Award winning songwriter Ricasso, reveals his softer side with moody rockers, acoustic ballads and 60's influenced pop. Guest appearances by Kenny Greer (Red Rider, Tom Cochrane) on pedal steel and Jason Fowler (The Cottars, Anne Lindsay, Brent Titcomb, A

13 MP3 Songs
ROCK: Acoustic, POP: Beatles-pop



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Overgrown, the latest release from award winning songwriter Ricasso, showcases his softer side. Moving away from the heavy guitar based sound of the previous two albums, returns to his roots, delivering moody rockers, acoustic ballads and power pop with instumentation that includes piano, organ, pedal steel and cello. His new treatment of his popular "Abbey Road" reveals the song's true origin - 1967 style pop. It was, after all a television clip of the Beatles at Shea Stadium that first attracted a young Ricasso (a.k.a.) Greg Hargarten to rock'n'roll. Hooked by this early image, he dug back into the work of artists that had influenced the genre over the decades, listening to the likes of Chuck Berry, Eddie Cochrane, The Rolling Stones, The Sex Pistols and The Clash in his formative years. Although his tastes have come to include contemporary artists as well, he has remained addicted to the form ever since. After High School, Ricasso began drumming with numerous rock and pop bands whose prime objective was to eek out a meager living and in the spirit of Rock'n'Roll, out-party the locals in every watering hole in the from Vancouver to Winnipeg. Some of the exploits may (or may not) have been legendary and although they made for some great road stories, he eventually returned to Saskatoon where his focus changed from drumming to songwriting. Playing with local bands on weekends and designing posters, T-shirts and album covers for fellow musicians during the week, Ricasso scraped together some money and began to record. His debut album, Disgraceland, received glowing reviews from the nation music press. Chart Magazine claimed "(it) could dominate the airwaves", and that there was "not a weak song" on the album. Canadian Musician called it" a solid step in the direction of more national exposure". Ricasso returned to deliver his Pollution album in 2003. This diverse collection of guitar driven rock earned critical recognition and air-play on commercial radio and charted across Canada at college stations. It also lead to his first songwriting honour for the song 'Bipolar'. After a year and a half of performing and promoting Pollution, Ricasso returned to the studio to work on "Suck It Up". It was recorded with is 2004/2005 touring band.and marked a return to the strait-ahead rock sound which typifies the bandâs live shows.It included, for the first time on a Ricasso album, two covers: a blistering rock version of Steve Earle's "Guitar Town" and a cover of the Knack's 1980 hit "Good Girls Don't", but it is Ricasso's songwriting however, that has once again attracted attention. The title song, "Suck It Up" was chosen as the 2006 winner of the Rock 102's Canadian Radio Star National Songwriting Competition as part of Canada Music Week.