Sophisticated songwriting coupled with gorgeous production-rockers, ballads, acoustic-it's all here in one tight package.

11 MP3 Songs
ROCK: Adult Alternative Pop/Rock, FOLK: Progressive Folk



Details:
Painted Heart-Michael Veitch
Burt Street 102
Produced by Julie Last

Review by Judy Whitfield for FAME www.acousticmusic.com

Songwriter Michael Veitch is from Woodstock, NY, a town famous for its far-reaching and muddy musical roots. I donât know if Michael writhed in the mud with the masses at âWoodstockâ or if he came by his musical point of view by other means, but no matter, heâs here now and in his latest release, âPainted Heartâ, he plays with the very best that Woodstock has to offer, now or ever. Pristinely recorded in Woodstock by songwriter and producer, Julie Last, Veitch achingly details the rigors of a painful break-up in âLast Chancesâ, explaining that it âTakes a heart of good stone / To not feel what I feel / Tears drawn from these bones / Thorns here where I kneel.â Ouch. Clearly, Michael has been put through loveâs wringer this time, and presumably so have guitarist Artie Traum and keyboardist Pete Levin since their playing augments Veitchâs pain perfectly. Like I said ... ouch.

Michael has an appealing, reedy voice, and nowhere is it more effective than on âMy Old Carâ, a jaunty musical road-trip where he fondly remembers good times in his first car: âThere are voices I can still hear / Faces in the rear view mirror / The back seat moaning with love and fearâ, and âWaving goodbye to the old high school / Two-tone still the height of cool / Baby moons shined like urban jewels / Arm around the blond in the saddle shoesâ. Ah, if only time stood still and rust slept, but finally even his old bucket of bolts succumbs, as it must, with âChrome all peeled / Your windowâs been shot out / Nothing left to stealâ. On this track, he is backed by the harmonies of âthe Veitch Boysâ, a.k.a. Jerry Marotta and Bruce Milner, who strike just the right notes of youthful exuberance and melancholy needed to take us all with them on this ride.

The hit song on the album has to be âGoodbye (Never Sounded So Sweet)â, since I was singing along and well into the groove by the second chorus. Michael Veitch understands how to write a song with a hook; that it requires a resonance in the listenerâs mind, ear and heart. This song is fully loaded with all the elements required to achieve that ... verse, chorus, bridge ... and each time he sings âGoodbye never sounded so sweet / To my earsâ, along with full-throated background singers Julie Last, Bar Scott and Kirsti Gholson, youâll be âhookedâ, too.

Michael Veitch pays tribute to departed Woodstock legend and bluegrass hero John Herald in the song âOmahaâ. Michael is strong here, learning how to cope with losses and lessons learned in a life fully lived, riding the rails and âStaring down the center of the great northern track / Whoâs looking back / Not me, not meâ. Drummer Jerry Marotta and bassist Billy Clockel hook-up seamlessly on this fast-moving tune, while Josh Roy Brown sizzles on the lap steel, allowing the listener to almost feel the clickety-clack of the train as it streaks across the plains. Ed Sanders, of The Fugs, makes an appearance here and itâs only fitting, since he and John Herald were old friends and socialist lefties âin the dayâ. John would have loved the spirit behind this homage and I hope he is somewhere riding on that glory train now. Another stand-out performance on âPainted Heartâ is turned in by bassist and Woodstocker Kyle Esposito, whose instrument veritably moans on âKnock Me Downâ, a tender telling of emotional resilience where Veitch declares âTo my knees I have fallen / To your arms I once came crawling / That was then and this is now, darlingâ. Turns out, Michael Veitch is going to be okay, and weâre in his corner, with him in Woodstock.

Track List
1. Come Talk to Me (Veitch)
2. Hello Love (Veitch)
3. Goodbye (Never Sounded So Sweet) (Veitch)
4. Quarryman (Veitch,Last)
5. Kiss Me Comrade (Veitch, Last)
6. Omaha (for John Herald) (Veitch)
7. Knock Me Down (Veitch, Last)
8. My Old Car (Veitch)
9. Cursed Heart (Veitch)
10. Straw Man (Veitch, Last)
11. Last Chances (Veitch)