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| MARCH
1, 2006 FEATURED ARTISTS: |
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DOUG GILL |
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| This month's lineup features traditional folk
& Americana, some Music Row success and ... some more of it! Terry Kitchen comes from
Boston, but was raised in Findley, Ohio. His thoughtful and incisive lyrics and gentle
melodies deal with peace, love, understanding ... and even a little honest anger at the
human condition. Doug Gill has had chart success several times, but his best work is
arguably contained in his recent life, raising kids on his own after a messy divorce. Tony
Laiolo is part songwriter, part storyteller and standup comic, and part baseball fanatic
-- come to think of it all three fit that last category, so we might hear some tributes to
the National Pastime along the way. Come on out, and see and hear for yourself! |
| TERRY KITCHEN http://www.terrykitchen.com |
DOUG GILL |
TONY LAIOLO |
| I've known this guy since the early
80s, when we met at a songwriter party outside Boston. he's gone from
singer/songwriter/guitarist for the innovative rock band "Loose Ties" to an
entirely nother career as an award-winning contemporary folk singer/songwriter. He tells
stories as well as any songwriter I know, with now seven CDs out on the market, including
the latest "that’s how it used to be." It follows "Right Now"
(which reached #34 on the national folk DJ chart), 1999’s "blues for cain &
abel" (including his bluesy rendition of "Let It Be"), "blanket"
(#21 that year by Folk Digest) and "I Own This Town," after three earlier works.
He's been Boston-based since those early '80s, playing the New England and national
coffeehouse and folk festival circuits, sharing the stage with John Gorka, Cheryl Wheeler,
Dan Bern, Vance Gilbert, the Nields and Susan Werner, to name a few. He's made the trip to
Nashville to play out a bit, and do some recording and pitching, about once a year since
the early '90s, and is in town for a first Wednesday this time around. He's also won a
bunch of song-contests, had songs covered by several Indie artists, co-written with
several others, written two plays, a children’s novel and a collection of
autobiographical stories. |
I haven't seen this fellow since the
Mike Williams Six Chair Pickin' Party days, but I'm very excited to have him in a round,
thanks to Tony. Doug Gill has lived in the Music City area for nearly 20 years. He's been
a staff writer for Hori Pro Entertainment, Acuff Rose Publishing Company and Writeroad
Music. He now has his own publishing company, Constant Source Music. He also has had cuts
on Tammy Wynette, Patti Loveless, Pam Tillis, Suzy Bogguss, The Oak Ridge Boys and Chris
LeDoux, to name just a few. According to his clippings, he's been referred to as:
"one of the most inspiring people I know," "an out-of-the-box thinker and
writer," "a visionary" and "a maestro of both simple wisdom and the
big picture." |
What can you say about this guy, in
addition to the fact that he's taller than I am? A good picker, a good writer, a gentle
often deadpan wit ... this blurb he sent me is a good example of all three: Tony came
to Nashville from California's Monterey Peninsula in 1981, having already had a couple of
songs cut through the mail. Within three months, he was a staff writer at Terrace Music
Group, a position he held for five years. The highlight of his tenure at Terrace was a
Vern Gosdin single, “I Know The Way To You By Heart,” which Billboard
Magazine’s Edward Morris named one of his “Top Ten Events of 1985.” Other
cuts include such acts as the Oak Ridge Boys, the Kendalls, the Glaser Brothers and Doyle
Lawson & Quicksilver, but Tony eventually felt himselt at odds with the processes and
product of Music Row. He left the commercial side of the street to pursue his own muse,
and in 2002 rekindled his performing, which had lain fallow since leaving California. Tony
was a Kerrville New Folk finalist in 2005, and a winner at River Bluff in 2004. He has
appeared in-the-round with such noted songwriters as David Olney, Mark Germino, Mac
Gayden, Kevin Gordon, Walt Wilkins, and national fingerstyle champion Bill Mize. And in
January 2006, he joined Steve Earle, Jack Clement and others in the tribute concert
preceding Nashville's premiere of the Townes Van Zandt documentary “Be Here To Love
Me.” Tony describes his music as “an acoustic stew of folk, blues, country,
Steinbeck and kudzu,” not to mention “kind of a Motley Crue/Neil Sedaka/Blossom
Dearie kind of thing” ... though we think he may be kidding about the second one. Safe
to say he’s somewhat indescribable and will only be understood (or not) through
direct experience. |
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