Day: September 14, 2022

Chris Shiflett’s new single ‘Born & Raised’

Chris Shiflett blends West Coast nostalgia and heartland hooks with brand new single “Born & Raised.” Courtesy photo, used with permission.

While Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductee Chris Shiflett gets recognition for his role in Foo Fighters, the modern-day guitar hero has seemingly always had one foot in the country music world—and, these days, he has been spending plenty of time making music in Nashville. Just last week, Shiflett played the Grand Ole Opry alongside a best-of-Nashville band—Sierra Hull (mandolin), Mike Bub (bass), and Michael Cleveland (fiddle). Now he has released his second of two singles recorded with legendary producer Vance Powell, “Born & Raised.” Shiflett began writing the tune while surfing his hometown Santa Barbara coastline but finished it in Music City where a group of Americana studio all-stars—bassist Jack Lawrence, drummer Julian Doro, keyboardist Mike Webb, and steel guitarist Luke Schneider—brought “Born & Raised” to life. (Chris Shiflett, 2022)

A swirl of West Coast nostalgia, heartland hooks, and Deluxe Reverb drive, the song unfolds like a love letter to one’s roots, delivered by a man who has spent most of his adulthood on the move. “Born & Raised” and Shiflett’s recently released “Long, Long Year” are both songs that find Shiflett in a reflective mood, looking at where he has been before heading toward whatever is next. Fans of Shiflett should certainly be keeping an eye out for even more new music over the next year. They can save “Born & Raised” here and watch the lyric video now at this link. “Long, Long Year” is also available right here.

“My trip out to Nashville in March of 2021 was my first time recording any solo material since I made Hard Lessons. I hadn’t done much traveling post-covid lockdown so I was a little nervous heading out there to work with a producer and roomful of musicians I didn’t really know. In true Nashville style we made our introductions and got right down to work, hammering out the basic tracks in a few hours. Vance was great and made me feel right at home, and the group of players he put together were on point.” – Chris Shiflett

Catch Chris Shiflett on tour:
September 17 – Redondo Beach, CA – BeachLife Ranch Festival 2022
December 3 – Tempe, AZ – Marquee Theatre
December 8 – Anaheim, CA – House of Blues Anaheim
December 17 – Las Vegas, NV – House of Blues Las Vegas
December 28 – Los Angels, CA – The Belasco

A longtime member of Foo Fighters, Shiflett has already played an integral role in shaping the sound, swagger, and scope of rock music throughout the 21st century. He joined the band in 1999, after kicking off his career playing guitar for seminal pop-punk groups like No Use For a Name and Me First and the Gimme Gimmes. While flying the flag for modern rock & roll, he also made time to pursue projects outside of the band. Groups like Jackson United and Chris Shiflett and the Dead Peasants found him in the driver’s seat, establishing his credentials as a front man, while the long-running Americana podcast Walking the Floor found him shining a light on his heroes and contemporaries, its 200+ episodes highlighting the storytellers, songwriters, and road warriors of contemporary roots music. Two critically acclaimed solo albums, 2017’s West Coast Town and 2019’s Hard Lessons, marked Shiflett’s own entry into the Americana world, mixing classic Bakersfield influences with greasy guitar riffs, Marshall amplifiers, and country-rock crunch.

 

Ghost of Paul Revere announces final album

Ghost of Paul Revere signs to Americana Vibes for final album, Goodbye, and catalog deal. Photo: Nicole Wolf, used with permission.

Ghost of Paul Revere, a band with over a decade of accolades and friendship, offer their final collection of songs in the form of a record aptly titled Goodbye, which is available everywhere for streaming. Releasing via Americana Vibes, and featuring the band’s—Griffin Sherry [guitar, vocals], Max Davis [banjo, vocals], Sean McCarthy [bass, vocals], and Chuck Gagne [drums, vocals]—signature blend of folk, bluegrass, rock, country, and Americana rooted in ponderous lyricism and raucous energy, Goodbye is both an offering of gratitude to fans and a celebration. (Ghost of Paul Revere, 2022)

For this release and their back catalog, the band has signed with Americana Vibes, of which the label co-founder Ivory Daniel, says “Everything that we strive for here at Americana Vibes is embodied within the music, art, and humanity behind this album, Goodbye. We’re excited to welcome the Ghosts to our family, and even more so to release this body of work while amplifying the importance of the Ghosts catalog across the globe.”

The collection of songs on Goodbye feels a bit like a victory lap, one in which the band is enjoying the natural end to all good things and inviting fans to attend a rowdy, joyful curtain closing of sorts. The album’s origins are much like the band’s, beginning by decamping to a family cabin to reunite and write in late 2020. 48-hours of writing in ‘20 fueled the creativity to continue writing into ‘21. By the time they hit the studio with co-producer and engineer Dan Cardinal, they had decided the overall direction and opted to primarily record live.

“The record ebbs and flows between soft songs that are more akin to what we used to do and more rocking songs with pretty good grit to them,” says Sherry. The band’s final offering, Goodbye, plays homage to the more-than-a-decade of music-making with friends. “How does one write an obituary of a ghost?” the band asked on social media when announcing their departure from the scene. The answer, of course, is hidden in the 12 songs of Goodbye.

Goodbye track listing:
At Least I Know It’s True
In My Yard
Gratefully Here
In Deep
JTE
Letters From the War of Love and Loss
Me and My Shadow
Rider
Vivid Dream
Older Lately
Knuckle
Goodbye

Book of the week: ‘Terra Nova: Book 1’ by MTG

‘Terra Nova: Book 1’ is the first book in the Terra Nova series by MTG. Photo: Amazon

MTG has worked in numerous positions, mainly in managerial and executive roles. These include the editor-in-chief of a cultural magazine, an executive director, and most recently, the manager of a non-profit organization that works with immigrants and refugees. She has extensive experience working and studying abroad, including Germany, Italy, Korea, Abu Dhabi, and Pakistan; these experiences taught her about many cultures and worldviews, which influenced her writing. “Terra Nova,” her first publication, is Book 1 of a series. The series’ concept emerged when she, like the protagonist, was diagnosed with the blood disorder paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria (PNH), and her then-boyfriend (now husband) joked she was becoming a vampire. (MTG, 2022)

“Terra Nova” – Evangeline is living the life of a normal teenager until she starts getting mysterious, severe symptoms. After passing out in the middle of a party, life as she knows it spirals beyond her grasp. She is diagnosed with a rare, genetic blood disorder that causes her body’s white blood cells to kill the red ones. In the delirium of her deteriorating health, a door to a parallel world opens before her; however, once she steps through it, the portal closes, and she is unable to return to Earth.

Evangeline now finds herself in a place called Terra Nova, a world where vampires rule supreme and there are no traces of humanity left. Curious but afraid, she quickly learns that Terra Nova is not the shadow-side of Earth, but rather the tragic result of government experimentation. In order to survive, she must keep her mind open and accept the changes her body is undergoing; soon enough, those who she initially thinks are murderers become her trainers, whose help she must enlist if she ever hopes to return home—and soon enough, a romantic bond begins to bloom.

Back on Earth, Evangeline’s brother and friends are trying to figure out what happened to her, how the government is involved, and how to bring her home. Then there is the mysterious outcast Bambi, whose secrecy disguises her power in making a devastating choice: save one world at the risk of destroying the other.

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