Trombone Shorty Signs with Verve Forecast; New CD Backatown Out April 20

fivetwofive@gmail.com (525 Worldwide) — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 18:23:00 +0000

New Orleans 'Supafunkrock' Phenom Trombone Shorty Bursts Onto National Scene With 'Backatown'(April 20/Verve Forecast)

Produced By Galactic's Ben Ellman, Featuring Guest Appearances By Lenny Kravitz, Allen Toussaint And Marc Broussard, Album Caps Deluge Of Honors, TV And Festival Appearances + More For Trombone Shorty

In 2010 alone, 24-year-old New Orleans singer / songwriter / multi-instrumentalist and all-around musical powerhouse Troy "Trombone Shorty" Andrews has signed with Verve Forecast Records and performed on Good Morning America and ESPN's SportsCenter in the run-up to the Super Bowl. He has seen recordings he contributed to earn a Grammy® award (Buckwheat Zydeco's “Lay Your Burden Down”) and an Oscar® nomination (Dr. John's "Down In New Orleans" from the hit Disney film 'The Princess and the Frog'). He has taped two appearances - as himself - for the upcoming HBO series 'Treme' from ‘The Wire’ creator David Simon, and played with his band Orleans Avenue as honored guests on Saints owner Tom Benson's float in a victorious post-Super Bowl Mardi Gras parade.

He's just getting started.

On April 20, Verve Forecast will release Trombone Shorty's new album 'Backatown,' an explosive, homegrown combination of funk, rock, R&B and hip-hop he calls “Supafunkrock.”The album was produced by fellow New Orleanian Ben Ellman of Galactic and features fourteen songs, all but one of them written or co-written by Andrews. Guests on the album include Lenny Kravitz, Marc Broussard and Allen Toussaint, who contributes piano to a take on his own composition "On Your Way Down," the album's lone cover.

'Backatown' is a local term for an area of New Orleans that includes the historic Treme neighborhood - or 6th Ward - from which Trombone Shorty hails. Home to Congo Square, birthplace of Louis Armstrong, it has been called "the most musical neighborhood in America's most musical city."A virtuoso prodigy trombonist, brilliant trumpet player, and soulful, charismatic singer, Shorty has been performing with some members of Orleans Avenue - which includes Dwayne "Big D”Williams (percussion), Mike Ballard (bass), Joey Peebles (drums), Pete Murano (guitar) and Dan Oestreicher (baritone sax) - since childhood. The group taps into these roots to create a streetwise, gritty sound all its own on 'Backatown.'

Shorty, who possesses "the presence of a rock star" (NY Times) and has built his reputation on "blistering, bold, exuberant and cutting edge" (USA Today) live performances, is currently on tour with Orleans Avenue, and has already confirmed several major 2010 festival appearances, including one of the prestigious closing sets at Jazzfest, a triumphant return to Bonnaroo, a debut performance at the Hollywood Bowl for the Playboy Jazz Festival, and more.

Though 2010 promises to be Trombone Shorty’s breakout year, he’s no stranger to the spotlight. In 2005, at age 19, he toured the world as a member of Lenny Kravitz’s band (“Shorty’s a genius,” says Kravitz, “he plays his ass off and he’s a beautiful human being”). In 2006, he joined U2 and Green Day for a rousing performance to reopen the Superdome after Hurricane Katrina (“We were just mesmerized by him,” U2’s The Edge said after an earlier encounter with Andrews’ live show). And in 2008, he performed at the NBA All-Star Game with Harry Connick Jr., Kermit Ruffins and Branford Marsalis.

Ryan Montbleau Band to Support, Back Martin Sexton's 2010 US Tour

fivetwofive@gmail.com (525 Worldwide) — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 17:03:00 +0000

The Ryan Montbleau Band will be opening Martin Sexton's entire upcoming Sugarcoating tour, which will carry the band nationwide through July. In addition to opening the majority of dates on the tour, the six-piece band will also serve as Martin's backing band for the tour. Sexton's album of the same name will be available on April 6, 2010.

On announcing the news to his fans, Ryan said, "It's hard for me to put my excitement into words. I will say this: the dream come true this time is not even so much that he asked us to play (which is huge), but that we're ready to play. We've been working hard for years and we're going to be ready to be his band come April 15. These shows are going to be very special." Martin and the guys are in rehearsals now.

