By Lisa Morgan
Back by popular demand, the beautiful ladies of Granville Automatic will once again be joined by their friend, collaborator, Americana rockin’ blues-smith and producer, Ted Russell Camp. As I look back, remembering their absolutely, brilliant display of musical workmanship earlier this year, I fight to find the words strong enough to compel you to not miss this gathering of insanely talented song crafters. So, I’ll just say this: Get your asses down there and improve your musical love life. Come on… it’ll be fun!
TED RUSSELL KAMP: After decades spent holding down the bottom end for bands as diverse as Shooter Jennings and Wilson Phillips, Ted Russell Kamp has become the go-to guy for bands needing a player that can easily and soulfully handle many genres of music. The past five years, however, have found Kamp rising to be one of the current stars out of California on the National Americana and Country scenes as he has focused on his own career with constant touring of the US and Europe, and releasing six solo albums. His most recent, Get Back To The Land, received critical acclaim as The Big Takeover described it as “Kamp simply knocks one ball after another out of the park … Saturated in talent and sincerity … nothing more than good music done right.” The album also received considerable airplay making the Americana Music Association’s Top 100 records of the year and debuting at #1 on the Euro Americana Chart.
Easily his most autobiographical work, the newly recorded Night Owl, documents the many phases of a man comfortable in his own skin, yet constantly searching for more answers to the mysteries of life. The record reflects the sound of several cities Kamp has become familiar with from country music roots of Nashville, the rock-gospel blues of Tulsa and Texas and the cosmic American country rock sounds of L.A. All of the songs were written on the road or in brief breaks from touring and the record, produced by Kamp, was actually recorded in L.A, Nashville, Fort Worth, Tulsa and Helsinki, Finland.
Kamp collaborated on Night Owl with many talented musicians. Some of the notable co-writes are “Smile Alone” (with Will Hoge), “The Last Drop” (Charlie Starr of Blackberry Smoke) and “Santa Ana Winds” (Katy Moffatt). “When The Radio Goes Dead” was written solely by Ted Russell Kamp and was originally recorded on the Shooter Jennings’ Black Ribbons album. Ted played many of the instruments on the record himself (electric and acoustic bass, guitars, mandolin, trumpet, Hammond organ and others). The path of a traveling musician often leaves the artist longing to connect. With this honest and lush new record, Night Owl, Ted Russell Kamp conveys this feeling and transcends it as he shares his sounds and thoughts with the listener.
Ted, an accomplished producer in Los Angeles, also produced the self-titled album from Granville Automatic, who will be joining him at Pappy & Harriet’s this Thursday night. I strongly suggest you make it down to see him live as he will be out of reach come October on a European tour.
GRANVILLE AUTOMATIC: I’ve said it before; there is something beautifully enchanting about the stories these talented songsmiths bring to life through their music. Vanessa Olivarez’s alluringly winsome and mesmerizing vocals will absolutely own you as she and Elizabeth paint beautiful, nostalgic pictures and stories, some of which can only be found within the generations of families who have protected their family histories, honoring the blood sacrifices that were foundational in our country’s history. Their first, self-titled CD is a fantastic historical collection of stories that create cinematic, mental pictures as you listen to the heartfelt and personal stories they sing. This gorgeous collection includes “Comanche”, a song written from the perspective of a horse that survived the Battle of Little Big Horn; “The Grounds Keeper”, telling the tale of a Civil War ghost seen at the Camton Plantation in Franklin, Tennessee. Other songs capture the timeless spirit and character of the south like “Never on a Sunday” and “Don’t Come to Tennessee”.
These hard working artists are traveling across America to record our songs about the Civil War, live at the places the stories actually happened. These sites are now ice cream shops, interstates, parking lots, graveyards and Target stores. The live songs will be disc one of their next album, An Army Without Music. Disc two will be studio, full-band versions of many of their songs. They’re capturing each recording adventure with a video. They just finished the last two videos, Copenhill (Atlanta) and Grancer Harrison (Alabama). These should be released at the end of this month. Their live An Army without Music recordings will be done by the end of the year, and then they’ll be working on the studio album. (Watch for their Kickstarter campaign) They are also already writing their 4th album which will be called Dancing at El Mercado. These songs are all about Texas. We hope to record it next spring near Austin. And if that’s not busy enough for you they just taped a Daytrotter Session a few weeks back in Rock Island, Illinois that should be posted on daytrotter.com sometime this week.
As absolutely gorgeous and soulful as these artists’ recordings are, there is just nothing like hearing their live performances and getting to meet them in person. If you’ve never seen Ted Russell Camp or the ladies of Granville Automatic before, you will be blessed with a new incredible music experience and leave Pappy & Harriet’s having made some very talented new friends.
Enjoy dinner and a show at Pappy & Harriet’s 53688 Pioneertown Rd, Pioneertown, California
Follow the music at www.tedrussellkamp.com and http://granvilleautomatic.com
