Mike Aiken, “Captains & Cowboys”

“Come on, Virginia, I hear you calling me.” The plea of singer/songerwriter Mike Aiken,  and ‘Virginia’ in the romantic song could be either a favorite woman or his favorite state. It’s that emotional. Turns out, Aiken wrote it for his home state.

The 12 songs on Aiken’s new CD, “Captains and Cowboys,” are all reflections of the influences in his life, whether those were developed when he raised quarter horses or later, after he became a licensed sea captain.

“I grew up very rural and spent a lot of time raising horses and around rodeos,” Aiken said recently. Then, he moved from the farm to a boat on the ocean, and has lived on it for the past two decades.

“It’s the same type of spirit and person,” Aiken, said, comparing the two lifestyles. “Not quite a loner, but somebody who doesn’t need the rest of the world to tell them they are OK to be OK.”

There’s a gross similarity between these two types of individuals, Aiken said, talking about the captains and the cowboys.

“Night Riders Lament” is one of only three cover songs on this CD. “Probably the first I heard it was Jerry Jeff (Walker), his version, and it spoke to me about that type of person, the cowboy, who could be on the boat as well. I played with changing a couple of lines to put him on a boat, but I just couldn’t improve the song.” It was important for Aiken, a prolific songwriter himself, to include this and the others enhancing the mood of the CD.

Aiken said it took a couple of years to put the CD together. He’s cut other CD projects in the past, but as he moved through this one, he realized this was different, that there was a theme involving, and that theme needed to be honored and developed.

“I wanted this to take some time so I could do a better product,” Aiken said. He cut some songs in July, and went back in September to lay down some more. That’s when he realized “this CD is taking life and going in a direction. So I waited and went back in January this year. I thought it was ready last summer, and we started (in January) vetoing some of it and re-writing. We let it grow as it went, giving it a chance to take on a life of its own.”

On the “sea” side of this conceptualized project, is “Save The Whales,” and Aiken said it’s a reflection of his very early influence by the late Stan Rogers and the many sea chanties Rogers created. “’Hooray, up she rises,’ is the traditional chant of old-time whalers. When they would see the whale, the man on top was to point, and they would drop the small boats. The sea and whaling, that’s ’a real part of Americana.” He explained he has spent a lot of time sailing up to Nova Scotia and back, “that’s the slice of life we used to have in this country.”

Courtesy Photo
Mike Aiken

One song, “Your Memory Wins,” is a true country song, co-written by Austin Cunningham. Aiken’s voice haunts, “when the whiskey wears off, you’re still gone.” Brad Davis, from Celeste, Texas, and Aiken co-wrote the title song, “Captains & Cowboys,” with a bit of Texas mixed with life on the sea, bringing the two lifestyles into plain view… “With the captains and the cowboys is where I fit in.” And they wrote it the modern way… using computers, back and forth, from their respective homes.

Another powerhouse song on this project is “Get Down River,” a song Aiken said he dedicated basically to those affected by Hurricane Katrina, which backed up the Mississippi River, but it could just easily apply to the James River floods he witnessed in Norfolk. “The city of Norfolk is actually an island surrounded by the sea and two rivers. You have to take bridges or go in tunnels to get to the city. I’ve seen those tunnels full of water. It came in so hard and so fast. I can relate on a personal level.”

Aiken takes his music out sometimes with a trio and sometimes a full band. “Toby Keith’s bass player, and my wife on harmony and percussion, and me. Then sometimes adding Nashville steel and mandolin.”

This man with a lifestyle some others envy sings of aging sailors, of youth, of rodeo idols, of the shrinking Appalachian Mountains and the disappearance of the magnificent whale, of the romance of life.

“Captains & Cowboys” is available at Best Buy stores, through Birdland Records, and by downloading it from iTunes, CDBaby, and other favorite internet sites.

Grady Yates

A Thousand Horses

Self-Release

History and humanity combine and compliment the musicianship and lyrics in this release, “A Thousand Horses,” filled with life and breath, inspiration, and soul. Grady Yates is not a man aspiring to become famous in the music world. He’s simply a man well qualified to be called “wordsmith” and who hangs with some of the most talented musicians in way-North Texas.

The title song comes with a prelude explaining the facts behind the lyrics, the story of the 1847 U.S. Cavalry’s attack in Palo Duro Canyon on the remaining free tribes in Texas and the subsequent slaughter of the Indians’ thousand horses for which the calvary had no use. Razor-sharp rhythms, picture-perfect phrasing, and livid librettos make every one of the 13 songs included unique in itself.

Fellow songwriter Byron Dowd said, “I’ve always looked at Grady as the timeless type of writer, definitely Guy Clark and Townes Van Zandt inspired. His songs could have been written yesterday or 45 years ago. His lyrics are warm and inviting, something I’d enjoy listening to while spending time with old friends around a campfire.

“Grady pours his heart into what he writes. I respect that, and that is what I believe draws folks into his music. Plus, he is just one hell of a good guy…not to mention a great fisherman,” Dowd concluded.

“A Thousand Horses” is available at Yates’ concerts, will be on ITunes April 10, or by -mail to hyates@bwdmail.net

• Lisa Matassa
  

  Lisa Matassa
  “Somebody’s Baby”

• “Somebody’s Baby”
• It Is What It Is Records

Country at its finest — that’s what this latest EP release from country singer Lisa Matassa is.

The 8-song CD is a mix of new songs and covers, and a re-mix of two previous releases from this Nashville-based artist. Matassa actually was operatically-trained, and the power developed in her voice blows through the Dolly Parton hit “I Will Always Love You.” It’s a tough song, and most covers fail miserably, excepting, of course, the late Whitney Houston’s version. Matassa knocks it out of the proverbial ballpark.