The tour is mostly routed, though a few more dates are on the way. The band will also be backing Martin at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, Bonnaroo, and a four-night run opening for Dave Matthews Band.

Booker T. Wins GRAMMY for Potato Hole

fivetwofive@gmail.com (525 Worldwide) — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 04:46:00 +0000

Booker T. won a GRAMMY in 1997 for his work with Booker T. & The MGs, taking home honors for Best Pop Instrumental Performance. He was named a Lifetime Achievement Award recipient ten years later, also for his work with the MGs.

But on Sunday night at the 52d Annual GRAMMY Awards, Booker T. scored his first-ever GRAMMY as a solo artist, winning the Best Pop Instrumental Album trophy for his April 2009 release Potato Hole (Epitaph/ANTI-). Potato Hole, on which Booker is backed by the blistering Drive-By Truckers, was Booker T's first new album in nearly two decades, and the lead single "Warped Sister" had been nominated for Best Rock Instrumental (the legendary Jeff Beck took home that award.)

On the Friday just prior to the GRAMMY ceremony, Booker T. appeared at the MusicCares benefit event honoring his old friend Neil Young--who contributed guitar work to Potato Hole . As part of what Rolling Stone called "a true power trio" (along with Keith Urban and John Fogerty) Booker T. played keys on a rousing rendition of “Rockin’ in the Free World.”

Potato Hole and two tracks from the album, "Hey Ya" and "Space City," were all included in The Village Voice's annual Pazz and Jop poll, which tablulates the votes of over 697 music critics' in an attempt to distill the most important music of the prior year. Potato Hole was also recognized by No Depression in its Top Albums of 2009. Finally, yet another Potato Hole track, "Pound It Out," will be prominently featured in Ken Burn's forthcoming "Tenth Inning," an epilogue to the filmmaker's acclaimed nine-part "Baseball" documentary series.

Following the GRAMMY's, Booker T. left California for the Pacific Rim, where he has a whirlwind tour of Japan slated, prior to returning to the States to work on his as-yet-untitled follow-up to Potato Hole.

Booker T. Nabs Best Pop Instrumental GRAMMY

fivetwofive@gmail.com (525 Worldwide) — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 04:08:00 +0000

Booker T. won the award for Best Pop Instrumental Album at the 52nd Annual GRAMMY Awards in Los Angeles earlier today.

(Photo: REUTERS/Lucy Nicholson)

Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue Hit Both Coasts This Winter

fivetwofive@gmail.com (525 Worldwide) — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 16:16:00 +0000

Following a Mardi Gras throwdown at Tipitina’s in New Orleans on February 14th (with Rebirth Brass Band and special guests to be announced), Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue will tour both the East and West Coasts in February and March.

TS&OA hit the East Coast in February 2010 for a 12-date headlining run through nine States, including a February 19th date at the Highline Ballroom in NYC and ending with an appearance on NPR's Mountain Stage.

The band will then tackle Colorado and the West Coast in March 2010 on a co-headlining tour with The New Mastersounds. Salvador Santana, Carlos's son, opens that run of dates.

The tour with the UK-based New Mastersounds kicks off a Mile-High in the Rockies at Denver's Ogden Theater March 6 and slides down to sea-level in San Diego on March 10, where the band was last seen blowing away the Street Scene festival this past summer. After a show in L.A. March 11, Shorty visits Santa Cruz March 12 and San Francisco on March 13, returning to the cities of three sold out New Year’s run shows at the end of 2009. Dates in Portland and Seattle round out the seven-date run. Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue will also headline Colorado dates in Steamboat Springs March 7th and Breckenridge on March 8th without the New Mastersounds or Salvador.

Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue have been busy recording their upcoming record with Ben Ellman from Galactic producing. The record is scheduled for an April 2010 release.

Troy "Trombone Shorty" Andrews is also a guest on Buckwheat Zydeco’s GRAMMY-nominated Lay Your Burden Down, is heard in the opening song of Disney's The Princess & The Frog and performs on forthcoming albums from Eric Clapton, Galactic, and Sierra Leone's Refugee All Stars.

Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue Winter 2010 US Tour Dates:

1/21/2010--Athens, GA @ The Melting Point
1/22/2010--Atlanta, GA @ Smith's Olde Bar++
1/23/2010 --Atlanta, GA @ Smith's Olde Bar++

2/6/2010--Alexandria, LA @ (Private Event)
2/14/2010--New Orleans, LA @ Tipitina's
2/16/2010--Philadelphia, PA @ World Cafe Live
2/17/2010--Northampton, MA @ The Iron Horse
2/18/2010--Cambridge, MA @ Regattabar
2/19/2010--New York, NY @ Highline Ballroom
2/20/2010--New Haven, CT @ Yale University - The Commons
2/21/2010--Bondville, VT @ Red Fox Inn
2/23/2010--Richmond, VA @ Jazz Composers Alliance
2/24/2010-- Baltimore, MD @ The Eight by Ten
2/25/2010--Falls Church, VA @ The State Theatre
2/26/2010--Wilmington, DE @ Big Chief's
2/27/2010--Pittsburgh, PA @ The Rex Theater
2/28/2010--Charleston, WV @ Mountain Stage

3/6/10--Denver, CO @ Ogden Theatre***
3/7/10--Steamboat Springs, CO @ Ghostranch Saloon
3/8/10--Breckenridge, CO @ three20south
3/10/10--Solana Beach, CA @ Belly Up***
3/11/10--Los Angeles, CA @ El Rey Theatre***
3/12/10--Santa Cruz, CA @ The Catalyst***
3/13/10--San Francisco, CA @ The Fillmore***
3/14/10--Sacramento, CA @ Venue TBD
3/16/10--Sisters, OR @ Sisters HS Auditorium
3/17/10--Portland, OR @ Berbati's Pan***
3/18/10--Seattle, WA @ Neumos***

++ w/ The Dirty Dozen Brass Band
*** w/ The New Mastersounds & Salvador Santana

For more information, please visit http://www.tromboneshorty.com.

(Photo: Trombone Shorty at The Independent, December 31, 2009. Photo © 2009 Anna Hiatt, http://www.annahiatt.com)

Mavis Staples, Booker T Score GRAMMY Nods

fivetwofive@gmail.com (525 Worldwide) — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 05:20:00 +0000

525 Worldwide clients Mavis Staples and Booker T Jones have each been awarded Lifetime Achievement GRAMMY Awards, Mavis (with the Staple Singers) in 2005 and Booker T (with the MGs) in 2007. Wednesday night, they showed they aren't about to stop there, as each was honored with nominations for the 52d Annual GRAMMY Awards, to be held January 31, 2010 in Los Angeles.

Booker T received two nominations for his April 2009 release Potato Hole, including Best Pop Instrumental Album. The track 'Warped Sister' from the album was nominated for Best Rock Instrumental. Potato Hole was Booker T's first new album in nearly two decades.

Mavis, a multiple past-nominee for duets and guest appearances, received her first-ever nomination for a solo project, as her November 2008 release Live: Hope at the Hideout (the first live concert release of her 50-plus year career) was nominated for Best Contemporary Blues Album. Mavis also has a track on the album O Happy Day, nominated for Best Traditional Gospel Album. She sings 'Waiting for My Child to Come Home' with Patty Griffin on that set.

Both Potato Hole and Live: Hope at the Hideout were released by ANTI- Records.

Trombone Shorty, a 525 client co-managed with The Rosebud Agency, also appears as a featured guest artist on Buckwheat Zydeco's album Lay Your Burden Down, nominated for Best Zydeco or Cajun Album.

Mavis Live Set Named to 'All Time Best' List

fivetwofive@gmail.com (525 Worldwide) — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 22:46:00 +0000

Mavis Staples Live: Hope at the Hideout, the 2008 record that is the first-ever solo live recording of the singer's 50-plus year career, was named to Amazon.com's list of the Top 100 Live Albums of All Time. The record checks in at no. 45, just ahead of Muddy Waters: Live at Newport.

The Amazon editors write: "Chicago is Mavis Staples' hometown so she is in exceptionally fine spirits on this 2008 live set, her first solo concert recording, at the Windy City's Hideout venue. Backed by a stripped down yet phenomenal three piece band of veterans featuring guitarist Rick Holmstrom, drummer Stephen Hodges and bassist Jeff Turmes along with a trio of backing vocalists, Staples comes to 'bring joy, happiness, inspiration and some positive vibrations.' Mission accomplished."

