LAS VEGAS BASED ROCK QUARTET LIGHT THE BLACK SKYE RELEASE HEARTFELT BALLAD ABOUT ADDICTION, “I WISH YOU”

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Los Angeles, CA – The Las Vegas based rock band, LIGHT THE BLACK SKYE, is releasing their single “I Wish You”, available via download on iTunes. “I Wish You”, off their newest 12-track album, Looking Out Looking In, is a heartfelt track about the emotional struggles of family and friends, trying to help a loved one battle the agony of drug and alcohol addiction.

The inspiration behind this emotional ballad is derived from A&E’s hit reality show “Intervention”, as members felt the emotional connection while watching a recent episode and later wrote the song that would reach out to those affected by drug and alcohol addictions. The band member’s hope for the song is that it at least “touches one person’s soul on a deep enough level, to perhaps help that person move towards a positive healthy life”.

The track, “I Wish You” is the only track in Light the Black Skye’s recording history that was originally released as a demo and subsequently the same version was released as the final project. It was undeniable to those around the success of Light the Black Skye that they had reached magic and their goal with this single, the very first time around.

The idea behind Light the Black Skye came together late one night during a Las Vegas weekend reunion between members Joe Nassar and Steven Ossana, both classmates from New York. It was also in Las Vegas where the band had their debut performance at the House of Blues. Light the Black Skye have been together since 2008 performing high octane live shows and penning rock style track for their newest album, Looking Out Looking In. Recently, Light the Black Skye was chosen by the members of KISS, to open for them in New York at the Nikon Jones Beach Theater.

Official artist website: www.lighttheblackskye.com

NEW INDIE SONGWRITER/SINGER ALISA BONIELLO SET FOR VALENTINE’S DAY DEBUT OF LOVESTRUCK SINGLE AND LIVE SPECIAL

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February 9, 2012, New York, NY…. Burgeoning indie songwriter/pop singer Alisa Boniello, who has impressed a growing youtube fan base with her first video, “LOVESTRUCK,” (over 5000 hits since premiering two months ago) will release her debut single of the same title, and a live LOVESTRUCK VALENTINE’S DAY SPECIAL featuring songs from her forthcoming EP on Valentine’s Day, February 14, 2012. LOVESTRUCK will be distributed digitally only on CDbaby.com, and their digital partners.

Her LOVESTRUCK VALENTINE’S DAY SPECIAL, was taped in front of a small audience of family and friends to celebrate Valentine’s Day, and marked her first live concert performance. The special will initially premiere on a trio of popular music sites that have a cumulative viewing audience of over 1 million, Bella Online (averages 650,000 per month) PopYouLarity.com, (averages 325,000 per month), and CoolGrrrls.com, which over the past decade and a half has become one of the leading destinations and supporters for exposing female artist’s of all music styles and genres. Boniello performs three songs from her forthcoming EP, “LOVESTUCK,” “WHY,” and “THAT KIND OF GIRL.” Recorded at the venerable Montana Studios in Manhattan, the special was Directed by James Lester and Produced by Ramon Hervey II.

“I’m so thrilled to be able to share my new music and first live performance, “enthused Boniello. “My EP, and especially “Lovestruck,” is about relationships and the power and beauty of love, so this is my special Valentine’s Day gift and way of saying thank you to my fans and everyone who has supported my career so far.”

Boniello co-penned all the songs on her LOVESTUCK EP with Grammy Award-winning songwriter/producer Barry Eastmond, who also produced all four songs on her EP, except THAT KIND OF GIRL, which was co-produced with Wendell Hanes and Dan Kramer.

Eastmond also served as Musical Director/keyboard player for Boniello’s showcase band, which also comprised highly-regarded veteran New York session musicians, guitarist Jeremy Most, drummer Terry Silverlight, and bassist Carl Carter.

ANN CLAIRE TO RELEASE DEBUT CD, HONKYTONK PRINCESS, FEB. 21 New Country Artist In Midst of Nashville Residency Dates

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NASHVILLE -A lot of images spring to mind when one hears a woman described as a "princess." Down-home, honkytonk American woman is not usually one of them. But, Princess Ann Claire is changing allof that. You see, as the great-niece of the late Shah of Iran Ann Claire is a bona fide princess. But she's also country music's new Girl Next Door.

