“When you merge the influences of bands like Pendulum and Muse you only get one thing: Opinaut. Mixing Progressive Rock with Drum n Bass their EP ‘Oxygen’ is absolutely brilliant. The guys have their own sound, they know what they are doing and they definitely heading for bigger things. I strongly urge you to download their EP” - Chelsea Rhodes, Unsigned & Unholy

Jon Hart – Singer, John Vince – Drums, Richard Henshall – Guitar, Samuel Brooks – Bass

Opinaut are London based quartet setting out a heavy hitting new agenda with their fusion of electronic rock and drum n bass.

They formed in early 2011 around a group of four musicians working at the Sutton Music Centre. All four are talented multi-instrumentalists who work in music full time as session players, tutors and, wait for it, beatboxing for a choir. Who says rock'n'roll jobs have to revolve around waiting tables?

Opinaut's debut EP titled Oxygen got airplay on Spark, Burst & Forge FM, reviews in blogs and magazines and support slots with Orbital and Gin Wigmore - whose single is famous for being in Heineken's TV ads. The band recently played sold out gigs at 100 Club and Brixton Jamm.

“The edgy dance/rock is delivered with panache...there is obvious Pendulum influence – especially in the synth sounds – and the material is delivered with utter conviction and played to a very high standard...Opinaut has plenty of the right ingredients.” – Dr Demo, Playmusic Magazine

They are releasing a string of singles in 2013. Produced by The Animal Farm, the singles are a statement of intent from a young, progressive band eager to make their mark.

“Dreamy electro...an ambush of fizzing synths and tub-thumping whacks layered thick with tasty drum and bass beats will keep your pulse racing from start to finish.” – Polly James, Unsigned Band Review

Showreel video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JvBLIYIiPIM

The foundation of Biscuit Reality dates back in history to two workmates both with a solid background in food manufacture. After sharing the same office for almost a decade at a legendary confectionery manufacturer, they suddenly realised they had something curious in common. Not only did they walk around the same bit of carpet every day, they also seemed to share a secret obsession for biscuit production. Satisfying their passion and hunger for biscuits soon made them one of the most talked-about workers at the company, which they put down to hard work, others to stealing biscuits from the company warehouse. After being made redundant - a direct result to a scandalous incident involving excessive consumption of alcohol, drugs, and biscuits - they took yet another step towards the creation of Biscuit Reality. Getting left by their wives enabled them to contemplate the idea of sharing a flat, which completed the ingredient-list to launching their own biscuit manufacturing business from their flatshare. Unfortunately though, due to financial issues and the fact that they had no technical equipment other than a personal computer, they decided to get into music-making instead.
    
To their own amazement, they soon found their tunes picked up by labels like  Mothership, Resopal Schallware, Chi Recordings, ... check back here for new pieces of biscuits!

“They’re fantastic” Simon Raymonde, Amazing Radio.

Enthused by the trail-blazing women forming brilliant bands such as The Donnas, L7 and Elastica, the three members of Cat Bear Tree spent their teenage years sneaking into London gigs and sourcing inspiration from the capital’s more independently inclined music scenes. It was this punk-rock spirit that first bonded Zoe Konez (guitar and vocals), Claudia Mansaray (bass and vocals) and Sarah Smith (drums and vocals), three fearless players who’d been cutting their teeth on the DIY circuit. Having joined forces it was clear that Cat Bear Tree were a forceful prospect, their infectious indie hooks and open-book lyrics soon earning plaudits on both the blogosphere and stage, where key shows included supports to Mike Skinner and The Tuts. Debut EP ‘Let’s Share Hearts’ was an early statement of intent, earning the group comparisons to the likes of Electrelane and Sleater-Kinney, but it is new release ‘Settled In Our Hearts’ that captures the true qualities of Cat Bear Tree and will stand as their launchpad to broad acclaim, for, as the band admit: “We’ve pushed ourselves further out. This EP sounds like us, now, and we can’t wait for people to connect with it.”

Social media:
www.catbeartree.com
facebook.com/catbeartree
twitter.com/catbeartree

For further info and interview/sessions - chris@lostinthemanor.co.uk; nick@lostinthemanor.co.uk

Quotes:

SIMON RAYMONDE, COCTEAU TWINS/BELLA UNION RECORDS/AMAZING RADIO –"They’re fantastic aren’t they? How are they unsigned? That makes no sense at all. I like them very much.”