Check a really cool 2008 album review from Time Out here.

Shorty is Pollstar's HotStar

fivetwofive@gmail.com (525 Worldwide) — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 17:17:00 +0000

Trombone Shorty and Orleans Avenue, a 525 client co-managed with Mike Kappus at The Rosebud Agency, are on the cover of the current Pollstar and profiled in the mag's Hotstar section.

Written by Joe Reinartz, the feature says in part: "'I saw him a few years ago at a club during Jazz Fest,' co-manager Mike Kappus told Pollstar. 'He just took the stage and the energy level shot up. It never went down. It was just constant intensity and great playing.'

Troy “Trombone Shorty” Andrews is taking his first steps of a lifelong career. He is 23 years old but he has already playedalongside U2 and Green Day at the Superdome, and traveled Europe both with Lenny Kravitz and with the New Birth Brass Band, led by his brother James.

He has an award-winning documentary based upon his music, been lauded by Wynton Marsalis, Lenny Kravitz and Allen Toussaint, and he’s played in front of audiences since the age of 4.

Meanwhile, with the guidance from co-managers Dave Bartlett and Matt Cornell at 525 Worldwide, Andrews and his band are working on their first full-length before doing the late-night talk show circuit."

Click here to access the full article.

Mavis, Booker T. Help Close Hardly Strictly

fivetwofive@gmail.com (525 Worldwide) — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 16:43:00 +0000

Booker T, playing with Drive-By Truckers, and Mavis Staples both played the Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival's closing day on Sunday October 4, 2009 at Golden Gate Park in San Francisco. This year, the festival's eighth, attendance at the free event was estimated at over 500,000 people. Since its inception the event has been sponsored and funded solely by Warren Hellman, a successful venture capitalist and an amateur banjo player.

Rolling Stone said, "Gospel queen Mavis Staples — in the middle of taking the Sunday crowd to church — also covered Buffalo Springfield’s Vietnam-era protest anthem 'For What It’s Worth,' striking just the right note of a promise yet unfulfilled. [It] was a rare suggestion of politics on a weekend largely free of them."

Booker closed the set with the Truckers on the Arrow Stage by, as reported by Twangville.com, "walking up to the microphone and talking about being in Monterey 40 years ago with his friend Otis Redding. He then lit into 'Sittin’ On The Dock Of The Bay.' The hush of the crowd gave way to a soft sing-along, and finished with tens of thousands of people whistling along. Words don’t do justice to a special moment like that."

(Mavis @ Rooster Stage pic by Nora Stratton; Booker T (on guitar) and DBT's pic by Dave Vann.

Ryan Montbleau Band Voted to the Boat

fivetwofive@gmail.com (525 Worldwide) — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 15:44:00 +0000

After tallying an "overwhelming" number of votes, Jam Cruise 8/Cloud 9 Productions has named Ryan Montbleau Band the winners of the Vote to the Boat contest. The band will be added to the lineup for Jam Cruise 8, the successful festival-at-sea that in 2006 sold 1,700 tickets and grossed $2.25 million.

Following the vote announcement, Ryan said, "I'm honored and delighted to get to play on the boat this year. We've been working hard for years to get to where we are as a band, and I'm psyched for the opportunity to play on the Cruise."

The band joins artists including The Word featuring John Medeski, North Missisisppi Allstars and Robert Randolph, Zappa Plays Zappa, Galactic, Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue, Railroad Earth, and over 30 others. Jam Cruise 8 will set sail on the MSC Poesia on January 3, 2010 from Florida and visit Ocho Rios, Jamaica and George Town, Cayman Islands before returning on the 10th to Ft. Lauderdale.

(Pic: Ryan Montbleau, with bassist Matt Gianarros, playing a different boat concert, on Lake Conesus, NY, Sept 6, 2009. Courtesy Mark Klein.)

Trombone Shorty's Wild West Coast Weekend

fivetwofive@gmail.com (525 Worldwide) — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 13:39:00 +0000

Trombone Shorty made a quick run through California this week, with a sold-out LA show on Thursday August 27, two appearances at San Diego's Street Scene on Friday August 28, and a mid-afternoon set at the Outside Lands Music Festival in Golden Gate Park on San Francisco on Saturday August 29.

The San Diego Union Tribune said "New Orleans-bred singer and instrumentalist Trombone Shorty and his band, Orleans Avenue's propulsive brand of brassy Big Easy funk earned rousing cheers." SF Weekly said the band's "funky, jazzy N'Awlins R&B was just the ticket for the still-blazing afternoon sun, which kept the fog away. "

(Pic: Shorty blares from the Presidio Stage at Outside Lands. Photo ©2009 EKA Photography via SF Weekly).

Trombone Shorty on XPN's World Cafe Live

fivetwofive@gmail.com (525 Worldwide) — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 17:25:00 +0000

In advance of the band's Philadelphia show at World Cafe Live back on July 16, Shorty was interviewed and the band performed on the radio show. The archived stream is now online and you can listen to the twenty-minute show here.

42 Years On, Mavis Rocks Folk Fest 50

fivetwofive@gmail.com (525 Worldwide) — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 15:20:00 +0000

On August 1, Mavis took the stage at Fort Adams State Park in Newport, RI--four decades after her first appearance at the storied festival with her family group The Staple Singers.

Slotted between solo acts Tom Morello as the Nightwatchman and Iron & Wine, Mavis and her six-member band--including sister and fellow Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Yvonne Staples--tore it up. The Boston Herald said, "When Mavis Staples led her molten-hot band through 'The Weight, she went beyond nostalgia: Time stood still." After the show, Mavis laughed, "It felt like a holiday; I hated to see it end!"

Two days before the Festival, Mavis appeared with fellow folk legends and Newport Folk Fest founder George Wein on NPR's 'Talk of the Nation' to recount her memories of the glory days of the Festival.

Until September 30, you can download a free NPR-produced sampler Folk at Newport: 50 Years that includes the Mavis live cut "Freedom Highway," alongside songs by Billy Bragg, Fleet Foxes, The Avett Brothers and Pete Seeger.

Click here to download the free 12-song sampler on iTunes.

Mavis Staples Newport Set List 8/1/09:
For What It's Worth
Eyes on the Prize
Too Close to Heaven
Wade in the Water
Waiting for My Child to Come Home
The Weight
Why Am I Treated So Bad
Rick's Jam (Instrumental)
Freedom Highway
Respect Yourself
I'll Take You There

(Pic: Mavis onstage at Newport, with guitarist Rick Holmstrom. © 2009, NPR.)

Trombone Shorty's CNN Tribute to MJ

fivetwofive@gmail.com (525 Worldwide) — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 20:27:00 +0000

CNN's Sean Callebs interviewed New Orleans musicians Trombone Shorty, Ivan Neville, and Allen Touissant to get the artist's impressions of Michael Jackson. Shorty played a mournful version of 'Rock With You' for the cameras, and CNN posted the performance separate from the aired piece.

You can see the full CNN video with interviews here.

Booker T. in the Studio and Playboy

fivetwofive@gmail.com (525 Worldwide) — Wed, 20 May 2009 14:48:00 +0000

Booker is the subject of a feature profile in the June 2009 issue of Playboy magazine, on newsstands and behind convenience-store counters now. Written by Robert Gordon, the music historian and author of the book It Came From Memphis, the piece finds Booker reflecting on his life, career and new album, Potato Hole.

Of the new album, Gordon writes: "Potato Hole is as funky as most anything he has done, and as soulful, but the mass of rocking guitars is new territory and thrilling"

After recording the acclaimed album with the snarling guitars of Neil Young and Drive-By Truckers, Booker T. has assembled his own band of crack musicians for his upcoming tour dates through 2010. The guys assembled in a remote studio to rehearse, and Spookie Films was there with an HD camera or two. The video was synched to a multi-tracked recording of the rehearsal session, and you can check out the result below.

Stock Tip: Booker T. in WSJ

fivetwofive@gmail.com (525 Worldwide) — Thu, 07 May 2009 15:36:00 +0000

Wall Street Journal rock and pop music critic Jim Fusilli interviewed Booker at the Coachella Music Festival in April and combined the interview with his review of Booker's new album Potato Hole (ANTI-), which was released April 21, 2009 and is currently #135 on the SoundScan Top 200 albums.

Fusilli writes: "But on most [of Potato Hole's]tunes, out of the organized chaos comes Mr. Jones's Hammond B-3 organ, a rich, distinctive instrumental voice and a bedrock of American soul music."

You can read the full piece here.

CNN Coverage of Trombone Shorty

fivetwofive@gmail.com (525 Worldwide) — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 15:40:00 +0000

Trombone Shorty played Friday April 24, 2009 at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, and CNN's cameras were there to cover the show, which also streamed live on AT&T Music's site. Blasting away on the Gentilly Stage immediately prior the day's last act, Texas indie rockers Spoon, Jazzfest poster boy Troy Andrews and his band held the capacity crowd in thrall.

Check out CNN's conversation with Troy here, and watch the quick shots of Shorty playing Jazzfest CNN aired starting around the 2:20 mark of the video below.

'Native New Yorker' Premiering Now

fivetwofive@gmail.com (525 Worldwide) — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 20:27:00 +0000

The lead track from Booker T.'s forthcoming solo record is exclusively premiering now on The Huffington Post, along with Booker's commentary about air guitar and recording with Neil Young.

Potato Hole (ANTI-), Booker's first solo record in twenty years, drops April 21, 2009, days after he plays Coachella with the Drive By Truckers.

Mavis, Booker Sampler Tracks for Free

fivetwofive@gmail.com (525 Worldwide) — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 20:28:00 +0000

You can check out the track 'Warped Sister' from Potato Hole, Booker T's first solo album in 20 years, for free right now on ANTI's 2009 Label Sampler. Also included is a track from Mavis Staples' landmark live record, November 2008's Mavis Staples Live: Hope at the Hideout, as well as tracks by Neko Case, Jolie Holland and Bob Mould.

Meanwhile keep an eye out for new North American and European tour dates for Booker T. with his all-new, all-rock, two-guitar, four-piece backing band.

GZA, No Age, Vegans to Judge Holy Hail @ SxSW

fivetwofive@gmail.com (525 Worldwide) — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 18:20:00 +0000

Holy Hail is one of eight bands selected to rumble in The Dickie's Upstart Battle of the Bands, to be held outdoors on Friday, March 20, 2009 at The Compound (1300 East 4th Street between Attayac and Navasota Street) in Austin, TX from 1:00 to 6:00 p.m. The winner of the Battle will be named after input from judges GZA, No Age and Brooklyn Vegan (in conjunction with audience response) and will win $10,000.

Admission is 21+ and free; for VIP entry to the Dickies Battle, please email your name and affiliation to: battle@dickiesupstart.com.

Holy Hail is also showcasing on the SESAC showcase at midnight on Wednesday March 18, Volume, 614 E 6th St (image).

RMB Featured Artist on Sun Studio Sessions

fivetwofive@gmail.com (525 Worldwide) — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 15:58:00 +0000

It took over a year to surface, but the Ryan Montbleau Band's 2008 peformance of Honeymoon Eyes at Memphis's legendary Sun Studios (the hallowed ground where Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash and Jerry Lee Lewis helped define rock and roll) is online now at Sun Studio Sessions.

Check it out:

The Sun Studio Sessions are also aired on a national PBS station feed, currently hitting 50+ markets around the country. Previously featured Sun Studio artists include Grace Potter, Amy Lavere and Backyard Tire Fire.

Ryan Montbleau Band Joins 525 Roster

fivetwofive@gmail.com (525 Worldwide) — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 17:01:00 +0000

525 Worldwide is excited to announce the addition of the Ryan Montbleau Band to its artist management roster.

Ryan Montbleau's songs reveal the eye of a novelist and the lyricism of a poet. Having begun his career playing small New England venues as a solo artist with an infectious, percussive guitar style and soul-fired vocals, Ryan has evolved into the front man for the Ryan Montbleau Band, which spins a tapestry of folk, Americana, r&b, country, gypsy jazz and psychedelia. The band is powered by Matt Gianarros (acoustic upright bass, electric bass, vocals), Laurence Scudder (viola, vocals), Jason Cohen (keys) and James Cohen (drums).

Click the player to listen to 'Maybe Today' from the band's most recent self-release, 2007's Patience on Friday.

Closing out 2008 with two back-to-back sold out nights at Boston's Paradise Rock Club, the band is poised to export that success to other markets. Over the last five years, the band has kept up a blistering pace of over 200 shows a year. Playing from coast-to-coast, in Canada and through the Caribbean, they've built a dedicated fanbase along the way--the band's Top 6 Achive.org live recordings have been downloaded over 100,000 times and they've streamed over 1 million song plays from their MySpace page. When the band's first group album One Fine Color was self-released in 2006, the CD quickly sold 10,000 copies.

The band is shooting to get back into the studio in 2009 to record the follow-up to Patience--it's just a matter of finding the time. "My touring’s not going to slow down any time soon," vows Montbleau. "My favorite thing in the world is looking out from the stage and seeing smiling faces."

Click here to read a recent show preview that appeared in The Washington Post in advance of the band's sold-out Iota show in January, one night before their sold-out World Cafe Live show in Philadelphia.

Booker T.'s Warped Sister Up On Pitchfork

fivetwofive@gmail.com (525 Worldwide) — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 18:37:00 +0000

Give a listen to a track from Potato Hole, Booker's first solo record in two decades on Pitchfork--click here for their exclusive stream, on which Booker is rocking with the Drive-By Truckers and Neil Young.

As Steven A. Deusner puts it: "Despite the high-profile support players, Booker T. clearly takes the lead, opening with gigantic chords before coaxing out a surprisingly catchy melody from his organ. He gets so much texture and nuance out of his instrument that it sounds like it's actually forming words."

Potato Hole (ANTI- Records) will be available April 21, the same week Booker and the Truckers (as Booker T. and the DBT's) play an Acura Stage set at the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival. The group's Jazzfest date is preceded by three dates in Australia and an April 18 set at Coachella, and followed by an appearance at Bonnaroo the weekend of June 11 to 14, 2009.

Booker T in USA Today & Potato Hole Announced

fivetwofive@gmail.com (525 Worldwide) — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 16:38:00 +0000

Click here to check out the USA Today preview on Booker T.'s new record, Potato Hole, out April 21, 2009 on ANTI- Records.

The official word:

TRAILBLAZING SOUL MAN BOOKER T WRITES MOST AUDACIOUS CHAPTER OF HIS CAREER WITH ANTI- RECORDS DEBUT ‘POTATO HOLE,’ SET FOR APRIL 21 RELEASE

ROCK & ROLL HALL OF FAMER IS BACKED BY DRIVE-BY TRUCKERS AND NEIL YOUNG ON FIRST SOLO ALBUM IN TWENTY YEARS

JAZZFEST PERFORMANCE CONFIRMED WITH OTHER FESTIVAL DATES FORTHCOMING

With Booker T. and the MGs he led one of the first-ever integrated groups to soul immortality. As a producer, he has helmed sessions for million sellers. On April 21st, Rock & Roll Hall of Famer Booker T will write the boldest, most dramatic chapter of his fifty year career with the release of his searing new album Potato Hole, on Anti- Records.

With backing from the Drive-By Truckers (at left) and guitar contributions from Neil Young on nine of the album’s ten tracks, Potato Hole is the rawest, funkiest music Booker T has recorded since his archetypal hit ‘Green Onions.’ Booker T plays organ, acoustic and electric guitar on Potato Hole and wrote seven of the album’s songs. Potato Hole was recorded last fall in Georgia and California and produced by Booker T and Rob Schnapf.

Booker T will tour extensively in support of Potato Hole. An April 24 Jazzfest performance with the Drive-By Truckers has already been confirmed, with other festival dates to be announced soon.

Booker T was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1992 with his group The MGs. In 2007 he earned a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. His production credits include Bill Withers’ debut album Just As I Am, and Willie Nelson’s Stardust.

For more info and press tool, visit: http://www.shorefire.com/clients/bookert

Rolling Stone Lists Mavis Among 100 Greatest Singers

fivetwofive@gmail.com (525 Worldwide) — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 22:36:00 +0000

Rolling Stone has released an issue focusing on the 100 Greatest Singers of All Time, and Mavis clocks in at no. 56 on the list.

The magazine compiled a blue-ribbon panel of musical experts who voted, including Mavis herself. Select ballots appear on RollingStone.com, and voters from Keith Richards to Courtney Love to Billy Gibbons to Roger McGuinn listed Mavis on their ballots.

In the same issue, Booker T. Jones writes a great essay recalling his memories of the no. 8 singer on the list, Otis Redding.