Country singer Billy Currington said it best upon first meeting the blonde beauty when he said, “I never met a princess before, but you’re country as turnip greens.” And now she brings that true-bluecountry style to her debut CD, Honkytonk Princess, produced by Travis Howard (who has penned manyMiranda Lambert hits) and Maxwell Abrams (of Muzik Mafia), which is set for a February 21 release datevia Prosody Records. On the 12-track CD, you don't just hear Princess Ann Claire singing. You also justget Ann Claire, a girl sharing her heartache, her struggles, and her hopes and dreams.

"Honkytonk Princess is the true story of my life over the past five years," explains Ann Claire, who first made a name for herself as the star of her own E! reality TV series, Love Is In The Heir. "It's a pretty even mix of up-tempo fun songs that celebrate life and love, and songs from the heart that reflectwhat I have been through, and the faith and passion, that it takes to lay it all down on the line for what you believe in, while there is still time and you have the chance."

Two songs most near and dear to Ann Claire’s heart are "Better Girl," which kicks the album offand serves as the lead single and music video, and the title track, "Honkytonk Princess." "They are two sides of the same coin," explains Ann Claire, who co-wrote both songs, along with six others. "True love, for yourself and for others, is stronger than anything in this world, but you can’t really live that until you make a decision to stand up and fight for what you know is right, and understand that we are all gifted and can shine. They both talk about respecting ourselves and being open to the unexpected, but miraculousthings that happen in any given moment or relationship. There are no rules. No matter who you are or where you are from."

Ann Claire is already making fans of key Nashville media, as Music News Nashville recently wrote of Honkytonk Princess: "Her enthusiasm is apparent on tracks like 'Lucky Me' and 'Better Girl,'both of which exude the word personality. She also handles the beat of the up-tempo title cut, as well asthe breezy 'Let’s Go To Mexico,' which soars with its message of casting worries to the side of the road for a while. Ann Claire also proves adept at handling a ballad, with her warm touch on 'Here To Home,' aswell as 'Somewhere.' Kudos to her as well for tackling a cut like Mila Mason’s 'Dark Horse,' and rising to the challenge."

To give music fans a taste of her debut CD, Ann Claire is in the middle of a six-date residency tour at Belcourt Taps & Tapas, which was recently hailed in Country Weekly as Music City’s hot spot for music, dining, and socializing. Ann Claire is backed by a full band that includes members of Shooter Jennings' group. Her road band includes Ted Russell Kamp on bass, Bryan Keeling on drums, and John Schreffler on guitar, as well as Mat Dauzat (guitarist), Carl Byron (keyboardist), Don Ian (banjo, acousticguitar), and Sam May, who has played with Leonard Cohen and Isaac Hayes, on backing vocals.

"I just love my band," beams Ann Claire. "There is no other word for it. I joke that when we play together it’s like The Partridge Family. We just have so much fun. We goof around a lot, but each member is so brilliant and quirky that it’s a powerhouse of good music."

Ann Claire is currently lining up tour dates for the year and is available for TV, radio, print, and online interviews. To see more of her story, check out her EPK: Honkytonk Princess: The Story. The Dream. The Reality on her newly launched website: http://www.princessannclaire.com. Fans can also pre-order Honkytonk Princess on the website and win a $15 merchandise credit.

