Healing & Music

Lisa Biales and Doug Hamilton give a special performance   Wednesday, April 30th at 7pm   Oxford Community Arts Center 10 S. College Avenue, Oxford, OH. Donations will be taken at the door, and proceeds will go to the Talawanda High School Grand Piano Fund in Memory of Kathryn Hamilton Kathryn Anne Hamilton age 15, passed away March 11, 2013. She was a freshman at Talawanda High School where she was an avid soccer player, swimmer and band member. Kathryn was born December 24, 1998 in Nashville, TN to Douglas Hamilton and Barbara Smyth Hamilton. Kathryn had a love of the world and compassion for people. She loved math and technology and dreamed of becoming a race car engineer.  We live in a wonderful community, and we take care of each other in many different ways. Sometimes we are care givers, other times we receive care.  Let's come together now with the intention of healing our hearts and our minds, and soothing our souls with music.   Lisa's new CD  "Belle of the Blues" makes the Living Blues charts at #11,  the Blues charts at #17, and the Acoustic Blues charts at #1. Available NOW at CD BABY &  iTunes  &  uptown Oxford at  The Wild Berry    "BY FAR, ONE OF THE BEST FEMALE FRONTED BLUES RECORDINGS YOU ARE LIKELY TO HEAR IN 2014."    - John Vermelyia, Blues Underground   " Lisa Biales astonished us again with this new album. With her crystal clear vocals and an excellent backing band, this album is a flawlessly produced jewel." Philip Verhaege - Keys and Chords     GET ACTIVE   Vote for the Coolest Blues Song in the World 2014 Vote for your favorite song HERE from   Big City Rhythm & Blues Magazine Sampler #15 Round 1 Voting counts through April 30, 2014  Votes for Belle of the Blues are greatly appreciated. Thank You!   Marc and I donated to the Blues Foundation's Raise the Roof! for  the Blues Hall of Fame. The donation includes our names to be added  to a brick in the wall. I'd love to see your name there too!    THE BLUES FOUNDATION

Big Song Music artist: Lisa Biales - Belle of the Blues - New Release review

Opening with and easy going blues number, title track Belle of the Blues, Lisa Biales shows why she is know for her clear voice, well complimented by Pat Bergeson on harp and Paul Hornsby on piano. Tommy Talton plays nice acoustic guitar riffs as a compliment but this song is really ready for airplay. Sad Sad Sunday is a slow blues ballad featuring Biales at her best on lead vocals and Tommy Talton on dobro. Bad Things has a "Summertime" feel with a light acoustic guitar backing. Adding instrumentation as it builds, Randall Bramblett adds organ, Ken Wynn guitar, Bill Stewart drums, Tommy Vickery bass and EG Kight backing vocals. Very nice. Mask, a primary 40's style blues ballad shows Biales in the heart of her style. Hornsby plays a "key" role in the backing on this track and Biales leads with very solid vocals. Graveyard Dead Blues has a cool dobro lead by Talton and EG Kight backs him nicely on acoustic. Biales is consistent with her vocals, strong and clear, and establishing a firm spot for herself in the void created by some of those who came before her. Baby Won't You Please Come Home has a really soft feel with early century authenticity. Paul Hornsby plays with certainty and feel. In My Girlish Days is a duet with EG Kight and features a tasty acoustic guitar solo from Talton. Peach Pickin' Mama, another track featuring Kight on vocals and Bergeson on harp features some of the coolest picking by Talton on the release. Black and White Blues has a moderate pace and a Bessie Smith style. Nice musical balance and clear vocals are the ticket. Trouble With A Capital "T" is a easy rocker with the largest group of players including Talton and Biales on acoustic guitar, Johnny Fountain on bass, Bill Stewart on drums, Ken Wynn on slide, Hornsby on piano, Gary Porter on tambourine and Kight on backing vocals. Wrapping the track is Bad Girl, the rockinest track on the release. Bramblett takes a nice B3 solo on the track and Wynn adds a stinging electric guitar solo as well. Duet vocals on this track are nicely complimented making this a nice closer for the release.

