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New Music Spotlight: |
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Rock / Pop / Rock | ||
Johnny Bennett is our newest featured artist. He comes from Nashville, TN and with him; he is bringing Rock & Soul. Johnny’s style is also his biggest appeal as he nicely blends rock and pop into his own flavor. If you think that this is great, wait until you hear Johnny’s newest effort, Red Light Room. One of my favorite tracks, Exit Sign, really shows the diversity that Johnny Bennett has when he performs. I am excited to bring you this feature in our pages. Check out a conversation with Johnny Bennett.
Q. What aspect of making music excites you the most right now?
A. Right now, I am very excited to have Manny Marroquin i.e. Usher/Alicia Keys etc. remixing a track on my new release "red light room". It’s always great to see where someone else takes one of my songs.
Q. What aspect of making music gets you the most discouraged?
A. I think it's the waiting period between when a song is written and when it gets produced which for me has been several years in some cases. It’s always the money side of it that keeps the songs in limbo.
Q. What are you up to right now, music-wise? (Current or upcoming recordings, tours, extravaganzas, experiments, top-secret projects,etc).
A. I am currently promoting my new release "red light room" with plans to start touring in the Southeast by Dec/Jan.
Also in the early stages of cutting a full length CD with long time collaborators Erik Asness and Gabe Ford in San Francisco in the Spring of next year.
I am also putting together what will be my next solo release which I hope will be recorded next year as well.
Q. What's the most unusual place you've ever played a show or made a recording? How did the qualities of that place affect the show/recording?
A. In the subways of New York, It's a great way to get instant feedback on new songs and also great acoustics.
Q. In what ways does the place where you live (or places where you have lived), affect the music you create, or your taste in music?
A. It comes out in lyrics, names of streets, places of interest, the weather, and most of all the people I've met.
Q. When was the last time you wrote a song? What can you tell us about it?
A. I usually write in pieces and then put them together in groups. The last one I finished was in June "chance meeting" the first track on my new release. It's a slice of meeting someone and giving them a chance to change your life just because.
Q. As you create more music, do you find yourself getting more or less interested in seeking out and listening to new music made by other people...and why do you think that is?
A. I go in phases; I listen to a lot of new and old music when I am not writing. When I write, I tend to stray from listening too much as I am trying to use my voice and sound without to much outside influence.
Q. Lately what musical periods or styles do you find yourself most drawn to as a listener? (Old or new music? Music like yours or different from yours?)
A. I love to find new artists, but "new to me" as there are so many to find. I tend to listen to mellow stuff as I'm usually up to something else and mellow allows me to focus. I love singer songwriters from the 60's /70's.
Q. Name a band or musician, past or present, who you flat-out LOVE and think more people should be listening to. What's one of your all-time favorite recordings by this band/musician?
A. Richard Thompson "bee's wing".
Q. What's the saddest song you've ever heard?
A. Gram Parsons "hot burrito #1
http://www.myspace.com/johnnybennett
Special Thanks to Johnny Bennett for setting this up.
Photo used in this story was created by Bryan Beasley.