SHATTERJAPAN – “Cat Bear Tree…smashed the stage with their no-nonsense set, leaving us without a breath in between tracks, belting out their melodic, soul-filled and often punky sounds, with fantastic vocals, tight guitar riffs and solid drums.”

MEGAPENG.NET – “THE BEST BAND in 2013!”

AMY BELL, THE GIRLS ARE – “Packed full of lilting indie-pop melodies, spiky riffs and heart-twisting melodies, they’ve already come highly acclaimed by Cocteau Twins’ Simon Raymonde, and the girls are is going to throw our hat into the ring too and say that we’re ever so slightly smitten as well.”

DON’T DANCE HER DOWN BOYS – “Cat Bear Tree are a professional, well-rehearsed band who are showing the crusty punks you can play your instruments, sing in tune and learn the words and still be punk. This is a band that you need in your life.”

FEELING GLOOMY PROMOTER, O2 ISLINGTON ACADEMY – “You guys are in another class, we’d love to have you back.”

Bill's life ended 12/2/2022.
Artist Statement:
When I was a kid trying to make sense of the world, I turned to music for answers. Music provided a doorway into a more abstract world that made sense to me, which gave me a sense of security and peace. 

For me now, music is a way of sharing and participating in the positive spirit of life.

Bio:
Wait a minute. He hasn’t performed in 40 years, and now he’s being pushed to create a new style and perform again? Talk about Out of the Blue!

That’s sure the way it feels to Bill Rossi. Yes, he performed with small groups for over a decade after graduating from Berklee College of Music … but that was over 40 years ago. Since then, he spent most of his time teaching and directing an arts nonprofit that empowered at-risk youth.

In late 2015 he thought maybe he’d do a little playing in retirement. You know, playing the Standards he’d played and taught all his life in his familiar Blues-based style. But then his Muse kicked him into gear… and she hasn’t stopped kicking.

These days Rossi is arranging and composing in his studio almost constantly, working with his entirely new personal style that fuses the Blues, Jazz, and Spanish with his almost 70 years of maturity that includes a pretty intense life-long spiritual practice. His new music is soulful, sophisticated, rhythmic and earthy, with a simplicity that many believe makes Jazz more accessible to today’s listeners.

They call me Slim Tone...

This is all of the unofficial drops. the experiments. if you have a problem with the content or whatever. just remember it's unofficial and eat a snickers. 

SECONDARY ACCOUNT FOR @BURNEY

Mattias Hellberg, born & raised in Karlstad, has been part of the Swedish music scene since the late 80’s. His love for and obsession with music started in the pre adolescence years, and at the age of 14 he started his first band Ugly Jake in 1987. This band transformed into Nymphet Noodlers in 1992. He has played guitar in several rock bands like The Hellacopters and The Soundtrack of Our Lives, but it is as a solo act Mattias reveals the wide and colorful spectra of influences and beauty of his ragged soul in a most personal and funky way.

Nymphet Noodlers released 1 ep & 1 album and toured around Scandinavia until they broke up in 1996. The year after Hellberg moved to Gothenburg where he became an important part of a vibrant music scene. Besides working on his own material he sang in short-lived furious boogie rock band Hot Love and played guitar in alternative country band Alimony for a short while.
1998 included a stint as guitarist with The Hellacopters, recording and touring with the band.

In 1999 he and one of his fellow musicians from Nymphet Noodlers, Martin Hederos, recorded 8 cover songs meant to be a demo to get gigs in bars. Old friend Niclas Stenholm released the songs on the album M. Hederos M. Hellberg in 2000. Hederos & Hellberg turned out to be a totally unexpected success. Critics went nuts about it and all of a sudden they were a ”band” playing sold out theaters all over Scandinavia. Ryan Adams discovered the duo when he was playing his first concert in Gothenburg, and he brought them with him on a European tour as Hederos & Hellberg`s second album, ”Together in the darkness” was released in 2001.
However, at the same time Martin was also busy touring with his other band The Soundtrack of Our Lives, which got a major contract with Universal in the US. Eventually two international careers were too much to endeavor and Hederos & Hellberg had to go separate ways. In January 2003 they did a last performance in a sold out Gothenburg Concert House.

