Kevin Anthony-fiddle, vocals
Eric Paulson-upright bass
Al Epp-snare
Bill Quinn-pedal steel
Influences
Merle Haggard, Charley Pride, Hank Williams, George Jones, Waylon Jennings, Buck Owens, Johnny Rodriguez, Bob Wills & The Texas Playboys, The Balfa Brothers, Jimmy 'C' Newman, Vin Bruce, Harry Choates, Johnny Gimble, Doc Guidry, Rufus Thibodeaux, Terry Morris, Benny Thomasson, Dick Barrett, Lionel LeLeux, Dennis McGee, Freddy Fender, Patsy Cline, Lefty Frizzell, Johnny Cash,
Sounds Like
Bob Wills & Ray Price hanging out on a Saturday night!
Kevin Anthony – North Star
For Minneapolis based musician, Kevin Anthony, whose musical life experience has brought him from Galveston, Texas, up to Houston, would bring him even farther north to New York City in 1993 and then jetted him to Minneapolis where he has made his home since 2005. He’s been playing with his group, the Twin City Playboys ever since, where their mix of Cajun and Country made them a local staple. This month he releases North Star, his fantastic new record.
On this eleven-track effort, four songs see reminders of what he brought to his partnership with the Twin City Playboys and the brand new songs fit in beautifully, in addition to bringing a new sound into the fold. Anthony’s smooth voice comes through brilliantly – it’s soulful, warm and lovely, and throughout the record shows not only that he is a gifted singer, but an incredibly talented, straightforward lyricist. And it’s no secret that for a musician, a lot of what you do and who you are comes from where you’ve been. And all those experiences that get you to where you are now bring you to find out what sound you love most.
Quite the road has brought Anthony to where he is today, and some of them, you wouldn’t quite expect from the sounds of this Texas gent who canvasses the roots of Country music with such skill. Back in his NYC days, he made music far from such southern roots and landed a contract on the Warner Brothers F-111 label with his duo Electro-land, as they not only made house and big beat electronic music, and also managed to run a recording studio with his music partner Gene Harper. By day they also created soundscapes for television and advertising for the likes of the United States Navy, Absolut Vodka and the Sci Fi channel, among others.
While working out of Manhattan, the two would see the tragedy of 9/11 first hand, and would eventually see an amicable dissolution of the pairing musically as Harper would later enlist in the Marines, a story he sings about in the North Star track “Purple Hearts.” Harper would go on to do two tours of Iraq with as a squad leader, later being honorably discharged after an I.E.D. injury cut his service short.
So it goes without saying that North Star is a record that really does chart where Anthony has been. As the record starts out with the jaunty, Cajun inspired “Hurricane Ike,” the 2008 storm that did all but completely destroy his hometown of Galveston. The song itself resides in the time-honored category of songs that redeem and rebuild as he sings: “He tried to wash us away but our roots were strong.”
The record as a whole is part down tempo honky tonk music, sometimes somber, while other times it brings one to swinging on the dance floor as it rounds out with “You Belong,” as the record’s perfect bookend. As it often appeared on Anthony’s efforts with the TC Playboys, the styles throughout North Star are reminiscent of an entirely different time in music while truly refusing to peg itself into any complete genre all while retaining a shimmering, crisp, obviously country influenced sound.
Even the making of North Star is a state line crossing effort of epic proportions. Anthony may have created the bones of the album in Minneapolis, but the new content was recorded and fully realized in the Louisiana studio of Grammy-nominated musician Al Berard, and also with his assistance on the record, laying down some of the guitar work, fiddle and drums, while his daughter Maegan and Kyle Hebert shared the workload of the bass.
The Louisiana influence in the recording and the cues the music takes from its early background are steeped richly in tradition, notably as it utilizes not one, but three incredible steel guitar players throughout. The Twin City Playboys’ Bill Quinn is of course once again showcased on the included tracks from their previous efforts, Cajun music scene staple Terry Huval’s transcendent steel guitar shines on tracks such as “It’s Alright with Me,” with its almost side-winding, slow surf sound and while Joe Savage kills it on tracks such as “Surveyor’s Blues,” with its shout outs from as far as the Rio Grande to Duluth, never does the record fall into the clutches of a contemporary radio country sound, but instead has an earthy, organic feel of the back roads to the city streets of America.
From the highway, to the barroom, this atmospheric moving forward for Anthony on North Star is far from a turning point in his music, but a well-laid standard for longevity, not to mention simply good-time listening.
Kevin Anthony & The Twin City Playboys
http://www.tcplayboys.com
409 Recordings
http://www.409recordings.com
Kevin Anthony & The Twin City Playboys's Friend Space (Top 4)
Kevin Anthony & The Twin City Playboys has 1057 friends.
