Wildman Steve's Record Shop

 Kelly's Lot was formed in 1994 by Kelly Zirbes, a folk singer/songwriter with a heart for the blues. With 14 CDs and lots of touring in the USA and Europe, the band will celebrate 25 years since the first night the band hit the stage at the Roxy in Hollywood. Kelly Z met soundman, Perry Robertson, in 1996 who soon produced their ‘Live at the Troubadour’ CD. Within a year he joined the band, started writing songs with Kelly Z and added the Southern Rock and Texas influences that have shaped their sound. As a duo or band, they have played coffee shops, theaters, festivals, clubs, house concerts and a variety of events. In the last 15 years they have created an 5-8 piece Blues band that is well respected in the American Blues Scene. Some of the larger festivals they have played are Waterfront Blues, Simi Valley Cajun and Blues Festival, Ventura County Blues Festival,  Lavaudieu Music Festival. Their songs have been heard in movies and television and covered by other artists. Kelly Z is currently working on songs for a couple film projects while still grabbing some inspiration from her fans on facebook. Challenging them to look in their hearts and share just one word, she then challenges herself to choose a word and write a song in two hours. Perry Robertson, who shares the band leader title with Kelly Z, has recorded and produced most of the band’s music including the recently released 'Can't Take My Soul’.  the new CD features  AmericanA, Blues,  Folk and Roots/Rock  creations . It’s a journey of messages, inspirations and some toe tapping rhythms. Mostly featuring a 4 piece of guitar, bass, drums and vocals, the CD also offers some accordion, harmonica, keys and even a Kelly Z whistle. As a duo, a 4 piece or a full 8 piece band they always pack a lot of energy while still getting to the heart of the listener.

Check out Kelly's Lot at their website, kellyslot.com 

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Founding band/soul mates Jen and Rob Slocumb met in 1996 with a twist of fate inside a Houston, Texas, coffee shop where Jen worked booking bands. Rob was home to see his parents after a music venture fizzled. It started as a simple bond over music. Time led them to realize it was something much more. The two fell in love and were married. 

They continued to write and play music, building up enough of a repertoire to start producing albums and touring around the country and the world.Their work has not gone unnoticed. Some of the most influential and well-respected music critics of our time have paid tribute to the duo. They have been listed and featured in Billboard Magazine, USA Today, AOL Music, XM Satellite Radio and Performing Songwriter. Their songs have received awards and have been featured in made-for-TV movies shown to national audiences

In 2016, Jen and Rob bought a historical home (built in 1907) in Downtown Opelika, Alabama and converted it into The Sound Wall, a multi-purpose creative space featuring a state of the art recording studio, a chefs kitchen, and artist residence. 

In 2019, the pair launched the first annual Opelika Songwriter Festival, which brought many fine artists to the area, and have announced the lineup for 2020. We caught up with them last year during the festival.

Keep up with Martha's Trouble at their website, marthastrouble.com. The 2nd Annual Opelika Songwriter's Festival begins March 27th and lasts through the 29th. Check it out at opelikasongwritersfestival.com Thanks for listening to Wildman Steve's Record Shop, tune in next time for more fun and thrills galore!

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Noah Zacharin is a widely acclaimed guitar master, multi-genre songwriter, and dynamic performer. He was given his first guitar at age 9, worte his first song at 13, and began performing at 14. In December 2015, Noah became a full-time recording and touring musician, and is more thrilled than ever to be doing what he has always done. Born in Montreal, Zacharin splits his time between Toronto, the road , and an off-grid cabin on the Canadian Shield. 

Noah is also an award-winning poet and translator, having won McGill's Chester-Macnaghten poetry prize and Matrix Magazine's translation prize. He's published hundreds of poems, translations, and review, in periodicals and anthologies worldwide, and is currently at work on his first full-length manuscript of poems.

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Bob Lord is a producer, composer, bassist and CEO of PARMA Recordings, the New Hampshire-based audio production house and parent company of the Navona, Ravello, Big Round, MMC, Capstone, and Ansonica Records label imprints.

In 1996 he co-founded the award-winning recording and touring experimental rock trio Dreadnaught (described by Relix Magazine as “the country's best 'pure' prog-rock combo") and since 2005 has been the Music Director for the New Hampshire Public Radio series Writers on a New England Stage at The Music Hall in Portsmouth NH, where the band has shared the stage with Dan Brown, John Updike, Salman Rushdie, Stephen King, Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor, and many more. In 2004 and 2018 Dreadnaught won "Best Rock Band" at the Spotlight Music Awards in Portsmouth NH.

With Pete Townshend of The Who Bob co-produced the double album METHOD MUSIC by Lawrence Ball, released in 2012 on Navona Records

As of now, Bob has more than 600 recording and production credits on his resume. He is President of the Zagreb Festival Orchestra in Zagreb HR, a member of the Board of Trustees of The Music Hall in Portsmouth NH, and on the Advisory Board of the Portsmouth Symphony Orchestra, also in Portsmouth NH.

