Folk Rock Country Roll by Billy Random

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NOTE* for stereo hi-fi, the option on on this page is to listen to "all songs" broadband!!

(if you click on any of the individual song, you will get lo-fi mono and miss the spread and sonic perspective)

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An original singer/songwriter, Billy has been tagged by the press for his recordings and live appearances, both solo and with bands during the years. Among the notices:

"Ferocious as an AK-47, loving as a prayer" Lance Loud, Exposure Magazine

"Arresting, heartfelt, lyrical...should not be missed" Tomm Carroll, Copley Newspapers

"Touching...written and performed with vibrancy." Goldmine Magazine

"Passionate and fiercely original" Santa Monica Bay News

"Thought provoking lyrics...intense and intelligent" LA Weekly

"Smart, catchy...works like gangbusters." Tony Peyser, Santa Monica Mirror

"...Sweet and open and heartfelt and lovely. Pastoral lyrics..." Hank Rosenfeld, Santa Monica Sun.

...and Hank,(as Henry Rosebuds,) cultural icon/historian and air personality and for KSAN, San Francisco, and WXRK in NYC, and currently still active in radio from Los Angeles, as well as in print.

Recorded variously in Los Angeles, Nashville, Seattle and northern New Hampshire...

“Down The Road” written and sung this past Autumn in Seattle, where Billy is now living and working.

When not going it solo here, along with Billy's vocals, guitars and harmonica on this project, he is joined on several selected tracks, by Mike Johnson (Big & Rich, Trace Adkins) on pedal & lap steel, Grammy award winner Chris Kent on bass and drummer Brian Fullen (Shania Twain, Vince Gill, SheDaisy.) Killer bass on most of the band tracks is Mark Hill.

Hank Singer on fiddle. Michael Lewis (Rushing Wind Music in Nashville) adds lead guitar. Michael Black (The Jordinaires,) along with Gary Pigg (Neil Young, Jackson Browne) add harmony vocals. Stan Becker plays bass on "Iris" and keys on "Always Welcome." Guitarist Mike Durham (Dwight Yoakam) makes an appearance.

Folk Rock Country Roll represents a bit of a musical and geographic ‘walkabout’ for Billy, though there is a continuity of style and intention. Further credits are on www.billyrandom.com and the cd insert itself, which you will soon have in your hot little hands, will you not?

The music will speak for itself, in the way of these things…

But for a short while here, we’ll leave a casual bio:

Born and raised in the Sheepshead Bay section of Brooklyn, New York and later to Rockaway, NJ.

Played the vile and wondrous North Jersey clubs, mixing covers with large amounts of Random/Becker material.

After a time studying at AADA & living on East 30th in Manhattan, it was up to the Back Bay section of Boston for awhile but aiming toward Bethlehem, NH...and other villages "north of the notch" in northern New Hampshire's White Mountain range, and also into the the Green Mountains in the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont, directly across the rivaah. You go North of Franconia Notch into the White Mountains, and if it gets you good, you don’t come back for a good long while…if ever…and not as the same person you went in as.

“Snowtime” talks a bit about it. Track Two.

While recording demos in southern Vermont, Billy is encouraged by producers Craig Leon & engineer Dave Baldwin, who helped secure management and a relocation to los angeles.

California for a long, long while, home was 2nd street, a block north of Ocean Park, in a small cottage for many years. Two blocks from the dolphins. On the border with Venice Beach...

Writer, lead singer and guitarist with his popular Los Angeles based band, The Mayflower Slaves (also featuring Stan Becker) in the 90's, Billy was frequently received by standing room only crowds at clubs from the Sunset Strip to to Venice Beach, (& also delivered a memorable performance for several thousands at the historic Santa Monica Civic auditorium.)

Billy, with most of The Slaves, also released an indie CD produced by Charles Bouis (engineer for Eric Clapton, Rod Stewart and many others,) that brought them much airplay on L.A.'s mega watt KLOS, where they were regularly featured on "Local Licks" and almost invariably, the "Best of Local Licks" monthly shows, based on listener responses.

Billy also played many solo acoustic shows in Boston, New Hampshire & Vermont as well as L.A.

