New Artist Spotlight Archives - Page 4 of 6

Jon Pardi – New Artist Spotlight – CMA Closeup Interview

February 5, 2014 Leave a comment

Jon Pardi is the “Life Of The Pardi”

Saloon pianos clink, guitars crunch and fiddles, well, they fiddle throughout Write You a Song, Jon Pardi’s debut album on Capitol Records Nashville. And it fits together into a package that practically dares you not to get up and dance.
A lot of Pardi’s energy stems from days on the road and long nights on stages throughout his home state of California. He was already absorbing the spirit of real-world Country when he performed “Friends in Low Places” at age 7 for his father’s 30^th birthday party. His first songs came at 12, his first band debuted two years later. The move to Nashville followed two restless years at Butte Junior College.

Apparently his experiences left Pardi unscarred. While there are no tears-in-my-beer blues here, that’s not to say he avoids introspective material. But even on the down-tempo “Love Hangs Around” (written by Pardi, Treat Summar and Odie Blackmon), you sense that it’s just a matter of time before the lyric’s two long-distance lovers enjoy a happy reunion.

Similarly, the rockin’ numbers have dimension. You’ll hear hardly a mention of trucks or cut-off jeans; instead, actual stories inhabit his down-home grooves. The title cut (Pardi, Bart Butler and Davy Ulbrich), as well as “Up All Night” (Pardi, Butler and Brett Beavers), showcase his fondness for melodies built on tight, repetitive motifs. The guy just sounds like he’s having a ball, and with his amiable drawl he’s inviting us all to join him.

IN HIS OWN WORDS

MUSICAL HERO

“There are so many, I don’t know where to start. Elvis was pretty awesome, though.”

ALBUM ON YOUR PLAYLIST

“Bakersfield, by Vince Gill and Paul Franklin.”

DREAM DUET PARTNER

“Willie Nelson. Willie just takes a song up to a whole new level.”

PET PEEVE

“People who eat really loud.”

TITLE OF YOUR AUTOBIOGRAPHY

“Life of the Pardi.”

On the Web: www.JonPardi.com

On Twitter: @JonPardi

Kayla Calabrese – New Artist Spotlight – CMA Close Up interview

January 8, 2014 Leave a comment

You can thank the CVS drugstore chain for getting Kayla Calabrese excited about Country Music. After all, she was born in Pine Beach, N.J., far from the nearest ranch or honky-tonk. Her family is pure Italian-American. Though she definitely enjoyed singing, Calabrese grew up dreaming more of being a doctor than a Country crooner.

All of that changed when she and her mother took part in a scavenger hunt for tickets to a Martina McBride concert in Reading, Pa. Amazingly, they beat everyone else to the CVS pharmacy where the prize was hidden behind some greeting cards. With that, a new dream took shape.

At 17, Calabrese made the pilgrimage to Nashville. There, she earned a nursing degree from Belmont University, worked at Baptist Hospital and taught gymnastics. She also met Kent Wells, who mentored her as she began writing songs and produced her as she recorded her debut EP.

The self-titled results were released digitally by Go Time Records in September. As co-writer on all six tracks, Calabrese shows that she knows how to come up with a hook and, as a singer, drive it home. With McBride and Carrie Underwood evident among her influences, she shines against powerful instrumental backdrops.

On the power ballad “Kiss Me,” which she wrote with Tami Hinesh, the message rolls out over muscular guitar arpeggios. It’s Calabrese’s buoyant delivery that bats this single all the way from the Jersey shore into the heart of Country.

IN HER OWN WORDS

MUSICAL HERO

“Martina McBride.”

ALBUM ON YOUR PLAYLIST

“Right now, it’s Sara Bareilles, The Blessed Unrest.”

DREAM DUET PARTNERS

“Martina McBride and Idina Menzel.”

MOMENT YOU WISH YOU COULD RELIVE

“I don’t really believe in regrets. Everything happens for a reason. I am where I am today because of the decisions I have made.”

TITLE OF YOUR AUTOBIOGRAPHY

“Believe. It’s my favorite word.”

On the Web: www.KaylaCalabrese.com

On Twitter: @KaylaCalabrese

By Bob Doerschuk

BRENNEN LEIGH AND NOEL MCKAY – New Artist Spotlight – CMA Close Up

January 8, 2014 Leave a comment

Before the World Was Made is a delicious mix: raw, retro Country plus sweet irony. That’s apparently the specialty of Brennen Leigh and Noel McKay, the Austin-based duo whose debut, on their B&N imprint, is hilarious, sentimental and profound, usually all at the same time.

Produced by Gurf Murlix, with only one of its 12 tracks penned by an outside writer, this album draws from Guy Clark, Lucinda Williams, the Louvin Brothers and, perhaps unconsciously, Nichols and May. Backed by a bare-bones band that consists of a drummer playing mainly snare, an acoustic bassist and occasional guests, they ponder love’s absurdities. A theme emerges in their titles alone. “Breaking Up Is Easy” is followed by “Breaking Up and Making Up Again,” in which McKay intones, “I forgot that you’re a bore,” and Leigh responds, “And I forgot how loud you snore,” both singing with a delightfully flat, deadpan delivery.