Mattias focused on his own material and recorded songs written between 1996 and 2003. The self-titled, first solo album was released in 2004. 

In 2005 he was asked to sing with legendary Swedish rock unit Nationalteatern’s RockOrkester for a summer tour. He has been a full member of the band evernsince, touring with them every year.

He also toured & recorded with Swedish artist Stefan Sundström as guitarist during 2004-2005. Sundström is an acclaimed Swedish singer/song writer, who's been on the scene in Scandinavia since 1991. 

Mattias curiosity and open ears has made him seek out and get inspired by music from all over the world, be it Nigeria, India, Jamaica, Mali, Finland, classic rock n` roll & soul etc. As he states it himself “I love all music with soul and feeling, not as a genre but across genres and continents. Music that convey depth and understanding of human beings, both their moments of happiness and those of despair.” This manifested it self- among other things- in reggae/dub/rock project, Kanzeon, which released their self-titled album in 2006.

In 2007 he wrote, played and recorded songs with Ugandan/Swedish soul bird Jaqee for what became her album ”Nouvelle d’amour”. The album was a huge success and Mattias toured with Jaqee for the Nouvelle tour. 

2008 was the year of Mattias Hellberg & The White Moose and the album ”Out of the frying pan into the woods”. The album was written and recorded in only 2 weeks and reflected Mattias urge to revisit more energetic and out going rock n`roll with inspiration from psychedelia and rough grooves. The band was touring in Europe in 2009.

2011 The album ”High In The Lowlands” was an intimate collaboration with longtime friend Mattias Areskog (Brothers of end). Only the two of them stuck in a cabin for just a week "High in the Lowlands" is the beautiful result of yet another Hellberg masterpiece. Throughout his work Mattias Hellbergs sad souled songs of Scandinavian heartbreak, be it with Hederos & Hellberg, Healing Hand, The White Moose, The Fur Heads he's always had a somewhat rootsy approach to the ancient troubadour tradition whose linage Hellbergs music clearly represents.
The album ”High In The Lowlands” was released in Europe, the US & Canada. 
For the tour of the album Mattias put together a band that he named The Fur Heads. Johan Håkansson on drums, Nikke Ström on bass & Jonas Kernell on keyboards..

2012 A live album from, what was supposed to be, Hederos & Hellberg last concert was released. Followed by a short scandinavian tour by the duo. Recordings of the upcoming MH album Gurimolla! were done at different locations during the summer and fall. This time it's a pure band driven album and the sessions were very creative with great inputs from everyone involved. As on "HITL" it's a collaboration with the great songwriter & producer, Mattias Areskog. 

2013 The album Gurimolla!'s first single Coffee & Croissant is a super catchy rock & pop rocket of a song, celebrating love and lust inna cheerful way. 
Second single Wait for the morning is a soulful groover with soothing lyrics, true lovers rock.
Gurimolla! the album is a genuine celebration of different genre's . "Music is love" as David Crosby once said and this inspired piece of work fits totally under that description. Mattias's been around for a while on the music scéne and you can tell that he is a true beliver in the power and healing of rhythms & sounds always looking for new stuff to get influenced by. Thru out the year Mattias also joined forces with swedens biggest rock act Håkan Hellström for a summer & winter tour of scandinavia. Ending at the 7th of june 2014 at a sold out Ullevi stadium in Gothenburg, Sweden. 69343 people attending, making it the biggest show ever by a swedish act in Scandinavia.
Gurimolla! also won the Manifest Award for best singer/songwriter album of 2013!

Fall 2014. So now it's time to recognize 20 years as a recording artist. On the new album, In Egolectric Harmony. Mattias is for the first time, completely alone in the studio with his electric guitar, doing his own solo interpretations of songs from his first band Nymphet Noodlers up 'til songs of present days. It sure is a soulful take on these tunes with Mattias's ragged voice and dynamic electric guitar in adventurous harmony. Intimate, never smooth, soulful & rough. Another statement from Mattias Hellberg, still one of swedens best kept "secret's" as a singer & musician.