The clippy “Wouldn’t You Like To Know” is a great opposite to the poignant “Somebody’s Baby,” for which there is a soon-to-be-released video on CMT television.

Matassa’s voice would have been perfect if she had chosen a career as a pop or folk singer instead, but her roots are deep in country music soil, and her voice just moves that love along naturally.

Matassa ends the EP project, as she has on previous CDs, with always well-liked “The Christmas Song.”

This is a extraordinary album, recorded  with intense feeling.

North Texas’ Sy Simons is releasing a new song, “Never Be Alone,” soon, — very soon. Sy shared it with Scene In Town for an advance listen. The 1st listen was intriguing, enough that demanded a 5^th and then a 10^th listen, and with each listen, there’s an appreciative new depth in the lyrics and production.

In simple words, “Never Be Alone” is a keeper.

Simons said this is the first release of several more to follow, choosing the marketing system of one-release-at-a-time, rather than recording an entire CD before releasing any songs.

“This way,” Simons said, “I can  release songs that have a harder focus and attention to detail  that full CDs can tend to miss. ‘Never Be Alone’ is the start, and with any luck, the next song will be ‘Circumstance’ with a music video to accompany it.”  Wolfe Productions is working on that video with him.

Producing the song are Simons and Tim Phelan, and this first song has been and those to follow are being recorded, mixed and mastered at CRT Studios in Arlington, Texas.

“I think I’ve found a niche in marketing that will help my music reach the most ears,” the singer/songwriter said.

Sy moved to the North Texas area after seven years in Nashville, where he was a regular at Dan McGuinness, Fiddle n Steel, and a few others. He’s been a familiar voice locally at Boomerjacks in Murphy, Love & War in Texas in Plano, and Monkeys Pub n Grub in Sachse.

Sy plays solo most opf the time, often opening for Chris Allen & The Tailgaiting Band. He has a full band, too, when that is a priority.

But, for now, Sy is taking time off from the live-gig circuit so he can “get enough swell to get bars to hire the whole band on a regular basis. Then, the band is all mine to rock every last stretch of highway.” He will hit a few songwriter nights to try out his new materials, and can be found at Tavern on Main Street (Tuesday nights) and Dawgs n Hawgs (Thursday nights.)

Go to Sy Simons’ Website http://www.sysimons.com, to connect with his media outlets. On his ReverbNation site are other songs to give a listen to and a video of his, “Up All Night.”

The new release, “Never Be Alone,” will become available on ITunes soon.“ Check often for it. Like I said, it’s a keeper.

KB “”Weight & Glory” CD

CD Review by Mitchell (Devot) Weiss, a junior at Hutto High School and formerly attended the Van Alstyne ISD system.

Artist: KB
Album: Weight and Glory 
Company: Reach Records

You bend under his Weight and you see the Glory of God. This is what the debut album of 23 year-old-KB (Kevin Burgess) “Weight & Glory”stands off of.
“Zone Out & Zone Out (Amped Remix)” are real bass-bumpin’ songs that get you excited, but talk about blocking out the rest of the world and focusing only on God’s glory and mission. “Anomaly” is the departure from the common rule or goal. People have strayed away from the common goal of God and now make up their own goals in their own life’s. “Don’t Mean Much” is kinda self explanatory by going into detail of things in this world, such as smoking, drinking, and sex, have no meaning to a Godly person. “Go Off” is a song that was made by the fire in the hearts of KB, Andy Mineo and Tedashii that shows their fire for Christ. “Angels” is a song that tells of powerful wealthy men that control the world’s economy, basicall,y but how powerless they really are because they don’t have any angels praising them.

“Tear It Down” is another amped song that says that we should not surround ourselves with controversy but with the words of Christ. “Church Clap” is a song saying that we should not glorify something that looks holy but glorify the Glory of God. “If it ain’t a clap in the heavens, then that clap is just a clap.”
The album starts off with the song “Weight Music.” This song is giving constant examples of what life is about. “Life isn’t breathin, Life is knowing God”. “Mr. Pretender” tells the story of a Godly man with a heavy longing for lust and women. Sin is telling him to leave his wife and go have one-night stands with all these women. “He know that it will cost him his life in ministry but it makes him think if it’s worth one night getting in the sheets.

“Open Letter (Battlefield)” is KB, Swoope, Trip Lee and Jai getting together to open some fan mail. Verse 1 tells of a girl named Ashlee who has been single for 5 years and says she is “longing for the touch of a woman,” she knows its wrong but “dudes never show he attention” and she is just asking KB to pray for her. Verse 2 tells of a newly-engaged man who really wants a kid with this woman. He says “The way I’m feeling is natural, but KB is it Godly? Is it wrong lust or strong love?” Again, he asks KB to keep them in his prayers. And then Trip Lee comes in and gives both those two people a good prayer. In “Heart Song” one of KB’s friends Jasmine Le’Shea (featured in this song) is having medical issues with her heart and everyone around her is angry at God because she walk or talk normal but Jasmine is not, she trusts in the Lord that she will be OK, either if it’s here on the earth or in heaven with her Savior.

“Hello” is just a feel-good song that states that everyday is a blessing that we should not take for granted. “Here We Go” is another feel-good song that explains the beauty of finding new things in the Bible that will enlighten the reader and the power and will to trust God through anything.
Along with R&B and hard core fast raps with meaningful lyrics, KB has made a mark on the hip/hop community using the Glory of God to shine through this album. Can you feel His weight?  Can you see His Glory?