Taylor Martin’s ‘Song Dogs,’ OUT TODAY – Ft. Members of The Honeycutters, Mountain Heart & More

Taylor Martin’s Song Dogs Out Today, November 16, on Little King Records
Produced by Amanda Anne Platt at Sound Temple Studios in Asheville, NC
Featuring Members of Amanda Anne Platt & The Honeycutters, Mountain Heart, and more

Available Now To Stream and Purchase → https://taylormartin.hearnow.com
(Please note that this link takes you to the correct album on Spotify; however, it currently
attributes the album to the wrong Taylor Martin, working with Spotify to correct this)

More about Taylor Martin at https://about.me/songdogs

ASHEVILLE, NC — Taylor Martin’s Song Dogs is out now on Little King Records (11/16/18). Spinning tales of the highway, homes, lost love, love regained, redemption, and the overuse of cell phones, Martin’s soulful, relatable lyrics and raspy, emotion filled voice is instantly recognizable. The Honeycutters’ Amanda Anne Platt took the lead as Music Producer (along with adding harmony vocals on a handful of songs) with the help of Co-Producer and Engineer, Robert George, and Martin’s visions for the album. The album was recorded at Sound Temple Studios in Asheville, North Carolina.

“Taylor Martin is a killer songwriter,” declares Platt. “He’s got a great sense of melody and an ability to write classic, accessible songs about things we all take for granted. It’s also to his credit that he hits all sides of the spectrum– there are toe tappers and tear jerkers on this album and everything in between. I’m a big fan of the saying, ‘Great songs produce themselves,’ I certainly found that to be true in working with Taylor.”

The album features a number of special guests including Platt, Mountain Heart’s Aaron Ramsey and Josh Shilling, GRAMMY winning Secret Agent 23 Skidoo’s Debrissa McKinney, and Jon Stickley Trio’s Lyndsay Pruett on fiddle, among others.

To celebrate the album’s release, Martin shares a video for the album’s title track “Song Dogs which is full of stunning imagery. Taylor says, ”when I heard that the filmmaker Aladin Aathmani, was heading to Morocco, I jumped at the opportunity to have my musical vision put in a distant landscape. His emotional video interpretation of ‘Song Dogs’ is very moving and like nothing I imagined (in a great way).”

The piano driven, haunting title song comes last, inspired in part by coyotes howling (per cover art) to find each other at night,” writes Country Standard Times’ Jim Hynes of the song. He continues, “It may seem that it stands apart from the others in tone and style, but several listens to Martin will have you hearing an array of styles and influences. That’s what makes it so infectious. Each song stands apart.”

A resident of Asheville since 2004, Martin has been creating music since 1994. He blends musical styles: the approach to music he grew up with in Richmond, Virginia; the western spirit he experienced living five years in Paradise, Utah; and the sounds of southern rock, country, and rhythm n’ blues.

Jeff Burger writes, “The North Carolina–based Taylor Martin, whose raspy vocals recall Levon Helm and, occasionally, Dr. John, features eight originals on this third album, along with three well-chosen covers: Bob Dylan’s ‘Sign on the Window,’ Neil Young’s ‘Music Arcade,’ and Merle Haggard’s ‘Kern River.’ Martin’s own lyrical subjects are all over the map: ‘Little Pictures,’ the funky opener, is about excessive cellphone use, for example, while ‘Hollywood’ references Marilyn Monroe, and the melancholy ‘Eden Colorado’ is about looking for a friend, a dream, and some hope. The music—sometimes funky, sometimes folky, sometimes poppy—is just as varied.”

Martin previously released a video for the album’s bluesy opener “Little Pictures,” which is a song that tips the brim to artists like Professor Longhair while having a contemporary social commentary. The song is what Martin calls his, “observation of people being lost to reality and the death of empathy and the human experience. People being on cell phones too much are missing out on the beauty of the world.” It also invites the listener to put down their electronics and sink further into the experience of the album. Americana Highways premiered the video and wrote “The song rings instantly familiar and simplifies a complex message in clear lyrical fashion, over catchy, punchy, piano-prominent rhythms.”

