Runaway Favorite by Professor and Maryann

Runaway Favorite, is a gem-albeit a dusky amber topaz or a peridot-beautiful and wonderful, but also not at all usual. . press and fans agree on one thing...Professor and Maryann makes for great music-hands down some of the most wonderful stuff you've never heard"

Rock Reviews

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"This disc may take a few listens to fully sink in, but Rockwood and Brancaccio give you reason to keep returning"

Daily Vault

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"Runaway Favorite lyrically walks down many small town and city roads of the United States, while telling the enigmatic stories of many characters to be found on those journeys.

While his (Rockwood's) song themes tend to be fiction, somewhere inside those crime-inspired tales usually exists a love story.

Rockwood's songs are character-based, with each person having their own special trait

His song writing influences include Cole Porter, George Gershwin and modern artists like Tom Waits.

The mysterious and dark voice of Danielle Brancaccio could not be a better fit for Rockwood's dissonant compositions.

Chorus and Verse

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"Danielle Brancaccio has a truly unique and beautiful voice that is unbelievably perfect for the music that plays around her. I don't think I've heard a better marriage of music and voice then what is contained within these eleven tracks. If you give this a listen, this will be your "Runaway Favorite" of the year"

Smother.net (Editor's Pick)

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" The album opens beautifully with the slow-moving Bible And A Gun. A gently plucked guitar weaves its way around Brancaccio's mellow vocal that's a formidable mix between Buffy St. Marie and Eartha Kitt. It's got to be one of the most distinctive and gorgeous female voices around at the moment . . . a superb album . . . Essential"

Shakenstir -UK

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. . . intelligent adult pop music, written by NYC based guitarist and songwriter Ken Rockwood and singer Danielle Brancaccio, using the identity Professor & Maryann, whose wonderfully husky, world weary and tender vocals dominate. The instrumentation is diverse, violins, theremin and tubas share equal space with the usual band instrumentation and there is a wonderful lightness of touch in the production.

Closer "Ten Tubas" is that rarest of things, a Christmas song that one can listen to without feeling nauseous, never have sleigh bells sounded so appealing.

Professor and Maryann have produced a diverse album of distinct and unusual songs which bear repeated listening. Too late for entry into this writers top 10 albums of the year, this must assume an honourable 11th place

Americana UK (Editor's pick)

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"Their music is intimate and intricate. "Whisper to me" is a sad-eyed lament which allows Brancaccio's sweet voice to take space. "Thick as Thieves" has a lead vocal by songwriter Rockwood, who sings beautifully as well. The song is sweetly melancholic and haunting.

"Roof of the World" is a dreamy song. Brancaccio has such presence that it's like she's in the room with me, whispering her words. The songs melody is lovely and simple. The quirky "World of Clowns" is another chance for Rockwood to sing. He gives a charming performance that suits the circus-inspired song.

The closing "Ten Tubas" is a great Christmas song that avoids trite sentimentality. Brancaccio gives a sultry and compelling performance. Runaway Favourite is a great album"

Luna Kafe/Sweden

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Metaphorical storms have appeared in Ken's lyrics, but real thunder rumbles during "Roof of the World," a slow and sultry song on Professor and Maryann's latest CD, the aptly titled Runaway Favorite . . .As atmospheric as it is intimate, "Roof of the World" presents another place two people go to get away from it all.

In "Bible and a Gun," meanwhile, "two modern day sinners" try to make their getaway, but end up going nowhere fast. "Electric Metropolis" finds the speaker and an unnamed "you" plunging into a city described as a "hidden world," a "busy world," a "surreal world," a "sunken world." Elsewhere, "it's a world of clowns," a three-ring circus you don't want to join. "Every other minute," as another song puts it, "it's the end of the world." The only answer, in "Chariot," is to turn passionate love into a form of motion and ride off. We'll be "thick as thieves" as we make a killing, or something, at the dog track--in fact, as we run like dogs.

"Ten Tubas," the CD's closer, avoids schmaltz and transcends holiday cheer by being funny, catchy, musically daring, and more than a little odd.

That not every listener will appreciate this music, that not every musical subculture will consider it "cool," represents just part of Runaway Favorite's value. As always, Professor and Maryann sound delighted to inhabit their own little world, which fits them perfectly. "I'm just one of the millions who / spend their days dreaming like fools" is a key couplet in Runaway Favorite's "Wish Symphony," an almost trip-hop-like shuffle that could serve as Professor and Maryann's manifesto. "There's a hopeless romantic hanging on the words of a song," it explains. If you're that kind of person, this might be your kind of music.

Perfect Sound Forever (Editor's Pick)

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Professor and Maryann perform regularly at Rockwood Music Hall in New York City. . . . a live music venue dedicated to promoting talented indie artists.

This most sought out venue on the Lower East Side of Manhattan is owned and operated by (Professor) Ken Rockwood. http://www.rockwoodmusichall.com

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