Big Kenny Bio September 3, 2009

At the University of Creativity, as his Nashville home has been affectionately dubbed, “Big Kenny” Alphin acts much like a faculty chair.  “Professor of Music Without Prejudice,” you might call him, as he gleefully fosters an atmosphere so thick with inspiration and imagination you could swim in it.  The campus boasts a splendid residence housing the Pub of Love (a throwback to the MuzikMafia’s humble origins), a poolside set of bongos improvised by 15, 25, and 50 gallon drums, and a church, where Kenny has installed the state-of-the-art Last Dollar Studio.  “My wife told me I needed to go to church more often,” he says.  “So I built one in the backyard.  Then I put a studio inside it, so I’d want to go to church all the time.” 

 

Within this artist’s paradise, it is, ironically, the unassuming garage where Kenny spends most of his time and has set up the unofficial headquarters of Love Everybody, LLC.  Among the accoutrements are a fridge full of beer (“Isn’t is beautiful?” he marvels), a couple of tumbledown velvet sofas, a beach cruiser, and a chainsaw.  It might, in fact, seem an unlikely habitat for a star who’s written several top 10 hits for artists such as Tim McGraw (“Last Dollar Fly Away”), Gretchen Wilson (“Here For The Party”), Jason Aldean (“Hicktown” and “Amarillo Sky”), and been named BMI’s Songwriter of the Year.  As half of the Grammy-nominated genre-bending super duo Big & Rich, Kenny sold in excess of five million albums and opened sold-out stadium tours for Kenny Chesney.

 

In the last year and a half, however, Kenny has sought respite from the madness surrounding Big & Rich’s meteoric rise to fame.  “I’ve had a lot of time for reflection,” he says.  “I’ve come through some tough places in my life.  I’ve been through hell and back musically, and personally.  I wanted to step beyond all of that, and just write great stuff that would mean something to people, stuff I’d want to sing for the rest of my life.  I have a three-year old now,” he adds, referring to his son Lincoln William Holiday Alphin, “so I found myself really asking what it is I want to leave behind.  What lessons can I impart?”  Big Kenny’s forthcoming solo album, The Quiet Times of a Rock and Roll Farm Boy, (Oct. 27) is replete with such lessons, from “Find A Heart”—“If I could say one thing to my kid, that would be it,” Kenny says, to “Less Than Whole,” a self-described “dissertation on forgiveness.” 

 

Co-produced by Chris Stone, who engineered Big & Rich’s two most recent albums, and using largely the same band, led by lead guitarist and musical director Adam Shoenfeld, the album possesses the same hard rock-country edge, whimsy and humor that made “Save A Horse (Ride A Cowboy)” Big & Rich’s breakout hit, as well as the emotional, heartfelt sincerity fans of “Holy Water” and “8^th of November” came to know.  At the same time, The Quiet Times of a Rock and Roll Farm Boy is unique to Big Kenny as a solo artist.  Referencing “Drifter” in particular, Kenny explains, “This album has a much deeper groove than anything Big & Rich ever did.  You have to remember, I’m ten years older than John [Rich].  While he was just a pea in the pod, I was growing up on AM 1490 when they still played everything all mixed together.  So alongside Haggard, Jones, and Nelson, I was raised on the Beatles, Queen, Kansas, the Steve Miller Band, Bob Marley, and Bill Withers.”  Drawing from such diverse musical inspiration, Kenny’s solo work is infused with everything from country to rock ‘n roll, to reggae to R&B.

 

What’s more, tinkering in his backyard studio, Kenny enjoyed a much more leisurely recording pace than was ever possible with Big & Rich.  “I’m a quality freak,” he says.  “We had a lot more time to experiment with different sounds, and we were able to record tracks five or six times until we got it just right.  And we were able to focus much more on interludes and segues…so it’s not just a bunch of songs.  It’s like one great big one.”  Amazingly, Kenny recorded 50 songs, ultimately choosing from among them to create the single best album possible.  That was just one of the luxuries, he found, of being free of the constraints associated with a major label recording contract.

 

“When I began working on a solo album, my label didn’t like anything I turned in,” Kenny recalls.  But neither would they release him from his contract.  “I was stuck,” Kenny says, “and it just twists my soul to want to work, to want to create music and make a contribution to the world, but to not be allowed that.”  It was out of this frustration that he wrote “Free Like Me,” and was perhaps not coincidentally freed from what he calls “label slavery” a month later.  Since that time, Kenny’s channel of creativity has opened up a thousand fold.  Independently, he has outsourced publicity to Big & Rich veteran Jules Wortman, booking to CAA, and radio promotion, distribution, sales and marketing to Bigger Picture Group (the innovative company behind the Zac Brown Band’s recent success). 

 

Yet he retains complete creative control over music, his website, and all visuals.  He manages a staff of ten, including a couple of students from Nashville’s Watkins College of Art, Design, & Film, whom he hired after they won his contest to direct the video for “Share the Love.”  Kenny intends to make a video for every last song on the album, a process he finds immensely rewarding.  The video for lead single “Long After I’m Gone” was shot on his family’s Culpepper, Virginia home, where he grew up in a house built before the American Revolution on 600 acres of cattle ranching land.  Watching it, he points out, “We have old 8mm footage of me at age three performing in that same patch of yard.  I planted those trees when I was 16…that’s same road I walked down to catch the school bus.  I built that cattle chute!” he says, excitement clearly growing.  “This video will mean so much more to my friends and my family 20 years from now than if I’d just gone into some sound studio in Nashville.”

 

Not only has Kenny’s creativity expanded in his newfound independence, he’s discovered an agility that a major corporation simply couldn’t accommodate. “It’s amazing what you can accomplish when you don’t have to ask for permission,” Kenny says.  The album’s opening track “Wake Up” is a case in point.  On a Sunday, Kenny wrote the song on a tour bus alongside Jon Nicholson and 3 Doors Down’s Brad Arnold.  He recorded it on Tuesday, before a friend suggested he contact Canada’s Blackfoot Confederacy to add the Native American tribal chanting that now kicks off the record.  So Kenny emailed them the track.  By Thursday they had added their part, and invited him to the Valley of Eden, four hours north of Calgary.  He arrived on Friday night, and on Saturday made a vibrant music video featuring panoramic crane shots—wilderness as far as the eye can see—and over 50 tribe members.  One of whom, Kenny points out, had driven through the night all the way from New Mexico.  “This experience meant to such to them,” Kenny says. “They were thrilled to be involved.” 