“Taylor Martin is a singer-songwriter who will remind you of everything good from Tom Waits to the Everly Brothers or the Avett Brothers with some surf rock thrown in. Well-sung, well-played, well-written and relevant…” writes Asheville Citizen Times.

Asheville’s veteran songwriter is just below the forty mark with a bright future as a songwriter and performer ahead of him. Although as jaded and bitter as some road worned heroes, Martin finds refuge in a good sense of humor. “I would have been a terrible dentist,” he laughs. “I’m here, music is why, this is Earth, let’s make more music.”

Taylor Martin – Song Dogs Track Listing

1. Little Pictures   3:34
2. Here Comes the Flood    2:59
3. Eden Colorado   3:17
4. Music Arcade [Neil Young] copyright Silver Fiddle Music   4:25
5. Second Sight   3:41
6. Hollywood   3:41
7. Our Memories   3:49
8. Kern River [Merle Haggard] copyright Mt. Shasta Music   4:00
9. Milk and Honey   3:22
10. Sign on the Window [Bob Dylan] copyright Big Sky Music   3:39
11. Song Dogs   4:49
     

     

MUSICIAN CREDITS
Taylor Martin – Lead Vocals, Acoustic Guitar (all)
Richie Jones – Drums, Aux Percussion (all)
Matthew Dufon – Bass (all) Harmony Vocals (2,10)
Aaron “Woody” Wood – Acoustic Guitar (3,8), Electric Guitar (5, 6,10)
Matthew Smith – Electric Guitar (1, 2), Pedal Steel (3,7,8,11)
Aaron Ramsey – Acoustic Guitar (2,4,7,9,10), Mandolin (9)
Josh Shilling – Piano (1,2, 6,7, 8,10,11), B3 (1,2,5,6,7,10), Wurlitzer (5)
Phil Alley – Telecaster (7)
Lyndsay Pruett – fiddle (4,5,7,8)
Amanda Anne Platt – harmony  vocals (2,4,7,9,10)
Debrissa McKinney – harmony vocals (6)

Recorded @ Sound Temple Studios in Asheville, NC
Recorded & Mixed by Robert George
Produced by Amanda Anne Platt
Co-Produced by Robert George & Taylor Martin

For more information and tour dates, please visit www.TaylorMartin.org and www.facebook.com/taylormartin.org and www.twitter.com/song_dogs.

 

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Announcing New Book: ‘Leftover Salmon: Thirty Years of Festival!’ Due Out Feb 2019 + Tour Dates

Leftover Salmon: Thirty Years of Festival!
New Book By Author Tim Newby Due Out February 2019 on Rowman & Littlefield

“History is made by those who write it, not the musicians who can’t remember it, Tim Newby knows our history and now it’s up to him to teach us what happened!” —Vince Herman (Leftover Salmon)

“Tim Newby has somehow managed to capture the unique combination of personalities that is Leftover Salmon; a feat that I would have thought fairly impossible. As unique as their music, Tim weaves his story through the sensibilities of the individual players which creates a wonderful kaleidoscope resulting in the definitive biography of a band that is still constantly changing and growing into their 4th decade.”
–-Steve Berlin (Los Lobos)

DENVER, CO — Few bands stick around for thirty years. Even fewer bands leave a legacy during that time that marks them as a truly special, once-in-lifetime type band. And no band has done all that and had as much fun as Leftover Salmon. Since their earliest days as a forward thinking, progressive bluegrass band who had the guts to add drums to the mix and who was unafraid to stir in any number of highly combustible styles into their ever evolving sound, to their role as a pioneer of the modern jamband scene, to their current status as elder-statesmen of the scene who cast a huge influential shadow over every festival they play, Leftover Salmon has been a crucial link in keeping alive the traditional music of the past while at the same time pushing that sound forward with their own weirdly, unique style.

