Monday, February 12, 2007

More Music News - The Piedmont Shieks



What a great weekend. Jenny and I watched a few movies, slept in, went to a party where I played the blues, got drunk and had my finger chomped on by a very large parrot named Goldie.

I also got news from my agent that we're moving to another agency (more on that later) and then Sunday we saw Valentino and the Piedmont Shieks. That's them up there, with Daniel Valentino on harp, Chris Berry on guitar, Tracy Wieback on bass and Ed Myzynski on drums. (I have to come clean here. I am a committed Ed Head. Not only is he an amazingly tasteful drummer, he's also a regular reader of the Planet. Say hi, Ed.)

I could tell you how good these guys are, but you can hear them yourself. Go to YouTube, search for the Piedmont Shieks and you'll find a dozen or so cuts. They're also here: Myspace.com/thesheiks. Check 'em out.

Daniel's tone knocks me out. He's got that big fat tongue slap, backed by seriously smooth vibrato (very hard to get right, by the way), and his whole approach is like opening up a big ass can of 1952.

Again, if you have a chance to see these guys, do it. You won't be disappointed.

Play the blues, boys.

3 comments:

Daniel Hatadi said...

That's some damned fine harp there. Sounded like a chromatic?

David Terrenoire said...

Daniel,

He plays a diatonic, Marine Band, I think, although it could be a Blues Harp. He tongue blocks giving him that octave thing that fattens the sound. He kicks some serious ass. Check out his other stuff.

Daniel Hatadi said...

Tongue blocking. That's why I thought it sounded like a chromatic. My piece of choice is a Lee Oskars. A couple of hertz higher than concert pitch, and I've never had to wet one to get it to sing.

So ... anyone else know what we're talking about? :)