 

Kenny has a way of touching people with his music wherever he goes.  Deeply affected by the genocide tragedy in the Darfur region of Sudan, Kenny committed himself last year to building the Kunyuk School for Girls in Akon, delivering medical and school supplies, along with musical instruments, clothing and building tools—all of which he funded.  He documented his journey on film, and since debuting it at the Nashville Film Festival in 2008, has utilized the film to spread awareness of the cause.  In recognition of his efforts, the Save Darfur Coalition named him their December 2008 “Darfur Hero.”  “Around the world, in every language, music is the common denominator,” Kenny says.  “Share the music, share the love.  Get out there and throw around as much love as you can.  Come bearing a light and shine it all around.” 

 

Lately, Kenny has also discovered a passion for seeing America.  Finding jets and tour buses too restrictive, he’s taken to flying around in a small airplane, inspired by the natural beauty of this country and devoted to sharing his love for it.  Angered over mountaintop coal removal in Appalachia, Kenny has become involved with the Natural Resources Defense Council, working to end what he calls a national disgrace.  “They are tearing down the oldest forests in the country to get at coal that will be gone tomorrow,” he says, incensed.  “They could be installing windmills on that same land that would provide clean power for years and years to come.”  Closer to home at the University of Creativity, Kenny puts his money where his mouth is, as he and his wife Christiev have taken steps to make their home completely green, utilizing solar and water power to achieve total self-sufficiently.  

 

A true Ambassador of Love, Big Kenny has made it his mission to “Highlight the good, inspire greatness, and encourage mutual responsibility for the betterment of mankind.”  With music as his medium, Kenny works tirelessly to mold the world around him into something better, something he’ll be proud to leave behind.  “‘Long After I’m Gone’ is a better description of where I come from and where I’m going than I’ve ever been able to give anybody in my career,” Kenny says.  “It’s only the love we put out into the world and the tangible things we leave behind that make a lasting impression. ‘The love I leave and my wildest dreams will live on/Long after I’m gone.’”  With the release of The Quiet Times of a Rock and Roll Farm Boy, rich with lessons in love, forgiveness, and freedom distilled from a lifetime of highs and lows, Big Kenny’s legacy of creativity, passion, and music is sure to carry on.

Jessi Alexander Bio July 15, 2009

Ten years, a handful of cuts, and one major-label minor album release into her career, Jessi Alexander was feeling discouraged.  “I was in a very frustrated place at the time,” she recalls.  “In all those years, nothing I’d tried in music had been an overwhelming success, and it was really starting to get to me.”  It was at the BMI Awards in 2007, however, that Jessi had the revelation that would ultimately catapult her to the level of success she’d been dreaming of.  “It finally struck me: I moved to Nashville with the goal of making a living making music, and one way or another, I’d done that.  I’d always wanted longevity in my career, and that night, I realized I’d achieved that.  It’s not a race.  It’s not about how fast you get there…it’s the climb.”  That epiphany inspired the lyrics for “The Climb,” which, with the help of co-writer Jon Mabe, in turn became an instant hit single for teen sensation Miley Cyrus in 2009.  Yet for Jessi Alexander, there was nothing instant about it.  Her climb to Nashville’s top songwriting circles took an unfailing work ethic, a commitment to craftsmanship, and perhaps most of all, persistence.

 

Growing up in west Tennessee and spending summers with her father in Memphis, Jessi’s musical heritage drew from the sultry mood of the delta mixed with the best renderings of traditional and contemporary country music.  She remembers walking along Beale Street before it was sanitized for tourists, stumbling over winos, witnessing fights, and just taking in the scene and the music.  One Christmas, an acoustic guitar appeared under the tree.  But in a characteristic display of stubbornness, Jessi refused to play it; having heard the bass growl on a B.B. King record, she would settle for nothing less than “that low thing.”

 

“Other kids were into soccer and all I wanted to do was listen to these records. Having my dad’s stack of records was a great starting point,” she says.  She listened and absorbed. “Growing up, I had such a wide range of influences,” she says. “I remember thinking that Linda Rondstadt was country.  So were The Band, Little Feat, and Bobbi Gentry.  I didn’t have the same kind of boundaries you see in music today.”  Karla Bonoff, Bonnie Raitt, Jackson Browne, Hank Williams and, always, Patsy Cline shaped the way young Jessi Alexander came to know and love music.

 

It was at the age of 10 or 11 that Jessi discovered a talent for singing and songwriting, poring over Patsy Cline songbooks, wondering about Harlan Howard, Hank Cochran, and Bob Wills, and why their names were on the tops of the pages.  Soon enough she discovered they were songwriters, and dreamed of following in their footsteps.  Learning to sing, it was Cline’s vocals that she tried to channel.  

 

Through songwriting, Jessi truly began to find her own voice.  “It was when I began co-writing in Nashville that I found the real joy of songwriting,” Jessi says. She’s of the old school, sitting down to write every day without fail.  Whether working with established hitmakers or up-and coming songwriters and artists, Jessi thrives on the collaborative approach to making music.  A few years after moving to Nashville after leaving Middle Tennessee State University, where she studied social work by day and played in bands by night, Jessi scored her first songwriting cuts with Patty Loveless and Kathy Mattea.

 

Around that time, some of Jessi’s more mischievous friends submitted one of her tapes to the local Grammy best unsigned artist contest in Nashville. To her surprise, she got a call saying she had made the second round of a contest she didn’t even know she had entered.  Jessi won the contest, which in turn led to a record deal with Columbia Nashville and the 2005 release of her debut album Honeysuckle Sweet.  Featuring 11 tunes that she had written or co-written with Gary Nicholson, Benmont Tench (Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers), Gary Louris (The Jayhawks) and Darrell Scott, among others, that album established Jessi as one of Nashville’s most talented new songwriters. 