As Leftover Salmon nears their 30th year, their inspiring story is set to be told in a brand new book, Leftover Salmon: Thirty Years of Festival! that will be released February 2019 by Rowman & Littlefield. In this book, critically acclaimed author of Bluegrass in Baltimore: The Hard Drivin’ Sound & It’s Legacy, Tim Newby presents an intimate portrait of Leftover Salmon through the personal recollections of its band members, family, friends, former band-mates, managers, and the countless musicians they have influenced. Leftover Salmon: Thirty Years of Festival! is a thorough guide covering a thirty-year journey of a truly remarkable band. It is a tale of friendships and losses, musical discoveries and Wild West adventures, and the brethren they surround themselves with who fortify Salmon’s unique voice. Their story is one of tragedy and rebirth, of unimaginable highs and crushing lows, of friendships, of music, but most importantly it is the story of a special band and those that have lived through it all to create, inspire, and have everlasting fun.

Leftover Salmon. Photo by Bob Carmichael

Heading into their fourth decade Leftover Salmon is showing no signs of slowing down as they are coming off the release of their most recent album, Something Higher (released in 2018), which has been universally hailed as one of the band’s finest releases. Something Higher shows how even upon preparing to enter their fourth decade Leftover Salmon is proving it possible to recreate themselves without changing who they are. The band now features a line-up that has been together longer than any other in Salmon history and is one of the strongest the legendary band has ever assembled. Built around the core of founding members Drew Emmitt and Vince Herman, the band is now powered by banjo-wiz Andy Thorn, and driven by the steady rhythm section of bassist Greg Garrison, drummer Alwyn Robinson, and keyboardist Erik Deutsch.

The new line-up is continuing the long, storied history of Salmon which found them first emerging from the progressive bluegrass world and coming of age as one the original jam bands, before rising to become architects of what has become known as Jamgrass and helping to create a landscape where bands schooled in the traditional rules of bluegrass can break free of those bonds through nontraditional instrumentation and an innate ability to push songs in new psychedelic directions live.

Salmon is a band who, over their thirty-year career, has never stood still; they are constantly changing, evolving, and inspiring. If someone wanted to understand what Americana music is they could do no better than to go to a Leftover Salmon show, where they effortlessly glide from a bluegrass number born on the front porch, to the down-and-dirty Cajun swamps with a stop on Bourbon Street in New Orleans, to the hallowed halls of the Ryman in Nashville, before firing one up in the mountains of Colorado.

 

Leftover Salmon On Tour:

2018

Thanksgiving Run- featuring pre/post shows and a Day of Giving at Moe’s BBQ Englewood
11/23 Fri – Gothic Theatre – Englewood, CO w/ Gasoline Lollipops
11/24 Sat – Gothic Theatre – Englewood, CO w/ Tenth Mountain Division

12/7-11 Fri-Tues – Strings & Sol – Puerto Morelos, Mexico

New Years Run
12/28 Fri – Crystal Bay Club Casino – Crystal Bay, NV
12/29 Sat – Sierra Nevada Brewing Co – Chico, CA
12/30 Sun – Terrapin Crossroads – San Rafael, CA
12/31 Mon – Terrapin Crossroads – San Rafael, CA

