Patrick O'Heffernan | Music Junkie Press

Billy Kay’s great new EP, Bellmore. Wynonna was right. by Patrick O’Heffernan

April 25, 2014

by Patrick O’Heffernan, Host, Music FridayLive! Billy Kay is one of the most interesting and talented artists ever to appear on MUSIC FRIDAY LIVE!. A Long Island -born country western singer/songwriter who arrived in Tennessee by way of Los Angeles, Las Vegas and the Veterans Administration. His Music is down-home solid country with a bit of rock, a taste of blues and a lot of soul. He tells stories that are real with music that really sticks to you. And , if that was not enough, he has published a new book on music marketing– his second – while he tours and records. Kay donates his earnings to homeless vets, even though he is a homeless vet himself. No wonder Wynonna Judd tweeted “Ooooh Billy” about his music. His new EP, Bellmore, definitely deserves and “Ooooh” Billy for quality. This 9-song EP ranges from classic somebody-done somebody-wrong songs in solid country mode, to modern blues and even a brush with 50’s style rock and roll. But at its heart, Bellmore is Billy Kay doing [Read More]

Up.Rooted. A review of Gina Chavez’s latest album – a musical triumph and a transformational experience.

April 7, 2014

Up.Rooted. A review of Gina Chavez’s latest album – a musical triumph and a transformational experience. With Up.Rooted, Gina Chavez has established herself as the Joan Baez of her generation. We are now seeing an emergence of second and third generation Latin musicians who were raised at home in Spanish with cumbia and reggaeton and bosa nova and in school in English with rock and rap and blues and jazz. They are creating a new genre – Gringo-Latin pop, Latino-white folk, Latin fusion – it goes by many names because it hasn’t gelled enough to have one name. The young men and women who are creating this new genre bring something else to the table besides bi-lingual musical forms, human stories and a social conscious. They sing songs of immigrant abuse, of NAFTA, of homelessness, of human rights. They are to the 21st century what Joan Baez, Phil Ochs, Aretha Franklin and Bob Dylan were to the war in Vietnam and the US Civil Rights movement. Gina Chavez is one of the artists leading [Read More]

An Interview with Michael Addison: luminous lyrics and a smoother side in the new album.

April 5, 2014

An Interview with Michael Addison: luminous lyrics and a smoother side in the new album. By Patrick O’Heffernan Actor, singer, songwriter Michael Addison will release a new album, Resisting Fate, April 15 and a new single, “We’ll Be Coming Home”, April 8 as part of a major shift to music. Music FridayLive! host Patrick O’Heffernan interviewed him on air April 4, 2014. Listening to Michael Addison’s soon to be released album, Resisting Fate, is like laying in the grass on a summer day and watching the clouds slide by while you think of childhood and ice cream and former lovers. And then, there is lightening. The guitar wails, the tempo accelerates and you are hooked. Alt rocker Addison shows us a deep, melodious side that merges euphoria, melancholy and electricity in a harmonious stream that sometimes floats you gently and sometimes carries you over emotional rapids. But in the end, when the music fades and leaves on the shore of your consciousness, your first inclination is to get back in the boat, hit replay on [Read More]

Blake Collins’ debut EP: a new talent with a Lennon sound and good potential

March 21, 2014

Blake Collins’ debut EP: a new talent with a Lennon sound and good potential by Patrick O’Heffernan Host, Music FridayLive! Even at his young age, Blake Collins is a renaissance man: painting, collage, drawing, poetry, and of course, music. A young, multi-talented artist with boyish good looks and a degree in fine art from UCLA, he is very busy. He has released his first EP, A Bell Locks In, and is working on a second EP and a full length album while he produces for others and plays bass, keyboard and guitar for three other bands. He also designed and produced the artwork for A Bell Locks In. Recorded in a home studio, the EP shows his strong potential as a songwriter and singer, although the sound is little homemade. A more dynamic microphone or a soundproofed studio would have nailed the production as professional. But, as it is – which is certainly not bad – Blake’s first venture is well worth trying out and he is an artist to watch. By far my favorite [Read More]

Interview with Memoirs from SXSW by Patrick O’Heffernan

March 14, 2014

Interview with Memoirs from SXSW by Patrick O’Heffernan, Host, Music FridayLive! Interview conducted from South By Southwest 3/14/14 for Music Friday Live! You cannot look away from Memoir’s music video, “Look Away”. And you cannot get the music of that video, or any of Memoir’s music, out of your head. Dena Deadly, Zed Kelly and Remington Garner produce sound and images that are visually commanding, thematically stunning and totally addictive. When they released their first EP last year they put the music world on notice that a new force was now present and it cannot be ignored. There is nothing like this Los Angeles based indie-soul band. Memoir was formed last year by guitarist Zed Kelley and singer Dena Deadly, who met while collaborating at a recording studio in North Hollywood and later married. Together, Deadly, Kelley and her brother Remington Garner have written hit singles for artists like Cee-Lo Green, Will-I-Am , the Jonas Brothers and Pit Bull. Their music has soundtracked television shows and feature films including Failure to Launch, “The Lying Game” and [Read More]

Hana Kim: soaring lyrics and Saving Innocents. By Patrick O’Heffernan

March 10, 2014

Hana Kim: soaring lyrics and Saving Innocents. by Patrick O’Heffernan Host, Music FridayLive! Usually as the night progresses on Sundays at a showcase venue, the audience egresses – the later you sing, the fewer people you sing to. The opposite was true for Hana Kim this past Sunday at the Hotel Café in Hollywood. As she and her band began setting up a little before 10 pm, the double doors in the back started swinging as fans poured in. The small crowd with some empty tables became a full room of buzzing, talking, camera-flashing fans there to see one of their stars. And Hana did not disappoint. She had her full band – Ed Maxwell on bass, Adam Zimmon on lead guitar and Matt Mayhall on the drums – backing up her piano and keyboard and luxurious voice. Together they transported the room to a concert hall filled with music and heart. In fact, it is no exaggeration to say that Sunday night was the best live concert I have heard Hana Kim deliver. Perched on [Read More]

Korby Lenker at Hotel Café: a cinnamon tinted daguerreotype evening. by Patrick O’Heffernan

March 8, 2014

Korby Lenker at Hotel Café: a cinnamon tinted daguerreotype evening. by Patrick O’Heffernan, Host, Music FridayLive! You knew the show by Korby Lenker was going to be an entertaining adventure before he even got on stage; the pedal box mounted on a skateboard sitting next to the microphone stand gave him away. And the adventure started the minute this curly-headed, mischievous grinning minstrel walked out in a wine-red velvet jacket, jeans and bow tie and said “hi”. Lenker has explained that what he does is make music that’s easily likeable but with a kind of secret sophistication. He pulls it off well, which is why he has opened for bands like Willie Nelson, Ray LaMontagne, Nickel Creek and Keith Urban, among others. Everything he does – and did Friday night at the Hotel Café – is entertaining, hummable and deeply layered. He started the show off gentle and soft with simple chords for a haunting effect on “If I Prove False”, hitting the long high notes in a way that evoked memories and images of [Read More]