In 2001, Billy began to issue a series of indie CD's and has recorded with piano genius Tommy Mars, (Frank Zappa) and producer/singer/multi-intsrumentalist Tim Luce, among others; and the press notices continued:

"smart, catchy...works like gangbusters...a calling card that fellow up-and-coming musicians will covet." Santa Monica Mirror

"...Sweet and open and heartfelt and lovely. Pastoral lyrics..." Hank Rosenfeld, columnist for the Santa Monica Sun, and, as Henry Rosebuds, former jock for KSAN, San Francisco, and the mighty WXRK in NYC.

Billy then moved back to his wild country mountain roots in Bethlehem, and began working on a poetry collection, “Venom Honey Crunch,” in addition to continuing with his proliferate song output.

Then it was off to Nashville for two years, fresh from that small mountain village of Bethlehem, (right in the shadow of Mount Washington) in the rugged rural wilds of the White Mountain National Forest in northern New Hampshire, just over the rivaah from the great Northeast Kingdom of Vermont.

Prior to this new release, and during his L.A. years with The Mayflower Slaves, there was a series of ongoing and particularly well attended live shows on the Westside and the Sunset Strip.

Many acoustic solo appearances as well; The Palomino in the valley to Melrose, & back to the Westside...

...variously played for thousands at the SM Civic and has played solo for as few as 3 and as many as 1700.

"Silhouette" CD with Stan Becker, and assorted Mayflower Slaves, gets distributed thru Tower Record stores from Santa Barbara to San Diego...and sold at performances.

KLOS Los Angeles' (then featured) ace jock Joe Benson, played the Slaves regularly on Local Licks...and 'Best of Local Licks'...where the listeners called in to vote...

...a lot of mega wattage to take a hot holy ride on in the greater los angeles megalopolis.

ty joe benson.

Big motorcycle. Big jobs. Big town. movie crews and write the news...and everything in between....Big deal. A little rock band. A scrape or two it’s fair to say.

Every area of that city after midnight on that motorcycle.

"do you see her now" from 'billy says hey' ep appears on "Simplicity" cd, for The American Youth Wellness Fund, a benefit collection featuring selected Venice & Westside bands in 2002. The community embraces (and inspired by!) lovely Becca, and her enormous graciousness. Hats off to Dagger Media. This song is re-mastered & reprised on “Folk Rock Country Roll”

Earthquakes, deserts, wildfires and sea…up the canyons, down thru east l.a. and outward toward the Mojave after cruising the Los Angeles Crest Mountains and writing songs into the helmet.

Back to Bethlehem, back up into the mountains...bottom tip of SW to top of NE...

the very top.

fields of white, bounteous, brutal, lovely...

…right in the shadow of Mount Washington) in the rugged rural wilds of the White Mountain National Forest in northern New Hampshire, just over the rivaah from the great Northeast Kingdom of Vermont. North of Franconia Notch, not far from the Canadian border.

...Alooga radio in Germany picks up "class war" into regular rotation on one of their stations, for months on end...

...appearances on historic WGDR, Goddard College radio in Plainfield, Vermont, performing live and reading excerpts from "Venom Honey Crunch" poetry collection...

and on 'The Studio' program with (Mojomusicstudio) Joe from Franconia and syndicated out on to indie stations all over the world, again and again. Thank you Joe & Anthony...

...solo appearances in Vermont and northern NH, and recording in Bethlehem & Franconia, mastering down nyc...a full circle...but many a mile more to go...

...down to Tennessee for a year or two…

working the songwriter venues & recording the songs.

living ten minutes to the Row, ten minutes to the 'bird, ten minutes to Warner Park Equestrian Center (& bluegrass nights)...

10 or 15 minutes downtown to Broadway on a hot August night.

"tennessee...

...sounds good to me"

still on the back plate.

"live free or die" on the front.

all of 'em expired...but the boy's still on the road & that's the way it is...

Summer '06 in Seattle area:

a pristine and pastoral island on the puget sound...

horse whinny on a cool summer's night,

happy in the meadow dreaming apple delight...

bareback, no saddle, no blanket, no bit, not even a halter...sometimes he just has to run, so he'll come by and let me know...he's got me figured.

...across the waters on the ferry to record a new one & currently Settled in Seattle.

whoa..."rainbirds" should be on the radio here any minute!!!

whirlwinding it...a whole bag of new songs to record...puttin' all the elements together...

and what the road don't scrape off of him is all yours.

How’s that for a bio?

americana sushi.

folk rock country roll.

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