Wednesday, February 16, 2011

Jonny Burke's "Distance and Fortune"

Release date - February 22, 2011.

JONNY BURKE TO RELEASE “DISTANCE AND FORTUNE” IN FEBRUARY

Austin, TX-based singer-songwriter Jonny Burke is set to release his debut full-length album, “Distance And Fortune,” on February 22, 2011. The album was produced by Marc Ford (Black Crowes, Ryan Bingham) at the Compound Studio in Southern California. Burke describes the entire recording experience as “a really magical time. I wish the rest of my life would go as smoothly and as effortlessly as it did in the studio those two weeks.” Keeping with the album’s title and theme, the music projects a live, “in the moment” vibe. Burke wanted listeners to feel like they were in the room with the band. Says Ford of Burke: “Jonny Burke does it just the way you like it – simple and genuine.”

“Distance & Fortune” kicks off with a double blast of rip-roaring bar rock - the Chuck Berry-riffed look at 20-somethings, “Broke Again,” and the Stonesian “Come Stand” – but also finds room for quieter, more contemplative tracks. Burke composed “Little Girl Of The World” like a letter to address a “personal need and to get some sort of redemption” from a broken relationship. “Don’t Let Me Fall” addresses another type of loss – how artists and poets can devote their lives to creating art but can wind up forgotten and dead in the gutter. He co-wrote this song with his friend Hayes Carll, who recorded his own version on his “Trouble In Mind” disc.

Carll is one of Burke’s musical pals – like Todd Snider, Ryan Bingham and Band of Heathens – with whom he has played and toured. James McMurtry, another tour buddy, has proclaimed Burke “has that star thing. He has that way of making eye contact with all of the people in the audience at once.” Bingham praises Burke’s music, saying his songs “provide hope that true songwriting and honest music have not been lost after all.” The new album also reveals Burke’s open approach to songwriting. He doesn’t have a specific style of music that he’s trying to create; he simply wants to play good songs. Just because he hails from Texas, don’t think he’s just a Lone Star State troubadour. His sole cover is “Human Music,” from the decidedly non-Texan band, the Soft Boys.

Burke formed his first band, the Dedringers, with his school friend Sean Faires, and it became a popular regional band while they were still in their teens. The Dedringers were named Best New Group of 2008 by the Austin American-Statesman, while their R.S. Field-produced “Sweetheart of the Neighborhood” garnered a 3-star Austin Chronicle review. After seven years together, however, Burke and Faires decided to part ways. Burke followed his own creative muse, and in 2009 he released a 5-song EP (“The Long Haul”) that attracted attention in the blogosphere with songsillinois.net praising its “Pettyseque rockers (and) Townes-influenced gently picked tales,” while Radio Free Americana’s Warren Catlett heralded it as a “mini-classic.”

Burke has spent the last couple of years crisscrossing the country playing music, either solo or with his rhythm section (drummer Alejandro Adams and bassist Ronnie Johnson). With “Distance And Fortune,” Burke plans to stay out on the road to get his music out to as many people as possible.

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