2019
1/15-20 Tue-Mon – Jam Cruise – Miami, FL
1/31 Thu – Soreng Theatre – Eugene, OR*
2/1 Fri – Revolution Hall – Portland, OR*
2/2 Sat – The Triple Door – Seattle, WA (2 shows)*
2/14 Thu – Wheeler Opera House – Aspen, CO*
2/15 Fri – Vilar Performing Arts Center – Beaver Creek, CO*
2/16 Sat – Washington’s – Fort Collins, CO*
2/21 Thu – The Steifel Theatre for the Performing Arts – Salina, KS*
2/22 Fri – Sheldon Concert Hall – St. Louis, MO*
2/23 Sat – North Shore Center for the Performing Arts – Skokie, IL*
2/24 Sun – Turner Hall Ballroom – Milwaukee, WI*
2/26 Tue – Woodward Theatre – Owensboro, KY*
2/27 Wed – Minglewood Hall – Memphis, TN*
2/28 Thu – City Winery – Atlanta, GA (2 shows)*
3/1 Fri – The Caverns – Pelham, TN*
3/2 Sat – Dave Finkelman Auditorium – Middletown, OH*
3/14-16 Thur-Sat – Alyeska Resort – Girdwood, AK
3/22-24 Fri-Sun – Boogie at the Broadmoor – Colorado Springs, CO
3/29-31 Fri-Sun – WinterWonderGrass – Tahoe, CA
4/13-14 Sat-Sun – Bender Jamboree – Las Vegas, NV
4/26 Fri – Stoughton Opera House – Stoughton, WI*
4/27 Sat – Stefanie H. Weill Center for the Performing Arts – Sheboygan, WI*
4/28 Sun – Sheldon Theatre – Red Wing, MN*

*Stories From the Living Room Shows:
Each of the SFTLR shows listed will feature Leftover Salmon’s acoustic Living Room set with stories and chatter about Thirty Year Of Festival from the band.
Tickets On Sale for SFTLR show: Friday, Nov. 16, 10am MST

For more information, tour dates, and other LoS news, please visit www.LeftoverSalmon.com.
Stream and purchase Something Higher at https://lnk.to/SomethingHigher.

 

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Out Today: Roy Schneider & Kim Mayfield’s ‘Reckless Saints’ Is Southern Folk, Blues & Country

Roy Schneider & Kim Mayfield Release Reckless Saints

Available Now On All Outlets → https://schneidermayfield.hearnow.com

What Folks Are Saying:

“This husband and wife team runs the gamut from engaging acoustic folk to driving bluesy tunes, with hints of twang sprinkled in… The ringing impression from this offering is the seamless blending of so many forms of roots music, combined with meaningful and often insightful lyrics. It works beautifully.”
—Making A Scene, Jim Hynes

“Enlisting Blaze Foley’s old musical partner Gurf Morlix for help, Schneider and Mayfield cover Foley’s classic ‘Election Day’ with rough passion, but the beautifully rendered ‘If I Die Tomorrow’ and ‘Poison Arrow’ swoon in their arms. All who cry out for salvation from Reckless Saints might experience the same effect.”
—Elmore Magazine, Peter Lindblad

“a bluesy-folk vibe and smooth harmonies”
—The Daily Country Song Premiere: Roy Schneider & Kim Mayfield “Election Day

“This duo is invariably fun and heartwarming and all their music reflects a musically celebratory cheer.  ‘Jump In’ is infectious with contagious fun-loving vibes, and nimble, expert, fast-paced instrumentation. We guarantee a listen to this is just exactly what the doctor ordered, today and every day.”
—Americana Highways Video Premiere of “Jump In”

“a harmonic convergence of fine songcraft” —Tallahassee Democrat, Kati Schardl

 

FORT MYERS, FL — Songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Roy Schneider has been touring and performing full-time with musical partner Kim Mayfield since 2008. The duo is slowly working toward a new band name, with a collection of original songs on what will become an eponymous title, Reckless Saints. Released November 2, the 11-track album features songs by both Schneider and Mayfield.

The sole cover on the album was written by the late folk-singer, Blaze Foley entitled “Election Day” and with midterm elections just four days after this album’s release, the title seemed appropriate. Their gritty version features Blaze’s close friend and co-conspirator, Gurf Morlix, on lead guitar and contributing vocals.

Morlix says of them, “Their ‘Blue Twangled Folk ‘n’ Roll’ sound rides like a V8, firing on all cylinders.”

