Ted Hawkins tribute 'Cold and Bitter Tears' celebrates legendary Venice Beach performer

COLD AND BITTER TEARS: THE SONG OF TED HAWKINS CELEBRATES LEGENDARY VENICE BEACH STREET PERFORMER  Tribute album due October 23 features James McMurtry, Kasey Chambers, Mary Gauthier, Tim Easton, Shinyribs and an unheard Hawkins original hidden track

Photo: Paul Natkin AUSTIN, Texas — Cold and Bitter Tears: The Song of Ted Hawkins, due October 23, 2015 on Austin-based Eight 30 Records, marks the first tribute album to the soulful Venice Beach street performer, a legend overseas later in his lifetime but a songwriter largely overlooked in the States. Hawkins simply sang like songs were stamped on his heart at birth. Evidence: High watermarks on the new record such as “Big Things” (James McMurtry), “Cold and Bitter Tears” (Kasey Chambers), “Sorry You’re Sick” (Mary Gauthier), “Who Got My Natural Comb” (Shinyribs) and several other classics. Hawkins himself backs the point with the album’s hidden track, the moving unreleased demo “Great New Year.” The Mississippi native, who died January 1, 1995 after a hardscrabble life and brief autumnal rise in popularity, might be gone but he’s clearly not forgotten. Local Americana power trio including singer-songwriter Kevin Russell (Shinyribs, The Gourds), artist manager Jenni Finlay (James McMurtry) and writer Brian T. Atkinson (author of I’ll Be Here in the Morning: The Songwriting Legacy of Townes Van Zandt) have lovingly co-produced Cold and Bitter Tears over the past year with sessions mostly at Austin’s Wire Recording. Russell has been particularly enthusiastic about the endeavor. “Ted Hawkins’ songs and his voice were infectiously uplifting to me upon first listen twenty years ago,” he says. “His unique style, both soulful and folkie, has haunted me and taught me — so much that I have been on a personal mission to tell the world about this national musical treasure. The opportunity to steward this tribute record is a ‘go tell it on the mountain’ moment for me that I hope can bring greater attention to the songs and recordings of Mr. Hawkins himself.” Hawkins earned a following as a longtime busker on the Venice Beach boardwalk but his unpredictable lifestyle prevented widespread notice. He made minor critical waves with his debut Watch Your Step (1982), an album that failed commercially but earned a five-star review in Rolling Stone. Hawkins scarcely recorded between Watch Your Step and his major label debut The Next Hundred Years (1994). Boardwalk passersby always noticed the singular singer belting his songs. They stopped cold. Listened. Amazed. “A lot of street musicians are really good, but there was something about him that was just pure presence,” says Jon Dee Graham, who witnessed Hawkins on the beachfront while recording in Los Angeles three decades ago. “Also, his songs aren’t like anybody else’s. He’s singing in this huge, soulful voice, ‘What do you want from the liquor store? Something sweet? Something sour?’ What? So wholly original.” Imagine blues and country and folk having no dividing lines. He died at 58 years old the following New Year’s Day as his star finally threatened to rise. “At the time of his death, Hawkins remained the greatest singer you’ve never heard,” the Los Angeles Times obituary read. “Hawkins clearly was transported somewhere else as he sang, and when he became aware of the audience, he seemed dazed: [Everyone] applauding wildly, some in tears from the sheer, sad beauty of his songs.” “When somebody plays in a way you’ve never heard anybody else play, that’s singularity,” echoes Dave Marsh, the iconic author and rock critic. “You might be able to imitate it, but you couldn’t copy it. It would be like trying to sing like Ray Charles. You can’t do that.” Track listing: “Big Things” • James McMurtry “Cold and Bitter Tears” • Kasey Chambers and Bill Chambers “One Hundred Miles” • Tim Easton  “Sorry You’re Sick” • Mary Gauthier “Strange Conversation” • Jon Dee Graham “Happy Hour” • Sunny Sweeney “I Got What I Wanted” • Randy Weeks “Baby” • Tina-Marie Hawkins Fowler with Elizabeth Hawkins “I Gave Up All I Had” • Gurf Morlix “Bad Dog” • Danny Barnes “Bring It on Home Daddy” • The Damnations “My Last Goodbye” • Ramsay Midwood “Who Got My Natural Comb” • Shinyribs “Whole Lotta Women” • Steve James “Peace and Happiness” • Even Felker  ### Hear a track from the album via The Bluegrass Situation: Mary Gauthier "Sorry You're Sick" http://bit.ly/1ONtoRE  Publicity: Cary Baker • Conqueroo • cary@conqueroo.com • (323) 656-1600 Radio: Al Moss • almosspromo@gmail.com

Hi Hat Records & Entertainment artist: Hot Roux - Stranger's Blues - New Release Review

I just received the newest release, Stranger's Blues from Hot Roux and it's got real style. Opening with 2 stepper, Broken Again, drummer and lead vocalist, Jerry McWorter sets the pace and Ed Berghoff supplies the country styled guitar riffs, backed by Brent Harding on bass. Title track, Stranger's Blues, has an interesting mix of Latin rhythm and swampy guitar sounds. Franck Goldwasser really dices it out with chipper guitar riffs that really give this track a unique feel. Very nice! Shuffle track, Woman Where You Been, opens with tight blues guitar riffs by Tommy Harkenrider who continues with rock a billy riffs throughout. Jacob Huffman shows really nice phrasing on harp nicely complimenting McWorter's vocals. Seven Lonely Nights is a country blues with some real cool slide work from Goldwasser, over a solid bass riff by Harding and nice vocal harmonies between McWorter and Harding. New Orleans style Big Mama's has a cool rhythm with Steve Nelson on bass. Harkenrider plays cool, clean and doubled guitar riffs, punctuating McWorter's smooth vocals. Swing track Tick Tock has a cool fifties feel with thick sax work by Bill Flores. Harkenrider lays in a nicely articulated guitar solo. Slinky, Anna Lee, has some a real nice 50's Everly style melody and excellent bluesy guitar riffs from Hackenrider. Latin blues flavor drum work from McWorter really hits the groove and his vocals are cool. Goldwasser gives the track a square kick with smokin' hot guitar riffs and a nice bass line from Harding keeps it tight. Laid back blues, Can't Get You Off My Mind, is a solid radio track featuring Pat McClure on guitar and Sam Bolle on bass. Wrapping the release is a reprise... Another Seven Lonely Nights with a rocking beat. Goldwasser steps up with another wild sliding expedition. This is a nice release showing McWorter's finesse as a singer, drummer and bandleader.