 

Yet not until Jessi signed with Disney Music Publishing and began to focus strictly on songwriting did she herself join the ranks of Nashville’s top hitmakers.  She has written songs for Toby Keith, Trisha Yearwood, Little Big Town, The Lucky Bucks and others.  It was “The Climb,” however—resulting, ironically, from the hard knocks and frustrations she endured while forging her own path in the music business—that firmly established Jessi Alexander as one of today’s most sought-after tunesmiths.  Miley Cyrus scored not only a Country hit with “The Climb” (her first solo release to the format), she took it to #1 on Billboard’s Hot AC chart as well as to #4 on the Billboard Hot 100.  She performed the song on American Idol as well as the Academy of Country Music Awards.  What’s more, the director of Hannah Montana: The Movie re-wrote the film’s script to incorporate “The Climb,” which was released as the lead single from the movie’s soundtrack and was voted Best Song from a Movie at the 2009 MTV Music Awards. 

 

“When I set out in the music business, I had no idea that songwriting was where I would ultimately find the most success,” Jessi says.  Heading to a songwriting session with an open heart and a beautiful melody running through her head, Jessi had a gut feeling that it might be a truly special song, but she never dreamed what “The Climb” would become and where it would eventually lead.  “The song came from a really special place in a very organic way,” she says.  “I’m just thrilled to see where it has gone.”  Having met with enormous success outside of Country, “The Climb” has opened many new doors for Jessi.  Though she knows better than anyone that it “Ain’t about what’s waiting on the other side,” Jessi Alexander is on the brink of crossing over to a new world of opportunities.

Brady Seals Bio July 2, 2009

More than 20 years after rebelling against Nashville’s ubiquitous Stetson-Wrangler-and guitar formula, rising to the heights of country music fame as the long-haired Little Texas heartthrob on keys, Brady Seals continues to thrive on the edge of the genre, easing effortlessly into the role of the slightly subversive renegade who’s not afraid to say “ho” on country radio.  His latest solo effort, Play Time, is a no-holds-barred celebration of “long-legged, half-wasted” party girls, dance club debauchery, illicit smoke breaks and a certain prize-winning marijuana crop.  “There’s no question of this being a really adult record,” Seals says.  “It gets raunchy and raw.  But I’ve always wanted to make music that affects people.  Love it, hate it.  But you can’t ignore it.”

 

Neither can you ignore a talent as enduring as Seals, who has successfully reinvented himself throughout his career, while always remaining true to his musical roots in rock-tinged country. At 16, Seals left his home in Ohio as a touring musician, and by 21 had scored three #1 hits with Little Texas—all of which he’d co-written, winning him the ASCAP Triple Play award.  He went on to release three solo albums in the late 90’s before forming and fronting the quartet of player’s players known as Hot Apple Pie, with whom he scored a top 20 hit (“Hillbillies”) and opened for such superstars as Keith Urban and Tim McGraw. 

 

As an artist who’s spent the better part of his career in bands, Seals’s excitement over his latest effort is charged with mixed emotions.  “The great thing about being a solo artist,” he says, “is that you don’t have to compromise at all when it comes to the music.  Hire whoever you want for whatever song you’ve got & make it the best it can be.  On the other hand, as a solo artist you don’t have the band to share the excitement with you.”  At present, Seals is enjoying the best of both worlds, basking in the creative freedom to finally record the country album he has always wanted to make, while welcoming Hot Apple Pie’s musical contributions and infectious enthusiasm on three tracks on Play Time.

 

“When we began to look at doing a second Hot Apple Pie album, it became clear that we were all on different pages.  I just felt it was time to do my own thing—whatever that might be.”  Ultimately, it was in writing “Eeny Meeny Miney Mo” that Seals discovered the tone he’d been looking for and the direction he wanted to go with his new project.  Playing like a pick-up artist’s theme song, the track is as whimsical as it is risqué.  Wondering whether anyone would actually take it seriously, Seals had the epiphany that led him down the path to Play Time.  “I just want to have some fun.  It’s time to play.” 

 

And play he did.  In reference to the ganja-growing “Farmer Brown,” Seals laughs: “That was a true story that someone told me, and I just had to write a song about it—with names changed to protect the guilty, of course.”  Seeking to capture that Appalachian Bluegrass twang (“Like The Darlings on Andy Griffith, you know?”), Seals time-compressed his vocal, later speeding it up to achieve the higher-pitched sound he desired.  From selecting songs, to hiring musicians, to experimenting in a variety of Nashville studios, Seals reveled in his complete creative control.

 

Of course, he’s the first to admit he had help.  Having studied, over the course of his career, under Rodney Crowell, James Stroud, and Stan Lynch, and having spent the last couple of years developing and producing up-and-coming artists on his own, Seals discovered that when it came time to start working on a new solo project, he possessed the expertise, the confidence, and the instinct to man the helm.  “I think a big portion of producing is having the right players, the right studio, the right engineer, and of course the right song,” he says.  Not to mention access to a deep talent pool.

 

Play Time features contributions from Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers drummer Stan Lynch, who co-wrote and plays on “Trucker Song,” an ode to the free-wheeling vagabond’s existence that has become Seals’s favorite tune on the upcoming album.  “What a joy to watch him create in the studio,” Seals says.  “Here he’s worked with Don Henley, Jeff Lynne (Electric Light Orchestra), and I was able to find out all his secrets.  Just to sit down and hear his stories is priceless.”  Seals also worked with pop icon Richard Marx, with whom he co-wrote “You’ll Come Running” some time ago.  “The album track is actually an old demo I did with Richard a while back that I ended up digging out and re-mastering because I really loved the original recording just the way it was.” 

 

With the album complete, Seals began preparing to independently release Play Time online when StarCity Recording Company entered the picture.  An industry friend had passed Seals’s album advance on to StarCity head Jeff Glixman, best known as producer of 1970’s progressive rock band Kansas, among others.  “I hadn’t really shopped my record around,” Seals explains, “because I was leery of people not getting it.  But of course Jeff got it right away—and no wonder.  This is the guy who produced the Georgia Satellites’ ‘Keep Your Hands To Yourself.’”  StarCity quickly contacted Seals to set up a meeting, telling him, “Start thinking up your dream scenario, because we want to make it happen for you.”

 

Upon meeting, Seals sensed an instant connection with the StarCity team, who promised him a level of creative control that he’d never before experienced with a label.  “I was thrilled,” Seals explains, “to hear from this boutique indie label that wanted to release my album exactly as I had hoped to on my own…only with more money to put behind it.”  Backed by an A-team of Kansas drummer Phil Ehart as manager, CAA for booking and Nine North covering radio promotion, Seals has high hopes for the forthcoming album and lead single “Ho Down,” a new video, and upcoming appearances at CMA Music Fest and Summerfest.

 

As Seals enters the next phase of his topsy-turvy career, it’s evident that the one thing that’s been constant in his professional life is change—and that’s not about to change now.  With remarkable resilience, he’s proven his continued relevance since the Little Texas era, throughout his solo career and stint with Hot Apple Pie.  The secret to his longevity, perhaps, is that Seals creates music to satisfy his own soul first, with undying faith in the “if you build it, they will come” philosophy.  “I’m really only interested in having a damn good time,” Seals declares, “not being so serious all the time, and not playing anybody else’s game but your own.”

Shawn Mayer Bio June 22, 2009

Inked delicately inside each wrist, Shawn Mayer’s angel wings lift her above any doubts or deterrents, helping her soar towards her boldest musical ambitions.  And though the wind may now be at her back, this raven-haired, blue-eyed beauty is deeply rooted in a down-to-earth hard work ethic.  Growing up in the small town of May City, Iowa (population: 42), Shawn helped work the family fields, tended to the livestock on a nearby hog farm, and got her hands dirty tinkering on classic cars alongside her mechanic father in his auto shop.  An enthusiastic stock-car racer, he welcomed Shawn into his pit crew, where she came to know the dirt track circuit and decided early on that while the pit had its appeal, the stage was where she belonged. 

 

At 15, Shawn was booked to perform the National Anthem at the world’s largest county fair in Spencer, Iowa, where she encountered that evening’s headliners, Southern Rock legends Lynyrd Skynyrd, backstage.  Though the crowd of 8,000 was one thing, performing for her musical heroes pushed Shawn’s nerves sky-high.  “I noticed them come out to watch me sing,” Shawn recalls.  “Then afterwards, they came to speak to me and encouraged me to go for it.  They told me there were no guarantees in life, but if I worked hard enough at what I wanted, I had a real shot.  For me, that was my moment of truth: I knew what I was meant to do.”

 

Wasting no time, Shawn sat her parents down the next evening to ask for their emotional, though not financial support for her dreams.  While they had to co-sign her loan for music equipment—she was, after all, still a minor—Shawn paid back every penny, performing a regular taco night gig and frequently making the 17-hour trip to Nashville to perform at the Broadway honky-tonks on weekends.  She began writing songs and recorded her first album, Wings of Time, selling thousands of copies on her own.  Her senior year, she signed with indie label Turner Records in Detroit, who provided her with a life-affirming trip to the Grammys before folding shortly thereafter. 

 

Shawn refused to give up.  Five years after making her first trip to Nashville, a sense of do-or-die determination led Shawn to make the move to Music City, where she lived in her car for three days before a close-knit network of musicians helped her get, slowly but surely, to her feet.  Picking up shifts singing on Broadway, sometimes pulling doubles or triples, Shawn started to find her way.  She began writing with esteemed songwriter Dave Gibson, who later signed her to his publishing company, Savannah Music Group, and found a mentor in country luminary Vern Gosdin, who encouraged her to embrace her smoky, soulful voice, and find her own rock-rooted modern country sound.

 

Ultimately, Shawn found her sound in a post-breakup 4:00AM frenzy of emotion as she poured out “I’m Not Looking Back,” the song that quickly landed her a spot on NBC’s Nashville Star and won over legions of fans following the show’s original song night.  “When I got to Nashville Star,” Shawn says, “I felt a bit out of my league.  I really struggled with self-consciousness, feeling that I didn’t belong.  But the response to ‘Not Looking Back’—seeing the way it helped people through some very difficult, emotional times, reminded me why I wanted to do music in the first place.  Every week I got voted through, I thought, ‘You may not believe in yourself, but there are people out there who do.  Trust them.’”

 

Following a third-place finish on the show and a spot on the national tour, Shawn swore to never lose faith in herself again—and for good measure, got her angel wing tattoos as a constant reminder of her dedication to her fans and to “live life with arms outstretched, embracing what lies ahead with an open mind and open arms.”  With plenty of good faith and the talent to back it up, Shawn Mayer knows that whatever lies ahead, the best is yet to come.

Sean Patrick McGraw Bio June 22, 2009

Amid the two-day mainstream country, bluegrass, folk, roots rock and alt-country bonanza that was the third annual Stagecoach Festival in Indio, California, the unlikely last-minute addition of Sean Patrick McGraw (“Not related to Tim, so I didn’t pull any strings to be here”) to The Mane Stage line-up proved a surprise high point of the weekend.  “Letting his freak flag fly” with the psychobilly swagger of a true country rocker, McGraw caught the attention of the record-setting crowd, industry insiders, and media heavyweights alike. 

 

According to August Brown of the Los Angeles Times, “His early contender of a hit, ‘A Dollar Ain’t Worth a Dime,’ is one of the first of what will surely be many recession-themed laments, but unlike John Rich’s ‘Shutting Detroit Down,’ McGraw keeps his sociology enticingly vague, warning that ‘People do desperate things in desperate times/ if a man don’t turn to Jesus, he’ll turn to crime,’ but it doesn’t feel like Christian proselytizing — more an acknowledgment that neither course of action is likely to help in the long run.”

 

Indeed, McGraw handles the subject of recession with the earnest understanding of a man who’s been on the front lines.  “Last summer just clobbered me,” McGraw explains.  “Between the poor exchange rate with Canada, where we did a bunch of shows, and gas being almost $5 a gallon, by the time I got off a West Coast run I was losing money on the road.”  The resulting stress and frustration inspired “Dollar Ain’t Worth A Dime,” equal parts simmering rage and quiet resignation, as much an invitation to commiserate as a celebration of the American worker’s unfailing fortitude.

 

While McGraw’s performance proved to be an unexpected hit at Stagecoach this year, an overnight success he is not.  This road warrior and his “band of brothers” have spent the last few years playing upwards of 150 dates a year, last year alone racking up 80,000 miles on his new SUV (not bus, as McGraw is quick to point out).  Though he’s well seasoned as an opening act, sharing the stage with Jason Aldean, Luke Bryan, Patty Loveless, Pat Green, and Miranda Lambert, he’s not above gratis gigs in grungy clubs along the way, playing for nothing more than the hope of selling five CDs or winning a handful of new fans.

 

“For all the good days I ever had working in a factory,” McGraw says, “I’d rather have a lousy day in the middle of nowhere singing ‘Sweet Home Alabama’ anytime.  Not out of laziness—” he adds, “I’m all about hard work.  I just want that hard work done with a guitar in my hand as opposed to a hammer or a shovel.”  Hard work it is, and not just up on stage.  Whether behind the wheel or on the phone booking gigs, McGraw creates his own success with the tenacity to never give up.

 

Call it Irish grit.  “If you grew up where I grew up,” McGraw recalls, “you were automatically hyphenated either Irish, Polish, or Italian, and your dad worked in the mill, that was a given.”  Hailing from a small steel industry town about 50 miles outside of Buffalo, New York, McGraw was raised on Hee-Haw (“We loved Conway Twitty, or at least his haircut”) and rough games of hockey and football.  Small for his age and showing little athletic promise, he gravitated towards music, and good thing: “If I’d have stuck with the sports I liked any longer I might have ended up getting my head taken off.  We never wore pads, let alone helmets.”  Instead, McGraw grew out his hair, picked up a cheap Japanese guitar, and at 13 started a rock band with friends, playing in bars a couple of nights a week—with a note from his mother in hand, in case the cops asked any questions. 

 

As soon as he finished high school, McGraw hightailed it to Los Angeles with rock star dreams and a country sensibility.  Wearing out records by Dwight Yoakam and Steve Earle, and “digging through stacks of junk at the Pasadena flea market looking for old Buck Owens and Johnny Cash on vinyl,” he developed his own unique hard-core hillbilly sound.  His van at the time got only two AM radio stations, classic country and R&B, “So besides being a little too familiar with some old Cat Stevens songs, I got a heavy dose of Vern Gosdin long after he was happening, not to mention the Chi-lites and the Stylistics.  I love that stuff.”

 

It soon became evident that Nashville was where McGraw belonged, so after a two-week trip and a couple nights at The Bluebird Café, McGraw made the move to Music City and hit the ground running.  He soon signed a publishing deal with Liz Rose, and went on to write for Curb Magnatone.  Despite some disappointments, including a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it stint on Nashville Star and as a member of the Brett Beavers band The Unforgiven (“We had some buzz for about a minute”), McGraw always found a way to pay the bills with music, impersonating Glenn Frye in an Eagles tribute band, taking sideman gigs with Dean Miller and Steve Holy, doing session work and continuing to write songs.

 

This “whatever it takes” mentality stands front and center in “Dollar Ain’t Worth A Dime,” and it’s what eventually got him his chance at Stagecoach, where McGraw began to gain traction on the national stage.  His performance there earned him a spot on the summer 2009 Toby Keith tour, and his debut album has been picked up for release later this year by Little Engine Records and their partner, CMT.  Previously recorded with producer Nathan Chapman (Taylor Swift’s go-to guy), and remixed and remastered by Spencer Proffer, the album reflects the hurdles and highs of a musician’s existence with gritty realism and good fun. 

 

It’s a crazy life, and McGraw looks upon it with bemused satisfaction in “My So Called Life,” reflecting, “Some days I own this town, other days it shoots me down/Always I’m still hanging round, holdin’ on to hope.”  Expertly depicting the driving pace of his “Honky Tonk Life,” McGraw stubbornly continues to hope: “I could quit all this road stuff, go back to my real job, put in a straight 9 to 5/But I love the neon, I love the people, and I love the Honky Tonk Life.”  For Sean Patrick McGraw, the honky tonk life is the only life.  “I never gave myself a plan B,” he says.  “I never decided to grow up.  I never got anything the easy way, and I’m proud of that.”

Fred Gill (Two Foot Fred) Bio May 18, 2009

With the creative spirit and dedication of a born entrepreneur, Fred Gill has spent the last decade building a collection of successful businesses in the fields of entertainment, restaurant and hospitality, and real estate. From his small hometown of Seymour, Indiana to Nashville and on to Hollywood, Fred is conquering new goals with every venture, his inspirational attitude winning throngs of friends and fans along the way. A widely recognized personality as well, Fred—better known as Two Foot Fred—walks much taller than his actual 38-inch stature. After all, as Fred himself boasts, “Size is merely perception!”

 

Born with a form of dwarfism known as diastrophic displaysia, as a child Fred underwent corrective surgeries for a cleft palate, club feet, and scoliosis. When the scoliosis surgery rendered him unable to keep his balance or walk unassisted, Fred’s grandfather crafted him walking sticks to help Fred meet the challenge. None of this slowed Fred down, as he started driving at age 16 (getting his first speeding ticket a few months later), earned his Eagle Scout badge, and went on to study entrepreneurship at Ball State University’s award-winning program in Muncie, IN.

 

“I grew up surrounded by entrepreneurs,” Fred recalls. “Both of my grandfathers, my Dad and my uncle all owned their own businesses, so it was a natural direction for me.” As a boy, Fred remembers charging admission for backyard carnivals and zoos (featuring, of course, the family pets). Later, Fred went on to start a DJ service, mix-mastering school dances, parties and weddings throughout his teenage years.

 

When it came time to choose a college, Ball State was a top choice because of its status as a leader in accessibility. However, it was Fred’s discovery of the entrepreneurship program that sealed the deal. Once there, he found inspiration in his professor Dr. Kuratko. “Dr. K” mentored Fred through his senior thesis, an award-winning business plan for a full-service steakhouse.

 

Fred put his plan into action upon returning to Seymour, where he opened his first restaurant, Fred ‘N Toby’s, at age 22.  Fred’s brother Toby, also a dwarf, later joined Fred in running the restaurant. The business was a success and led to Fred’s second venture, a delivery and carryout pizza shop named Gilly’s Pizza.  While in the restaurant business, Fred also developed a line of spices called Phat Freddie’s Seasonings, which he continues to self-distribute.

 

Recognizing the demands of running a full-service restaurant, and wishing for more time to pursue his diverse business interests, Fred moved on from Fred ‘N Toby’s, diving head first into the real estate business by acquiring first, his salesperson’s license and then Indiana Real Estate Broker’s license. This allowed Fred and Toby to expand their residential real estate business, owning and managing up to 250 properties at once. Fred went on to open The Funkey Monkey, a pub-style neighborhood hang that remains a fixture on the Seymour bar scene, at the same location as Fred ‘N Toby’s. 

