Dropped a BANGER with Kota the Friend...

LIONHEARTED is out now 🫡
https://ffm.to/lionheartedwithkotathefriend

When Leon Michels name first appeared on a record, he was 16. That release was Thunder Chicken, and the group was his high school band, The Mighty Imperials. The record was essentially an homage to The Meters, at the time it was near pitch-perfect for the budding retro-soul scene. While that release was an early step for Michels, aspects of it have almost become trademarks of his work: a unique raw-yet-disciplined approach to his sound and songwriting, and a soulful genuineness that has a sense of humor one minute and a sense of solace the next.

Right from the jump his hustling work ethic was evident, always involved in a lot at once. While finishing Thunder Chicken, Michels began touring and recording with Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings—which he did for the next 7 years. During that time he was also recording songs in a makeshift home studio and preparing for what would be his first full-length record, Sounding Out The City, and the first release under the name El Michels Affair. In 2004, when Sounding Out The City was recorded, Michels’ obsession with Euro Library, American soul, and early rocksteady crept its way into the songwriting and recording aesthetic, the outcome was something Michels appropriately dubbed “Cinematic Soul.” The album was to be the first release on Truth & Soul Records, a new label Michels co founded.

The lo-fi warm recording aesthetic and bottom heavy production alongside the immediate success of EMA’s debut release lead to playing a show with Raekwon of Wu-Tang fame. That show went over so well it lead to a tour with El Michels backing multiple members of the Wu-Tang Clan. It was these shows that ended up laying the groundwork for the release of El Michels Affair’s second full-length, Enter the 37th Chamber, which eventually introduced them to a worldwide audience. While the band’s fanbase went through the roof, the industry also quickly recognized that EMA was a force to be reckoned with. Almost in a domino effect, a huge range of hip-hop artists sampled Michels’ songs, from Ghostface Killah, Just Blaze, and Jay-Z to J Dilla, J.Cole, and Travis Scott.

While simultaneously running a label, playing / touring, and co-producing other artist’s music Michels helped found The Menahan Street Band, co-produced Aloe Blacc’s sophomore smash LP, Good Things, and received a writer credit on Adele’s Grammy-nominated album, 19. Shortly there after Michels found himself on tour with The Black Keys after being cold-called by Auerbach and asked to join them on the road. It turned out that Auerbach was a big fan of the sound and approach of the Lee Fields record “My World”, which Michels produced. When Auerbach was tapped to make Dr. John’s critically acclaimed album , “Locked Down” and Lana Del Rey’s LP, “Ultraviolence”, Michels was brought along to play and add his signature sound. That led to being included in and touring for Auerbach’s psych-rock project, The Arcs, which features Michels as a musician and co-producer. 

in 2016, Michels co-founded Big Crown Records with Danny Akalapse, the second record label Michels has helped build from the ground. Since then, he has produced a majority of the albums from the labels roster including Lee Fields, Lady Wray, Brainstory, Paul & The Tall Trees, Liam Bailey, and Thee Lakesiders.  Michels has also produced records for Beyonce & Jay-Z’s side project, The Carters, Hanni El Khatib, Chicano Batman, Marco Benevento, and Don Toliver.

In 2020, Michels will release the second album of original material under the El Michels Affair moniker.  The Album, entitled Adult Themes, which Michels calls “the soundtrack to an imaginary movie,” creates a lush, evocative, complex and eclectic collection of tunes that will keep your ears on edge as you nod your head.

