Red Velvet Media ®

Richard Lloyd  founding member of the seminal rock band Television presents his new album The Countdown on CD and digital via Plowboy Records.The Countdown, Richard Lloyd creates an honest, natural expression with his stylized guitar sound and swagger. I can only be me, he says. I can't turn into somebody else. So every record I make is just a progression. I never felt the angst necessary to be a punk. I was too young to be a beatnik and too old to be a hippy. I like to say I’m an anthropologist from another planet who is observing human nature and expressing my observations through rock’n’roll. Renowned Nashville session players Dave Roe (bass) and Steve Ebe (drums) served as a solid rhythmic backbone in the studio, cutting the basic 11 tracks in two days, while keys by Joe Bidewell (who played with Lloyd in his band in 1980) were eventually added to the mix. The result is a real rocker’s record, with Lloyd allowing his trademark fusion of garage rock, thoughtful soul, and power pop hooks to marinate from opening cut “Wind In The Rain” to the soaring heights of the closing title track “The Countdown,” in which he posits blasting off into space as he’s “had enough of planet Earth,” while his guitar and keys propel the listener with him into the stratosphere. Adorned with his own personal paintings as the foundation for the front and back covers of the CD and vinyl, The Countdowncontinues the legacy of one of rock’s enduring pioneers.

In Christian Fevret words;

With this exhibit, I wanted to share what this band gave me: emotion, happiness, passion. I was born to be a Velvet Fan; my art collecting has a long history when it comes to the band. Sharing my passion for the Velvets afforded me the opportunity to contact collectors and members of the group and, as a founder of Les Inrockuptibles music magazine, I became the curator of The Velvet Underground Experience in Paris — and now New York.

*The Velvet Underground – one of the few bands in history that was genuinely a generation ahead of the curve – is the subject of an immersive multi-media exhibit that opened Oct. 10 in New York City and runs through Dec. 30. Bringing together rare photos, new mini-documentaries, vintage avant-garde films, music, interviews, counterculture memorabilia, concert flyers and even a (quite literally underground) performance space, The Velvet Underground Experience is co-presented by Bandsintown and Citi and curated by Christian Fevret and Carole Mirabello.Christian Fevret who founded the magazine Les Inrockuptibles at 22 and edited it for 25 years -- has had the honor and anxiety of interviewing Lou Reed, and was even present at the band's 1993 reunion in Paris. His deep knowledge of the NYC arts underground and the Velvets' origins was readily apparent when he offered Billboard a preview of the Velvet Underground Experience before it opened. You'd be hard pressed to find a more informed or impassioned champion of the avant-rock pioneers.

Leo Fender invented the electric guitar. But what made him even more special is that his guitars were used by giants spanning decades of music from Elvis to Eric Clapton to Jimi Hendrix to Keith Richards all the greats of rock and roll! 

When Rolling Stone Magazine published a list of the world's top 100 guitarists, 90 of them used one of Leo's guitars and the rest used guitars that basically copied Leo's invention.While Fender guitars were recognized around the world, few people knew much about the man behind the legendary guitar. Leo Fender grew up in California, where an interest in electronics led him to open up a radio repair shop in 1938. But he didn't just work on radios; his reputation earned him the respect of musicians and band leaders who trusted him to repair their equipment. As time went on he founded Fender Electric Instrument Manufacturing Company and later, G&L Musical Instruments.Leo's wife Phyllis, along with Randall Bell, Ph.D., give music fans a memory-filled look into the remarkable world of this quiet genius in their latest book, Leo Fender: The Quiet Giant Heard Around the World. Randall Bell also grew up in Leo's neighborhood and his father was the head of the R&D department at Fender's company.

Fender's game-changing contributions to the music world have been widely recognized. He was presented with the Country Music Association Pioneer Award in 1981, and was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame, the Rock Walk of Fame and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. His accomplishments were also acknowledged with a Technical Grammy Award in 2009.

Leo Fender died in 1991. Today, Phyllis Fender volunteers at the Fullerton Museum where she shares with visitors stories about her life with Leo.

