MP3 Evan Westerlund - Howlin´ At the Moon

This record is about hillbillies, hippies, smoking guns & wild horses: an impressive collection of songs reflecting Evan's folk & rock influences but also paying homage to that classic country sound.

12 MP3 Songs
COUNTRY: Contemporary Country, FOLK: Folk-Rock

Show all album songs: Howlin' At the Moon Songs


Details:
"Howlin' At The Moon" - Release date December 15, 2007.

The album was recorded, mixed & mastered in Nashville during late October with producer/engineer Larry Marrs (longtime member of Marty Stuart's Hillbilly Band). It features some outstanding session musicians, inclusive Drums & Percussion: Steve Holland (Ray Price, Charlie Daniels Band, Anita Cochrane, Mila Mason) - Bass, Harmony Vocals, Acoustic Guitar: Larry Marrs (Marty Stuart, George Jones, Martina McBride, Ricochet, Tracy Byrd) - Electric Guitars: James Mitchell (Dierks Bentley, Cledus T. Judd, Alan Jackson) - Pedal Steel: Robby Turner (Dixie Chicks, Waylon Jennings, Gary Allan, Traviss Tritt), Piano & Keyboards Garland Craft (Oak Ridge Boys, T. Graham Brown, Bellamy Brothers) - Dobro & Harmonica: Mike Douchette (Alabama, Tammy Wynette, George Jones) - Fiddle: Kim Marrs (Nashville String Kings).

Musical consciousness: I was born just south of Golden, BC - Canada in 1966 , and it took me until 1972 to "register" that music was not a static thing. I remember hearing The Eagles - Take It Easy, in 1972, and my musical roots and consciousness were born. When I reflect, I think the next song that really "hit" me was Dolly Parton - Jolene. From this was a established a base for the type of music that I was most attracted to. Then it was onto Bob Seger, Steve Miller, Poco, Charlie Daniels Band, and Johnny Cash for me. Something in the lyrical landscapes was pulling me in.

The radio days: I took my first radio job in Yorkton, Saskachewan at GX-94 in 1985. I used to spend hours in the music library listening to every record that came in the post from record companies and independent artists every week. There were literally stacks of new music. The station was driving a hybrid/cross-over format, leaning on the country side...meaning submersion into the music of Travis Tritt, Marty Stuart, Kevin Welch, Randy Travis, Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, Dan Seals, Exile, Sawyer Brown, the Eagles and hundreds of others. My radio career spanned 12 years in different parts of western Canada hosting morning & afternoon shows, programming music, and working long hours in the production studio. This became a foundation for my writiing, and my desire to make sound come alive. I got serious with the guitar and my writing in 1996, and that was the beginning of this project

The Songwriter/Artist

The perfect song: I write story songs with a lot of visual landscape about people, places, situations, love, pain, and the whole damn thing. My ambition is to write the perfect song...one that reels you in from first breath and note to last, and causes you to hit the "start" button again, and again, and again...

Authenticity: I appreciate artists who's performances shine through their music. Springsteen & Bono deliver raw, and true energy on the stage, not cloned choreography. I'm inspired by their authenticity & inject as much of that type of energy into my performance as possible. Not as a copy, but because that is the person that I am. It comes from the songs, and music.

Influences: I grew up listening to the Eagles, Kenny Rogers, Deep Purple, Steve Miller, Boston, Scorpions, Eddie Rabbit, Charlie Daniels, Waylon & Willie, April Wine, Prism, Johnny Paycheck, Dire Straits, Bob Seger, Van Halen, Led Zepplin, Dolly Parton, Kenny Rogers, AC/DC and a broad mix to extremes. Because of my time in the radio business, I was exposed to every great country artist - and writers too numerous to mention that have hooked me, reeled me in, and netted me on country shores. To name a few: Marty Stuart, Johnny Cash, Vince Gill, Rodney Crowell, Kevin Welch, Steve Earle, Dwight Yoakam, Radney Foster, and a thousand others songwriters who have climbed the mountain and humble me with their craft and courage to pursue a life in songwriting.