Along with Morlix, Reckless Saints features other specials guests including some stellar harmonica by GRAMMY-winner and Country Music Hall-of-Famer, Charlie McCoy, and great bass lines from Freebo [Bonnie Raitt] on the song “Walkin’ on a Wire.” Freebo also plays bass on the energetic kickoff for the record, “Jump In,” a fast-paced “day-in-the-life” of the duo as full-time traveling musicians.

This truly is a wonderful record. It is one of the finest singer/songwriter records to come across my mastering desk in a long time!” says esteemed producer, songwriter, and engineer, Mark Hallman [Carole King, Ani DiFranco and Eliza Gilkyson]. Self-produced, Reckless Saints was mostly recorded at Schneider’s studio, Shiny Gnu Records, in Fort Myers, FL.

Roy began playing and writing songs as a seventeen year old while recovering from a horrific, year-long incarceration in 1985 at the now defunct Straight, Inc. “No freedom, no dignity and no way to contact anyone, nobody even knows where you are,” says Schneider, “I didn’t talk about my experience at Straight for 30 years, I’m ready now.” “Angels Along the Road” tells the true story of his hard-knock survival.

Elmore Magazine’s Peter Lindblad calls the song, “a dramatic tale of survival with a brisk gait and a rolling topography of twirling mandolin and acoustic guitar strum that only serves to enhance Schneider’s gripping storytelling. Steve Earle couldn’t have done it better, and like the rest of Reckless Saints, the song’s well-oiled gears of traditional instrumentation turn with the precision of a fine clock.”

The experience has influenced his songwriting in surprising ways, resulting in a generally positive outlook in his lyrics, and gratitude for those who gave him shelter or other support after his escape from the facility. He’s been honing his craft ever since, and was making his living playing music when he met Kim Mayfield in 2003. Kim brought harmony vocals, and accompaniment on rhythm guitar, mandolin, and keyboard, as well as the idea to take the music on the road.

On Reckless Saints, Mayfield takes the lead on vocals on the haunting and contemplative “If I Die Tomorrow” and her harmonies with Schneider on “Poison Arrow” tug on the listeners heartstrings. Mayfield also sings lead on the two songs that she penned: the pensive ballad “Ring Around The Moon” and “Buddha Baby,” the story of her adopted baby boy.

Other tracks on the album include the Dylan-inspired, “Subjugated Love,” which is a fun little ditty about love gone wrong, “Runaway Train,” a song that addresses the frustrations and lack of peace of mind resulting from living in a society that – were it a train – might appear to be running rapidly off the rails without a knowledgeable engineer, and “After The Storm,” written in the aftermath of hurricane Irma in September 2017, touching on the coming-together of neighbors and friends in challenging times.

Schneider and Mayfield are excited to bring Reckless Saints into the world… Jump In and hang on!

Reckless Saints Track Listing:
1. Jump In   (3:00)
2. Walkin’ On A Wire   (3:21)
3. If I Die Tomorrow  (4:05)
4. Subjugated Love   (3:27)
5. Poison Arrow  (4:00)
6. Ring Around The Moon (3:27)
7. Angels Along the Road (4:47)
8. Buddha Baby   (3:40)
9. Runaway Train (3:37)
10. After the Storm (3:56)
11. Election Day  (3:41)

Roy Schneider – Vocals, resonator, acoustic, and electric guitars, harmonica, percussion, drums, banjo, bass
Kim Mayfield – Vocals, harmony vocals, acoustic guitar, baritone ukulele, mandolin
Freebo – Bass (1,2)
Charlie McCoy – Harmonica (2)
Keven Aland – Violin (2,3,7,10)
Dan Fidanze – Piano (4)
J. Robert Houghtaling – Violin (6,9)
Thomas Callahan – Bass (7)
Rob Pastore – Pedal steel guitar (8)
Tim Coletti – Bass (10,11)
Gurf Morlix – Vocals, electric lead guitar (11)

For more information and tour dates, please visit:
www.RecklessSaints.com,  www.facebook.com/RecklessSaintsMusic, and www.twitter.com/2RecklessSaints

 

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