Veryl Oakland’s photographs have been featured in thirty jazz books. More than 100 of his images were published in The Encyclopedia of Jazz in the Seventies, by critics Leonard Feather and Ira Gitler, and he was the sole photographer chosen to illustrate The Great Jazz Pianists, by Len Lyons. An active photojournalist for more than a quarter of a century, he closely collaborated with the renowned German critic/producer Joachim-Ernst Berendt on many of his jazz projects, plus regularly contributed works to the major worldwide jazz publications, including Swing Journal, (Tokyo, Japan), Jazz magazine (Paris, France), and Down Beat (United States). Oakland studied cornet for seven years, but never played professionally. He did not own a camera until age twenty-five, and was entirely self-taught. Through both personal stories and stunning photographs captured behind the scenes, lose yourself in this bygone era of jazz that celebrates dozens of the most recognized and formidable jazz artists spanning three decades. As a freelance jazz photojournalist who devoted nearly thirty years in search of the great jazz musicians, Veryl Oakland profiles the music’s masters in a wide variety of settings—under the spotlight, in their homes, and far from the stage—in a personalized manner unique for jazz publications. Close followers of the entertainment industry and music lovers everywhere will be enthralled to see more than 340 iconic images of diverse stars—Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Buddy Rich, Dizzy Gillespie, Thelonious Monk, Dexter Gordon, Art Blakey, Stan Getz, Phil Woods, Sun Ra, Cecil Taylor, Paul Bley, Weather Report, and Wynton Marsalis—covering music styles from swing, to bebop, cool, hard bop, free, and beyond.

Foreword by Quincy Jones

Lifelong musician and Morrison Hotel Gallery co-founder Peter Blachley,  will issue his debut, Nevada Sky. The masterful Americana album—which will be available as a vinyl LP with a download card—features a vibrant Henry Diltz photographed cover image of a trusty old cherry red 1949 GMC pickup cruising down a rustic stretch of highway in anytown USA. Nevada Sky documents a life of inspiration, reinvention, and marks a profound coming together of many of the facets of Blachley’s life—family, photography, music, loves won and lost, and professional and personal aspirations.Nevada Sky begins with the sweet country weariness of “Big Old Train” and the opening lines: If you tell me where were going/ And I’ll tell you where we’ve been/And that big old train keeps rolling down the line. It’s an apt and warmly engaging metaphor to start a storyteller album. From there, with a richly expressive baritone, Blachley takes the listener to the streets of New York City with paternal sensitivity on the folk tune “Soho Sunday Morning,” and to breathtaking open sky beauty of “Nevada Sky.” And the poignant and poetic “Salvation Songs” transports the listener to the optimistic fire of the protest song movement and the ensuing introspective singer-songwriter movement of the 1970s.Nevada Sky folds family stories, personal and professional journeys, and lifelong dreams into one Americana storybook. Blachley says in conclusion: “With this album, I’ve left my legacy.”

Original Sex Pistols bassist Glen Matlock, whose 45-year career includes a wealth of experience with countless other bands and artists, will release his solo album Good To Go on Mighty Village Records.The project was recorded in London and New York, and features his longtime friends and collaborators Earl Slick, best known for his work with David Bowie, and Slim Jim Phantom of the Stray Cats.Matlock was only 16 when he joined the Pistols, and co-wrote such iconic punk songs of theirs as Pretty Vacant,Anarchy In The UK and ‘God Save The Queen. By the release of their seminal Never Mind The Bollocks, Here’s The Sex Pistols album.Matlock went on to work with an extraordinary array of musicians including Iggy Pop, the Dammed, Primal Scream, Mick Jones, Midge Ure, Gary Kemp, Ronnie Wood and such punkn contemporaries as Rusty Egan, Mike Peters, Tom Robinson and Kirk Brandon. When it comes to music, I like some actual music in the music!” says Matlock of the album. I’m pleased with it, It’s Good To Go.  It’s quite personal, but there are some tongue-in-cheek funny bits in it. I didn’t set out to write a Sex Pistols album and fail miserably. In my live show I do a bit of everything to keep everybody including myself happy. On record I’m a long way from that.”

Overcome with emotion, Sevi allowed the song to freely flow, recording it via an app on her phone. Salty Water is a reflection of the tears of the refugee children she is channeling in the song, as well as her own empathy. The song is the title track of Salty Water Sevillana Records, her debut EP produced by Grammy Award-winning Jeff Bova, Phillip Jarrell, and Sevi Ettinger, mixed by Jeff Bova and mastered by Bernie Grundman.

 

Not musically trained in the traditional sense, Sevi hones a unique cognizance of arrangement and creativity. She writes songs in three or four part harmonies and background parts, that are not just for coloring but part of the definitive body of the song. She can’t hear the song without them.

