Caleb is a midwestern born singer/songwriter with sounds similar to Mat Kearney, John Mayer, and Joshua Radin. He didn’t start writing his own music he missed his flight home from London, England and ended up spending two more weeks there playing at various places and writing. Since then, he has played in a variety of cities including London, Toronto, Los Angeles, Nashville, Dallas, Houston, Austin, San Diego, Kansas City, Wichita, and Manhattan. His first EP was recorded in San Diego and is mostly acoustic. His second one, Bigger Picture, is a full production CD and was recorded in Nashville, TN with Jeremy McCoy (Has worked with The Fray, One Republic, and James Morrison).
Caleb’s music is about more than just the songs. It’s about a mindset, a way of life, a pursuit of one’s dreams. He believes that each and every person, no matter where they are in life, can achieve what they want if they take the appropriate steps. Sure, it may require work, focus, patience, and the ability to overcome challenges, but it would not be as fulfilling otherwise. From his experience, it seems as though many people get “stuck”, whether it be from preconceived notions or restrictions placed upon themselves by others or a lack of belief in their own abilities. Sometimes it is because people aren’t truly following their heart and doing what they love to do. He’s found that persistance and doing what you are passionate about can take you a long ways.
“Caleb McGinn was great to work with. His passion and love for music is so evident. He works well with the students through the entire process and gives them the experience of working with a top-notch musician. He puts on an incredible show!”
-Ben Hopper, Program Advisor: Kansas State University
Massachusetts
Jesse Dee’s influences read like a Who’s Who of classic soul music. Otis Redding, Sam Cooke, Etta James, Al Green and many others. But Jesse Dee is not just a student of the classics. He also loves the new wave of rootsy artists –James Hunter, Amos Lee and John Legend, among them.
“Soul music has always hit me harder than any other kind of music,” says the Boston-based Jesse, who has learned his lessons well. He puts a convincing new spin on the subject with his debut solo disc, “Bittersweet Batch,” which should please anyone with a love of this heartfelt style. Jesse adds a stunning vocal expressiveness and a unique ability to inject and dissect emotions. He delivers it all with a warmth that comes from analog recording and from cutting a lot of the songs live in the studio.
Jesse co-produced “Bittersweet Batch” (consisting of all-original tracks) with Jack Younger in the latter’s Basement 247 Studio. Younger has also produced for fellow Boston roots phenomenon Eli “Paperboy” Reed. The record is targeted for a Sept. 9 release on 7 Note Records, which has previously issued music from talented Boston singer Danielle Miraglia.
Jesse’s love of soul is honest to the core. When you step into his home studio, for example, you may find him putting on a vinyl copy of “The Best Chess Vocal Groups,” including cuts on the seminal Chess Records by the Moonglows, Miracles, and Flamingos. And on the walls are paintings that he has created of faves like Jackie Wilson and James Brown. The paintings are exceptional. Jesse is a graduate of MassArt (Massachusetts College of Art and Design) and almost went into art as a profession over music.
“I’ve been painting longer than I’ve played music,” says Jesse. “I have studied art most of my life and have been doing both for a while, but I made my decision to focus on music.”.
Raised in the Boston suburb of Arlington, Jesse started at MassArt by studying illustration, but switched over to its Studio for Interrelated Media, where he studied performance, production, mixed-media, and composition. During college he was in the ten-piece band Decifunk, which played up and down the east coast and released an original record called “Open Your Eyes” on Squeezebox Records in 2001. That was followed by a stint in the group The Dirty Whites (“more like Black Sabbath meets Motown,” he says). They put out a five-song, self-released EP in 2006.
Then came his own group under the name Jesse Dee, which includes guitarist Matthew Joy, bassist Jim Larkin, and drummer Matt “Pie” Beaulieu. They’re all on the new album, as are such top-notch guests as guitarist Kevin Barry (Paula Cole, Dennis Brennan), and the soulful duo of Dwight & Nicole, not to mention an all-star horn section with Scott and John Aruda, and Paul Ahlstrand, who has played with Susan Tedeschi.
The new record has some “bittersweet” themes, hence the title “Bittersweet Batch”, but most songs reflect Jesse’s ultimately positive view of the world. The standout “Slow Down”, which is on his myspace page (myspace.com/jessedee), has an easy-loping swing groove and the message that “people try to stay with the pace but the fact is that life is not a race.” Other upbeat tunes are “Still Here’ and the buoyant “Alive & Kicking.”.
Jesse, who has opened for Al Green, is also a cofounder of Sea Monsters, a popular club band he started with singer Christian McNeill. It’s a true musician’s band and has featured guest appearances from other Boston roots acts such as Tim Gearan, Miss Tess, and Dennis Brennan.
