Seven Falls by Tony Hall

How can I put my music out in hopes that it will be heard without the workings and backing of corporate machinery? Well for starters I'm not trying to conquer the world. I'm just doing what I love, I've played music all of my life (starting w/ piano at age 6). I perform and teach music for a living. This CD is the culmination of over ten years of songwriting effort, and I've selected the best songs from this period for the recording. I performed all vocals, guitars, electric bass, harmonica, and some percussion, as well as produced and arranged it. My friend, the incredible Jerry McBroom, played drums and percussion, and I also recruited several prominent Louisville,Kentucky based musicians to play on the CD. The music encompasses elements of folk, country, blues, rock, and jazz. These influences may seem disparate, but in my 30+ years of listening to and playing music I've wandered the gamut. Music is another form of human communication- not that we're the only species capable of producing it(obviously). If the music was good and it spoke to me that's all that mattered.

I hope that my music "speaks" to & you 'll like my music enough to add to your CD collection(or download to your ipod or other type of mp3 player) by listening to the samples on this page, or maybe you've already heard some of the songs on the radio. Higher quality mp3 samples of all 10 songs from the "Seven Falls" CD can be heard @ www.mgk7.com- just go to the "Music" page.

By the way the title "Seven Falls" comes from a Buddhist saying "seven falls, eight rises". I'm a firm believer in that in life it's not the number of times that you fall(falling/failing is inevitable) down that counts, but that the number that you get up is greater.

Hear Seven Falls on these radio stations: KRFC 88.9FM (CO), WBRS 100.1FM (MA), WHFC 91.1FM (MD), KMSU 89.7FM (MN), WPTS 92.1FM (PA), WAMH 89.3FM (MA), WDBX 91.1FM (IL), WRGW (D.C.), KBBI & KDLL (AK), WEBR (VA), WERU (ME), WWUH (CT), Aiiradio.com, as well as in England, Germany, Belgium, Japan, and Australia.

Here's what some of the music critics are saying about

"Seven Falls":

---"Louisville's Tony Hall makes you think a bit of Tom Petty’s more acoustic based music with this, his first solo recording. There is also a subtle Dave Matthews undercurrent especially when he turns the musicianship up a notch in songs like “The Long Way” and “Dire.” This is basically feel good music, very well-written with innovative touches and intelligent lyrics." - Mark E. Waterbury, Music Morsels: March 2006

---"Tony Hall, a local singer/songwriter, dedicates almost every strum of his acoustic guitar on his album "Seven Falls" to love lost and finding love again. Hall's folky goodness seems sincere and he never tries to overreach...Hall's acoustic arrangements are solid and sure...touches of color, such as the slide guitar on "Hostage" and the lively brass on "Puerto Rico" bring the songs' own luster to light, and Hall is mindful to let them shine on their own." -Velocity, 3/29/06

---"Singer / song-writer /guitarist Tony Hall smacks a home run on this sterling sophomore effort. A classicist at heart (his influences range from Dylan to Petty) with an eye on contemporary pop (check out the funky, neo-psychedelic 'Dire' replete with a wicked hip-hop tinged intro), Hall spins thought-provoking tales of the human condition with subtle melodies, expert musicianship, and refreshingly economic arrangements. A swampy three-to-the-bar dirge 'Hostage' is further illuminated by a quasi-Jimi Hendrix-like break in the solo section (dig the resolution on the last downbeat). Tyrone Wheeler's warm upright bass sweetens 'Pearl/This Is The Sea.' The swinging horn parts atop 'Puerto Rico'; Jerry McBroom's rapid fire snare patterns pushing 'Lost Lovers, Old Tires, Junk Cars; and the harmonica melodies meshing with Mike Schroeder's mandolin (note the toy piano licks!) are among the many, many musical highlights. 'Seven Falls' emerges as an acoustic pop album that certainly stands with anything Dave Matthews, Citizen Cope, and Sheryl Crowe are filling the arenas with."- Tom Semioli, Minor7th.com: 11/12 '05 Reviews

---"Seven Falls" is the first solo release by singer/songwriter Tony Hall. It follows familiar themes of love, loss and learning with a personal touch about those universal messages."- FOX Television (go to www.mgk7.com to see a clip of the Tony Hall Band performing live)

---"Tony shows a fine sense of melody and hooks to hang his words on...this is particularly evident on the best song on the album, the final track, a medley of an original, 'Pearl' and the Waterboys' 'This is the Sea'. Weighing in at nearly ten minutes and with prominent vibraphone this is like a meeting of the aforementioned (Lloyd)Cole and Tim Buckley and is reason enough to buy this album."- Paul Kerr, Americana UK

---" 'Wide Open Day' from Tony Hall's Seven Falls CD on Magik 7 Records has been added to the Mojo Dreams playlist."- Mark Vebert, Radio Sinaii(105.5FM), Belgium

---"It's no stretch to imagine dialing up WFPK(91.9 FM) in

Louisville and hearing any or all of these songs."- LEO Weekly

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