Ann Claire Residency Tour Dates:

Jan. 25, Belcourt Taps & Tapas, NashvilleFeb. 8, Belcourt Taps & Tapas, NashvilleFeb. 15, Belcourt Taps & Tapas, NashvilleFeb. 22, Belcourt Taps & Tapas, Nashville

ABOUT ANN CLAIRE: Many country girls grow up with dreams of being a real princess. But there’sonly one genuine princess who grew up to be a country singer and songwriter: Ann Claire. She was born in the Middle East to a father who was a pop and R&B songwriter in London’s music scene, and as thegreat-niece of the late Shah of Iran is a bona fide princess. Ann Claire, now an American citizen, grew up in both London and Los Angeles, and was schooled in England, Switzerland, and Spain before attending the University of Southern California to major in film and television and minor in sociology and graduatewith honors. She followed that with studies in theatre and voice at San Francisco’s American Conservatory Theatre, where she appeared in a number of plays. She starred in her own reality series, Love Is In The Heir, which ran for 10 episodes on the E! Network in 2006, earning strong ratings around the world as it aired to millions in more than 50 nations. Her debut CD, Honkytonk Princess, is due on Feb. 21, 2012 on Prosody Records and was co-produced by Travis Howard (Nashville Star, Miranda Lambert) and Maxwell Abrams (Muzik Mafia). She co-wrote eight out of the 12 songs on the record.

TOBY KEITH NOMINATED FOR THREE ACM AWARDS; "Red Solo Cup" Continues To Grow; Drives Album Back To No. 1

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(NASHVILLE, Tenn.) Two-time Academy of Country Music Entertainer of the Year Toby Keith has received three nominations for the 47th Annual ACM Awards, scheduled for April 1 in Las Vegas. All three are for his explosive new song "Red Solo Cup" – Video of the Year and twice for Single Record of the Year as the song's artist and producer.

The nominations continue the unparalleled success of "Red Solo Cup," which almost instantaneously became the biggest viral sensation in country music history. The videos for the song (holiday version and original flavor) have surpassed the 11 million views mark. At radio, the single is already in the top 10 and climbing. And this week the single is No. 1 on the country download chart.

Even more remarkable, the single's success has pushed Keith's current album Clancy's Tavern back to the No. 1 country album pinnacle. Tavern debuted at No. 1 in October and has spent the majority of the intervening weeks in the top 5. "Red Solo Cup" is also the No. 1 most-played song on jukeboxes, with Toby Keith ranking as the No. 1 most-played artist. Both are all-genre standings as reported by TouchTunes.

Catalog sales of Keith's music hit a record 3.3 million downloads in 2011, with RSC leading the way to become the best-selling single download of his career.

In other Toby news, the Chicago Tribune recently named him the No. 1 spokesman for full-size trucks. Keith's tours have been sponsored by Ford F-Series since 2003, and the Tribune notes: "Toby looks like a truck owner, acts like a truck owner and looks comfortable talking with truck owners."

JAZZ SAXOPHONIST HULON RELEASES SECOND CD “AFTER HOURS” SET FOR FEBRUARY 7 RELEASE DATE

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NEW CD FEATURES HOWARD HEWITT, GEOFF MCBRIDE AND NEW RADIO SINGLE, “DO YOU FEEL ME”

Los Angeles, CA – The urban jazz styling of Hulon has returned with his newest album, After Hours, releasing February 7^th and is available on iTunes and Hulon’s website (www.hulon.com).

After the success of his debut album, First Impressions, Hulon’s newest album, After Hours, has combined passion and confidence creating Hulon’s best tracks to date. Hulon’s debut album spent 15 weeks on the Billboard Jazz Chart, peaking at #25, and featured the single “Sax on the Beach” which reached #16 on the Smooth Jazz.com Top 50 Indie Chart, and was featured on the noted jazz website AllAboutJazz.com, in addition to receiving national and international airplay at terrestrial and online radio.

The new 11 track set includes a vocal and instrumental version of the 1977 Heatwave classic “Always and Forever” and eight originals penned by Kashiwa that play to Hulon’s strengths as a soulful balladeer and a grooving R&B/funk player, with a few dashes of cool and swinging traditional jazz in the mix. Highlights include the sensual late night romance “You’re Beautiful,” the whimsical mid tempo light funk tune “Takin’ My Time,” the tropical chill of “Sticky Trickuation,” the sly, Pink Panther-esque “Speak Easy” (featuring shuffling drum, bass and finger snap rhythm) and the high octane horn-driven jam and first single from the new release, “Do You Feel Me.”