Mattias Hellberg Discography

Nymphet Noodlers 
1993. Impeccable Selection EP 
1994. Going Abroad 

Hot Love 
1997. vinyl single 

Hederos & Hellberg
2000. Hederos & Hellberg 
2001. Together In The Darkness
2002. Take Care EP
2012. Bless me (live)

Mattias Hellberg
2004. Mattias Hellberg
2008. Out Of The Frying Pan, Into The Woods
2011. High In The Lowlands
2013. Gurimolla!
2014. In Egolectric Harmony

Kanzeon
2000. 3 track vinyl 12” 
2006. Kanzeon

Mattias also appear as musician/singer on the following chosen albums:
Jaqee – Nouvelle d’amour 2007
Ossler – Desorienterad – 2001
Ossler – Den siste som kom ut – 2002
Marit Bergman - 3.00 A.M. Serenades - 2003
Kristofer Åström – Rainaway Town – 2007
Thunder Express - Republic Disgrace – 2007
Mikael Herrström – The Second Waltz - 2007
Valdemar feat. Mattias Hellberg – Saving Grace The Gospel songs of Bob Dylan 2007
The Hellacopters – Grande Rock & some singles
NationalTeaterns RockOrkester – Live 2006
NationalTeaterns RockOrkester – Live 2006 DVD
Ulf Stureson - Allt jag ville säja 2003
Stefan Sundström – Pappa kom hem 2003
Stefan Sundström – Hjärtats Melodi 2004
Stefan Sundström – Stolt men inte nöjd – 2004
Stefan Sundström – Fabler från Bällingebro – 2005
The Solution – Will not be Televised – 2008
Alabamica - 2009


wαииα kиσw αbт мє????
1. α cσσl gυy..............
2. м иσт нєяє тσ dєรcяibє мyรєlf...
3. i kиσw wαт i м...
4. fiиd συт υяรєlf 
5. i αм fяєiиdly gυy wiтн α big нєαят
6. i м cσσl αиd รєxy dυdє....
нαнαнα....just 4 fun...
© ORIGINAL PROFILE ®
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©Profile Official®
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100% Original Account..

everyone hurt me but I'm not Top ten things you should never say to a DJ:

1. PLAY SOMETHING GOOD...SOMETHING WE CAN DANCE TO !
The DJ has to play for more than one person...so what you hate may be another's favorite song and EVERYTHING played here can be danced to one way or another.

2. WOULD YOU PLAY SOMETHING WITH A "BEAT" !
BE SERIOUS! We know of NO songs played in a club that don't have some sort of BEAT!

3. I DON'T KNOW WHO SINGS IT AND I DON'T KNOW THE NAME OF THE SONG, BUT IT GOES LIKE THIS....
PLEASE don't sing for the DJ. They have to put up with smoke filled rooms and dangerous decibel levels all night long...Do them a favor and DON'T give them a rendition of your favorite song.

4. EVERYBODY WANTS TO HEAR IT !
Oh, sure... you polled everyone in the club and, as their spokesperson, you're requesting the song.

5. EVERYBODY WILL DANCE IF YOU PLAY IT !
The DJ won't. I guess that blows a hole in that theory!

6. I CAN GET LAID IF YOU PLAY IT !
Why settle for one night? Buy the album and get laid for a whole month!

7. I WANT TO HEAR IT NEXT !
The ONLY people who can get away with that statement write the DJ's paycheck!

8. WHAT DO YOU HAVE ?
It's a lot easier for you to go have another beer and figure out what you want to hear than it is for the DJ to recite the name of every record in the booth!

9. HEY, MAN, NOBODY CAN DANCE TO THIS !
It's NOT advisable to say this when the dance floor is packed (but some people do anyway) ! HOWEVER, even if there is only ONE person on the floor, it STILL contradicts the statement!

10. PLAY IT SOON, BECAUSE WE'RE LEAVING !
If your gonna leave after he plays it, why shouldn't he wait till the very last song so you stay all night!

SOME ASSORTED THINGS NOT TO SAY TO A DJ:
1. If you ask for a song and the DJ says he just played it, DONT SAY "Well I just got here." It makes absolutely no difference.

