Nominated!
Current mood: thankful
Category: Music

Well, Jessie Farrell and her band sure have racked up a hefty set of nominations for the upcoming Canadian Country Music Awards.

Jessie has been nominated in 7 categories:

Single of the Year (Best of Me)

Album of the Year (Nothing Fancy)

Songwriter of the Year (Best of Me - Jessie Farrell/Jesse Tucker/Jared Kuemper)

CMT Video of the Year (Best of Me)

Female Artist of the Year

Top New Talent of the Year - Female

Top Selling Canadian Album (Nothing Fancy)

Not only that, her band has been recognized for their respective instruments and nominated accordingly: Jesse Godin (Drummer of the Year), Jesse Tucker (Guitar Player of the Year, in addition to his Songwriter of the Year nomination for co-writing "Best of Me"), and yours truly for Bass Player of the Year.

A very good showing, and one that hopefully will not simply be chalked up to beginner's luck, because lord knows not single one of us are beginners -- it just takes a while to get noticed!

As far as my nomination is concerned, it's in the hands of the voting CCMA members, but you can give Jessie a hand by voting for her for the Fans' Choice Award.

Ironically, in the same week that I find out I'm nominated for Bass Player of the Year, I'm off to Mission where I'll fumble my way through a set with Jessie not as a bass player, but as a barely adequate acoustic guitar player while Jessie Tucker is away at another gig. Then it's off to Victoria for BC's 150th birthday bash and Penticton Speedway the day after that.

If any of you are in those parts, I hope to see you.

R.

2:19 AM - 0 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment

Away we go -- Brooks & Dunn/Alan Jackson tour
Category: Travel and Places

Tomorrow evening Jessie Farrell and the band will hop on an honest-to-God tour bus and drive through the Rockies to meet up with Brooks, Dunn, and Jackson -- who, according to what I just wrote, don't require first names.

The goal is to "support" them on their tour -- at least that's the term that's bandied about when talking about such things -- but, let's be honest: This is a terrific opportunity for Jessie to reach the audience that might have escaped the extensive radio play, music videos, and past tours with Emerson Drive, Shane Yellowbird, Aaron Pritchett, Johnny Reid, and a Jamaican holiday that happened to end up on CMT in the form of CMT On The Beach.

So, to summarize the things I'm excited about:

1. The bus.

The prospect of getting to travel in something larger than a Dodge Caravan (with Stow-n-Go seats, our saving grace) and not having to drive ourselves -- this is a major improvement. Stress levels will be lower, hours of sleep will be greater, guitar cases falling on top of people in the back seat will be neutralized -- all these things contribute to days and nights being way more rad.

2. Big shows

These will be our biggest shows to date in a number of ways: biggest audience, biggest venues, biggest stages, biggest sound systems, biggest number of people on our team (11 in our bus!). It won't be like this from now on, of course, but certainly good (and entirely necessary) experience for me as a musician and motivation to keep working towards playing with a certain calibre of artists in these types of contexts. Let's call it a carrot in front of a bass-playing donkey. Actually, in country music, a bass-playing donkey would probably have more gigs than me -- that's a really good shtick.

I could go on, but I really do have other stuff to do before tomorrow.

I'll make an effort to post from the road in one form or another.

Until then,

R.

10:09 PM - 2 Comments - 2 Kudos - Add Comment

Fall ’07 Review: flinging, singing, my ears are ringing

So, it turns out that I've turned into one of those people who blogs for a little while, intending to keep it up only to let it slide until, lo and behold, it's been six months and nothing posted.

Let me see what I can do to rectify this a bit:

I've been touring with Jessie Farrell, so anyone that is the on top of it will have kept up to our band activities through her blog and website and Facebook. In short, great fall tours with Aaron Pritchett, lots of stops to radio stations in BC, Alberta and Ontario, hooked up again for two shows with Emerson Drive and the Wilkinsons (lovely meeting them), and most recently spent a week at Sandals in Jamaica for CMT's Fall Fling '07, along with Johnny Reid (accompanied by the inimitable Yvan Petit and fiddling phenom, Benny Rutz), and Paul Brandt (accompanied by his guitar and lovely wife).