Hulon has collaborated once again with mentor, composer, producer and fellow saxophonist Jeff Kashiwa. World renowned for his years with The Rippingtons, The Sax Pack and numerous hit solo albums over the past 20 years, Kashiwa again brought in some of contemporary jazz’s most powerful and dynamic players to take Hulon’s musical game on the new collection to the next level including Dave Hooper (drums), Allen Hinds (guitar), Melvin Davis (bass) and Bill Heller (keyboards) all of whom have played key roles on First Impressions.

Yet there’s lot more to Hulon’s dynamic emergence onto the urban jazz scene than simple chart stats and the support of some of the genre’s best players. At its heart, it’s the story of a musical dream long deferred and unique connections between the spiritual and emotional healing power of music and the physical healing that Dr. Hulon E. Crayton does as a rheumatologist and founder of The Arthritis and Infusion Center, which specializes in the treatment of Rheumatological diseases as well as sports related injuries. The title of one of the tracks on After Hours, the tropical flavored groove tune, “Second Opinion” is a playful ode to his longtime profession.

Official website: http://www.hulon.com

ME AND MY SHADOW SET TO RELEASE NEW CD “SUMMER CYCLE” ON JANUARY 24 2012

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PHILADELPHIA BASED MUSICIAN BRAD PODRAY EXPLORES THE

MANY MOODS OF THE ‘SUMMER CYCLE’ ON

HIS LATEST ELECTRONIC NEW AGE RECORDING

Summertime and the musical living is easy—well, most of the time on Summer Cycle, the dynamic full length follow-up to Winter Cycle, the 2010 solo piano EP by My Shadow and I, an electronic new age project created by multi-talented Philadelphia based musician Brad Podray.

Melodic, richly textured and film score lush, Summer Cycle is an eclectic ten track chronicle of the powerful transitions and emotional breakthroughs that come months after the heartbreaking but necessary end of a relationship. A natural extension of “Bliss (End of the Winter Cycle),” the final track of the otherwise stark earlier album, the new album is released on Podray’s independent label Nonexistent Recordings.

Summer Cycle’s overriding theme of emergence matches that of Podray’s increasing presence as a force in contemporary instrumental music after years of eclectic performing and recording experiences in numerous other genres—among them, industrial metal, “Pirate rap,” alt rock and down tempo trip hop. While the Florida born musician’s rock influences range from Meat Loaf to Nine Inch Nails, his chief inspirations for his solo piano and electronic/symphonic works are Brian Eno, Danny Elfman and famed new age pianist David Lanz, whose encouraging words about the Eno-influenced self titled My Shadow and I debut led Podray to further develop his vision in this genre.

Podray had his hands full academically and creatively when sat down at his keyboard in 2009 to create the first My Shadow and I project. Having just graduated from dental school at the University of Pennsylvania, his days were consumed with his orthodontic residency at Temple University in his adopted home town of Philadelphia. At night, he let loose in two very unique bands, the pirate rap group Captain Dan and the Scurvy Crew and the downtempo trip-hop ensemble Echo Slightly—both with his best friend from high school and longtime musical collaborator Daniel Dolan. Podray had recorded numerous albums with those and other groups over the past few years (18 in all!), and even released three projects by the indie band Finding Jupiter on his label. But looking ahead, he spent his rare down time creating music he could one day use to soothe patients when he launched his own practice as an orthodontist—which he did in late 2010.

By that time, he had independently released Winter Cycle, most of whose pieces were composed about the impending end and then the aftermath of a relationship. Its piano-heavy focus reflects what he calls a sad time in his life. While the piano is still a dominant melodic voice of Summer Cycle, the project’s deeper, more evolved production textures are one of the ways Podray creates a healing, optimistic counterpoint to the stark heartbreak of winter.

Even as Summer Cycle begins rolling out, Podray is working on another ambitious project under the name Maximalism—a concept he calls the more aggressive version of My Shadow and I, with high energy distorted guitars and even more synthesizers. His is a constantly flowing creative musical mind that has no boundaries or simple genres to get entangled in for long. “My Shadow and I and Maximalism are solo projects that show a different side of my personality,” he says. “One is calm yoga-type music while the other finds me going as crazy as I can get. With both projects, I love being able to fill a sonic space without having to figure out where to fit the words in.”