 

Her social consciousness and emotional maturity also permeates through the other three songs on the EP. The vibrant danceable bounce of Live ,Daydream…Dream The Things No One’s Dreamt Before and Don’t Fall Behind, in which Sevi posits that the world seems out of control, give way to the deeply personal ballad “Eyes.My EP is dedicated to the people who can’t be who they want to be due to fear, violence, and discrimination, states Sevi. This is expressed in the EP’s artwork, whereby the colored smoke depicts the bombed cities like Aleppo, which ejected the dust-covered faces of the children without homes, forced into a totally alienating bewildering future. No matter your age, we all have a voice to be part of the solution, and not part of the problem, she continues.Bringing the story full circle, Sevi is a top fundraiser for USA for UNHCR’s (the UN Refugee Agency) A Mile Togethercampaign, benefitting refugees.

Crossing borders, jumping barriers, taking risks, betting it all: that’s the path Alejandro Escovedo has been taking in his lifelong search for the heart of rock and roll.The epic 17 song suite comprising The Crossing is about that journey: searching, but not necessarily finding, eyes and ears open all the way. Ranging from sweeping orchestral numbers to classic rock to bursts of 70s punk, the collection finds Escovedo delving further into his lifelong musical journey across his most sonically diverse work yet.The Crossing tells the tale of two boys, one from Mexico, one from Italy, who meet in Texas to chase their American rock and roll dreams. They discover a not-so-welcoming, very different place from the Promised Land they imagined, with cameos from the likes of Wayne Kramer of the MC5 and James Williamson of the Stooges to show the boys the way.A Mexican-American kid with Texas roots and California raising taking on immigration issues in two continents with an Italian band, no less, makes perfect sense — if you know Alejandro Escovedo. Forever the curious explorer, he’s been a punk of the rebel kind in The Nuns, a cowpunk of the non-Western variety in Rank and File, commander of a guitar army in The True Believers, an orchestral conductor in his solo work, and a sensitive boy who has outrun death, demons, lust, and lost love in his songs. He has collaborated with Bruce Springsteen, John Cale, Los Lobos, Peter Buck & Scott McCaughey, Los Texmaniacs, and Chuck Prophet. No Depression magazine declared him the Artist of the Decade.Keeping the Escovedo edge sharp on The Crossing are his personal heroes Williamson and Kramer. Additional guests include Peter Perrett and John Perry from UK cult band The Only Ones. Joe Ely - Rio Navidad a spoken word track about a Texan ranger  written by novelist and bandleader Willy Vlautin, and read by Freddy Trujillo from Richmond Fontaine and The Delines.

Meadow Mountain is pleased to announce the release of their self-titled debut album, Meadow Mountain. Produced by Chris Pandolfi (The Infamous Stringdusters), the album is set for release November 2, 2018 on Tape Time Records, a record label curated by The Infamous Stringdusters. Meadow Mountain, comprised of Summers Baker (gui Jack Dunlevie Ian Parker, George Guthrie and Wilson Luallen are a band in the true sense of the word: a whole larger than the sum of its parts. Their music plays to each members’ individual strengths, and the finished product is a style of music rooted in traditional, hard-driving bluegrass. “In a world of constant string band evolution, Meadow Mountain has distinct ties to all the best elements of bluegrass, which really makes them stand out from their peers,” Pandolfi says of the band, “They combine that with really strong songwriting chops to create a unique sound that fans of acoustic music will surely gravitate toward.”From start to finish, the album creates a synergy of old and new musical concepts. “Careless Heart”, the opening track, features a hard-driving, classic bluegrass sound, showcasing their deep connection to the traditions of the genre. Each song on the album shows the range of the group’s ability to bend tones and styles of bluegrass instruments to create something completely original. With songwriting skills on full display throughout, Meadow Mountain has created a sound entirely unique to them. Among the young band’s many accolades, Meadow Mountain has given a TED talk, performed at Greyfox Bluegrass’s Emerging Artist series,  opened for Sam Bush, Del McCoury, and other titans of the genre, and are looking at a very exciting 2019.

A restless soul from the very start, singer/songwriter Jeff Ross wandered from the pastures and potato fields of his childhood to the narrow streets of New York City. The soundtrack to the journey was a medley of Bluegrass and Folk, Motown and British rockers. Inspiration might have come from Roger Miller or, just as easily, Dave Clark but it was always clear that music was the best method of expression. As lead guitarist for Lou Reed in the mid 1970’s Ross was embedded in the New York underground. Picking up tricks along the way from guitar greats like Mick Ronson and Rick Derringer he has acquired his skills playing and recording with the likes of Eddie Kendricks, The Wailers, and others. In virtually every iconic studio from New York City to Berlin, he has worked with hit producers Dennis Ferrante, Jack Douglas and John Jansen. A seasoned live performer, Ross practices his craft at countless shows from New York to Hamburg, Nantucket to Berlin, the Caribbean and back. He says, “It doesn’t matter if there are five, 50 or 5,000 people, you play each show like it might be your last.”