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STRATEGY FOR THE DAY: Chime in.

On Tuesday evening, I went to a performance by singer-songwriter, Beth Wimmer at the Temple Bar in Santa Monica. I had heard her album "Live Within, Live Without" and was impressed with the production, vocal performance and songwriting in general. She mixes the melodic appeal of Sheryl Crow and the rolling energy of Fleetwood Mac's "Rumours" style with lyrics that move easily from relationship songs like "Move On" to the spriritual message of of "The Wheel." Beth's vocals onstage are as powerful as her performance on the album. Her stage presence is relaxed and friendly and she moves smoothly from one memorable song to the next. Her full one-hour set is consistently strong and entertaining. Although she usually performs solo, on this particular night she had an outstanding backup band whose credits read like a who's who of Alt Country. David Raven is one of the finest drummers on the scene today. His solid groove and tasty fills provide the kind of backing that singers pray for, Billy Watts on lead guitar and Taras Prodaniuk on bass were both superb. Raven most recently played on the soundtrack for "Brokeback Mountain" and co-produced Wimmer's CD. you can hear Beth's music at CDBaby.com. My pick: "Move On"!!! A great song with the potential to be a hit single in the Alt Country genre.

Besides visiting a couple of clubs to hear local musicians, I've been teaching songwriting workshops at Pasadena City College and El Camino College where I met some very talented, motivated people. I am looking forward to seeing some of them for private song and career coaching. A number of my clients are now at the stage where they are getting ready to demo some very strong songs.

There's a new recording of 'Been Smoking Too Long' that will be released in March. The artist is Jeffrey Fielder, the label is Chroma Sound out of Seattle, Washington, a city that has produced some outstanding singer-songwriters. I'm looking forward to hearing it - the folks at Chroma are very excited about this release.

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Read A Brief History Of Love Songs by Robin Frederick at the Sound Experience Music web site.

Copyright 2006 Robin Frederick. All rights reserved.