Official Website: http://www.myshadowandi.com

SINGER-SONGWRITER BRANDON MCHOSE PLUGS IN AND ROCKS HARDER THAN EVER ON HIS NEW FOUR SONG EP LATE NIGHT

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FEATURES

TWO TRACKS CURRENTLY IMPACTING TRIPLE A RADIO:

“LATE NIGHT” AND “NEXT 3”

Choosing progress over comfort and musical evolution over the same old, same old, singer/songwriter Brandon McHose made two major career decisions—one musical, one geographical—over the past two years.

With two tracks from his upcoming EP Late Night currently making an impact at radio and his eyes set on a Midwest tour, both are paying off big time.

After two predominately acoustic based full length albums, he pulled a complete 180, unveiling an explosive new, electric guitar driven sound on his upcoming new four track EP Late Night. The title track “Late Night” is currently in rotation at numerous college radio stations throughout the U.S. and “Next Three” shipped to Triple AAA on November 14.

Picking up and moving from Austin after five years, McHose high-tailed it back to his home region of the Midwest, choosing Chicago for a batch of exciting new career opportunities. Since hitting “The Big Windy” in 2010, the multi-talented artist has headlined at the Hard Rock Cafe, Taste of River North Festival and the House of Blues Foundation Room, in addition to creating successful residencies for himself in neighborhood venues (like the Citizen Room) that had never had music before.

While his sizzling guitar sound and powerhouse live performances have earned him hundreds of fans throughout the city, Chicago’s thriving indie music scene is also a springboard for McHose’s latest touring endeavors along the I-35 corridor, which stretches from Northern Minnesota through his home region of Central Iowa down to Southern Texas.

McHose launched his recording career with two well received acoustic based full length albums helmed by big name producers. Life Eclipse (2007) was produced by Chris Maresch, who has played with Eric Johnson; the set featured famed keyboardist Riley Osbourne, who once played with Stevie Ray Vaughan’s band Double Trouble. Token (2008) was produced by Michael Ramos, a onetime member of The BoDeans whose credits include John Mellencamp and Los Lonely Boys.

Combining the melodically infectious, lyrically insightful vibe of classic singer/songwriters (James Taylor, Bob Dylan, Paul Simon) with a Santana/Beck/Van Halen-like ability to shred, McHose has evolved into a multi-faceted artist in the tradition of his chief influences Mark Knopfler, Eric Clapton, Stephen Stills, Jimi Hendrix and—straight from his country phase—Vince Gill and Brad Paisley.

Growing up in Des Moines, Iowa, Brandon McHose was introduced to the guitar by his father, once an aspiring guitarist himself. That’s a common story, a parent sharing passion with a child, but the guitar McHose his dad used to teach him, a 74 Les Paul, makes the history just a bit more extraordinary. His father’s eclectic music collection introduced the young musician to legends like The Beatles, Stones and The Who, but McHose says the reason he began playing more seriously was the solo he saw Joe Walsh do on VH1, in a clip from when he was with The Eagles.

McHose’s equal passion and skill in track and field earned him a full scholarship to Drake University, but he left after one year to ponder his musical future. His family sought professional advice by meeting with the Assistant Chair of the Guitar Department at the famed Berklee School of Music in Boston. After McHose auditioned, the professor’s professional opinion was that his skill and talent levels were far beyond that of a typical student; he recommended that the best road for him was not four years in college but to embark immediately on his career. McHose took this advice and chose Austin, Texas as the perfect environment to hone his craft. While making the connections necessary to launch his recording career, he worked his way up to playing live four nights a week, performing at such venues as The Saxon Pub and Threadgill’s.

“I felt that moving to a major market like Chicago would be a great step forward,” he says, “not only because of the many opportunities to perform in the city and surrounding area, but also because it’s centrally located, close to my hometown of Des Moines and a great centrally located base to tour from. That’s really where the excitement happens, up there onstage. I love feeling the energy from the crowd and trying new things with the songs and with my guitar every night.”