Jesse still paints and freelances as a graphic designer. The painting sparks his music. “I sing when I paint,” he says. “I’ve composed songs while I paint a number of times”. But exploring and updating soul music is his true passion. “I’m just trying to get better – to write better songs, get better at performing them, and enjoy myself in the process,” he says
Massachusetts
“Acoustic singer-songwriter Adam Payne…should appeal to fans of Ben Harper and newcomer Ryan Shaw. That means it’s neo-soul with a jam band vibe…” -Boston Globe
The problem with rising acoustic talents is that a lot of them sound the same; but there is no mistaking the sultry sounds of Adam Payne. With a smile and sound as big as his afro, Adam entertains full crowds with his fusion of Funk, R&B, Folk, and Acoustic. There’s no denying his musical talents so the question is, who is he?
Adam is about as eclectic as his sound. He was born in Lynn, Massachusetts to an Italian mother and African American father. In the late eighties, Adam and his family moved to Sarasota, Florida. By the age of 8, Adam drew his musical inspiration not from haughty music teachers, such as Mozart or Beethoven, but from Saturday morning cartoons, Sonic the Hedgehog and Mario. Adam picked up the piano as he mimicked the music from cartoons and video games. During his senior year of High School he took on the drums, and later in college, he picked up the guitar. Although music is a major part of who he is, there’s much more to him than that.
Adam earned a B.A. in Psychology with a Minor in Statistics and was a founding father of the Eta Psi chapter of Pi Kappa Phi at the University of Central Florida. He continued on to earn a M.A. in Industrial/Organizational Psychology from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte.
Payne has shared the stage with artists ranging from the Avett Brothers to The Pharcyde as well as members of the Wu-Tang Clan. He has collaborated with Artists all over the globe, and lends his writing, production and vocal talents to projects across many genres including producing and composing the music for a documentary film about the Rwandan Genocide entitled ’Coexist.’
Adam is also active in the community, and supports a myriad of causes. Payne is the founder of the Benefit for Jane, a cause which raises funds and awareness of Kidney Cancer in honor of his late mother and is sponsored by the Kidney Cancer Association.
On three separate occasions, Payne was featured on CBS Channel 4 Boston’s ‘Sundays with Liz Walker’ and he was also generously recognized in the Boston Globe. In addition, Payne attended the MIDEM Music Conference in France on behalf of Sonicbids where he spoke on a panel about brands and their interest in independent artists.
These days, Adam can be found vibing out solo, or with full band 2ADAM12. His solo show is always entertaining, with Adam making up songs on the spot with words from the audience, doing on-the-fly guitar, vocal, and percussion loop arrangements, or simply delivering the message of an original tune or eclectic cover. The full band presents some of the finest players in the Greater Boston area, with pieces ranging from the standard four to the gargantuan eight. No matter the line-up, an Adam Payne show is surely one to remember.
So who is Adam Payne? He’ll make you dance, make you smile, and help you with your homework all in one day. He’s the Northeast’s resident father of Soul Rock and he’s coming to a venue near you.
-Amanda Crump.
2ADAM12 [Pronounced "TWO ADAM TWELVE"]
2ADAM12 represents the full band version of Adam Payne’s songs with a backdrop of some of the Boston area’s best musicians.
“If the Meters and the Red Hot Chilli Peppers squared off in a petrie dish with Sam Cooke and Ben Harper as referees, they would form the multicellular organism known as 2ADAM12.” “At the border which separates Funk from Rock, there sit 4 gents who come together and deliver a cross-section of something exciting, fresh, and nourishing to the ears. Their name is 2ADAM12…” R.E. Cheshire, CT
“…2Adam12 brings the same kind of expertise to their music as the Neville Brothers. Which is to say, everything is focused around the groove, which is the paramount ingredient that makes all the other elements work…”
-Jay Miller, The Patriot Ledger
“The self-titled debut is a musical manifesto for the band’s huge sound… The album features a slew of embellishments that brings each track to its highest level. From the chilling Hammond organ on “Passive Aggression” to the ultra-funky horn ensembles on the “If You Want to Love Me,” the album utilizes every available tool to heighten the band’s sound. While many tracks features guest spots from outside musicians, most of the band’s complexity comes from its core.”
-Patrick Walsh, The Vanguard
New Hampshire
Ryan first started his love affair with music when he was 13. That’s around the time he picked up and guitar and started to play. Inspired by his older neighbor, who allowed him to pick up the guitar for the first time. He started taking lesson’s and it lead to where he is today: composing his own music and lyrics.
Writing his own songs didn’t start happening until he was in high school. Good time in life to start to exploring and expressing yourself on paper. Ever since, it’s been a medium for Ryan to express his emotions to others in his unique poetic fashion. In college he started playing at open mic nights and eventually created a band that only lasted a couple of years. In 2003 he compiled his first EP at a small studio in New Hampshire, which consisted of seven originals that came to be “Crashed into infinity”.