Aside from the musicians, there was a great crew from Country 105, 95.3, CISN Country, and of course CMT.

There was a lot of partying and dancing and drinking out by the hot tub and in the hot tub and away from the hot tub. Ben Rutz had a birthday down there, so there was a little get together in Johnny Reid's room where the guitars came out and were passed around for a bit of a sing-song. Joel Stewart playing guitar and singing Springstein tunes with as much soul as any singer I've seen was a definite highlight, Johnny singing Radiohead's "Creep" which gave everyone goosebumps, yakking to Paul McGuire about Ridley Scott movies, yakking to Johnny about songwriting, and then everyone heading to the disco to get crunked...not too shabby.

We had a volleyball match with the contest winners, taped for CMT, where the Farrellizers dominated with a 2-1 result over Paul McGuire's team. My vertical jump had been previously compromised by the fact that I had and continued to stuff my face while at the resort. We still won.

Next up for Farrell and Co. is New Year's Eve in Saskatoon opening for Charlie Major. Looking forward to it.

More recently I had the pleasure of moonlighting in a trio with Paul Laine for a two-nighter playing covers at Ceili's here in Vancouver. We covered everything from the Killers to Bon Jovi and it was a blast. Paul can sing like a banshee and both nights rocked. And i don't feel the least bit sorry for the people there who wanted their birthdays announced and instead had really dirty songs made up about them on the spot, as only Mr. Laine can do. Hilarious.

I believe that the footage from Jamaica will be on CMT sometime in February. In the meantime, check out Jessie's website for links to Facebook, etc., to see photos and stuff. Or, head over to mostlylisa.com for her photo diary of Fall Fling '07.

Until next time,

R.

6:09 PM - 0 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment

Good Stampede

I probably should have written something about the Calgary Stampede, but i think the videos about it, Parts 1,2 and 3 sum it all up quite nicely.

What you didn't see was our two sets and Ranahan's, the "high-rollers'" lounge above and behind the Grandstand on the Stampede grounds. it was a little ironic to be playing background music through the speaker's in the ceiling for people just having some drinks and getting a dose of air-conditioning, considering Jessie had just hours before sung the national anthem for 30,000 people in the stands. Make no mistake, I am not suggesting that the project "has arrived" and that we should be getting any superstar treatment -- we have a long way to go and a lot to prove before that happens -- just drastic shift, the kind that can only really happen in the entertainment industry. We had some fun and messed around a bit with the songs because we figured no one was listening (except perhaps for my family members who were there, who were at least half-listening). It was acoustic. J-Go didn't play, so he shot some video of us, had a drink, smoked 34 cigarettes and solved another Rubik's Cube.

Nashville North, as anyone who was there will know, had over the week of the Stampede achieved the most sickly-sweet smell of stale beer, sour feet, vomit, and sweat, slow-baked in the huge tent at 55 degrees celsius. It was in effect, a drunk human greenhouse. We got used to it. It was part of the fun. The band Hey Romeo was a highlight.

It was nice to see some familiar faces from our previous shows in Alberta. Hopefully people that have seen the show a few times already enjoyed the addition of Chris on keyboards. Chris is an old friend of mine who lives in Sydney, BC. I played in a bunch of other bands with him when I lived in Victoria. He is the only guy I know who could have played all that music with one rehearsal and a quick cram session listening to mp3s on the plane. Incredible player. He's a busy man, but we expect to have him back for more shows in the future.

On Sunday we head to Tumbler Ridge for GrizFest. I have to say it's been a lot quieter this summer than I thought in terms of how many gigs we've played. The album release has been pushed back a bit to October, but starting in September things are going to really start to cook with a big show in Moncton with Tim McGraw & Faith Hill, rolling right into the CCMAs. I just found out yesterday that Jessie has been nominated for a Rising Star award, or something to that effect, and Female Artist of the Year. Do they know that her album isn't even out yet? I guess they know a good thing when they hear it, but what cool way to start a career, just months after the first little tour with Emerson Drive. The band is excited, too. Maybe we'll get a bus.

R.

11:29 PM - 1 Comments - 2 Kudos - Add Comment

Pritchett, Canyon, the who's who, etc.

