Ryan James

SINGER/SONGWRITER RYAN JAMES JOINS THE

A-LIST OF TEXAS’ BEST!

TOUR KICKS INTO HIGH GEAR JUST IN TIME FOR HIS BRAND NEW SUMMER 2007 RELEASE!

For Immediate Release: Contact: Brandy Reed
(615) 673-0150

Nashville-April 18, 2007-It was a phone call that Texas based singer/songwriter RYAN JAMES will never forget. On a day when his plans for a music career seemed to be resting just outside his grasp, the voice on the other end of the line slipped in like an adrenaline shot to the heart, “Hi Ryan, it’s Walt Wilkins. We’re here listening to your music in the studio…you’re going to be star.” Hearing words like these from a man whose music has been compared to the great writers of his time including Guy Clark, Townes Van Zant, Kevin Welch and John Steinbeck was in Ryan’s words, “heart stopping!” This was the first conversation shared between the two since a year prior in 2004 when James met Wilkins at the Americana Conference in Nashville, Tennessee. Their introduction had been a brief casual encounter, but one that would lead to a stellar pair up on Ryan James’ debut release.

BACK TO THE WIND produced by Walt Wilkins and Tim Lorsch was released in 2005 with gale force results proving quickly that James could “hang with the best of em’.” Penning 10 of the 12 tracks, his songwriting fluency sets a perfect pace through the record’s tall peaks and deep winding valleys. The first single “How Long” spent 13 weeks in the Top 15 of the Texas Music Chart topping out at #9. The second single “Goodbye Carolina” went to #7 and was nominated for Song of the Year at the Gruene With Envy Awards in 2006. From start to finish BACK TO THE WIND was a genuine prototype of chivalrous “songsmanship,” solid in its physique and wistful in its demeanor.

“His dusty, evocative vocal is just terrific. The song manages to be warmly folky and edgy-country at the same time. The jangly production is full of all kinds of tonal shifts and audio dynamics that keep your ears perked for every note. A solid winner.”

-Robert K. Oermann/Music Row Magazine

“Ryan’s CD is fresh and inventive yet is rooted in the traditions that make Texas music a thriving scene for young and old in the Lonestar State.”

-David Sanger/Asleep At The Wheel

Rumor has it that DIRECTED James’ summer 2007 release is a most powerful sequel. With Walt Wilkins and Tim Lorsch back at the helm, DIRECTED corroborates James’ rite of passage through thirteen solid tracks of afterglow. While the finishing touches are being made on this much-anticipated release, the RYAN JAMES BAND is full throttle with a stellar live show line up. Joined by JJ Soto on guitar, James Willis on bass and Luke Ayres on drums, and now exclusively booked by Austin Universal Entertainment (one of the largest entertainment agencies in the Southwest), the RJB tour kicks into high gear across the country! Check out http://www.ryanjames.com/ for upcoming shows, music samples and up to date release information.

Jason Boland

Texas two-step
By MATT ELLIOTT World Scene Writer
2/16/2007

Jason Boland has become a darling of Lonestar state's music scene Jason Boland & the Stragglers return to Tulsa's Cain's Ballroom Friday after landing some dates with country star Dierks Bentley and riding the buzz of the band's latest single, "Up and Gone."
Boland, a Harrah native, has been stretching out his country/rock band this year, taking his Texas Music Chart darling album "The Bourbon Legend" to the masses.
"We've just been hustling," Boland said.
The single, "Up and Gone," is a traditional acoustic country song about the wanderlust that makes Boland want to get up and drive aimlessly around town, the restless urge to go somewhere but not necessarily with any direction in mind.
It's got steel guitar, banjo and Boland's Waylon Jennings-esque vocals that drive it along. As of this week, it was at No. 18 on the Texas Music Chart.
Boland's band tours nearly nonstop and played one of the last shows at Stillwater's Tumbleweed dance club in December before it closed down.
"It was pretty standard," Boland said. "(We) got to see a lot of faces I hadn't seen in a long time. The nostalgia of it brought out a few people that don't always make it out."
Boland, who lives in New Braunfels, Texas, is one of a host of Oklahoma musicians drawn to Texas's thriving country music market. Good touring bands can make a living playing just in that market.
"This whole area and this scene, it's the size of a country especially if you're one of the bands that branches out into Arkansas and Kansas and Nebraska and more of the surrounding states."
And playing some dates with Bentley ought to turn more fans onto Boland's music. Bentley was nominated for two Grammys for his song "Every Mile a Memory."
Between those performances, Boland said he's also been coming up with new material for his next album, which he'll start working on later this year.
At the Cain's Ballroom he'd like you to "sing along and raise your glasses up and have a good time."

