Music FridayLive!

Danielle Hollobaugh is talented, courageous, exciting, surprising and determined. She commands a stage with sophisticated R&B and pop music that has earned her Best Songwriter Awards in Florida, top prize in the national Talent Quest karaoke competition, and the Southeastern Idol competition in Florida, where she is from.  Now in Los Angeles, she is backing top bands as a session singer, and writing and recording her own songs and shooting astonishing videos.  She has released an EP, several singles and sang at the NBA Allstars’ afterparty.  Blind since birth, nothing stops her. She is now finishing her debut full-length album and its fire-laced music video  whilke performing live in Los Angeles and vocal backing major bands.

Bolivian singer/songwriter Jose Mrochek formed his first rock band at 15  after his brother gave him the score of  Pink Floyd’s The Wall to learn. The rest is history. Years later he formed Avionica and signed with Radioactive Music.  He released the album California in 2013, produced by Sebastian Keyes, winner of 14 Grammys. His next album, the 2016 release Electricidad, was produced by Grammy Award winner Andrés Saavedra.  Recorded in Hollywood’s Ocean Way Studios, it featured an all-star band with drummer Pete Thomas of the Elvis Costello band, Dave Leviats, guitarist for Atlanis Morissette, Shakira bassist John Falcone and keyboardist Roger Manning Jr. of Jellyfish.  Latin Grammy-nominated artists VEGA and Ellston Torres collaborated on the lyrics.  He has garnered two Maya Awards and worked with American-Chilean singer, songwriter, poet, fashion designer, and entrepreneur, Francisca Vallenzuela, founder of the Ruido Fest. An unstoppable force in Latin America, Mrochek recently released his live album Entre Lineas and a new single, “I will stop talking about you”.

Diego Garcia, known as Twanguero,  is considered as one of the best guitarists in Spain. Winner of the Latin Grammy he was named  " “fire-breathing guitar hero”  by the North American press. Twanguero  got his first guitar at age 6 and the rest is history. He accompanied greats such as Bunbury, Calamaro, El Cigala, Urrutia, among others and only launched his own solo career two years ago  His albums include PACHUCO and Argentina Songbook (Warner Music); he has toured Spain and the Americas , and was named a Gibson Guitar International Artist. PACHUCO, released in 2015 is a tight combination of  rhythm, percussion, seductive melodies, played with the unique touch of an old golden Gibson,  channeling Duane Eddy and pioneering Latino Twang Rockabilly Mambo.

Korean-born, Seattle-raised songwriter and violinist Joe Kye threads sonic paths from Korea to a reimagined America using classical violin, loop pedals and unique songwriting and vocals in his new album, Migrants. Kye’s family moved from Korea to the US when he was six, struggling with the economic and cultural challenges, but a strong music education program in the Seattle public schools and the violin gave Kye a space he could control. He experimented with songwriting on the guitar and with singing, inspired by everyone from Mel Torme to Stevie Wonder. The discovery of the loop pedal in college blew open his musical world, allowing him to blend violin, swirls of pizzicato arpeggios, and percussion with clever lyrics and vocals. He now collaborates with a range of other artists, including MC Jason Chu and MC Rasar, and NYC composer/percussionist William Catanzaro.

Parker Matthews is an emerging pop singer with a troubled past but a bright future. Matthews learned early the realities of growing up different, struggling with depression, bullying and suicidal thoughts.  But, inspired by the music of Whitney Houston, Christina Aguilera, and Lady Gaga, he developed his innate talent for songwriting and performing. He released his first single Lost with You to critical acclaim. He has now emerged not only as a popular pop singer who spreads positivity and courage through his music and lyrics, but  as an advocate for suicide prevention and anti-bullying, supporting The American Foundation for Suicide Prevention and LGBTQ. He has released his second single,  Hit and Run and a new video.

Budapest-born Leslie Mándoki  is a German-Hungarian musician with a long career as a musician, producer, music director and band leader. He studied drums and percussion in Budapest in the early 1970s while he led the jazz-rock group JAM. In 1975, he fled from Hungary to avoid prosecution by the communist government. He has worked as a producer for  Phil Collins, Lionel Richie and Jennifer Rush among others. He also worked as a commercials musical director for Audi, Daimler and Disney and served as Musical Director for the Volkswagen Group. He performed on television including with the supergroup Soulmates  in the television show "50 years of rock” on ZDF.  Since then, the Man Doki Soulmates project has released 10 albums.

