie himself seemed like a sweet, humble guy. Then tragedy befell the music community when Candy Givens died, and apparently among those crushed by the news was Eddie Turner. Rather like Otis Taylor (profiled above), another former 4-Nikator band member, Eddie dropped out of music. Like Otis Taylor, he resurfaced two decades later and has issued CDs that have been lauded by the critics in the music reviews.

EDDIE TURNER MP3s:

Rise - deep groove blues-rock anthem for freedom with that trippy Eddie Turner guitar (live)

It's Me - uptempo instrumental psychedilia (live)

Copyright © Eddie Turner, All Rights Reserved

THE LATITUDE EXPERIENCE

www.thelatitudeexperience.com

The Latitude Experience is a Denver-based Jazz vocal band that has shared the same stage with Artist’s as; Kenny Loggins, Boney James, Jeffrey Osbourne and Patti Austin to name a few.

Known for their Jazz Genre versatility they can be seen performing throughout the country at large Jazz venues lighting up the stage with Jazz Fusion, Contemporary Jazz and Neo-Soul. Also, you may see them dressed in evening wear performing for the NBA All-Star game (Club NBA) or for large corporate conventions playing Straight-ahead Jazz for the “Corporate types”.

DERRICK BROWN

Stonewall Napier

KYLE SMITH

ARLEN FELSEN

Left: Jinx Jones, who added guitar to The Latitude Experience's first CD, on stage with the Latitude at the Soiled Dove. 

JERRY KAZZAZ

Wendy Woo

www.wendywoo.com/bio/

Wendy Woo has been big on the Colorado music scene for much of the last 10 years, and she is flat-out good. She has made her reputation as an energetic performer and an attention-getting songwriter. The Boulder media has loved her, with the Boulder Daily Camera naming her Best Singer/Songwriter, the Boulder Weekly naming her the Best Boulder Musician in 2004, and the Colorado Daily calling her Best Local Artist. She won the 1999 Colorado Lilith Fair Talent Search. She comes from interesting stock, her parents being founding faculty members of Boulder’s legendary Naropa Institute, a school that has had a considerable impact on Boulder/Denver area musicians, particularly of the jazz persuasion. 

Wendy's repertoire is rich and she has a bunch of really wonderful songs you can listen to from her website. 

Photo by Lisa Siciliano

www.martianacres.com
MARTIAN ACRES is a Boulder-based band that takes its name from "Martin Acres," an unextraordinary and therefore affordable '50s-era subdivision of South Boulder that over the years has been a local joke for its blend of denizens. (RAR Note: I used to be one of them.) Actually, calling Martian Acres a "band" may be overstating, because they are really a songwriting team - one that has been a surprising success on Colorado radio.

Chalk the mere existence of this duo as a win for the power of the void. Ten years ago Wanebo became stricken with a life threatening disease and beat the odds to recover. But it changed him. A baby boomer, he returned to a passion for music, which led him to take guitar lessons from Story, another boomer. The two clicked, started writing together, and now focus on writing sophisticated, satirical pop. They bring in musicians and singers, including Wanebo's 19-year old daughter, to record the songs and perform them live.

Their first CD, Middle of the Night, 2004, included two songs - the rocker "Middle of the Night" and country-rocker "Dan's Place" - found regular rotation on 99.5, The Mountain, one of Denver's premiere rock stations. Prior to the release of the CD, another song,, "Diamond in the Rough," was entered in the John Lennon International Songwriting Competition and was selected as one of the top 10 country songs of 2003. A fourth song off the CD, "Water Under the Bridge," was recently included in The Essential JAZZ Collection issued by Oasis Records in Atlanta. The title cut, "Middle of the Night," was also included in the best-of CD from VS Planet Radio, where the song reached Number One on VS PLANET CHARTS several times during 2004, and was the far-and-away winner on VS Planet's Power Chart. Successful songs in country, rock, jazz...it

"Alt-Boulder" band Martian Acres is Denver trial attorney/ songwriter Dennis Wanebo (left) and country songwriter Bob Story

was an auspicious debut CD for a couple guys in their fifties who were just rolling the creative dice.

So what of the sophomore jinx? Martian Acres released From Waltz to War in June, and it had some momentum at birth. One track, "Road To Hell," was picked as one of three finalists in the 2005 John Lennon Songwriting Contest - in the Gospel/Inspirational category! There is the fourth genre in which they have shown strength. You think it's possible that these guys can just plain write?