Cool cool cool.

News in brief:

Jessie's first video, the one for her single "Let's Talk About Love" is finished and will be on CMT literally any moment now, so stay glued to the tube for that one. I'm serious, it could be on right now. The band is in the video -- whether that helps or hinders it is for you to decide. It was fun to be a part of it, and to Jessie's credit she really fought for us to all be in there. I think that a solo artist with a new video that features the band instead of only her (the singer) is a rarity, so thanks Jess for letting us come and wear makeup and goof around and eat catered food.

We played a show with Aaron Pritchett in Creston on May 19. That was a blast. A whole bunch of Aaron's family lives there, so they made a big home-cooked buffet-style meal for both bands and we all hung out before the show. That's a classy move. Everyone was so nice and the concert was really well-organized by some people who hadn't necessarily planned an event like that before. In fact, there are many "professional" promoters who would have been put to shame by how well this one was put together (although I haven't come across any of those tossers while in Jessie's band, thank you very much).

Me and Jesse and Jesse were going to sneak out in the middle of the night and jump in the outdoor pull like we did in Duncan, but there was no water in it. What little common sense we possess was enough to dissuade us of any head-wound inducing swan dives.

Last night we made a quick jaunt out to Langley to play the Cascade Casino opening for George Canyon. Great room, great crowd, everything was great. There was a healthy little entourage due to our close proximity to home and therefore friends. Dave, Adam and Rene came out for a little Pocket Vortex comp in the alley. Jessie's manager Jonathan Simkin was there with Jim Cressman, Jessie's kick-ass booking agent, and 604 Records co-owner Chad Kroeger came to see the show with his lovely fiancee and totally hung out in the casino afterwards, mostly talking shop with George. Totally awesome, interesting, entertaining people -- each and every one. One of the people I just mentioned had a lot more stories about Hollywood celebs than the others. Take a wild guess.

And I totally won $94.50 at the slots. Drinks were on me. Well, like four drinks because they are freakin' expensive at casinos.

That's it. That might even be the most Farrell news until Stampede. I'll just have to make something up. Something about a torrid love affair between two band members that goes awry and then there's a huge fight with spitting and hair-pulling. That's just a sneak-preview. Of what I will make up. Actually, that's probably good just on it's own right there. Use your imagination for the rest.

If anyone sees the video, please post sometihng here and tell me what you think. I'd love to hear back from anyone.

R.

2:06 AM - 1 Comments - 2 Kudos - Add Comment

"Let's Talk About Love" video shoot/Johnny Reid tour
Category: Music

(Please note that I started writing this on Thursday May 3. I only ever type with my toes so it takes a little longer than other people.)

Holy crap.

A lot has been going on with Jessie Farrell and her band, of which I have been a part.

I know that she's been doing a better job of keeping up with the news bulletins. As a matter of fact she just finished one on this very laptop sitting beside me on a couch backstage at the Great Northern Casino in Grande Prairie, AB. Johnny Reid and the boys are onstage now and gettin' a bit funky.

We've been touring as the opening act for Johnny Reid since April 12. It's sort of been a weird one in the sense that the dates haven't been solidly booked, so we've been doing three or four days here and there with maybe a day or two at home. In a way, it's easier just to be on the road for a straight stretch of time because you get into a rhythm and a routine. And when you're back home for such a short time, you don't necessarily have a chance to do anything productive except maybe a bit of laundry and catching up on some sleep. On the other hand, it's great to not be away from home for too long when there are people there that you would miss otherwise.

Johnny is a class act -- a superb fellow who is not only a phenomenal singer and performer, but also a guy who is so great to his fans, taking time to chat and sign stuff no matter how many people are hanging around after the show. Of course, his band is wicked too, and we've gotten to know them a bit better over the last couple weeks even though one band is usually on the way in when the other is on the way out. Another couple dates with JR and them we're back home, but it's been a gooder.

