JIM PATTON (guitar, main songwriter, vocals) admits he learned acoustic guitar playing Bob Dylan songs,and electric guitar playing the Rolling Stones, and "that was the last time I learned anybody else’s songs but my own."
Patton cites 20th century American fiction and the various lives of the friends he grew up with in Maryland ("I knew doctors and lawyers and waitresses and teachers and water rats and gravediggers and the guy who drove the truck that emptied the port-o-pots all over the state") as the main source of his lyrical inspiration.
and
SHERRY BROKUS (vocals, percussion) helped start the first folk masses at St. Johns Church in Severna Park, MD, but her musical talents lay dormant until she came upon Patton and his brother playing at the Oxbow Inn in Arnold, MD and asked if she could sit in. She sang Cowgirl In The Sand and has played in bands with Patton ever since.
MUSICIANS ON KEEPERS OF THE FLAME CD: Lloyd Maines, Bradley Kopp, David Webb, Glenn Fukunaga, Freddie Krc, Darcie Deaville, Jon Sanchez, Lorrie Singer.
MUSICIANS ON MYSTERY RIDE CD: Lloyd Maines, David Grissom, Paul Pearcy, Glenn Fukunaga, Darcie Deaville, Chip Dolan.
MUSICIANS IN AUSTIN BAND INCLUDE:Jon Sanchez, Jeff Tveraas, Kenny Felton, Rick Connell, Darcie Deaville, Karen Mal, David Newbould, Bradley Kopp, Richard Bowden, David Webb, Charlie Irwin
Influences
EDGE CITY CDS AVAILABLE ONLINE at EDGECITYTX.COM, CDBABY.COM and TEXAS MUSIC ROUNDUP.COM
KEEPERS OF THE FLAME, produced by Bradley Kopp, released 2006
Available Online at -
EDGECITYTX - www.edgecitytx.com/store.html
CDBABY - www.cdbaby.com/cd/edgecitytx2
TEXAS MUSIC ROUNDUP - www.texasmusicroundup.com
AMAZON - www.amazon.com/Keepers-Flame-Edge-City/dp/B000E10ESI
MYSTERY RIDE, produced by Lloyd Maines, released 2000
Available Online at -
EDGECITYTX - www.edgecitytx.com/store.html
CDBABY - http://cdbaby.com/cd/edgecitytx
TEXAS MUSIC ROUNDUP - http://www.texasmusicroundup.com
Sounds Like
"PATTON's ragged edge brings an essential intensity to his intelligent urban poetry .. If you like musicians to sound like they mean it, check out EDGE CITY" - John Conquest, Third Coast Music.
"SHERRY BROKUS ... reminds at times of Nanci Griffith and Mary Chapin Carpenter" - Marquetta Herring, Marqs Texas Music Kitchen.
"JIM PATTON's voice is unique and as honest as they get. There isn't a trace of artifice - when he sings I believe every word he says. His songs are tender without being sentimental, strong without overpowering and thoughtful without being too cerebral. SHERRY BROKUS rides along with him with a natural sweetness that makes their partnership beautifully balanced and hard to resist." - Christine Albert.
"Charles Dickens for the 21st Century" - Bob Mackenzie, Sound Bytes.
"... Music for those of us who never joined up ... reflects a middle class landscape where fear of hard times and losing what you have looms just beneath the surface of the American Dream ... " - Karen Sykes-Blades, Annapolis Capital.
Their music combines the singer/songwriter tradition of their home in AUSTIN, TEXAS, with the East Coast rock and roll of their former home in BALTIMORE.
Based on the songs of singer/guitarist JIM PATTON and the wall of sound vocal interplay between Patton and singer/partner SHERRY BROKUS, Edge City blends Pattons lyrics about the friends he grew up with in suburban Maryland with Byrds/Band/Petty style Americana rock.
On Edge City's KEEPERS OF THE FLAME CD, a man discovers alternate definitions of success; a daughter waits in a bar for the father who walked out on her years ago; a father tells his child not to make the same mistakes he did; a brave woman breaks free of an abusive past; people fall in love; relationships end; relationships endure.
