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Media Contact:
Jim Howell
520.975.7895 [email protected]
www.jimhowellmusic.com
The Jim Howell Band
Press Release: For Immediate Release November 23, 2015 Tucson, Arizona
The Jim Howell Band releases Silver Clouds, a debut album of original country music written, performed, recorded and produced by the multi-instrumentalist bandleader and featuring several well-established guest players.
Silver Clouds is full of country tunes tinged with rock and soul. It fits somewhere between the Honky-Tonk classics of Nashville, the Outlaw ‘70’s movement and the current singer songwriter influx of Texas Country and Americana that is teeming the country music underground of today. The twelve-song album has all the comforting sounds of strumming acoustic guitars, weeping pedal steel lines, soaring fiddle, piano, banjo, upright bass and quite a few shuffled drum lines. Yet there are touches of rock and classic R&B in the electric guitar lines, some Beatlesque harmonies, electric piano and organ parts. Overall the sound is country but with layers and filters that go beyond the boilerplate production found in traditional country. The unique variation is without any veering toward modern pop country, electronic music, rap, or eighties rock influences.
This is the first solo effort by longtime Tucson native musician, Jim Howell. Here he is the bandleader, singer-songwriter and multi-instrumental performer. Naturally he plays drums on most songs and sings all of the lead vocals but also manages acoustic and electric guitars, piano/keys, bass, harmonica, and harmonies. In addition to writing the music and lyrics, Jim recorded and produced the album in his own studio. Most often Jim is known, locally and beyond, as first call a sideman and drummer. Jim has filled the drum chair with dozens of groups including The Wyatts, Rich Hopkins & Luminarios, The Mission Creeps, Troy Olsen, Jay Faircloth & The Loners, Truck, Umbrella Bird, The Ghost Dove, Nobody et. al., Chuck Wagon & The Wheel(chairs) and more.
While Silver Clouds features Jim on most of the instruments, he makes room for many well-known local players as guests and regulars in his live band. Loren Dircks (Gila Bend, Al Perry, etc) plays electric guitar and nearly every tune and fills out the live band regularly. Michael P. Nordberg plays bass on several tunes, piano on one, and has been some part of the live band since its 2010 inception. Tim Gallagher (Hank Topless) puts down the pedal steel on a great number of the tunes on record and appears live occasionally. Heather Hardy adds fiddle on the title track and one other. Kaia Mazza (BRYDES) lends some vocal harmonies to several songs on Silver Clouds. Also featured on the album for a song each are Rich Hopkins (Sand Rubies, Luminarios), Rudy Cortese (Cadillac Mountain) and Danny Krieger. In the live band regularly are Sean McCann (drums) and Michael Santander (bass). Sean assisted with production on the recording and sings harmonies on a few tracks and plays drums on a tune. Santander plays the bass live and on one song. Bill Elm (Friends of Dean Martinez, Greyhound Soul) is a frequent guest on keys and lap steel live.
The release of Silver Clouds is set for digital distribution on iTunes, Amazon, and the like on December 1st. The full length CD will be presented at live shows starting in December but with no official release party planned. Jim has several upcoming shows of both duo performances, with Loren Dircks, and full band affairs to showcase the new material and make CD available.
• December 4th duo performing live at Frog & Firkin, 7-10pm • December 5th full band concert at Catalina State Park
First Saturday series, 3:30pm-6pm. • December 10th duo performing live at Ermanos, 8-10pm • December 11th full band concert at Borderlands Brewing Company.
