reviews and news

Thomas Hornig - All Of My Life
Review by Brooke Mason

All Of My Life won the 2008 ASCAPlus Pop Award, and deservedly so. This solo debut release features singer/songwriter Thomas Hornig, a Los Angeles based producer/engineer and founder of Tomcat on the Prowl Productions. Hornig has been producing and collaborating with artists for over two decades including Deanna Pino, Marc Platt and most recently Jennifer Quiroz.

All Of My Life features quality production; layering strings, synth, piano, and primarily guitar into pop rock songs that recall Phil Collins, mostly as a solo artist and not the progressive rock that came out of Genesis. The similarities really come through on the vocals with great doubled harmonies on the title track, Your Name and Breathe In. Hornig has been compared previously to Phil Collins and Christopher Cross. This is an accurate appraisal on songs like Say It's Love. I’d also compare Hornig vocally to David Crosby on songs like Alone and Almost Everyday.

The guitar work veers sometimes on folk rock with finger picking and slide guitar on tracks like Worth Fighting For, Fallen and No Ordinary Thing. And although there are shades of Americana at play, the emphasis is on pop rock. Songs like Melody and Everything Else Came Through are more comparable to melodic alternative rock hits by The Rembrandts and Toad The Wet Sprocket.

http://cdbaby.com/cd/thomashornig
Web site: http://tomcatontheprowl.com
Myspace: http://myspace.com/thomashornig

 
  Please wait...

Songsalive! member, Australian artist Yolanda Thomas, has hit the top 40 Aria Charts and had her song LEFT ME DOING TIME chart at number 31. Congrats Yolanda!

Reviewed by Brooke Mason

A Songwriter’s Collage is a shout out to the Nashville A&R to get this singer/songwriter a publishing deal or at least a contract! CJ’s story is an inspiration. Putting herself through school to become a nurse, while nursing the love and passion for music all the while. I listened to A Songwriter’s Collage, with tracks sung by CJ Borden as well as some male vocalists. Borden is gifted enough to be able to write for others on tracks like 21^st Century Fox, American Skies and Sam, but she can definitely hold her own.

I kept thinking Vanessa Williams. Borden has a very classic voice and on songs like Do Again, a beautiful piano driven ballad, I could imagine Borden going on to write and sing romantic movie soundtrack numbers. Yes, she sounds that good and as a songwriter she knows how to cater to an audience and the radio. For example, her track Louis Vuitton is chock-full of pop culture references which would market well in the modern country era of bands like Big & Rich. She could also hold her own against Carrie Underwood’s hit Before He Cheats with her angst driven spurned love song Kissed Me Goodbye and her “Dear John” ballad It Never Crossed My Mind. Borden definitely has an understanding of the current country market and how to appeal to this patriotic fan base; Shine is about a soldier.

 

American Skies is more in the Bruce Springsteen vein, starting in with some harmonica and accordion, with lyrics about farming in Nebraska. Borden knows how to pull all those emotional heart strings a lah Loretta Lynn with her tender understanding of the human condition on songs like the piano based empty nest ballad Cherished One and Sam, about a homeless man in Vegas down on his luck. Here is where you really see Borden’s lyrical prowess come through strongest: “When neon diamonds shine on him tonight/make him feel invincible again/last roll of the dice/one more card/one last vice/fate can deal a lousy hand/just like Sam.”

 

These are very radio friendly songs and Borden is definitely doing it right by collaborating and marketing her material. The singer/songwriter believes A Songwriter's Collage will help her make a better pitch for her songs. Borden says, "It includes a lot of variety. Even though my first love is country I have these pop and rock and Christian songs too, so I have a lot of variety in my writing." Christian, pop and country? It worked for Amy Grant!

  

CJ Borden has performed at the Tennessee State Fair and the world-famous Bluebird Café and resides in Las Vegas where she continues to write pop, country and rock, and is currently looking for performing opportunities.

CD Baby: http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/cjborden

Website: http://www.cjborden.com

Label: Mesa Sand Music/RPJ

One of our Australian Elite Members, TIM JONES, utilized our Touring Map of the World program to come to the States. He recently performed at the Los Angeles Showcase and San Francisco showcase. Tim is also featured on the Songsalive! CD Sampler 10. Congrats Tim for taking on the world stage! Tim is doing a blog of the tour which you can follow on www.myspace.com/timjonesongs

Edgy and sweet is Katie’s story.

Rockin’ Americana, Folky and groovy songs, carried with an angelic voice, delivered by the sumptuous Katie Garibaldi, in her 6^th release “Next Ride Out” – this is a CD to be heard!

It starts with the tasteful, yet quirky Folk/Americana song Say The Word, that sets the scene for this journey of an album. The guitars and Katie’s voice really shine in this song and as a young performer (only 25) with such a plethora of recording releases to her name already, she implores her listener, “I’m far from perfect / do you think that I’m perfect / Say the word..”. She invites us immediately into her world and we are already hooked to adventure with her. “I like to travel the world with my guitar strap on my back…”, a symbol of her album concept in general – for the music and the concept is about Katie, this shining young artist, ready to go on the road and deliver her songs to the world. Say The Word is surely a radio friendly song.

Second track, Hey, Hey Darlin’ sets the pace for this album as it rises up a notch to a huckabilly style country shuffle, effectively showing off Katie’s strong band (Dave Lockhart on bass, Jake Wood on Drums, Michael Molenda on Guitars (also producer of the album), Michael Gallant on piano and organs, and Tom Luekens on viola and violin, plus organs.

By the third track, A Love Without Chains we’re brought down and into a groovalicious journey, Mississippi style, with a dynamic full band and the nice touch of the female backing vocals. It speaks of a young girl’s yearning for love, and to get it right. This song is equally a radio friendly track. “Can’t Give Anymore”, track 4. I love the hook, and the edginess of the guitar. It’s like a dichotomy of edge and angel, with Katie’s voice so angelic against the quirkiness of the music.

Certainly my favorite song on the album is Without Trying So Hard, because Katie sings to me as if I’m the only person in the room. The production is softer and we really get to see the range of Katie’s gorgeous voice. She sings of love, yet even though we know she is young, it seems so mature, like she has felt the depths of the blues with love. “If I reach deep down in my soul / could I find the grace to forgive / Could I find a way without trying so hard… disappointments they broke me down / and broke me in / but expectations just make me want to rise up and work it out again / must look like a shadow of the woman I used to be / and if you’ve ever been in love chances are you’d sympathize with what’s left of me”

Another single choice is You’ve Already Got Me which is full of rock, vigour and edge, yet again juxtaposed with Katie’s lovely and sweet vocals. It’s this dichotomy of “edgy and sweet” that certainly will create Katie’s signature sound for fans to remember her

But the best song of all, on this album, is Went Too Far (Foot In My Mouth). It is the most quirky of all her songs, and the most unique in production and lyric. This is the song that I feel, if she pushed it, could set her sights on the greater playing level, because it’s left of center and very interesting.

Her voice is almost like Sarah McLaughlin, and a touch of Feist, on a bed of edgy rockin’ grooves, country feels and memorable melodies. Next Ride Out is a strong album that combines the classic Country and Americana sounds, with contemporary rock edginess that lifts you high, and a folk quietness that calms the soul with Katie’s voice. This album is certainly playing with lots of styles but it all works, because all the songs tell a story: Katie’s story. Get it at www.katiegaribaldi.com