JASON BOLAND AND THE STRAGGLERS
When: 7 p.m. Friday, with openers the Red Dirt Rangers
Where: Cain's Ballroom, 423 N. Main St.
Tickets: $14 in advance, $16 day of show.
available at Starship Records, Reasor's, www.Gettix.net, the Cain's box office, 584-2306

SCOTT ELLISON

Blue on Blues
By MATT ELLIOTT World Scene Writer
2/16/2007
Scott Ellison's new CD ventures into new territory while keeping its roots.
Scott Ellison has the blues.
Listen to his new album, "Keys to my Heart" out Saturday, and he'll show you.
The 14-song CD, his Publishsixth, shows Ellison mixing pop, rock, Motown and some gritty slide-guitar blues in songs featuring guest spots from a host of Tulsa Sound musicians, from drummer Jimmy Karstein to pianist Rocky Frisco.
"I think every artist that plays the blues has gotta have some sort of blues," Ellison said. "And that comes from just the music business in general. That comes from life circumstances, like in my case."
That makes it almost a self-feeding malaise: He plays blues music because he has the blues and he has the blues partly because he's in the music business, playing the blues. Ellison's wife has been in and out of the hospital the last three or four years suffering from a serious stomach ailment, he said.
So he's got the blues. He'll fete his new album, his first since 2003's "Bad Case of the Blues,"in a 9 p.m. release show Saturday at Blues City Cafe, 3156 S. Mingo Road. There'll be no cover charge, he said.
He's also playing a show Thursday at the Vault in Owasso.
This album shows the Tulsan branching out, incorporating styles he hadn't utilized before, he said. That's something he tries to do with each album, but this time he's getting help from local musicians Casey Van Beek, Ron Getman and Walt Richmond, all of whom were former members of the Tractors. He's also got Dick Sims on the organ.
"All the guys from Tulsa that are on this project are really versatile players and I'm that way myself," said Ellison, who toured with bluesman Clarence Gatemouth Brown in 1981.
He songs delve into all of the usual blues topics -- women, lies and booze -- and the album includes ballads, like "Thinking of You" as well as strutting Americana rock, such as "Precious Time."
"I like all kinds of music. I'm basically a blues artist as far as what I'm known for, but I'm not a traditional blues artist. I like to stretch out and take it to different places."
You'll find his new album online at www.cdnow.com, www.amazon.com, www.buy.com and locally at Borders, he said.
At 52, he has had songs appear on a variety of television shows, including "Buffy the Vampire Slayer," "Sister Sister" and "Joan of Arcadia, and his tune, "I'm Ready Baby," will be featured on the unreleased indie film, "Moguls," starring Jeff Bridges, he said.
Ellison joked that he spends his nights playing gigs at local clubs, and his days helping his wife convalesce while keeping his 10-year-old son away from the music business. His son is a good student at Grissom Elementary as well as a talented baseball player, he said.
But, despite what happens in life or where his music takes him, Ellison said he won't ever leave his roots in the blues.
"It's such a great music to play when you're going through something bad because it's so real," he said. "It's such a satisfaction on a good night when the band's clicking and you're in your element and you feel like you're delivering the goods.
"So, it all works out in the end."
www.myspace.com/scottellisonband
SCOTT ELLISON CD RELEASE SHOW When: 9 p.m. Saturday
Where: Blues City Bar & Grill, 3156 S. Mingo Road
Admission: Free

Richard Hart Releases Fearless Shores

Richard Hart Releases Fearless Shores

A veteran of the music scene, Richard Hart has opened for jazz legends like Ron Eschete, Tom Scott, Russell Malone, McCoy Tyner, Mel Torme, and Kirk Whalum.