On Sunday April 29 we shot Jessie's first music video for the single "Let's Talk About Love", which incidentally is now #9 on the country radio charts, or thereabouts. It was directed by Ante Kovacs, a guy from Toronto who has directed a bunch of videos including some for artists like Sarah Harmer and the Tragically Hip. He is a really cool guy, and even after a ridiculously long day he never got cranky or fatigued and it was such a pleasure to have a character like him calling the shots. I've worked on film sets before as part of the crew, but being in front of the camera is a different story and an experience I had not had previously. It is so important to have someone at the helm whom you trust, especially for the star, in this case Jessie, who is putting so much faith in his ability to create and deliver something that will set the stage for this early part of her career.

Speaking of Jessie, she was amazing. I've been in her band for about a year and a half, and in that time I thought I might have seen the breadth and depth of her skills as a performer. No way. She was on fire for 16 hours straight -- she looked incredible and she slayed it, she hit her marks, she nailed her steps, and she really worked the camera like a pro. I was so impressed. It's going to be awesome, so look for it on CMT sometime in the next two weeks.

I have to say a big thanks as well to the crew who all made it look easy. We had lots of fun.

When the video comes out, you might see some faces in the band that you won't see at any live shows (on the stage, anyway). My girlfriend Lisa and our friend Andrew were enlisted to play the part of the fiddle player and keyboard player, respectively. I wish they could be in the band all the time, but we're still working up to bigger budget tours where we can have more musicians with talents as unique as Lisa and Andy's.

More next time about the rest of the Johnny Reid tour…I'm trying to catch up, I swear.

5:10 PM - 2 Comments - 3 Kudos - Add Comment

Short notice

Well, yesterday me and the rest of Jessie Farrell's band found out we're flying off to Calgary this Thursday (April 12) to play a gig at the Deerfoot Inn & Casino opening for Johnny Reid. We're coming back the next day but then we're joining back up with Johnny and his tour here in BC.

Not all of our dates are confirmed, but you can get a pretty good idea of where Mr. Reid is going to be at on his website, www.johnnyreid.com.

Hope to see some familiar faces -- assuming that any of you die-hard Emerson Drive fans don't feel like you're cheating by going to a Johnny Reid show.

R.

2:07 PM - 2 Comments - 2 Kudos - Add Comment

And climbing...

Okay, this is going to be brief because I'm not on tour and therefore don't really have anything even remotely exciting to say about what's happening with music.

I will simply direct your attention here:

http://www.radioandrecords.com/formats/charts/canada_cou_chart.asp

Scroll down and you'll find Jessie Farrell's single "Let's Talk About Love" climbing the chart.

This is good news.

One might say: "But Ryland, you didn't write that song, or any songs on the upcoming record. Heck, you didn't even play bass because you weren't even in the band when it was recorded!".

To that I might respond: "You are correct, sir/madam. Hey, how do you know so much about this? Have you tapped my phone? Have you bribed or blackmailed my friends and loved ones for information? Damn you all to hell!"

In that case, I would obviously be overreacting, but the point is this: whatever promotes the band and gets us bigger and better shows makes my job that much sweeter. The better the single does, the more support we will have for touring, and the more people we get to play for and to meet when they come up to (please) buy a t-shirt and maybe get us to sign it, if you want. But no signing butts or boobs. We only do that in Brandon, apparently.

Thanks again and again to everyone who has been requesting the song. You have actually made an amazing difference in how quickly this is all happening. You know who you are. Particularly big shout-out to our friends in Edmonton and Calgary, and to my cousin Barry who lives here in Vancouver but who is from Calgary and therefore is one of four people living in Kitsilano that listens to country radio.

If there's more news, you'll know shortly after I know.

R.

11:52 AM - 0 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment

First/Last day of the SK tour
Category: Travel and Places

I'm not sure about these early flights that we musicians have to take. You're just never quite firing on all cylinders after sleeping for a two hours and then waking up in the dark.

I'm not complaining. I love traveling and playing music, so being able to do both as (one of) my job(s) is awesome. I'm simply trying to explain why it was a bit off-putting when the doors slid open and we walked out of the gate at Saskatoon's airport to the sound of camera's clicking away.