 

Though The Funkey Monkey, Phat Freddie’s Seasonings, and various real estate projects proved Fred’s aptitude for entrepreneurship, it was a fateful trip to Nashville in 1999 that revealed his true calling in life-the entertainment business. “As a kid, I never really thought of performing as a career,” says Fred. “I always knew I was a ham, but became so entrenched with business in Seymour that I never thought I’d leave, and I didn’t want to leave.” Nevertheless, when opportunity came knocking, Fred answered in a larger than life way. 

 

While attending Nashville’s annual country music celebration, Fred struck up a friendship with John Rich, who had recently left the band Lonestar and would go on to become one half of the genre-bending superduo Big & Rich. John & Fred kept in touch over the years, and in 2004, John invited Fred to be in their upcoming video for “Save A Horse (Ride A Cowboy).”  Fred agreed, and it was the beginning of an entirely new career.

 

As skilled at recognizing opportunities as he is at seizing them, Fred parlayed the video appearance into a regular gig as Ambassador of Attractions for Big & Rich, emceeing their live show and energizing crowds with his crazy on-stage antics. He has also toured with such country greats as Kenny Chesney, Brooks & Dunn, Tim McGraw and a man who has come to be a close friend of Fred’s, Larry the Cable Guy. A NASCAR fanatic, Fred can often be found, between his touring and business commitments, in the pit of another close friend, 2008 Daytona 500 Champion Ryan Newman.

 

Fred is no stranger to the small screen, having appeared on numerous country music award shows and co-hosted a post-show fashion segment with Joan and Melissa Rivers. He has been featured on Gone Country, Blue Collar TV, MuzikMafia TV, Las Vegas, Dick Clark’s Rockin’ New Year’s Eve, Late Night with Conan O’Brien, and Jimmy Kimmel LIVE—to name just a few! 

 

Hollywood wasn’t far behind.  Fred made a cameo in the SONY Pictures feature film Roadhouse 2: Last Call, made his acting debut in the independent film Grilling Bobby Hicks, and recently made a cameo in the feature film Provinces of Night. As of late, Fred has discovered a talent for writing and producing, and is currently developing two reality shows as well as a dramatic script.

 

“It’s the creative aspects of business that really get me excited,” Fred explains. “The chance to express myself, and to work with such talented and creative people is my true passion.” A self-proclaimed “dot-connector,” Fred’s unparalleled people skills are perhaps his biggest secret to success. “When I was running my DJ business back in high school, Brooks & Dunn’s ‘Boot Scootin’ Boogie’ and several Bon Jovi hits were everybody’s favorites. Now I’m friends with Kix Brooks, I’m friends with Bon Jovi, and it’s just wild. I still find it amazing.”

 

Ask Kix Brooks about Fred, and you’ll find he’s equally as amazed. “Fred is one of those unique individuals who inspires not just a lot of fun nights on tour, but an inspiration in attitude for everyone he comes in contact with. He’s not quite as tall as most of us, but it sure doesn’t slow him down, and you don’t spend very much time with him before you realize if you see a handicap, it’s your problem, not his. I’m surely a better person for having known him.”

 

Infusing inspiration and creativity into each new business venture, every new stage, and into the hearts of all he touches, Fred continues to grow his successful empire. With both the courage to dream big dreams and the determination to achieve them, Fred has proven himself an inspiration to us all.

Bridgette Tatum Bio April 27, 2009

It’s rhinestone cowgirl glam topped off with a well-worn baseball cap.  It’s a sweet South Carolina low country drawl, punctuated with raucous laughter and a few well-placed swears.  It’s a tender vulnerability exposed by life’s hard knocks, and the gritty swagger of a survivor.  It’s a lot of things, but no words can distill the essence of Bridgette Tatum better than the woman’s own: “Sex, church, and chicken.  That’s what it’s all about,” she declares with a matter-of-fact nod that doesn’t quite hide her mischievous grin. 
 

The firecracker brunette was raised on the tent revival brand of soul-shaking gospel, swirling with the Holy Spirit and saturated with raw passion.  “I learned to feel music before I could hear it,” Bridgette attests.  Music coursed through her veins, seeping deep into her bones, and manifesting as the powerful sultry wailing and soulful crooning that brand Bridgette’s sound uniquely as her own.  “Music is what I was put on this earth to do,” she explains, “and it comes from something much bigger than me.  I’m just a vessel for the music.”
 

This clarity of purpose was born, amazingly, of a violent and senseless attack.  During Bridgette’s shift at a local motel, a disgruntled customer took a razorblade to her face, forcing her into six months of recuperation and some serious soul searching.  She recognized her calling in music, and knew that life was too short not to pursue her dream of being a professional singer and songwriter.  Promptly thereafter, Bridgette moved to Nashville and enrolled in the music program at Nashville State Community College. 
 

Bridgette studied music as dutifully as she studied the business of music, quietly observing the riggings and trappings of Music City.  “You can get pulled in a million different directions in this business, and I wanted to be sure not to get pulled in the wrong one,” she explains.  “I met a lot of people and had a lot of opportunities.  But I was a different animal than most people in this town knew how to handle.  Music is your baby, and you know if you don’t trust your baby-sitter, you’re not gonna hand over your kid.”
 

Following her first outing at a Hall of Fame Lounge writer’s night, Bridgette continued to take in the lay of the land as she worked up to the honky-tonks on Broadway and a regular Friday night gig at the Star Café in White’s Creek.  It wasn’t until she found a kindred spirit in manager Carolyn Miller, however, that her career began to really take shape.  “Carolyn saw my potential, she got it, and she believed in what I was doing,” recounts Bridgette.  The two women became friends working closely together for The Charley Foundation, a children’s charity that the pair continues to be passionately involved in.  “Then one day, we were sitting in an airplane over Texas and Carolyn just pulled out a legal pad and made me a deal.  ‘Let’s do this,’ she said.”
 

Carolyn’s encouragement led Bridgette to collaborate musically with the man who came to be her future producer, Danny Myrick. Danny’s schooling in gospel made him a perfect match for Bridgette’s soulful sound.  Their partnership proved as successful in songwriting: they co-wrote “She’s Country,” a #1 hit for Jason Aldean, as well as many of the songs on the forthcoming album, including “Hillbilly Rockstar.”  “It’s an anthem for all the country people who like to get dressed up, go out to the clubs and have a big time,” Bridgette says.  “I like to say it’s country with some couth.”
 