2. DONT SAY "Is this the only music you play?" If you go to a Chinese restaurant, you wouldnt ask for Italian food.

3. If you ask for a song...BE SPECIFIC. DONT SAY "I wanna hear something....anything but this!" Try going to the bar and saying,
"I wanna drink something....anything but this..." You cant complain if you're not SPECIFIC.

4. HOWEVER, if you are specific and the DJ says he doesnt have that song, DONT SAY "What!?!? What do you mean you dont have it? what kind of DJ are you? HE MAY SHOOT YOU!!!!!

5. SPECIAL NOTE! A night club DJ gets very little RESPECT. They are expected to play everything for everybody. It is impossible to satisfy all of the people all of the time, yet club DJs are expected to do just that. If a radio DJ tells his listeners a song is a hit, the majority of the people figure it must be "Because they say so on the radio." However 80% of the time that same song was being played in a club long before radio DISCOVERED the NEW song.

So give the DJ a break! The next time you request a song, stop and THINK before you speak.

And above all....if the DJ has one hand on the mixing board, one hand on the turntable, and the headphones on....Dont bug him

....HES MIXING!!!!

It sickens me, I hate those smart asses who think that DJ is an easy way to get laid
Well... get a life!
If you're not in it for the love of the music, would you please fuck off!....

It takes many nails to build a crib, but just one screw to fill it.

I PLAYED TEXAS, BEER JOINTS AND RODEOS
BIG D ARENAS, TRUCK STOPS, CASINOS
SANG IN EVERY DIVE AND JOINT IN OKLAHOMA
DID HARD TIME IN A FEW IN ARIZONA
BEEN IN EVERY HOLE IN THE WALL FROM MEMPHIS TO MAINE

OUT HERE ROCKIN’, ROLLIN’
MIXIN’ UP THE FAST WITH THE SLOW ONES
LIVIN’, BREATHIN’
SONGS ABOUT LOVIN’ AND LEAVIN’
MAMA DON’T GET IT, PREACHER DON’T UNDERSTAND
WHY I’M A SINGER
IN A COWBOY BAND

-- “SINGER IN A COWBOY BAND” BY RONNIE DUNN & CRAIG WISEMAN


Ronnie Dunn is more than just the first-ever solo album by one of country music’s most beloved artists -- a man who’s already learned a thing or two about being a singer in a cowboy band. As familiar as his winning voice has become, Ronnie Dunn has only now taken the time to explore once and for all his own powerful voice as a brand new solo artist. And as Dunn himself notes with a laugh, “I have to say, I’m sure enjoying feeling ‘new’ all over again.”

For Dunn and for all the fans he earned along the way, this deeply felt new effort has been a long time coming. In many ways, Ronnie Dunn is literally the album of a lifetime for the man whose name now gives this remarkable collection of songs its title. “Yeah, you really could say that I have been waiting my whole life to make this album,” Ronnie Dunn says with a smile as he sits back in The Barn outside his home where he spent countless hours working on this music over the last few years. “Like one of the songs on the album says, ‘We all bleed red,’ and frankly there’s a whole lot of my blood all over these particular tracks.”

As a result of all his hard work,Ronnie Dunnreflects perhaps the most intense soul searching Ronnie Dunn has ever done as a recording artist -- and as a man too. “More than ever before, I felt as if I had a chance here to tell my own story through songs that mean a lot to me -- some I wrote, some I co-wrote, and some that I just tried to make my own,” Dunn says. “Having waited so long to make my own album and say exactly what I wanted to say, I think that I became obsessed with making every song here really count.”

Of course, Ronnie Dunn has had an excellent reason to wait until now to make a solo album. For 20 years, Dunn was extremely proud and thankful to be a big part of the single most successful duo in country music history -- and one of the most popular performing acts in recent music history. “When my musical partnership with Kix happened, lightning just struck. All of a sudden, all that success took us both by surprise, and away we went. It’s like we created these two characters, and we just took off on the rocket together, and kept going.” Brooks & Dunn’s remarkable rocket ride would ultimately result is more than 30 millions albums sold, countless crowd-pleasing stadium and arena shows and multiple CMA Awards, ACM Awards, GRAMMYs, CMT Awards, People’s Choice Awards, Billboard Music Awards and American Music Awards. “Kix and I were very honored in so many ways,” says Dunn. “We didn’t just accomplish everything we dreamed of as a duo. We accomplished a lot more than we ever expected. I have absolutely no complaints and no regrets.”