And who could resist the wisdom of “Let’s Go to Lubbock on Vacation,” which reasons that if they survive a week or so there, they’ll know they’re in love? Or “The Only Other Person in the Room,” a forlorn pickup song involving the last two folks in the honky-tonk at closing time?

But then they close with “Great Big Oldsmobile,” an unexpectedly touching pledge of lifelong adoration. “I’ll be deafer than a post and grayer than a ghost, but you’ll still steam my glasses up when you’re 92,” McKay promises — and we believe him.

For more on Brennen Leigh and Noel McKay, visit www.CMACloseUp.com.

IN HER OWN WORDS

MUSICAL HERO

BRENNEN: “Jim Lauderdale.”

NOEL: “Guy Clark.”

ALBUM IN YOUR PLAYLIST

BOTH: “Guy Clark’s My Favorite Picture of You.”

DREAM DUET PARTNER

BRENNEN: “Melba Montgomery.”

NOEL: “I sing with my dream duet partner nearly every night.”

PET PEEVE

BRENNEN: “Everything.”

NOEL: “Tailgating.”

FAVORITE MODE OF TRANSPORTATION

BOTH: “Train!”

ACTOR WHO WOULD PLAY YOU IN A BIOPIC

BRENNEN: “Jackie Chan.”

NOEL: “Brigitte Bardot, of course.”

MOMENT YOU’D LOVE TO RELIVE

BRENNEN: “Getting to play mandolin and sing with Charlie Louvin.”

FAVORITE FOOD ON THE ROAD

NOEL: “Peanut butter and strawberry sandwiches that Brennen makes while I’m driving.”

On the Web: www.BrennenLeighAndNoelMcKay.com

On Twitter: @BrennenLeigh; @McKayNoel

By Bob Doerschuk

Chelsea Bain – New Artist Spotlight – CMA Closeup

December 13, 2013 Leave a comment

Chelsea Bain

NASCAR fans like their Country Music tough, sleek and hot, just like their cars. That explains why Chelsea Bain has been rocking racetracks around the country. In May and June alone, her concert schedule included the Charlotte Motor Speedway and the Michigan International Speedway, not to mention an interview segment with Kyle Petty on the FOX Sports “Trackside” program.

Raised on an Arizona ranch, Bain personally prefers getting around on horses — she has won more than 10 national and world titles from the American Paint Horse Association. But there’s danger in her blend of Shania Twain’s and Johnny Cash’s spirits with elements of Joan Jett, Tom Petty and P!nk. Her music doesn’t crash and burn — it just burns.

Check out her debut single, “James Dean” (written by Luke Sheets and Kata Rhe Gillispie). Set at a slow, slithering tempo, it opens with Bain playing a 17-year-old running away from her family in the dead of night and into the tattooed arms of her lover. Yeah, he’s a bad guy, but the singer still hopes “maybe I’m looking for the right kind of wrong.” With her sassy drawl radiating attitude, it seems likely that she’ll cause more trouble than her partner in the long run.

Produced by Stan Lynch and Billy Chapin, her first album, All American Country Girl, on Jobe Entertainment, simmers with this sort of intensity. Even when she offers glimpses of a more sensitive side, you know she’ll end up taking the reins in the end.

For more on Chelsea Bain, visit www.CMACloseUp.com.

IN HER OWN WORDS

MUSICAL HERO

“Bob Dylan.”

DREAM DUET PARTNER

“Ronnie Dunn.”

CD IN YOUR STEREO

“The Traveling Willburys is on my record player.”

BOOK ON YOUR NIGHTSTAND

“The Alchemist, by Paulo Coelho.”

SONG YOU WISH YOU’D WRITTEN

“Gangnam Style.”

LUCKY CHARM

“My horse Barbie.”

FAVORITE FOOD ON THE ROAD

“Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches must be on the bus. And bananas – I eat one every day.”

MOMENT YOU’D LIKE TO RELIVE

“None of them. I cherish moments, but I’m all about living new more exciting ones!”

On the Web: www.ChelseaBainMusic.com

On Twitter: @ChelseaBain

Cassadee Pope – New Artist Spotlight – CMA Closeup

December 12, 2013 Leave a comment

Cassadee Pope

You’ve got to hand it to Blake Shelton: He knows how to pick winners. When he recruited Cassadee Pope for Team Blake on 2012’s “The Voice,” he found an artist with that rarest of assets: outstanding chops tempered by interpretive sensitivity.

