Tennessee by Forty Piece Choir

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Anticipated by fall 2006, Forty Piece Choir will release its fourth full length The Profound Nature of Life on its own Cooked County Records. Recorded by the band and mastered by King Size Sound Lab’s Mike Hagler (Wilco, Neko Case, Billy Bragg), the latest album illuminates a raw sound that evokes 1950’s recording artists such as Chuck Berry, Little Richard, and Fats Domino while complimented by their authentic interpretation of diverse musical arrangement. Lyrically poetic, its subject of content celebrates the beauty of life, the nature of death, the energy of love, and their longevity as uncompromising artists with positive appeal. Forty Piece Choir will embark on a November tour of Michigan that will establish the foundation for a series of mini tours supporting the release of the latest record while searching for a distributor in both the U.S. and abroad.

Formed in late 1997, Forty Piece Choir assembled when singers/songwriters/guitarists Dana Okon and Dan Dominiak met in the burgeoning south side coffee house music scene. Sharing compassion for art, life, and humanity’s soul, they combined their musical destinies as one to uplift positive morals through the music of Forty Piece Choir.

The quartet recorded and released its debut full length Salud in 1999 while establishing Cooked County Records. Chicago Sun-Times writer Jim Derogatis proclaimed this debut as a “smart and sophisticated effort with ten lilting atmospheric songs full of sly melodies and enigmatic imagery.” Early 2000 saw the inclusion of Snail On A Star on radio stalwart WKQX’s Q101 Local 101 Volume 2 compilation which included rising Chicago contemporaries Lucky Boys Confusion, Sister Machine Gun, and the J. Davis Trio.

Growing into a septet, Forty Piece Choir’s second full length Face Your Fear was released in 2002 on Cook County Records subsidiary imprint Blue Room Studio. Dynamically recorded by band member and Blue Room Studio owner Edgars Legzdins, Face Your Fear was mixed by the illustrious Brian Deck (Iron & Wine, Califone, Modest Mouse). Deck’s personal touch brilliantly captured the albums massiveness while embracing the spirit of its endowments. Splendid E-zine editor/publisher George Zahora declared “if the remaining members of the Elephant 6 Collective got together to record a spectacular swan song of a record, it might sound a lot like Face Your Fear -- a glorious hodge-podge of bewildering but ultimately complementary influences.”

By 2003 Forty Piece Choir, now a quintet, released its third full length album on Cooked County Records entitled Tennessee. With the assistance of Groovemaster Studio’s John Doyle (Disturbed, Kill Hannah, Plain White T’s), the band produced its most mature recording to date. “Skimming lightly over country and folk on its way to gentle psychedelic rock, the new album is generous with its licks and ideas with their exploration of inner space continuing to favor the celebratory, but the stabs at celestialism are now less cloying than they once were and more complex, seasoned with prog-blues grandeur and timing, keening harmonies, and exhilaratingly wanky guitar solos” recites Monica Kendrick of the Chicago Reader.

Forty Piece Choir is best interpreted through their inspiring live performances that often touch the hearts and minds of their audience. Having performed in popular Chicago clubs like the Empty Bottle, Schubas, Abbey Pub, and Hideout, the band has successfully played in the cities most prestigious venues including House of Blues, Metro, Double Door, and Park West. With showcases at Toronto’s North by Northeast Music Festival and throughout the Midwest, Forty Piece Choir has most recently shared the stage with legendary artists Jackson Browne and Pat MacDonald at Steel Bridge Song Fest II in Sturgeon Bay. The group has graced the stage with an endless list of extraordinary artists including Stars, Gogol Bordello, Waco Brothers, Robbie Fulks, Essex Green, Baldwin Brothers, Leona Naess, Sleeping At Last, Josh Rouse, Umphrey’s McGee, Bo Deans, Dave Mason (Traffic), and Ekoostik Hookah.

“This is a spiritually engaged band, concerned with god and souls and the corrosion of materialism, yet not overly weighted down by these issues. Religion is a part of daily life here, just as music is, and the two are matter-of-factly, unceremoniously entwined.” – Jennifer Kelly (Splendid E-zine)

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