 

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Jackson Rhythm & Blues Festival, August 14-15, 2015, Jackson, MS

Danielle Nicole Announces Tour In Front of 9/25 Concord Records Release WOLF DEN

KANSAS CITY BLUES-SOUL SINGER DANIELLE NICOLE

ANNOUNCES TOUR DATES IN SUPPORT OF SOLO DEBUT

Ex-Trampled Under Foot Singer-Bassist Makes Concord Records Debut
With September 25^th Release Of New Orleans-Flavored Wolf Den

August 4, 2015– Danielle Nicole has already spent years on the road touring with her brothers, Nick and Kris Schnebelen, in the sibling band Trampled Under Foot.  However, this time around will be different.  Singer-bass player Danielle Nicole and her band are embarking on her first tour as a solo artist in support of her forthcoming album Wolf Den due out on Concord Records on September 25^th, 2015.

“I am beyond excited to hit the road with my new band,” Nicolle commented. “I really hope everyone digs the new sound of Wolf Den as much as I do! 

From the first notes of her new album one truth becomes self-evident: this girl oozes groove. There’s so much funky, bluesy soul coming out of her, you wonder if her heart beats in syncopated time.

The Kansas City-raised daughter of musicians already had a solid blues foundation, but she found that groove — or new variations of it — in New Orleans, where she worked with GRAMMY^®-winning producer-guitarist Anders Osborne to craft her solo debut.

You can hear and feel that Big Easy influence snaking through each of the 12 tracks on Wolf Den. From the tasty jazz-blues licks of “It Ain’t You” to the chunky Voodoo-Chile crunch of the rocker “Didn’t Do You No Good.” The funk gets particularly delectable in “How You Gonna Do Me Like That,” “You Only Need Me When You’re Down” and “In My Dreams,” which showcase Nicole’s versatility and range with nods to gospel and girl-group pop as well. (“Take It All” shows further appreciation of that genre; it’s one more example of Nicole’s willingness to both pay homage to and build on what came before.)

Nicole calls the sound “blues-based roots,” and it’s clear those roots reach deep — straight to the melting-pot heart of American music. She discovered them early, thanks to her parents and big-band singer grandmother. When Nicole’s father heard her belting out Koko Taylor’s “Never Trust a Man” at age 12, her destiny was clear.

Influenced by artists as diverse as Etta James, Bonnie Raitt, Paul McCartney, the Neville Brothers, Sarah Vaughan and Janis Joplin (the latter of whom she recalls, “…a white girl playin’ the blues; I could relate…”), Nicole started gigging at 14 and picked up the bass at 18, when she and her brothers decided to join forces as Trampled Under Foot. As that band wound down after 13 years, Nicole formed her own band.

“People move to LA and New York to make it big and be famous. I just like to tour the music and play the blues,” Nicole says. “I’d love to have a hit and I write my music with honesty and the full intention of being the best that I can, but I’m not looking for the million-dollar house in the hills. I’m not looking to be a pop princess.”

“That’s what I love about the roots genre: You can have longevity and you can make a decent living at it. And you can explore so many other lanes of music,” she explains.

Yes, you can travel wherever the groove takes you. And with talent like hers, that could be any direction she wants.  You can catch her at all of the dates listed below…

Danielle Nicole Tour Dates

8/06/15            Sioux City, Iowa                                 Hard Rock Hotel & Casino     

8/07/15            Lincoln, Nebraska                               Zoo

8/08/15            Chanute, Kansas                                 4th Annual Blues Blast

8/15/15            Wausau, Wisconsin                             Big Bull Falls Blues Festival

8/22/15            Kansas City, Missouri                        Knuckleheads Saloon                    

8/28/15            Morgantown, Indiana                         Bean Blossom Music Festival 

9/6/15              Pueblo, CO                                         Colorado State Fair       

9/25/15            Columbia, Missouri                             Roots N' Blues N' BBQ Fest          

10/2/15            New York, NY                                    Rockwood Music Hall (Stage 2)

10/4/15            Philadelphia, PA                                 World Café Live

10/5/15            Vienna, VA                                         Jammin Java

10/09/15          Detroit, Michigan                                The Fillmore

10/10/15          Kalamazoo, Michigan                         Kalamazoo State Theatre

11/10/15          The Reef                                             Boise, ID  

11/11/15         Spokane, Washington                           Big Dipper

11/12/15          Seattle, Washington                            The Barboza

11/14/15          Portland, OR                                       White Eagle Saloon

11/17/15          Santa Cruz, California                        Moe's Alley Blues Club  

11/18/15          San Francisco, CA                              Biscuits and Blues          

11/19/15          Los Angeles, CA                                 The Mint

11/21/15          Phoenix, Arizona                                 Rhythm Room                       

11/27/15          Wichita, Kansas                                  The Cotillion Ballroom

12/19/15          Davenport, Iowa                                 Redstone Room