So when Brooks & Dunn decided to hang up their boots while they were still on top -- ultimately playing their very last show together on September 2, 2010, at the Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tennessee -- Dunn finally had the time to call upon all his skills as one of music’s finest voices and storytellers to tell his own story in a way he’s never done before. As he explains, “When I started this album, right from the first song, every track that I wrote or co-wrote or picked was autobiographical in a way. I began with ‘Singer in a Cowboy Band’ -- which is definitely a big part of my story -- and we went on from there, and on and on.”

A famed perfectionist by nature, Dunn admits that he threw himself into the creative process for the album in a very big way as he produced his own solo debut. “This time around I baked it, I baked it and cooked it, and cooked it again,” Dunn says shaking his head. “I wrote or was involved with recording 34 songs for this album. I was all over the place, literally and figuratively. I mean, was cutting all over town everywhere, nonstop. I became a man obsessed, and maybe a man a little lost too. But I kept going because making this album all it could be became so important to me. I wanted this to be something special for all the fans who’ve given me this opportunity -- and for myself too.”

In the end, however, it was Janine Dunn -- Dunn’s wife of 20 years -- who ultimately helped him figure out the secret to making this solo album work. “I’d go home after writing, and it’s the first time Janine, my wife, has ever come to me and said, ‘You need to stop writing right now. Stop the madness.’ She said, ‘If you do anything, go down to The Barn, stare out into space or whatever you’ve got to stare out into, and find yourself.’ She told me, ‘You’ve been running hard for 20 years -- and for about 15 years before that you were running hard to get here. You need to stop and spend time trying to find where you are in your heart.’ As usual, Janine was right. That’s what I fought to do with this album, and I feel like, for the most part, I captured that in the end.”

LET THE COWBOY ROCK
LET THE GOOD TIMES ROLL
THIS IS WHERE THE HURT STOPS
WHERE THE WHISKEY FLOWS
LET HIM DRINK EVERY DROP
GO, GO, GO ‘TIL HE DROPS
LET THE COWBOY ROCK!

-- “LET THE COWBOY ROCK” BY RONNIE DUNN & DALLAS DAVIDSON


At heart, Ronnie Dunn has always been a man of music.

“I started listening to music with my father who was a guitar player and a singer in a band,” Dunn remembers. “In a way, this was his aspiration -- to do what I’m doing now. My father loved Merle Haggard, George Jones, Tammy Wynette, Loretta Lynn, hardcore country. When I became a teenager I would sneak off and listen to rock too. I remember getting a little record player that played 45s for Christmas in New Mexico. I think I was maybe six or seven, and I played ‘Peace in the Valley’ from Elvis over and over, thinking, ‘Man, that’s different.’ I mean, that was rocking compared to what I was accustomed to. And then later on I snuck off and was into listening to everything -- and I still am.”

That initial introduction to music is reflected loud and clear in the music that Ronnie Dunn has made all his life, and now it’s all over Ronnie Dunn -- a potent signature combination of hard country and hard rock with a healthy serving of down home gospel soul. Truth be told, Dunn has always loved singing “the fast and the slow ones” -- the deeply felt sounds of Saturday night and Sunday morning.

That’s been one big musical constant in a busy life that’s found Dunn covering so much territory. Born in Coleman, Texas, Dunn would go on to attend 13 schools in his first 12 years of education. In a sense, Ronnie Dunn’s path was forever determined while studying psychology at Abilene Christian University and playing with bands in bars at night. He was forced to choose between his studies or his music. “Choosing between a life in the church or making music in the bars comes from the dynamic between my mother and my father,” Dunn says. “My mother was the oldest of seven kids, very stable, Louisiana farm family, Baptist church going. My dad had been raised in orphanages all his life, bounced around and had just the opposite life. Opposites obviously attract.” Ultimately and perhaps predictably, Dunn chose music, and eventually moved to Tulsa, Oklahoma, to make his way.