Seasoned by the American and European tour circuit, previous partnerships include a successful tour with Larry Pierce (Blood, Sweat and Tears).

Hart's studio work and writing talents eventually landed him an appointment as co-writer and arranger for a pilot series and a full-time position as a music director for a music network.

A firm believer in the power of education, Hart has taught private lessons for many years and previously served on the faculty of Tuacahn Center for the Arts in Utah and in Oklahoma.

Hart's style for his newly released CD, Fearless Shores, incorporates a variety of influences. From hard-bop to funk and soul, Hart possesses an energy-infused vibe that successfully bridges the genre gap. Most importantly, Hart intertwines both improvisation and melodic composition to create songs that interest the ear, while pleasing the soul.

”I used my influences from the jazz greats to write these arrangements. It was like standing on the seashore and watching the giant waves come rushing in and not being afraid to test the waters. Now was the time for me to resist the urge to run from the waves and stand there to be counted as a ripple in the sea of jazz. I really needed to be able to express my love for the genre. These tunes are my way of expressing the feelings I have for the different types of jazz that have meant so much to me,” said Hart.

Hart is proud to announce that he has signed with Innervision Records. Innervision is a progressive partnership of artists with a singular mission to find innovative ways to keep the music in the hands of fans.

4th Order

GREAT NEWS!! 4th Order’s New CD -- "Snake Oil" – Set for March 13th, 2007

4th Order’s New CD -- "Snake Oil" – Set for March 13th, 2007

Eagerly Anticipated Follow-up to 2004's Debut CD "13" Will Cure What Ails You

STILLWATER, OK – (BIG MOON RECORDS) – February 6, 2007 -- The release date for "Snake Oil," the second studio album from 4th Order, is set for March 13th, 2007.

"Snake Oil", the follow-up to 4th Order’s 2004 debut album “13”, is a
potent mix of hard hitting Rock, Red Dirt, and a tiny bit of Funk,
blended with 13 other secret ingredients which combine to make a
powerful “Cure All” musical elixir. Ranging from the introspective;
everybody has a dream, story of "Once Upon A Time" to the blistering,
straight forward and, in your face rock of "Brought Down", 4th Order
explores bold new facets of their creativity and song writing skill.

>From cover to cover, the Stillwater, OK based foursome brings forth a
lighter image of themselves and their music. From the darkness and
sometimes painful bitterness in the first album comes a brighter and
more aggressive sound that expresses a theme common to the band,
defiance.

“There is something magical about this album” says guitarist Stephen
Holt. “We have grown and matured so much over the years and you can
definitely hear that as you listen to this disc. We intend to leave our
mark on this world.”

The full track listing for "Snake Oil" is as follows:
1. "Chances"
2. "Once Upon A Time"
3. "Absent"
4. "Blackjack"
5. "Here”
6. "Riff #69”
7. "Too Far To Pray"
8. "Nuclear Interlude"
9. "Brought Down (Kobe’s song)”
10. "Beside Myself (revisited)"
11. "Darken My Door (part 2)"

4th Order has been bringing their unique sound to music fans all across Oklahoma and it’s surrounding states since 2002.

4th Order is: Bill Allsup-Vocals, Stephen Holt-Guitar, Jeremy Allison-Bass, Eric Hoffman-Drums, and Brett Riegel-Sound.

For further information please contact:
Steve Holt
405.762.1917
info@4thorder.com
http://www.4thorder.com

or

Jeremy Allison
jerome@4thorder.com
405-612-9627