Holy Golden is the multifaceted musical world of Leslie Schott and Andrew Valenti. who met during a lunar eclipse on Martha's Vineyard and soon began crafting mythological mini-worlds into home-recorded albums, music videos, short films, and photo stories.  Holy Golden's music blends euphoric dream-pop with lo-fi garage rock to create songs that feel both vulnerable and mysterious.  They have released two full-length albums, several music videos, and a new EP, toured throughout the US twice and will release a new album, Otherworld, recorded from a historic ballroom in Newport, Rhode Island, will be released February 2 along with the single from the album,  "Arrival" .

Money Chicha is an Austin, Texas based group featuring members of the Grammy-award winning Latin orchestra Grupo Fantasma and its offshoot funk outfit Brownout. They play a fuzzed-out, reverb-drenched and percussion-heavy music inspired by the sounds of Peru and Colombia in the 60’s and 70’s, sometimes called “Chicha” music, known for Latin beats, psychedelic surf guitar pyrotechnics and melodies influenced by the indigenous culture of the Andes mountains. Money Chicha is a modern translation of this South American musical style by highly skilled veteran artists.  Money Chicha’s debut album Echo en Mexico was released in July 2016 on Vampisoul/Munster records, and they have been featured in numerous compilations and tours.

Sue Foley is a multi-award-winning musician and one of the finest blues and roots artists working today.  The only female member of the famed “Jungle Show,” featuring Billy Gibbons, Jimmie Vaughan, Mike Flanigin and Chris Layton, she  has been working professionally since the age of 16 and by the age of 21, Foley had relocated to Austin, Texas, and began recording for Antone’s, thefamous blues label and historic nightclub that helped launch the career of Stevie Ray Vaughan and many others. In the two decades that have followed, Sue Foley toured and recorded with her signature pink paisley Fender Telecaster, won the  Juno Award (Canadian Grammy) and the most Maple Blues Awards in Canada, plus three Trophees de Blues de France. She has also garnered several nominations at the Blues Music Awards from The Blues Foundation.  She is set to release her label debut CD, The Ice Queen, on March 2, 2018.

Aubrey Logan is jazz, soul, rock and very funny. Sporting a trombone, she pulls off sassy, in a way totally unique in the music world. A graduate of Boston’s renown Berklee College of Music and winner of the top vocal competitions at the Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland, Aubrey is at home in a recording studio, on stage with a symphony orchestra, in an intimate club with her own ensemble or in a classroom teaching kids. Or in a weight room getting buff. A Seattle native who makes her home in Los Angeles, she tours the world and headlines jazz festivals from Boston to Bakersfield. She is putting the final touches on a new album with lots of pop influences and elements of the jazz she has loved all her life.  

Seattle native Sheldon Botler combines music and photography in his adopted home,  Los Angeles, a city with a lot of room for both. His music is renowned for being, well, happy. He just knows how to make people feel good. He writes and sings and produces songs that are a high energy smile and he moves from soul to folk to Hip Hop to jazz, to Electronic and around to pop. With eight releases out, it is easy to see how he fulfills his mission to help people reconnect with their internal joy… and have fun doing it."

BLOGTALK CRASHED AT THE BEGINNING OF THE SHOW SO WE LOST JILL JACK. THEY CAME BCK UP IN TIME FOR US TO INTERVIEW MARE WAKEFIELD AND NOMAD.

Mare Wakefield and Nomad are a unique and sophisticated Nashville-based Americana music duo that weaves jazz and bluegrass, country and contemporary folk into the one-of-a- kind songs.  Prolific both in the studio and on tour, they are releasing their newest cd next week at The Country in Nashville before they head off to the Folk Alliance Conference in Kansas City, Missouri.  Mare has built a vast mental library of songscapes from her gypsy-like upbringing, moving from place to place with peripatetic parents. For Turkish-born Nomad, the journey was equally varied. His musical education began at the exclusive Istanbul Conservatory and continued with a scholarship to Berklee College of Music where he honed his gift for musical arrangements across classical, folk and jazz. The duo’s songs have been heard on Lifetime Television,  on venues from California to Vermont, and at festivals across the country.

THIS SHOW POSTPONED UNTIL TUESDAY DUE TO FLOODING AT BLOGTALK RADIO SERVERS IN BROOKLYN NEW YORK. TUNE IN AT 11 AM PT  3..16.18.

