Tour de Force Disc Melds the Best of Classic & Modern Rock with Storyteller Songwriting
Palmer & His Top-Flight Band Celebrate Debut at April 27 Release Party in Nashville
Palmer & His Top-Flight Band Celebrate Debut at April 27 Release Party in Nashville
(Nashville) Aficionados of intelligent, big-hearted and hook-filled American music are sure to be delighted by Apparition, which introduces a band that continues the proud tradition of such heartland rock trailblazers as Creedence Clearwater Revival, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers and others into the new millennium with a sound that’s invitingly familiar while at the same time tantalizingly fresh. The album will be released on April 20 on Palmer’s own Arythmia Records, distributed by Caroline/EMI. Fresh from a well-received 11-date tour opening for Bob Schneider, SPB will mark the event with a party and performance at aVenue in Nashville on Tuesday, April 27 (details below).
The Steve Palmer Band is the latest addition to Nashville’s burgeoning rock scene, and on Apparition they offer real deal rock that’s both timeless and transcends genre. Drawing from rock music’s golden age of the 1970s to renew and expand that sound and spirit with contemporary élan, the album features 12 powerful and emotive songs rich with the ghosts and specters of love that’s been lost or gone wrong, dreams of passion, and the poetic visions of a sharp storyteller and emotional chronicler. Singer, songwriter and rhythm guitarist Palmer is backed by a crew of seasoned players with a collective century of studio and concert experience: background vocalist Vicki Hampton, lead guitarist Bryan Ewald, drummer Tony Morro, Hammond B-3 organist/pianist Larry Hall and bassist Anthony Setola.
The disc was recorded live off the floor with minimal overdubs at Nashville’s Blackbird Studios, the ground zero recording facility for the city’s rock community thanks to fellow habitués like Kings of Leon and Jack White. It was co-produced by SPB and producer, songwriter and drummer David Huff (a former member of the group Giant) and mixed by recording veteran Jim Ebert (Butch Walker, Jason Falkner, Cowboy Mouth, SR 71).
The Denver-born Palmer has nurtured his dream of recording and performing a new yet lasting rock sound since he first started playing guitar and writing songs while growing up in Connecticut, making his singing and playing debut in sixth grade. By junior year of high school he had made his initial solo quarter-inch reel-to-reel recording of his songs, followed soon by studio sessions at age 17 in Plymouth, England. His studies at Northwestern and Georgetown and subsequent professional career were “to keep one foot in society and the other one on the peripheral, dreaming and writing,” Palmer explains. He perfected his creative vision recording in top studios in the Chicago area, Indiana, Connecticut (with first-call New York City session players) and in and around the Washington, D.C. capital region.
I draw from the music I know and love,” notes Palmer. “I grew up with bands like Kansas and such legends as Bruce Springsteen and Billy Joel, and also all the solo artists who were first and foremost songwriters: Joni Mitchell, Dan Fogelberg, Bob Dylan, James Taylor and Cat Stevens. And my biggest rhythmic influences were artists like Yes, Led Zeppelin and Joan Armatrading, and all the great jazz artists like Count Basie, Stanley Turrentine, Oscar Peterson, Joe Sample and Weather Report.” Other touchstones include everyone from The Beatles to Crosby, Stills & Nash to Chicago to country icons like Willie Nelson and Waylon Jennings, to name a few among many. With SPB, he matches such inspirations with the punch of modern-day heavyweights like Pearl Jam and 3 Doors Down as well as the fluid improvisational virtuosity of the Dave Matthews Band.
In 2002, Palmer dedicated himself to pursuing music 24/7, and on moving to Nashville last year found the players to unite behind a common purpose and a place to make the recordings he envisioned. With SPB now in it together for the long haul, the band has leased headquarters space in Nashville’s Marathon Village, where they’ve set up a rehearsal studio that will double as a tracking facility. Taking today’s indie DIY spirit to heart, Palmer has started his own record company with a full production house alongside subcontractors, and put together a promotion, marketing and distribution team.
The release of Apparition will be followed by intensive cross-country touring throughout 2010. “Getting this CD out to the public is my lifelong dream,” Palmer says. “I am very happy with it and thrilled to try to get our sound out there and finally play in front of people.”
Apparition release party:
Tuesday, April 27, 5:30 to 8:00 PM
aVenue, 120 Third Avenue South, Nashville
Sandwiches, beer and wine served
SPB performs at 6:30 PM
For more information on Steve Palmer Band go to: www.stevepalmerband.com
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