“Tulsa is a great music town -- and it was a crazy town in the day,” Dunn says with a warm smile. “I was urged to move to Tulsa to break into the music business before I was urged to go to Nashville. See at the time, Eric Clapton’s band was from there. Guys who were playing with Joe Cocker were there. You had J.J. Cale and his cats, and the guys from The Gap Band too. Then there was Leon Russell who was kind of the king daddy with his whole Shelter Records scene. It was also the home to the largest country booking agency in the world at the time. So Tulsa was this crazy mix-match of music styles at the time, and it was all there and very much alive. Live music was really important, and the club scene there was hot. So for someone like me, it was the perfect place to learn your chops.”

Dunn’s big break -- and his eventual move to Nashville -- came thanks to Jamie Oldaker, a distinguished Tulsa drummer who had already played with Bob Seger, Leon Russell and, most recently, Eric Clapton. “I had a house band at a country club there, and Jamie would come in every now and then and sit in with us,” Dunn recalls. “One night Jamie called and said he was at the QuikTrip getting gas after all the clubs closed down, and there was an application at the counter for some talent contest and that he put my name down. I was like, ‘Dude, that is so uncool.’ But it ended up being a whole lot cooler than I could have imagined.”

In the end, Dunn was accepted -- and ultimately won -- the Marlboro Country Music Contest. The demo that Dunn was asked to send in to the contest included such future hits as “Boot Scootin’ Boogie” and “Neon Moon.” The finals for the contest brought Dunn to Nashville, and when he won, Dunn was given the chance to record a single with producer Scott Hendricks. Impressed with what he heard in Dunn, Hendricks suggested that famed music executive, writer and producer Tim DuBois check the singer-songwriter out. It was DuBois who suggested that Dunn meet up with another singer-songwriter in town named Kix Brooks, and the rest would soon be history.


WE’VE SEEN IT ALL, ME AND THIS OLD GUITAR
SWEATIN’ IT OUT IN THESE COWBOY BARS
WITH THE LOST SOULS, WINNERS, LOSERS AND CHEATERS

DONE EVERYTHING YOU CAN DO IN HERE
LATE NIGHTS, FIST FIGHTS, STRIPPIN’ MY GEARS
I’VE HAD A GOOD TIME
I KNOW WHERE TO DRAW THE LINE

I DON’T DANCE
THAT’S SOMETHIN’ I DON’T DO
I DON’T DANCE
I BRING IT HOME TO YOU
STANDIN’ UP HERE IN THE SMOKE AND THE LIGHTS
I KNOW WHO’S GONNA HOLD ME TONIGHT

-- “I DON’T DANCE” by RONNIE DUNN / DAVID LEE MURPHY / CRAIG WISEMAN


Ronnie Dunn is an album that vividly reflects one man’s whole journey to this point. While working on the album, Dunn thought a lot about the good luck and great fortune that have taken him this far. It’s an inspired song cycle that covers much of the path Ronnie Dunn has taken as a travelling troubadour -- with up-tempo country rockers like “Singer in a Cowboy Band” and “Let the Cowboy Rock” and the mariachi-flavored “How Far to Waco” -- and on more intimate and romantic ballads like “Last Love I’m Tryin’” and “I Don’t Dance,” about the real-life love that’s somehow sustained Dunn through all the highs and the lows. Even the songs Dunn has chosen to cover here, he makes forever his own -- like the stunning first single “Bleed Red,” written by Tommy Lee James and Andrew Dorff, a song that represents a grand statement about our shared humanity.

“It’s amazing when I think back on it all,” Dunn says, shaking his head now. “Consider this -- my first landlords in Nashville were Johnny Cash and June Carter. June knew my wife Janine forever, and they offered us one of their cabins when I first came to town. I can remember when I was first introduced to John. He had just given June a new Rolls Royce -- this big, blue thing. She took Janine shopping and said, ‘You boys stay here and visit.’ They left me in the house with Johnny Cash. Here’s this hero of mine sitting in a black recliner in a black suit in front of a TV, and I don’t think he says two words the whole time they’re out. Janine comes back, and she looks like she’s seen a ghost. Later, Janine told me, ‘June just read me the riot act about being with someone in the music business.’ June warned Janine about every dark aspect that could -- and usually does --happen. I’ll never forget Janine looking at me and saying, ‘Maybe we should just go home tomorrow.’”

