Rock 'n roll with roots and soul

14 MP3 Songs
ROCK: Roots Rock, ROCK: Classic Rock

Show all album songs: Swimming Upstream Songs


Details:
LionFish is the brainchild of Derrek Miles Wright and represents his first effort at writing and recording his own songs. Derrek started his career in music some 25 years ago playing at the famous Stubbs BBQ in Austin, TX and then moved on to San Francisco where he studied and played with Bill Spooner of the Tubes.

The debut release is titled âSwimming Upstreamâ and consists of 14 songs all written by Derrek â he sings lead on all songs and back up on a few. Trace Wiren sings two duets with Derrek â âNo Worriesâ and âYour Jesusâ Trace also lends her sultry voice to support the backup vocal effort on half of the songs on the record, wherever you hear female vocals they are Traces â she also plays banjo on âYour Jesusâ

I've also enlisted the services of Steve Flygare on Lead Guitar and Sax, Steve plays two searing lead guitar solos on the title track "Swimming Upstream" and on "Basketball and Rock 'n Roll" he switches to Tenor Sax to add a taste of cool jazz on Pipedream and inserts his Coltrane tinged romps on "Bollywood Bop".

"Swimming Upstream" was produced and engineered by Mark Towner Williams â Mark also plays drums, bass, Hammond Organ, Mandolin, Trumpet and additional guitars (he just added guitars where he heard them as he was mixing, most notably the metal guitar on "Swimming Upstream" and the 12 strings on 9 empty seats) and well as background vocal. Mark also arranged each song with Derrek.

Mark is the son of World Famous composer and Grammy award winner John Williams. Mark has played and toured with Tina Turner, Crosby Stills and Nash, Greg Allman, Steven Stills and Cher to name a few. Mark was a studio musician in LA for the better part of 20 years and has played with too many greats to mention here.

Swimming Upstream was crafted in the spirit of the concept albums of the 70's and is best experienced in its entirety. The subject matter broaches many of life's challenges such as failed love, addiction, loss via death, political and religious repression, mixed in with a love song, a song about following your dreams and a fun rocking romper about Basketball and Rock 'n Roll. Swimming Upstream has a flow to it and starts out more Southern Rock, and then weaves in blues, funk, jazz, straight ahead rock and ends with an acoustic guitar/banjo duet.

We hope you enjoy the LionFish Jams . . . pass it on!!!!