Since then, in 2005 Ryan went down to South Carolina and toured for a little while only to come back and play in a band out of Manchester New Hampshire. They have been seen at local venues through out Southern New Hampshire and Northern Massachusetts.
Ryan is influenced by a diversity range of music, and has been told that he has a sound similar to artists like John Mayer, Jack Johnson, U2 and Matt Wertz. Ryan is hoping to tour again very soon to share his passion for music with others. He is currently working on an EP that is taking shape as you read this. Ryan is looking forward to more music, more experiences to write about in this full musical journey of life.
Hometown: Boston, MA
For singer/songwriter/guitarist AJ Edwards, music has always offered a certain ‘pull…’
“I think I’ve had this subconscious desire to play music for awhile,” comments AJ, “but it all really began to surface when I first saw U2 perform in Boston in 2001. I began teaching myself guitar a couple days after.”
The Boston born/based artist soon began to realize his passion for songwriting and spent many late nights building a balanced set of original songs and covers.
“For awhile I really just wanted to get out there and play, but at the same time I felt that I needed something original to work into my act first,” says AJ.
Eventually, AJ grabbed his acoustic guitar and booked a few dates at local bars and college campuses, which resulted from his earliest steps on stage at numerous open-mics. Since then, he has collaborated with some highly respected artists in the local music scene including legendary studio drummer, John Dorizzi, and engineers, Dave Lefkowitz (Johnny A) and Jay Frigoletto (Alice In Chains, Oasis, Ani DiFranco) on his self-produced, debut full-band album, “Start Over the Moon.” The record was released October 2009.
AJ has since returned to the studio to work on an EP, which he anticipates will be finished this summer.
Hometown: Paris, France / New York, NY
Pop-rock musician Gigi Fouquet discovered her musical talent in her dorm room, where the self-taught guitarist would spend hours strumming the strings before relocating to NY from her hometown of Paris, France to pursue a career in music. Now considered a staple at indie-venues throughout Manhattan’s West Village, she’s since celebrated such notable achievements as performing at the College Music Journal Festival and recording her EP with critically acclaimed guitarist GE Smith, of Saturday Night Live, Bob Dylan and Hall & Oates. Her singles “Suddenly” and “You’re the Same as Me” have gained increasing popularity on college radio airwaves across the country, and her music is available for purchase on iTunes and Amazon. Inspired by the likes of Fleetwood Mac and Sting, the female vocalist and guitarist possesses a sultry swoon that’s part Natalie Merchant, part Tom Petty, but results in a hybrid she’s made all her own.
Hometown: New York, NY
Sometimes, all you need is an acoustic guitar and a dream. Sarah Solovay’s got both, and she happens to have a rather transcendent voice to boot. ThisNew York Citysinger- songwriter strikes just the right note between organic catchy rock and vibrant pop with each and every song that she pens. That’s precisely why Sarah’s music has already reached massive audiences via hit shows such as 90210 and why she was chosen by fans to open on a stop of John Mayer’s “Battle Studies Tour.”
Sarah’s sound exudes a true vibrancy because it’s so personal and tangible. Sarah describes the alchemy at the heart of her sound. “My music is a balance between upbeat pop rock and raw, edgy indie. I begin all of my songs with an acoustic guitar, and they eventually evolve into these full productions. I want to ride that fine line between singer-songwriter and mainstream pop girl. There’s a little bit of both in me.”
She continues, “When people listen to my songs, I want them to know that someone else has gone through what they’re going through. Music connects people, and it lets us know we’re not alone.”
Sarah’s music serves as the soundtrack to both popular television and film productions. “Hearts Collide” played over an episode of the hit show, 90210, with Sarah as 90210′s featured artist. Other songs have been featured on NBC, ABC, TNT and MTV Shows.
Aaron and Andrew combine the musical landscapes of Snow Patrol and Coldplay with the lyrical optimism of the Fray and traces of the Postal Service’s electronic sounds.
Their music has had national radio airplay charting number one in several college markets along with being featured on the television networks CBS,MTV, E! and Oxygen. Former American Idol contestant Shaun Barrowes selected the band’s song “Heart” to cover for his YouTube series “Live for Music TV.”
Supporting their new album Aaron and Andrew are performing both as a four piece rock act and an acoustic duo. They can be seen playing at colleges, listening rooms and clubs in the NYC area. They’ve previously shared the stage with artists Pete Yorn, Nine Days, and The Low Anthem.
“To Be Brave” is Aaron and Andrew’s third album, preceded by “Pictures and Words” (2008) and “Don’t Go” (2006).
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