Ronnie Dunn didn’t run home -- instead, he stayed put and began the very public life in music that continues now in a whole new and exciting way with the album that shares his good name. “All these years later, I think back and realize that June was right to warn my wife,” Dunn says. “After all, what were our chances then? And yet here we are today. We’re still married with beautiful kids, and I’m still making music that I truly love. And Johnny Cash was the first to call me up and tell me he was proud of me when I first made it. How amazing is that? So all things considered, I’m glad that we didn’t just turn and go home that next day. I still had a lot more songs to sing then -- and I still do now.”


Ray Shattenkirk draws his inspiration from the natural world and humankind's problematic place within it. The grandest statement of this theme is found in American Icons, an hour-long work for five vocal soloists, treble and mixed choruses, and orchestra. The work was premiered in May 2001 by the Grand Rapids Symphony, featuring the Theatre of Voices and four choruses, conducted by David Lockington.

The five movements of American Icons elegize species that have become extinct and celebrate the resurgence of others that have until recently been endangered. In telling his story, Shattenkirk employs a broad range of musical techniques, from plainchant to postmodernism, and a variety of languages: English, Latin, and various Native American dialects. In the final movement, the 23-minute Wings of Hope, Shattenkirk marshals all of his forces in a moving tribute to the nobility of the American bald eagle. The Grand Rapids Press wrote that American Icons is "touching and beautiful . . . In his more contemplative moments, his music calls to mind such so-called holy minimalists as Arvo Pärt. In his more exuberant passages, his orchestrations have the spacious, broad- shouldered appeal of Aaron Copland's ballets. Shattenkirk has been working on this piece for years. It's been well worth the wait." 

The father of 4 children, Shattenkirk took a 'family leave' from formal composition after the premiere of his violin concerto Velicirapsody in 2002. The May 15, 2010 premiere of One Light, for chorus and orchestra brilliantly proclaimed his return. Commissioned by Brady Allred for the Salt Lake Choral Artists, the 5-movement work sets spiritual texts in a moving celebration mankind's shared religious vision. The composer writes: 

"There is a striking similarity in the common focus on the spiritual nature of light as a manifestation of God, of mankind's unity with his Creator and his prophets, and as the embodiment of eternal goodness and heavenly splendor, in the poetry of medieval saints, mystics and prophets – whether they be Christian, Islamic, Sufi, Buddhist, Jewish or Hindu. When one contemplates the fundamental unity of mankind’s spiritual aspirations, the infinite variety of paths to that unity transform from latent curse to blessing. I hope that, in some small way, One Light contributes to such a transformation." 

Born in 1954, Shattenkirk studied at Harvard University (Ph.D., 1987), Yale University, the University of Florida, the Manhattan School of Music, M.I.T., and the University of California Berkeley, with such teachers as Leon Kirchner, Earl Kim, Donald Martino, John Harbison, Krzysztof Penderecki, Jacob Druckman and John Corigliano. He has had considerable experience as an orchestral doublebass player. Among the awards and prizes he has won for his compositions are a National Endowment for the Arts Composer Fellowship (1995-96); the Lakond Prize of the American Academy of Arts and Letters, "for an established composer" (1994); a fellowship from the California Council for the Arts (1991); and Meet the Composer Awards in 1981, 1993, and 1995. In 1982 he studied with Luciano Berio at the Tanglewood Festival on a Fromm Music Foundation Fellowship and was a MacDowell Colony Fellow in 1979. 

Shattenkirk has been commissioned by the New Mexico Symphony, the Long Island Philharmonic, Chamber Music America, and Collage, among others. Tatonka was broadcast on over 200 radio stations in Chorus America's "The First Art" series in the fall of 1995. Other performers of his music include the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, the San Francisco Contemporary Music Players, the New York New Music Ensemble, the Aspen Music Festival, and Paul Hillier's Theater of Voices. Shattenkirk has taught at the Yale School of Music, Harvard University, and the University of South Florida School of Music.

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