Katie Slaney's New Album: Rise
Katie
Slaney from Melbourne Australia lures you in with her unique vocal style
and songs that play before you like a film. “Daddy’s Shoes,” from her
new album Rise, co-produced by Michael Oliphant and Slaney is a gorgeous
song. The guitar playing of Michael Doyle is fabulous and Michael
Oliphant’s keyboards set a velvety mood. Drummer Gerry Pantazis’s is
subtle and the hi-hats provide percussion. The story is told through the
eyes of a child and with Katie Slaney writing this song, one can easily
imagine these are words about her life “When
I was a kid it was an easy gig / People smiled and talked on the main
street / Even the butcher gave you these bag of sweets / And made my mum
blush talking cuts of meats.” The song recalls the memories of her
mother telling her stories and dancing with her father with her tiny
feet riding on the tops of his shoes.
“Daddy’s Shoes,” is a song filled with warm memories, but the
magic is seeing it through the eyes of a little girl.
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Willis and Robison - Our Year
Poetry
set to music would be the best way to describe the new album
Our Year from Kelly Willis
and Bruce Robison and none prettier than the third song “Carousel,”
written by Robison and Darden Smith. Willis and Robison, who are also
husband and wife, sing a beautiful duet that talks about the carousel of
life and how sometimes it is time to step off of the carousel of
relationships and to say goodbye. The
tempo is laid back and the mood is reflective, as Robison accompanies
himself on acoustic guitar, while Eamon McLaughlin is on fiddle, John
Ludwick on bass fiddle, the drummer and percussionist is Fred Eltringham
and Geoff Queen plays exquisitely on steel guitar.
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Mike Stern and Eric Johnson
Eclectic
is one of the more aptly titled albums out there today as it combines
the guitar wizardry of two of music’s best, Eric Johnson and Mike Stern,
the former known more for his presence in the Rock world and latter
known for his Jazz career. When you take a Grammy Award winner (Johnson)
who has also been nominated for several more Grammy Awards and you
combine him with multiple Grammy Awards nominee Stern, you expect lots
of sizzle and that is exactly what the listener experiences right from
the opening track “Roll With It,” a funky Blues Rock marathon written by
Stern and which features some scintillating guitar solos. Malford
Milligan delivers an incredible vocal performance.
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Georgia's Erica Sunshine Lee
Erica
Sunshine Lee’s star is rising quickly, because she has matured as an
artist. She still writes the fun songs such as, “All My Bucks Go To
Starbucks,” and “”How ‘Bout Them Dawgs,” but she also writes and sings
heartfelt and vulnerable songs like “Train Wreck,” and “The South Will
Rise Again,” the title song from her new album. Lee is one of the
hardest working artists in America today, relentlessly touring coast to
coast and internationally and one gets the sense that she stands on
the precipice of suddenly being thrust into the national spotlight, as
she breathes new life into America’s somewhat cloned Country Music
scene. Listeners feel the urge to dance to her songs and to sing along
to them, but most of all they have fun with the up-temp ones and they
identify with the vulnerability of the duet “You Saved Me.” All of the
songs on the new recording The
South Will Rise Again are original tunes.
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Cynthia Basinet - Flirts with Santa Baby
Eartha
Kitt had success with the song "Santa Baby," way back when, because she
made it a tease, but in a tasteful manner and she made it warm. Cynthia
Basinet’s presentation in both her singing of this classic Christmas
song and in her video makes the phrasing of "Santa honey," warm and
inviting, while "Santa cutie," is flirtatious, but not overtly sexual.
The song "Santa Baby," was never a song that was meant to wow the
listener with power, nor was it intended to be an up-tempo, sing-along.
The song was always meant to tastefully seduce the listener and to evoke
the desire to be that Santa Baby, as the singer flirts with her
audience, whether it is an audience of one or thousands or millions.
Cynthia Basinet has accomplished what so many singers after Eartha Kitt
failed to do and that is she has retained the essence of the song, while
making it her own and not merely serving up a do over or a copy. There
have been many pretenders since Eartha Kitt and many pretenders since
Cynthia Basinet first recorded her version in 1997. She pays homage to
Eartha Kitt, while adding her own twist to the song. What makes
precious gems valuable is they are rare and unique and Cynthia Basinet's
singing of "Santa Baby," is indeed both rare and unique.
In addition to the single “Santa Baby,” Cynthia Basinet has released the
full length album The Standard (2012), the EP For You With Love (2001),
the 2008 EP Uncovered, a cover of the John Legend single “All Of Me,”
(2015) and the singles
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Kelley Mickwee Debuts Solo Album
Kelley
Mickwee’s solo debut album You
Used To Live Here, may only have seven songs, but all of them are
gems, as the singer-songwriter-musician, who until now was better known
as one of the Americana trio The Trishas a Texas based all female band,
leans to R&B and Soul influenced tunes, while retaining an Americana
feel on this album.
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