It could as well have been an anthem for Bridgette, Danny, and her band as they descended on Las Vegas to make an album at the studio at The Palms casino, christening the studio as the first country act to ever record there.  “I love the chaos of Vegas.  It’s a very creative place for me,” Bridgette explains.  “I felt like we needed to get out of Nashville, out of the box.   I wanted to leave all distractions at home, for me as much as the band.  I wanted to let them out of the cage.”
 

They laid down 13 tracks over an intense five-day period, lending the arrangements a manic creativity that plays off Bridgette’s unique artistry and passion.  The album reflects her many personalities, effortlessly transitioning from defiant, amped-up rockers to tender, intimate ballads to straight-shooting social commentaries.  “My music is as diverse as I am, and I think people can relate to that.  We all have many sides to us.”  Throughout it all, Bridgette and Danny’s shared gospel groove link the seemingly contradictory moods with a unifying soul.
 

“My roots in gospel have shaped everything I’ve done as an artist.  I want my music to be that real and to make people really feel it. If I don’t do that, then I’m not doing my job.  If it’s a ballad, it’s going to touch you,” she continues.  “If it’s a rockin’ tune, you are going to rock and roll till your pants fall off.”  Indeed, Bridgette’s powerful delivery makes it easy to live vicariously through her highs (“Hillbilly Rockstar”) and lows (“Hold On To Me”), whether she’s making up (“Missin’ You Crazy”) or getting down (“Cowboys Dirty”). 
 

“Not a lot of women would cut a song like that,” she says in regards to the explicitly steamy “Cowboys Dirty”—not to mention “Sex Machine.”  Always perfectly candid (“Some Things Need To Be Said”), Bridgette’s frankness is refreshing.  “People just want to be safe and I’m not interested in being safe,” she says.  “If it’s real and you are making it honest, that’s what people want to hear.” 
 

With unfailing honesty and a penchant for risk-taking, Bridgette Tatum is storming the scene on her own terms and winning fans at every turn.  “That’s really what it’s all about,” she concludes.  “The people.  There’s nothing like connecting with a crowd and seeing their reactions to what you have to say.  There’s nothing like it in the world.”

Camille Alvey Bio April 20, 2009

Camille Alvey is not your typical country songstress.  World traveling vagabond, yes. Hollywood actress and model, yes.  Europop starlet, indeed, and a young mother of five?  That too.  Though her independent spirit has led Camille along a unique path to Music City, she comes by her country credentials honestly.  Camille Alvey has without a doubt earned her stripes, not by tirelessly perfecting her craft in the writer’s nights and honky-tonks of Nashville, but by actually living an honest-to-God country song.

 

Born in Los Angeles, Camille was adopted by a Cuban mother and Utah-native father, whose mysterious business ventures compelled the family to live in eight of the United States as well as Germany, Switzerland and the UK.  Creatively energized by the globetrotting lifestyle, though challenged to put down roots under such circumstances, Camille found her true home in music.  At five, she began to play the piano by ear.  By age seven, she’d taken to writing songs.  “Fantastic songs,” Camille laughs.  “Or so I thought.  I actually called the local news station in Tucson to tell them about the amazing seven-year-old songwriter living practically in their own backyard.” 

 

After her adoptive mother died of breast cancer, Camille’s father re-married and at last settled the family in Utah.  Throughout her teens, she began to study acting and modeling while continuing to pursue music, and after high school, she promptly moved to LA.  Camille spent the next year or two making a living in Hollywood and making friends in Hollywood circles.  Though she loved acting, she was uncomfortable with the ubiquitous casting couch.  This is not me, she remembers thinking.  This is not who I am. 

 

During a visit home to Utah at age nineteen, Camille fell in love quite unexpectedly, and gave up acting to get married and start a family in the Lake Powell area of Arizona.  But in keeping with the crazy break-neck speed at which her life progressed, Camille had four kids in four years before divorcing on amicable terms.  “We each took two kids,” she explains.  “It was incredibly difficult, but we were young and it seemed like the best option at the time.”

 

Once again, Camille moved to LA to pursue her acting career, this time with two young children in tow.  Work was steady enough-she landed voiceover gigs and small roles in eight feature films and three television series-but difficult.  Camille struggled to afford a nanny, and soon returned home to Utah, settling into the life of a single mother and 9-5 drone. 

 

This time, she was really through with Hollywood, but she wasn’t through with music. As fate would have it, Camille won an MTV Spring Break trip through her local radio station, where she handed off a current demo to a Seattle DJ who eventually passed it along to a contact at S.O.S. Records.  As soon as they heard Camille’s rough demo, the label knew they had found just what they were looking for.  “Listening back to it, you’d never believe a demo like that could have landed me a record deal.  It was the cheesiest thing you’d ever heard-I’d made it at home on a cassette with fake drums and no mixing whatsoever.” 

 

But S.O.S. was impressed, and immediately flew Camille to Chicago, where she signed a record deal on the spot.  In the whirlwind of excitement, Camille didn’t realize she was entering the most bizarre chapter of her life.  S.O.S wasn’t signing her as a new solo artist.  Rather, they had just lost their fledgling pop act Katrina, who had released a couple of singles and amassed a modest fan following before skipping out on her contract, and they wanted Camille to step into the Katrina role.  She looked the part, sounded the part, and didn’t ask a lot of questions.  “I honestly didn’t understand what was going on until my first rehearsal,” Camille recounts.  “The back-up dancers were speaking to me as if I were someone else-Katrina.”

 

The gig lasted about a year.  Just when “Katrina” was supposed to fly to Europe to accept a major award (in fact, she still has loyal fans in that part of the world), the label cancelled the trip and subsequently disappeared.  Vaporized.  “No one would answer the phones, no one would return my calls,” Camille remembers.  “It was just over.”

 

It was a devastating experience, but it certainly taught Camille a lot about the music business, and a lot about herself-who she was, and more importantly, who she was not.  So she returned to Salt Lake City a little wiser, and resumed the 9-5 grind while rededicating herself to music, this time on her own terms.  During this time, she also re-married, re-divorced, and had a fifth child, but she never gave up on her oldest and truest passion: music.