KEEPERS OF THE FLAME was produced by BRADLEY KOPP and features some of Austin's finest players: LLOYD MAINES, Glenn Fukunaga, Freddie Krc, David Webb, Darcie Deaville, Jon Sanchez, and Lorrie Singer.
Photo by Winker www.winkerwithaneye.com
FROM FLANFIRE BLOG
Flanfire (Duggan Flanakin) is bringing LIFE to Austin music -- and telling the world how sweet it is! Tuesday, October 16, 2007
If you like good acoustic music, just show up at Austin Java at 12th and Lamar (north) at 8 pm on Thursday, October 18th for the THIRD COAST MUSIC
SONGWRITER SHOWCASE -- which is of course the revival in small portions of what used to happen every night at the old Chicago House music venue.
This week's featured performers include Miss Shelley King, the fabulous Darcie Deaville, and Tim Henderson -- but the backbone of this music series since
its inception is the dynamic duo who moved here in 1994 from the streets of Baltimore -- Jim Patton and Sherry Brokus, also known as Edge City (when
playing in full band mode).
Now THIS is a couple from whom many of us could learn a lot about the grace of living, both through Jim's songs and their warm harmonies together and
through the way they encourage each other and those around them. Wherever Jim and Sherry go, there always seems to be a campfire burning, guitars
playing, and love all around (even when they are playing indoors).
Jim and Sherry are about to release their very first (Austin-made, that is) recording after two Edge City records that feature the whole band sound. But
before we get to that, let's review a little history ...
hey ya'll just wanted to stop in and say hi, man your tunes make me miss Austin I will say god how I love playin there and the folks but just can't survive there just doing it. really sucks. but ya'll rock!
THIRD COAST MUSIC SONGWRITER SHOWCASE Hosted by Jim Patton & Sherry Brokus Featuring Fine Americana Artists
EVERY THIRD THURSDAY March 19 2:00 – 10:00 pm @ AUSTIN JAVA 1206 Parkway (Near 12th and Lamar) Austin, Texas, 78703 "Austin's Best Kept Secret"
SPECIAL SHOW 2:00 Danny Britt 2:25 Bettysoo 2:50 Tim Henderson 3:10 Beth Wood 3:40 Ron Flynt 4:00 Jim Patton & Sherry Brokus 4:30 Caroline Aiken 5:00 Jeff Talmadge 5:30 Kim Miller 6:00 Abi Tapia 6:30 Shelley King 7:00 Mary Battiata 7:30 Brian Ashley Jones 8:00 Matt Harlan 8:30 Cleve & Sweet Mary 9:00 George Ensle 9:30 Will T Massey
May I borrow some of YourSpace to promote MyCdRelease?
The all new, all original CRUELTY arrives Tuesday, July 29, and I'll celebrate with a show at Austin's legendary Cactus Cafe. It's free, aside from the $15 you'll certainly want to spend on the CD. Raina Rose opens at 8:30 pm, then Southpaw Jones performs in his finest suit, and nothing will ever be the same.
Check out the preview track on my profile page or southpawjones.com. Thanks for sharing YourSpace!
Thank you for adding us as your MySpace friends! It was great getting to hear you this year at Redbud Hill! Look forward to hearing you play there (or at Cousin Andy's in Carbondale) again some time. I've been enjoying your CD very much and hope you like ours, too. From our point of view, a great trade!
Lyrically yours, Candy "Parsley" from The Parsley & Sagebrush Band
Thanks for being an important part of our 2008 Folk Alliance Showcase Room! Your performance was great, and we hope it was as much fun for you as it was for us and the audience.
Michael & Brenda, Creative Moondance Treasures, Inc.
It was so much fun tonight playing the shows and hanging out...we certainly had a memorable evening to be sure! I hope you have a safe trip to Memphis and I'll see you next month.
Well hi! So looking forward to seeing you in Memphis. Thank you for your kindness. Apparently I need two of me this year due to the Free Rang room. But hope we get to visit a little. x amilia