Howdy! You can now get text on the rim of your buttons for free! Great for URLS. Check out our prices as well! Thanks -gnat Decaying Youth Buttons www.decayingyouth.com We also make patches! www.faceplantindy.com
Editor & Journalist for Country Music Christian Lamitschka An der Pfingstweide 28 61118 Bad Vilbel Germany Phone: ++49 6101 544613 Mobil: ++49 171 6903352 E-Mail: Ch.Lamitschka@t-onine.de E-Mail: Info@CountryMusic-Magazin.de www.MySpace.com/ChristianLamitschka
Hi there! We're holding a competition at SUPERSWEET and you could win an exhibition at Beyond Retro as part of their East End Lights series + a month’s worth of exposure on our digital Art Gallery in Feb 2010. Click on the banners if you're interested in finding out more!
Hello, Friends! Check out the Austin Music Poll! Vote for Ruby Jane for Best Misc. Instrument (fiddle, of course) and The Ruby Jane Show for Best New Band! Vote! Vote Vote! http://www.austinchronicle.com/feedback/musicpoll/09/
What the best way to break into the European music market is.
Here are some things you can do:
Advertise in the following print magazines in Germany: Living Line Dance, reporting about line dance and country music, and Folk Magazin, reporting about folk and country music. The magazines have a high reputation in Germany and thousands of readers. If you would like to contact the publishers of the magazines to request more information about advertising, please send me an e-mail at Ch.Lamitschka@t-online.de
If you have more questions about the European music market or about any of the information I send to you today, please contact me at Ch.Lamitschka@t-online.de too.
Last but not least, join my buddy list on the following profiles and add me to your Top Friends:
Editor & Journalist for Country Music Christian Lamitschka An der Pfingstweide 28 61118 Bad Vilbel Germany Phone: ++49 6101 544613 Mobil: ++49 171 6903352 E-Mail: Ch.Lamitschka@t-onine.de E-Mail: Info@CountryMusic-Magazin.de www.MySpace.com/ChristianLamitschka
What the best way to break into the European music market is.
Here are some things you can do:
Advertise in the following print magazines in Germany: Living Line Dance, reporting about line dance and country music, and Folk Magazin, reporting about folk and country music. The magazines have a high reputation in Germany and thousands of readers. If you would like to contact the publishers of the magazines to request more information about advertising, please send me an e-mail at Ch.Lamitschka@t-online.de
If you have more questions about the European music market or about any of the information I send to you today, please contact me at Ch.Lamitschka@t-online.de too.
Last but not least, join my buddy list on the following profiles and add me to your Top Friends:
Editor & Journalist for Country Music Christian Lamitschka An der Pfingstweide 28 61118 Bad Vilbel Germany Phone: ++49 6101 544613 Mobil: ++49 171 6903352 E-Mail: Ch.Lamitschka@t-onine.de E-Mail: Info@CountryMusic-Magazin.de www.MySpace.com/ChristianLamitschka
Thanks so much for your Friendship, the guys and I really appreciate it allot.
Hope you can come out to a show sometime. We're playing "Inn Kahoots" in Hamel Tonight (Dec 26th) and then again on New Years Eve and Day at Chops Bar and Grill, in Hanover.
Here's a mini concert for you to kick back and enjoy...
May 2010 be a better year for all of us! The very best of Holidays to you and yours from Nashville! Jimmy Roberts - Songwriter / Pedal Steel Guitarist :)
Download the latest Coast 2 Coast Mixtape for FREE by clicking the cover below!!
Coast 2 Coast Mixtapes are always officially hosted by a Major Artist and bring you new and exclusive music from the biggest names in Urban music! Download all the mixtapes for free at www.coast2coastmixtapes.com
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I played "Ill Have Somebody ELse-bonus track)on the newly GRAMMY nominated cd, Willie and the Wheel (Willie Nelson and AATW)!!!!!BRAND NEW SONGS UP TODAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! and the band just got on reverbnation..check it out..www.reverbnation.com/therubyjaneshow
My new record just came out this week on I-Tunes and CD Baby. I have included a video talking about the record, hope you enjoy it! Please leave us some feedback to let us know what you think! Thanks for your support.
-Ray Stephenson
PS: This album would make a great stocking stuffer ;)
I’ve been a music journalist for more than 10 years. Over the years, many artists and managers have asked me what the best way to break into the European music market is.
Here are some things you can do:
Publish artist press releases, news, and tour dates to the CountryHome Forum on MySpace, http://groups.myspace.com/CountryHomeMagazine , CountryHome Forum is part of CountryHome, http://www.CountryHome.de , Germany's Premier Country Music Online Magazine. Everything you publish to the CountryHome Forum will be published in my weekly Newsletter which has over 80,000 readers.
Send me CDs and DVDs for review and set up an artist interview with me. All reviews and interviews will be submitted to the magazines I'm writing for. More information for which magazines I'm writing can be found at http://www.MySpace.com/ChristianLamitschka
Upload artist videos to http://www.MyVideo.de and http://www.ClipFish.de . Both websites are like http://www.YouTube.com and uploading videos is free. The websites are completely in German. If you don’t speak German and need assistance, I will help you open an account and upload a video for 25 Euro. Each additional video upload for the same artist name and at the same video website is 10 Euro.
If you have more questions about the European music market or about any of the information I send to you today, please contact me at Ch.Lamitschka@t-online.de too.
Editor & Journalist for Country Music Christian Lamitschka An der Pfingstweide 28 61118 Bad Vilbel Germany
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