On her debut album for Republic Nashville, Frame By Frame, produced by Dann Huff and, on selected tracks, Nathan Chapman, Max Martin and Shellback, Pope does hit the occasional spectacular high note, but these only emphasize rather than obscure the essence of the song. The final, skyrocketing note on “You Hear A Song” (Nathan Chapman and Pope) is even lowered in the mix, so that we hear it not as fireworks but as a continuation of the song’s complex message.

Her real strength shows in more subdued moments, as she gets inside of a lyric. On her first single, “Wasting All These Tears” (written by Caitlyn Smith and Rollie Gaalswyk), she takes us immediately into the heart of this forlorn story. We find the protagonist collapsed on her bathroom floor, desperate and despairing. Pope taps into her inner darkness on the verses; more impressively, as the melody climbs on the chorus, she uses the crescendos to make these shadows even more tangible.

From her first voice lessons at age 4 to her triumph on national television, Pope’s ascension has been steady and strong — and it’s just beginning.

For more on Cassadee Pope, visit www.CMACloseUp.com.

IN THEIR OWN WORDS

SONG YOU’D LOVE TO COVER

“I’ve always wanted to cover ‘Best of You’ by Foo Fighters. It’s so powerful and I could really have fun with it at a live show.”

DREAM DUET PARTNER

“I’d be absolutely honored to do a duet with Shania Twain. I grew up idolizing her and became the independent woman I am today because of her influence. We could do a sassy, empowering song together!”

PET PEEVE

“My pet peeve list is pretty long, but I’ll spare you and go with my top annoyance: some people’s lack of respect for personal space. I spend most of my life in airports, and there’s nothing more infuriating than someone bumping into you while you’re going through security. The process is hectic enough! Phew… Sorry. I’m done venting now. :).”

SONG YOU WISH YOU’D WRITTEN

“I wish I had written ‘Cry’ by Faith Hill.”

WORD YOU SAY OVER AND OVER AGAIN

“I say the word ‘badass’ a lot. It’s not exactly the best thing to say on live TV so I’ve had to restrain myself!”

FAVORITE MODE OF TRANSPORTATION

“I’ve always loved flying.”

FAVORITE FOOD ON THE ROAD

“I try very hard to eat healthily but it’s the most difficult part of traveling. When I feel like splurging, I usually want Italian … I’m talkin’ pasta, ravioli and lasagna. Anything of that nature is what I crave when I wanna be naughty.”

On the Web:www.CassadeePope.com

On Twitter: @CassadeePope

Tyler Farr – New Artist Spotlight – CMA Closeup

November 13, 2013 Leave a comment

NEW ARTIST SPOTLIGHT: Tyler Farr

By Bob Doerschuk

Tyler Farr celebrates girls and trucks. Just what Country Music needs, right?

In Farr’s case, absolutely. He follows a familiar path through much of Redneck Crazy, his Columbia Nashville debut. But every now and then he slams on the brakes and veers in an unexpected direction.

Farr’s drawl draws from somewhere south of his hometown, Garden City, Mo. He rasps too, whether it’s from loving the outdoorsman’s lifestyle or working four nights each week at Tootsies Orchid Lounge. (The legendary Nashville venue hired him originally as a bouncer.)

His music is catchy, riff-heavy and steeped deep in tradition. He knows what kind of image he projects. But he has fun with it too, on “Wish I Had a Boat,” which is all about … wishing he had a boat. On various tracks, he compliments his ladies by comparing them to moonshine.

Then hold on for those sudden turns. The title track, let’s be honest, paints a scary picture of a jilted lover beaming his truck’s lights into his ex’s window at 3 AM and hurling empty beer cans at “both of your shadows” inside. This guy sounds dangerous; but on the other hand, Farr fully conveys his raw fury and pain without apology.

Yet on the last track, “Living With the Blues,” Farr goes solo, just acoustic guitar and a near-whispered lyric that reflects fragility and doubt. These yin and yang performances suggest there’s much more in Farr’s artistry than mere boat lust.

For more on Tyler Farr, visit www.CMACloseUp.com.

IN THEIR OWN WORDS

MUSICAL HERO
“George Jones.”

DREAM DUET PARTNER
“Hank Williams Jr.”

BOOK ON YOUR NIGHTSTAND
“The Bible.”

PET PEEVE
“People posting food on Instagram.”

WORD YOU SAY OVER AND OVER AGAIN
“Damnit.”

FAVORITE MODE OF TRANSPORTATION
“My truck.”

MOMENT YOU’D LOVE TO RELIVE
“The last day is spent with my grandpa.”

FAVORITE FOOD ON THE ROAD
“Vienna sausages.”

TITLE OF YOUR AUTOBIOGRAPHY
“One Hell of a Ride.”

ITEMS FOR YOUR TIME CAPSULE
“What the hell is a time capsule?”

SOMETHING WE’D NEVER GUESS ABOUT YOU
“I buy things at Bed Bath & Beyond.”

On the Web: www.TylerFarr.com

On Twitter: @TylerFarr