Description
WELCOME TO DWIGHT YOAKAM'S OFFICIAL Soundcloud 
FEATURING:  Travis Yoakam's Rap Debut
Album Title 
Turntables, Graffiti and Hip Hop Music
TRAVIS YOAKAM

WEBSITE: http://www.dwightyoakam.com/
TOUR DATES: http://www.dwightyoakam.com/events
MERCHANDISE: http://store.dwightyoakam.com/
FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/dwightyoakam
INSTAGRAM: @dwightyoakam
TWITTER: @dwightyoakam
iTUNES: https://itunes.apple.com/us/artist/dwight-yoakam/148059
SPOTIFY: https://open.spotify.com/artist/2sxmKe3CUrWnx7eoXMhOlW
SWIMMIN' POOLS, MOVIE STARS...: https://dwightyoakam.lnk.to/SPMS
Biography
Dwight Yoakam has sold more than 25 million albums worldwide, and he is a 21-time nominated, multiple GRAMMY Award winner. He has 12 gold albums and 9 platinum or multi-platinum albums, with five of those albums topping Billboard’s Country Albums chart and another 14 landing in the Top 10. Nearly 40 of Yoakam’s singles have charted on Billboard, with 14 peaking in the Top 10. 

The LSD Tour, featuring Lucinda Williams, Steve Earle, and Dwight, unites three of music’s most celebrated and iconic voices on one epic cross-country package for the very first time. Kicking off June 12, 2018 at Blue Hills Bank Pavilion in Boston, MA and rolling through iconic amphitheaters and theaters in major markets across the country, the LSD Tour concludes on August 18, 2018 at Farm Bureau Insurance Lawn in Indianapolis, IN. Support will come from Los Angeles rock outlier King Leg. 

Yoakam’s self-curated SiriusXM channel, titled Dwight Yoakam and The Bakersfield Beat ‘Where Country Went Mod’, will launch in late April.  The channel celebrates the Bakersfield sound and those whom it has inspired, including Buck Owens, Merle Haggard, Wynn Stewart, Tommy Collins, The Byrds, The Flying Burrito Brothers, Eagles, The Blasters, Lucinda Williams, and more. It encompasses all that is California country and country rock, in all of its various and varietal hybrid forms, from Ricky Nelson to Emmylou Harris and Linda Ronstadt. The channel includes artists from the movement in LA in the early to middle ‘80s that Yoakam broke out of and features bands as diverse as X, Lone Justice and Los Lobos. This movement was encapsulated on the series of albums titled A Town South of Bakersfield and has led variations over time to the current continuing country scene in LA, all of which Yoakam has dubbed as a segment for his channel entitled “That Town South of Bakersfield: From Cow Punks to Now Punks”.

In 2016, Yoakam released his bluegrass album Swimmin’ Pools, Movie Stars… on Sugar Hill Records. Featuring a band of bluegrass luminaries, this album boasts a collection of reinterpreted favorites from his catalogue, as well as a cover of Prince’s “Purple Rain”. Produced by nine-time GRAMMY winner Gary Paczosa (Alison Krauss, Dolly Parton), Jon Randall (songwriter of “Whiskey Lullaby”), and Yoakam himself, and mixed by Chris Lord-Alge, this album reflects the love for bluegrass music that Yoakam developed at an early age in Kentucky and that has inspired him for many years thereafter. 

In addition to his musical career, Yoakam is a formidable film and television actor who has appeared in over 40 feature films, including Sling Blade and Panic Room. In 2016, he recurred in David E. Kelley’s Amazon series Goliath. Recently, he appeared in director Steven Soderbergh’s film Logan Lucky with Channing Tatum and Daniel Craig. Yoakam is capable of seamlessly melting into his roles and impressively standing toe-to-toe with some of the world’s top thespians over the course of his storied and successful acting career, including Jodie Foster, Tommy Lee Jones, Jared Leto, Forest Whitaker, and Matthew McConaughey.

Hard workin Willy Tea Taylor currently co-fronts The Good Luck Thrift Store Outfit with Chris Doud. Willy also regularly hitches his handcar on to the tracks and powers around California, Oregon, Minnesota, Colorado, Arizona, Texas and Kansas performing his solo material with his esteemed co-driver, Tom VandenAvond often sharing the bill. If you get the chance you should see any of the above live!

Welcome to the Official Chris Webby Vault. Feel free to stream or download! Follow me on Twitter @ChrisWebby

Thanks for visiting!  I hope you enjoy the music.
Management:
mgmt@randomrab.net

Booking:
Sam Hutchinson
Pivotal Agency
sam@pivotal-agency.com

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