Okay, so it was actually only two guys from Saskatoon's Star Phoenix newspaper, but when you're not expecting it, it's a bit weird. First off all, Jessie Farrell is doing great on the radio and there is a good amount of buzz about the forthcoming album, but something tells me that they were looking at the guitar cases that we were carrying and Jesse Tucker's cowboy boots and Armani sunglasses and figured they should take some shots just in case we were famous (we're not, but we're working on it). Here are some links to two Star Phoenix Juno photo galleries that Jessie pops up in.


"Stars descending on Saskatoon"


"Opening Night of the Junos"

So, we met Vic who, along with Ken, was our driver for the whole day: literally from the time we arrived until the time we left to the airport the next morning. Seriously, these two guys maybe got one hour of sleep between driving us and George Canyon around through to the wee hours of the night. They are tremendous fellows and made the day so easy for us.

Here's what we did:

We checked in to the Ramada Inn and Golf Dome. Vic drove us to Hot 93 where Jessie did an interview with Andrea Everitt and Tucker and I accompanied here acoustically on two tunes (including the single of course) there in the studio. It was apparently the first live recording in their new studios, and we were honoured. We returned to the hotel, Farrell had a nap, Kylee relaxed, and Jesse Tucker, Jesse Godin and myself went to hit some balls around in the Golf Dome with hilarious results.

Then it was time for soundcheck and Prairieland Park Hall A, which was already one hour behind schedule by the time we arrived. True to form, we were total pros and got 'er done in less than 30 minutes after waiting for around for twice that.

We went back to the hotel for an hour, I watched TV in the room, got changed and then Vic whisked us all away back to Hall A. The backstage "green room" area was actually just a series of metal frames that hung sheer black curtains as "walls", so we were basically chilling out with George Canyon and his posse, separated only by a thin piece of fabric, which basically means that we're now all best friends forever. Also, Jessie's booking agent par excellence Jim Cressman was there, representin' with a black hat and a jewel-encrusted belt buckle that read "Cash". Wicked.

Then who should poke their head through the curtain other than Gabriell Miller and Tara Spencer-Nairn from Corner Gas. Tucker got a picture with them for his dad and bro who are both huge fans. We'll hopefully see that one up on his MySpace soon enough.

Radio jocks Rod Kitter from CJWW 600 and Cristy Beggs from Hot 93 introduced the show and brought up Gabrielle and Tara, who then brought up Hon. Lorne Calvert, Saskatchewan's Premier. Lorne did a whole choreographed breakdance number to Nelly Furtado's "Maneater" before doing a triple-gainer off the stage as his big finale. Then Rod got back up and brought on the band. We rocked our set with a couple new tunes. It was so cool to have our full band there. Kylee did great on background vocals and acoustic guitar and Godin brought his 'A' game behind the kit, as usual. Pretty good set, overall, for a crowd of maybe a thousand.

George Canyon was terrific, as one might expect, and Trooper over in Hall D was something of a spectacle as well.

So we did well, celebrating the first day and the last day of our one-day Saskatchewan tour in fine form.

What's next? I can't get into too much detail yet, but expect some dates with Johnny Reid, and maybe something about Jessie shooting a video…? Stay tuned.

R.

1:56 PM - 2 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment

Packing for Junofest
Category: Travel and Places

Well, as promised I've left all of my packing until the last minute. Thank Jeebus that we're only gone for a day and a night.

In four short hours a cab is coming to take me (and Jessie Farrell on the way) to Vancouver International to meet the rest of the band and then we're hopping on a plane to Saskatoon for Junofest. We're going right from the airport to Hot 93 to play for them and so Jessie can do an interview, and then we're playing at a showcase opening for George Canyon that night. When we're not doing that we'll be doing tons of schmoozing with whoever happens to be there. Or, we'll be at the Ramada Hotel & Golf Dome hitting balls at are drummer as he runs around the range with an umbrella.

I have to go finish packing, but I'll fill you in on how it all goes down and link to pictures when I get back on Friday.

Also, thanks to everyone who has toed the line and helped Jessie's song "Let's Talk About Love" start to climb the country music charts. She's now on the air coast to coast, and any of you that have requested the tune have made it happen. The more it gets played the more we get to run around the country playing it, so please keep the fires burnin'.

Until next time,

R.

12:57 AM - 0 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment