News from Hemifran February 2014

Hemifrån is an independent A&R, promotion and marketing company, based in the heart of Sweden, specializing in, what they call, “gut music” – The kind of music that you can feel in your gut, no matter what. Hemifran is promoting a lot of singer-songwriter, westcoast-pop, country, AOR and more. Here are featured some of their latest news – it is not all west coast, but dig into it!

Wyatt Easterling

Easterling’s career has been full of chart-topping songs including cuts with Dierks Bentley, Joe Diffie, Billy Joe Royal, Paul Thorn, Neal McCoy, Sons Of The Desert, Robby Hecht and others, but these days Easterling is embracing the life of a troubadour, focusing his energy on bringing his music and his stories directly to his audience. He’s toured with some of his favorite songwriters (who collectively have won 18 Juno and 35 Canadian and U.S. country music awards between them) and helped create ‘The Troubadours’ tour. The fall of 2013 saw them completing their 2nd Canadian tour with another planned for the fall of 2014. Easterling has plenty of solo touring planned as well. “Playing for new audiences reminds me why I fell in love with music in the first place”. More information at Hemifran.

David Serby

The 2CD, 20-song collection, “David Serby & The Latest Scam” is due to hit the streets in late February, 2014. The material was written with a live performance in mind, and takes the artist away from the rootsy, Americana folk-fiction of his last record, “Poor Man’s Poem” (2011) and the California honky tonk of the 3 previous albums, “Honky Tonk & Vine” (2009), “Another Sleepless Night” (2007) and “I Just Don’t Go Home” (2006). More information at Hemifran.

Tia McGraff

Tia McGraff unabashedly peeled back all the layers in “Break These Chains”, her new 12 track CD release, on Bandana Records (produced by co-writer-husband Tommy Parham). The rootsy melodies and honest-to-heart lyrics have been produced with such integrity that one feels they are listening to something hauntingly familiar yet refreshingly real. Perhaps it is because Tia’s influences include lyrical wonders like Joni Mitchell, Patty Griffin and Mary Gauthier, or because she has drawn from the stories of those who have touched her own heart. Somehow she has captured a unique and moving experience in each song that is perfectly married to mr Parham’s melodies. The CD flows from ballads like, “Between The Bed And The Door” to a lively “Whiskey Ship” and yet with a consistency that comes from stunningly crafted songwriting, stellar vocals, and impeccable musicianship. More information at Hemifran.

Casey Weston

Many people recognize Casey as one of the young stars from the first season of the hit TV show ‘The Voice’. The truth is that Casey never thought she would be on one of those shows. But read on and you will find that her successful run on TV was just the tip of the iceberg. Casey is now a Nashville recording artist. She has performed the National Anthem for NASCAR, Major League Baseball and the NBA. Casey Weston has opened concerts for major recording artists like James Otto, Justin Moore, Craig Morgan, John Anderson, Kellie Pickler and Tim McGraw. More information at Hemifran.

Hat Check Girl

Hat Check Girl, the collaboration between veteran songwriters Annie Gallup and Peter Gallway, is pleased to announce the release of “Goodbye Butterfield”, their 4th recording in as many years. The duo is once again joined by Jerry Marotta (Peter Gabriel, Elvis Costello, John Mayer) on drums and percussion. “Goodbye Butterfield’s” 12 songs, ten of which are new Gallup/Gallway/Marotta cowrites, showcase the band’s literate songwriting, spooky ambiance, and hypnotic delivery. Annie sings and plays guitars, banjo, dobro, ukulele and lap steel. Peter is featured on vocals, electric and acoustic guitars, baritone guitar,mandolin, accordion, and keyboards. More information at Hemifran.

Stage England & The Salt Kings

Best known for the critically acclaimed “Greetings From Cairo, Illinois” and featured on NPR’s Weekend Edition, Stace England lives near the village of Cobden in southern Illinois in a region known as ‘Little Egypt’. It acquired the name from a similarity to the Nile delta and several bitterly cold years in the 19th century when little would grow farther north. Wagon drivers would declare, ‘we’re goin’ down to Egypt for some grain’. “Greetings” told the tragic story of Cairo, a once booming river town in heartbreaking decline straddling the American North and South at the confluence of the Mississippi and Ohio rivers. More information at Hemifran.

Amy Allen

Amy Allen is a blues-accented country, pop and Americana singer-songwriter who has sung on three continents, appearing at venues ranging from the White House and the Ryman Auditorium to the Garden Hotel in Machakos, Kenya. More information at Hemifran.

Music From Home

Hemifrån and Paraply Records announced today that, for the first time ever, they will join forces and start work on a joint venture production. The emphasis is one hundred percent music from and around Borås. “Home Is Where The Heart Is” will be released on both a physical CD and on all digital platforms. More information at Hemifran.

Delta Moon

With a live show second-to-none, the dual slide guitars of Delta Moon carry the listener deep into the heart of the American South, where sinuous Mississippi blues meets the gritty backwoods twang of Appalachia and winds around a rock-steady beat like kudzu on a barbwire fence. Net Rhythms (UK) calls it “Music as it should be – raw and honest”. We call it a voice, two slides and a groove. More information at Hemifran.

Accidentals

Multi-instrumentalists Katie Larson and Savannah Buist are creating quite a name for themselves among music lovers of all genre’s. Described as, “A duo giving an edge to folk with unique instrumentation”, they met in 2011 at their public high school. Katie was a freshman cello player, “playing up” in the Philharmonic Orchestra and Savannah was concert master, violinist. They volunteered for a class assignment that threw them together for their first rehearsal and The Accidentals were born. More information at Hemifran.

Grand Old Grizzly

The Houston-based quartet melds folk, country, indie and rock, garnering favorable comparisons to Old 97s, Tom Petty, Uncle Tupelo, Neil Young, and Robert Earl Keen. In its brief time together, the group has generated an impressive local buzz. Both Leon Russell and Blackberry Smoke had Grand Old Grizzly playing support when they stopped through Houston and played some sold out nights at the House of Blues. More information at Hemifran.

John Zipperer

A former TV-actor and stuntman, John Zipperer’s 2nd chance came rolling down the highway of life, not on a carefully controlled movie or commercial set, but while changing a tire for a friend along interstate 285 in Atlanta. John was hit by a ten-wheel oil truck. After flying 40 feet and landing in the hospital, John was told by the critical care doctor, “You should be dead!”. To John, this seemed like a clear sign that life is, or could be, too short. He packed everything he owned into his Camaro and headed out to Los Angeles to pursue a life in music. More information at Hemifran.