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Singer Lisa Biales Is the "Belle of the Blues" on New CD from Big Song Music Due March 4

Singer Lisa Biales Is the Belle of the Blues on New CD from Big Song Music Due March 4

Latest Album Produced by EG Kight and Paul Hornsby Features Tommy Talton, Randall Bramblett and Bill Stewart with a Special Duet from Lisa and EG

OXFORD, OH – Singer Lisa Biales (pronounced “Bee-Alice”) announces a March 4 release date for her latest album, Belle of the Blues, on the Big Song Music label, with production by multi-Blues Music Award nominee EG Kight and legendary Southern Rock producer Paul Hornsby. The CD was recorded at Hornsby’s Muscadine Studio in Macon, Georgia, and features special guests Tommy Talton on guitar (Cowboy, Gregg Allman, Dickey Betts) Randall Bramblett on Hammond B3 organ (Sea Level, Steve Winwood, Widespread Panic) and Bill Stewart on drums (Cowboy, Gregg Allman, Bonnie Bramlett). Talton’s contributions on the new album especially stand out, with his work on acoustic/electric guitar, electric/acoustic slide guitar and dobro.

EG Kight also produced Lisa’s acclaimed Just Like Honey album in 2012 and duets with Biales on one of the many musical highlights of the new disc, a cookin’ take on Memphis Minnie’s “In My Girlish Days.” EG also adds acoustic guitar and harmony vocals on a few other tracks and co-wrote several songs on Belle of the Blues. Co-producer Paul Hornsby provides his signature piano work throughout the new album.

“Recording with EG Kight and Paul Hornsby was more enjoyable the second time around,” recalls Biales about the sessions. “We’d been through the arduous task once before and became friends.  However, recording is not all gravy. I got anxious about one song and struggled with it for a while in the studio. Paul and EG suggested a break. When I returned, the lights were turned down, a single candle was lit, and a glass of wine was filled.  No longer feeling apprehensive, I sang ‘. . . and I wonder if I’m under some spell that you bring, when you make me, when you make me do . . . . ‘Bad Things.’”

Biales, who is known for her clear-as-a-bell singing voice, has been dubbed, fittingly, “Belle of the Blues.” The 11 songs on Belle of the Blues showcase a diverse set of material that feels right at home with Lisa’s passionate in-the-pocket vocals, which have a slant of southern sass to them.

“I have a secret wish to be the most desired back-up singer on the planet,” Biales admits. “Even though I know there are a few who already hold that title: Darlene Love, Merry Clayton, Judith Hill and Lisa Fisher to name a few.  I loved singing back-up with EG on her songs, ‘Bad Girl,’ ‘Trouble with a Capital T’ and ‘Belle of the Blues.’ Working out the parts and hearing our voices resonate together was thrilling. So, it was an extra treat to have EG Kight join me on the Memphis Minnie duet, ‘In My Girlish Days’ where we trade verses and sing in harmony.”  

Lisa has a special recollection about the recording of “Peach Pickin’ Mama,” too. “EG wanted me to play it for the band so they could get a feeling for the song,” she remembers. “We all sat around with guitars, and the jam that happened in the office with Tommy Talton, EG Kight, Tommy Vickery (bass), and Paul Hornsby playing his childhood guitar was priceless and is forever engrained in my memory as a precious moment in time.”

While Belle of the Blues has many kickin’, up-tempo songs, it has its share of ballads, as well. “I love singing sad songs,” Biales confesses. “The strong array of emotions that bubble up, and the connections I feel to people while singing them makes me realize my worth. I looked into the EG Kight songbook and found two songs that wrap around my soul like a big warm blanket, ‘Mask’ and ‘Sad Sad Sunday.’”

Another influence on Lisa Biales is Bessie Smith, who she calls “one of the greatest classic blues singers of the 1920s and someone I have grown to admire. It’s only fitting to have her presence on this recording with two songs: ‘Black and White Blues’ (a song written by blues historian Dalton Roberts as a tribute to Smith) and ‘Baby Won’t You Please Come Home."  ‘The Empress of the Blues’ meets ‘The Belle of the Blues.’’’

Over the past several years, Lisa Biales has been busy recording and singing the blues. Iconic movie director Francis Ford Coppola enjoyed one of her performances so much that he cast her in his film, “Twixt,” where Biales portrays a waitress named Ruth (and as a bonus, picks up a guitar and sings, too). 

In 2013, Biales backed by Ricky Nye and The Paris Blues Band recorded Singing in My Soul, an up-beat early jazz and blues album. Radio and critics loved Lisa’s music and the album won the Cincinnati Blues Society’s Best Self-Produced CD, also garnering her a spot at the upcoming August 2014 Cincinnati Blues Fest.

To see photos and hear Lisa’s music and learn more visit www.LisaBiales.com.