Cover artwork by  Steve Bell

MARTIAN ACRES MP3s:

War - from the Martian Acres website, an off-kilter anti-war statement that sounds like music from an Off Broadway production; Dexter Payne doing some nice clarinet work

Copyright © Martian Acres, All Rights Reserved

PEARL  

In the early 1980s there was no cooler band on the Boulder scene than Pearl. With Craig Skinner on lead vocals and guitar, Chip McCarthy and Jim Manire on guitar and vocals, Roger Casey on bass, and Dott Cabrera on drums, Pearl was one of Boulder's first New Wave bands. Wearing skinny ties and Capezio shoes, trademarks of the era, Pearl played original songs and cover material of Dire Straits, Talking Heads and the 1960s British Invasion.  Their assets were many, including great guitar work and Craig Skinner's wonderful voice supported by Manire's and McCarthy's splendid vocal harmonies. Pearl had something else that set them apart: charisma in spades! They played regularly to sold-out rooms at The Blue Note, Molly’s Back Room, The Boulder Theater, The Boulderado, Tulagi’s and venues all over Colorado and seemed like a unit that could break out and go national, but things happen in the music business. As Chip McCarthy recently wrote - "Well, maybe it might have happened had we not been caught up in a gigantic management mess, lawsuits, etc. In our last months as a band in 1982, we recorded 'an LP's worth of tunes' with Jeffrey Wood producing, but it never got shopped/released on accountacuz (sic) we broke up shortly thereafter!" 

ABOVE: Jim Manire with a classic Ric and Vox rig - Pearl reunited in August at Nissi's in Lafayette. LEFT: Chip McCarthy on the white Strat, on stage at Nissi's

Pearl MP3s:

Cruisin' the Streets - A classic Pearl track from 1982, written by McCarthy - a great example of the sound of an era

Now I Know - This is a new track, written by McCarthy and provided as a work in development that will be issued on an upcoming Pearl CD

I Need You Here - Written by Skinner with contributions from McCarthy -  inspired by the Columbine shootings - featuring Joey Conway (organ), Lorrie Singer and Liz Tuzzolino ( female vox), and a choir of high school-aged singers 

These songs are Copyright © Craig Skinner, Chip McCarthy and may not be reproduced for sale without the expressed written consent of Craig Skinner and Chip McCarthy

PEARL UPDATE:

Pearl reunited in August for one night at Nissis in Lafayette. Minus the original rhythm section, the reunited band included Michael Wooten on drums and Ron Aguiar on bass and vocals (see bios below).

Another of the assets of this band were their brains - they are all really smart guys. Craig Skinner and Jim Manire both earned B.A.s in English Literature (from the University of Colorado and Yale, respectively) and Chip McCarthy is a graduate of the Berkley School of Music who worked for over 30 years in chemical engineering. Craig went on to earn a law degree and is now a criminal defense lawyer in Denver.  Jim Manire earned a MBA from CU and is now an independent financial advisor in Parker, Colorado and the owner of James Capital Advisors. Chip McCarthy owns and operates Accentual Audio (www.accentualaudio.com) recording studio in Louisville, Colorado, where he conceives and produces music and he is lead guitarist for The Legendary 4-Nikators. Chip also travels extensively to research music of other countries and spends a great deal of time in Cuba, where he studies and teaches at the National School of Arts (Habana).

Good News for Pearl Fans: Mssrs. Skinner, Manire and McCarthy continue to write together and are putting together material for a new CD of original tunes.

Michael Wooten: Michael Wooten, drummer of the re-formed band Pearl, has been prominent in music circles since the early 1970s when he played on an album with the legendary Colorado band Zephyr, which included a very young Jock Bartley. He also played with Slumgullian and worked with Chris Hillman, Jock Bartley, Mark Andes, Larry Burnett and Rick Roberts in a band that was soon to be known as Firefall.  Michael then joined Navarro, which eventually played on three of Carol King’s albums.  Michael also played drums on an album with Richard Torrence, Rosemary Butler and Mark Andes and when in Austin, Texas, did studio work with Al Cooper, the guitarist who will be forever legendary for his style-defining organ work on Bob Dylan's classic "Like A Rolling Stone," which really redefined "folk rock" in the mid-1960s. Michael writes: "Soon the realization dawned that I needed a real job in the real world. Enter Leftover Salmon - 'Polyethnic Cajun Slamgrass.' You might say this was not the real world but it was one wild and strange trip (at least for five years or so). 300+ one-nighters a year, three CD's ( they were not called albums any more but we signed a deal with Hollywood records, part of Disney Corp.) and a lot of bus driving contributed to a very burned out cowboy. Someday a memoir of those hilarious, unbelievable adventures may surface; that is if all the thunderheads of piquant smoke that billowed forth each time the bus doors were opened hasn't adversely affected my memory. Leftover Salmon was the last serious and on-going gig I had before deciding to follow a dream from my boyhood of driving an 18 wheeler, which has been my occupation for going on six years now and I absolutely love it! However I have just recently come back around to playing music again with a fresh attitude and new found enthusiasm. Keep your fingers crossed."

CHIP MCCARTHY

www.accentualaudio.com

CHIP MCCARTHY is the proprietor of Accentual Audio, in Louisville, Colorado, an analog/digital studio that provides original music composition and sound production services. In Chip's studio sound production includes the technical aspects of sound recording, as well as the provision of specialized voiceover and instrumental talent. He offers "multimedia sound editing, mixing, audio sweetening, sound effects, sound creation, narration and voice-overs..." - from his website. Chip's turnkey approach positions Accentual for commercial services in marketing and adverti