Romi Mayes

Bio:

"This is the sort of sound you’d want to hear pouring out of roadhouses as you drive up expecting to get drunk and maybe fall in love." - Americana UK Magazine

"Music from the heart and soul, Romi makes it look easy." - Bob Harris, BBC

"Romi Mayes is the hardest-working person in the Americana scene right now. That's good, because she has a great new record out, and it deserves to be heard." - Slaid Cleaves, songwriter

"If Ray Charles and Joan Jett had a love child, you'd get Romi Mayes" - Jason Nowicki, musician ..

From the centre of Canada, deep in the prairies, comes an unstoppable force that is becoming a household name across the globe: Romi Mayes. Suitably pronounced “Raw Me”, Mayes is a straight shooter with heart on your sleeve lyrics, edgy innuendo, and some serious bad ass guitar playing. She writes down home country blues about love, sex, drugs, and the road. She can be soft and sweet or just down right dirty.

Her latest release "Achin In Yer Bones" is another testament to exactly that. Taking home Album of The Year, and Songwriter of The Year at The 2009 Western Canadian Music Awards, she unravels herself from song to song throughout the album, with no filters and no shame. But honesty is only part of the charm, not the main talent here. Mayes also won 2007 WCMA Album of The Year and Songwriter Of The Year awards, was nominated for Songwriter of The Year by The 2006 Canadian Folk Music Awards, and also won the 2006 Whiskey Award for Album of The Year - all for her previous album "Sweet Somethin Steady". It is undeniable and one can really hear where her true gift rests when you hear Romi Mayes or see her perform. On her latest album, Mayes' effortless, matter-of-fact lyrical style weaves poetically around fantastic production, credited to renowned producer Gurf Morlix (Lucinda Williams, Mary Gauthier) who also worked with her on "Sweet Somethin Steady".

It is no wonder a producer like Morlix would come up to Canada in the cold of winter from his home base in Texas to work with Mayes again. “Romi's writing on this new album is better than ever,” says Morlix. “She's got the flint and she's got the steel - everything she needs to take her anywhere she wants to go.”

Commonly referred to as the hardest working musician in Canada, Mayes tours steadily and relentlessly across the globe from solo shows in smaller venues to rowdy rockin bar shows to tightly arranged full band sold out theatre shows. She has shared the stage with the likes of Ricky Skaggs, Iris Dement, Guy Clark, Derek Trucks, Jim Cuddy, The Flatlanders, Slaid Cleaves, Martha Wainwright, Hayes Carll, Fred Eaglesmith, Corb Lund, Billy Joe Shaver, Sue Foley, Blackie and The Rodeo Kings, Dale Watson and many many more. Romi Mayes is charming, passionate, comedic, and with whiskey in one hand and a cigarette in the other can out-cuss any sailor on a Saturday night.




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Member Since:

February 12, 2006

Members:

Romi Mayes - guitar, vocals
Jason Nowicki - guitar
David Landreth - bass
Ryan Voth - drums


GO TO:
WWW.ROMIMAYES.COM/MERCH.HTML
FOR CD PURCHASE INFO

Influences:

Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee, Bruce Springsteen, Muddy Waters, Robert Johnson, Fats Domino, The Band, Ray Charles, Joan Jett, The Rolling Stones, Hank Williams, Jerry Lee Lewis, Tom Petty, Led Zeppelin, Fugazi, The Perpetrators, Righteous Ike, Dan Penn, Blaze Foley, Flash Lightnin, The Beatles, Big Mama Thornton, Etta James, Lucinda Williams, Jessie Mae Hemphill, and countless others

Sounds Like:

Romi Mayes Band - Squeaky Hinge Concert Series - Ontario
Easy On You

Romi Mayes Band - Squeaky Hinge Concert Series - Ontario
Make You Love Me


Romi Mayes Band video blog from Leverkusen, Germany
May 2010

Record Label:

Continental Records