Jill Jack is a rock-blues-Americana singer/songwriter who  began her professional career as a young backup  singer with the Detroit country and rock bands.  In a few short years she was writing her own songs,  fronting her own band and opening for headliners like Bob Seger, John Waite, Emmylou Harris, Shawn Colvin, Patty Griffin, Dan Fogelberg, Marshall Crenshaw, Chris Issak, and Loretta Lynn.  She soon began  headlining herself at venues and festivals including  SXSW, 30A Songwriters Festival, WYCD Downtown Hoedown, Blissfest Music Festival, The Bluebird Café, and The Living Room in NYC.  She expanded to successful tours of England and all over America.  Jack now has 10 Award winning CD’s to her name and is this week releasing what looks to be #11, These Days.

Mare Wakefield and Nomad are a unique and sophisticated Nashville-based Americana music duo that weaves jazz and bluegrass, country and contemporary folk into the one-of-a- kind songs.  Prolific both in the studio and on tour, they are releasing their newest cd next week at The Country in Nashville before they head off to the Folk Alliance Conference in Kansas City, Missouri.  Mare has built a vast mental library of songscapes from her gypsy-like upbringing, moving from place to place with peripatetic parents. For Turkish-born Nomad, the journey was equally varied. His musical education began at the exclusive Istanbul Conservatory and continued with a scholarship to Berklee College of Music where he honed his gift for musical arrangements across classical, folk and jazz. The duo’s songs have been heard on Lifetime Television,  on venues from California to Vermont, and at festivals across the country.

Steve McCormick was raised in the Midwest, with a love for the  songs of the plains and a knack for recording music.  In the years that followed, he honed his recording skills by working with tube microphone expert Steve McKinstry at Salmagundi Studios until he moved  to Los Angeles in 1992.  He is now a studio owner, producer, performer, session player, composer/songwriter and microphone builder. His session playing  has been heard in dozens of national TV commercials, the theme song for the Warner Brothers hit Felicity, and TV shows like Walker, Texas Ranger, and NBC's Homicide. He has collaborated with band members from Canned Heat, War, Willie Dixon Little Feat, CSN, Loggins and Messina,  Neville Brothers, Emmylou Harris and many others in songwriting , performing and recording and many others in songwriting, performing and recording.

Katie Garibaldi is a San Francisco based singer/songwriter/guitar player who has been independently releasing music that is  sweet, smooth and equal parts old-school pop princess and folk songstress for about half of her life. Her most recent album, Rooted Clarity, won the LA Music Critic Award for Female Country/Americana Artist for 2016 as well as Female Americana Artist of the Year from the Indie Music Channel in 2017. Her previous release in 2014, Follow Your Heart,  also brought Garibaldi multiple songwriting awards as well as hometown credit for Artist of the Month by San Francisco’s The Deli Magazine.  An active voting member of the Recording Academy, an endorsed artist of Breedlove Guitars, who worked with her to build a custom Master Class guitar, the ever-evolving Katie Garibaldi has proven to be an artist with staying power.

Walla was formed in Los Angeles in 2012 but has roots in different parts of the world. Italy, Indonesia, Trinidad and Tobago, the U.S., and Mexico/El Salvador. The four young men who make up Walla – Jean Marc Tardieu on vocals, Ian  Charlie on lead guitar, Mauricio “Moebeats” Carcamo on Bass Guitar, and Alessio Balsemin on drums fuse together all these different cultures in their music.  The result fills major theaters and puts out songs that climb the charts.  Walla’s music has been featured on Billboard, MTV Buzzworthy, Nylon, and Snapchat, among others. Itreached #1 on Hypem in 2015 and also has garnered 14 million plays on Spotify. All this being done without a record label. However, it has not been all roses and downloads. Twos years ago the band was a crossroads, decided to take some risks, and the result was their hit EP Body Languge  Their new live acoustic single and video for “Into The Gray” is now out and piling up the spins and views.

Mayssa Karaa  is a Lebanese American Grammy nominated singer currently based in Los Angeles, California whose voice will pick you up and make you fly.  Her English-Arabic version of "Turn the Page" isd addictive and her "White Rabbit" was nominated for a Grammy.. A graduate of the prestigious Berklee College of Music, she toured with Italian tenor Pasquale Esposito, and later with Arabic musician Simon Shaheen.  In 2013 she was the featured vocalist on the Arabic version of "White Rabbit" on the American Hustle Soundtrack, nominated for a Grammy . Karaa was awarded the National Cultural Award of Lebanon for the song at the American Hustle premier in Beirut,She currently is writing her debut solo album