 

She got her next shot when a friend, who was producing a variety show for the local WB affiliate, asked her to write some intro music.   That opportunity turned into a full-time hosting gig, and back in the limelight of television, her long-held desire to be an artist was renewed.  Her manager at the time urged her to try her hand at country, but at first, Camille had some hesitation.  “It was a new idea to me, and it was somewhere I hadn’t yet gone with my music. But I grew up on country music like Johnny Cash, and I’ve lived country music, and I’ve come to find out that it fits me perfectly.”

 

Through a mutual acquaintance, Camille made contact with Priscilla Petersen, a songwriter and manager in Nashville, who became smitten with Camille’s unique sound.  “I was blown away by her voice,” Priscilla explains.  “She can make any song sound like it was made for her.  She has an amazing ability to connect-she’s a real woman, and I think that’s what’s so appealing about her.”

 

With Priscilla’s full support, Camille took the leap of faith to Nashville.  Culling through songs that Priscilla had found for her, an old demo called “Kick Up The Dust” grabbed her attention.  She absolutely loved the energy and the attitude of the song, and was determined to find its songwriter and producer.  Luckily, she found both in Robert Haas, who not only agreed to produce Camille’s record, but in fact co-wrote each song on the project. 

 

Like Camille, Haas has a background in pop that makes him a perfect match for her non-traditional style and song sensibility.  Haas got his start as a rock/pop producer and solo artist fronting the Mercury/Polygram band Red Siren.  But having grown up on country, his music originally carried a definite country flavor that fell aside when his rock/pop act really took off.  His passion for great songwriting, however, eventually brought him to Nashville.  “I wanted to develop as a great songwriter,” he says, “and there’s no better place than Nashville to do that.”  Here, he began writing with such talents as Joie Scott, Kristin Massey, Angela Kaset, and Tim Johnson, each of whom contributed to Camille’s album.

 

Camille and Robert’s shared pop influences created a special kind of kismet in the studio.  “Camille was such natural fit for my songs, just like a duck to water,” Haas explains.  “She understands who she is as an artist and how to connect with an audience.  It’s very rare that you can find the perfect career song for an artist, but I believe ‘Kick Up The Dust’ will be that for Camille.”  From the sassy, spunky “Best Love You Never Had,” to the thought-provoking “Dirt,” the inspirational “First Woman On The Moon,” and the self-affirming “Make Me Proud Of Me,” when Camille sings from the heart about love and life, you know she sings from experience.

 

Finally it seems that both Camille Alvey and Robert Haas have found their home in country music.  The result is a fun, upbeat, sincere collection of songs that perfectly incorporate the team’s collective pop background into a country mentality.  “I want my music to be positive and uplifting, because that’s who I am,” Camille declares.  “And that’s the message I want to pass on to my children.  More than anything, I want to give people hope, and let them know it’s ok to just be who you are.”  Camille herself is nothing if not original, unapologetically embracing just who she is, and marching to the beat of a different drummer right into the heart of country music.

Single Review: Joe Nichols’s “Believers” March 31, 2009

This review was originally published at Roughstock.com.

Joe Nichols has one of the richest voices to be found among the new country traditionalists, as his new single “Believers” reminds us. It also reminds us, thematically, of his breakout single “The Impossible.” Nichols returns to the subject of faith with three vignettes: voters with unwavering faith in change lining up outside the courthouse, a couple taking a leap of faith at the wedding altar, and a mother who always believed her son would see the light finding redemption near the end of her life. Nichols says, “It’s also about believing in something bigger than what’s right in front of you. There have been a lot of times in my life, both recently and in the past, that I’ve needed a lot of belief just to move me forward. This song gives me that.”

 

Indeed, Joe’s professional and personal lives have veered a bit off the rails in the last couple of years, and the cynic in me can’t help but wonder whether “Believers” is a contrived attempt to recapture what made “The Impossible” and hit and Joe Nichols a star. From the three story lines to the second verse piano fills, it all seems a little formulaic. Or is it simply vintage Nashville? Is Joe returning to his roots or regressing as an artist? The believer in me hopes it’s the former, but the inner cynic isn’t quite convinced.

Album Review: Eric Church’s Carolina March 22, 2009

This review was originally published at Roughstock.com.

Eric Church’s sophomore release Carolina is an achievement in originality.  Church has wisely re-teamed with producer Jay Joyce, whose unconventional methods enhance Church’s unique country-rock sound.  A true album, Carolina is cohesive yet dynamic, satisfying Church’s mission to “…make a record and I hope I have singles,” and not the other way around. 

 

Carolina leaps out of the gate with the manic, amped-up scorcher “Ain’t Killed Me Yet” re-establishing Eric Church as the rebellious, youthful, hard living son-of-a-gun that fans of Sinners Like Me know.  He doesn’t let up with “Lotta Boot Left To Fill,” picking a fight with those who think “If it looks good on TV it will look good on a CD,” arguing, “I ain’t doggin’ what you’re doing/But then again, hell yes I am/I just don’t give a damn/Cause you still got a lotta boot left to fill.”  The top of the album maintains its driving pace with “Young And Wild.”  Listen closely and you’ll find that Joyce has a few tricks up his sleeve-like running tracks backwards-to push the energy level even higher. 

 

Not until the fourth track does Church allow a glimpse of his softer side with the ballad “Where She Told Me To Go,” which, in keeping with the prevailing attitude, paints him as a stubborn, bitter fool.  Here Joyce begins to introduce the soft, smeared edges that echo throughout much of the rest of the album, proving that a washed-out sonic landscape is still a powerful option in the ultra-clean digital era. 

 

As the mood starts to mellow, Carolina eases into the lead single “Love Your Love The Most,” a laundry list of things he loves, like “Good cold beer and mustard on my fries/I love a good loud honky-tonk, it rocks on Friday nights,” which is perhaps a poor representation of the originality and energy this album carries. 

 

Church had a hand in writing each of the album’s 12 tracks, but his solo efforts are his best.  “You Made It Look So Easy” and title track “Carolina” have a heart and sincerity that can’t be matched by any of the album’s committee-penned tunes, although a few, including “Those I’ve Loved,” come close.  In a nice progression from the album’s hard-hitting opening, Church seems to have found some peace in coming home to Carolina.