Keep up with Bob Lord at boblordmusic.com and dreadnaughtrock.com. Thanks for listening to Wildman Steve's Record Shop!

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Sarah Clanton is bringing people together and building a feel-good machine. The Nashville singer-songwriter, who has brought the classical and pop worlds together with her use of a cello, rather than a guitar, to front one of Music City’s most unique bands, has been on a feel-good mission since long before she plucked her way into town. But it’s never been more apparent than on her new album, Here We Are.

A classically-trained musician who began playing cello age 9, Clanton grew up in a conservative Southern Baptist household, where MTV and certain radio and tv shows were off-limits. Then, her life changed in college, when she discovered holistic alternatives to calm her life-long anxiety, and the new sounds of the Greenville, South Carolina open mic scene. She found herself performing more frequently, and even organizing a couple festivals of her own like Music in the Woods - a weekly solar powered festival at Paris Mountain State Park in Greenville, South Carolina.. And by the time she left Greenville for Music City in 2014, she had already recorded her first album, and was doing 200 dates a year, playing bars, weddings.

We caught up with her when she visited Auburn to play a Sundilla Acoustic Concert in February 2020.

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Originally from Kentucky, Stoll Vaughan's music career started in the late 1990's, when he left Interlochen Arts Academy and moved to Bloomington Indiana to get involved in Echo Park Studios.  Mike Wanchic, producer and longtime guitarist for John Mellencamp, discovered Stoll and helped him develop the foundation for his songwriting.  By the mid '00s, he had released two solo albums that were received with acclaim, charting in the Top 10 on the Americana charts. He eventually made his way to Los Angeles, where his music has been featured in major motion pictures and television series such as True Blood, Friday Night Lights, Shameless, The Office, and many more. Most recently, he co-wrote songs for the debut album by Allman Betts Band "Down To The River," and their upcoming sophomore release.  Vaughan's latest solo effort is an album titled "Desires Shape," and he dropped into the Record Shop in January 2020 to give us a sneak preview.

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The Rough and Tumble refer to themselves as a dumpster-folk, thriftstore-Americana duo, consisting of Mallory Graham & Scott Tyler, and have been hobbling around the country in their 16' camper since 2015, traveling with their two 100-lb dogs, which occasionally hang out on stage with them. 

Even at their start in 2011, the Rough and Tumble are collectors, picking up odd trinkets and instruments that have become part of their music, including mailbox snare drums, banjuleles, nose harps, and more. In addition to performing 150+ shows a year, they host a weekly livecast, a monthly blog, a Cook and Coloring Book, and are the subject of a weekly comic strip, Ruffles and Tum Tums, which can be followed on their website. The band came in and visited the Record Shop while they were in town for a Sundilla Acoustic Concert on January 10, 2020.

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Internationally-ignored superstar, Captain Midnight, is the only known purveyor of “Waterbed Rock & Roll.” Crunchy Rock Guitar riffs, Thick R&B Grooves, and soaring vocal harmonies combine to create a unique, yet appealing soundscape for jammy anthems, sci-fi imagery, and humourous adult situations. Made up of Capt. Midnight on guitar and vocals, Lil' Rae Rae on keyboards and vocals, Jelly Mac on vocals and percussion, Jon Daddy Mann on drums, Wes Lloyd on bass and Teddy Jones on saxophones, the band's diverse appeal has resulted in club, theater, and festival dates with such luminaries as Dark Star Orchestra, moe., Cypress Hill, Twiddle, Marcus King, Leftover Salmon, Karl Denson and many more. Flattering comparisons to genre-defying acts such as P-Funk, Frank Zappa, and Ween are evident in the live show, where a genuine energetic exchange is crafted and nurtured between band and audience. We caught up with the band as they came through Auburn in November of 2019, the live recordings you'll hear were recorded the day before at the Hemlock Festival in Georgia.

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Acoustic Syndicate is a rock/folk/bluegrass band from North Carolina formed in 1992.  They have toured nationally in the US, including appearances at Farm Aid and Bonnaroo.  Their sound is characterized by three-part vocal harmony and complex polyrhythmic banjo playing.  Lyrically, the group often discusses themes relating to subsistence, sustainablility and quality of life.  The McMurry family comes from a small family farm in Cleveland County, NC.  They have been farming the same region that their ancestors settled over 200 years ago.

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Don’t let his youth fool you! Skyler Saufley is not your typical blues guitarist, and his journey to become one is uniquely his own. Once you pay attention, this soft-spoken young man’s incredible talent becomes impossible to ignore! Specializing in 50s style Chicago Blues coupled with swing, jump, and hard-driving shuffles, his band, the 99th Degree band, includes some of the most sought-after talent in the blues music industry. No matter the era or style, Skyler infuses every song with a measure of soul, calling on influences like Eddie Taylor, Freddie King, and T-Bone Walker.

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