pop | rock

jazz | soft rock

Stephanie Adlington is known as the Siren of the South. She is the creator of an emergence: Jazzicana, old school jazz with American roots and organic compositions, revealing stories of vintage soul.

Growing up in small-town West Virginia, she was immersed in backwoods folklore as she and her Granny trekked to church every Sunday, listening to Hank Williams Sr. and Elvis singing Gospel. Stephanie studied at Carnegie Mellon University’s Eastman School of Music and The Royal Academy of Music, London.

http://www.stephanieadlington.com/

blues | jazz

Dallas Starke is a songbird living in Nashville, who loves to share her love of jazz music and the blues. Influenced by Etta James, Adele, and Aretha Franklin, Dallas respects the classics but loves to add a little contemporary flavor to her sets.

https://dallasstarke.wordpress.com/

blues

Stacy Mitchhart’s Live My Life stakes out bold new territory for the veteran entertainer. The 12-song album mixes down-home blues with a splash of soul to serve as a springboard for his canny storytelling and meanly elegant guitar. Live My Life is a departure from his mostly soul-blues flavored catalog, reflecting Mitchhart’s deepening connection with the genre’s primal Mississippi roots.

Powered by strong, original songwriting and surprises like raw-boned cigar box guitar, Live My Life opens with the grinding blues howler “I Drink Whiskey,” showcasing his dirty licks ‘n’ tricks. The title track, which is also the album’s first video, shines a beacon on the rollicking artist’s newly stripped down approach. The song is among the three tracks that showcase Mitchhart’s cigar boxes, while another side of his playing fuels the instrumental “Soul Stoll,” which teams an elegant, funky soul-blues groove with flashes of jazz and a sinuous melody. The disc’s biggest surprise, besides its unfiltered hard-core blues sound, is Mitchhart’s interpretation of the Beatles’ “Come Together,” which he reinvents as a killer Delta blues.

Live My Life was co-producer by Mitchhart and Scott McEwen at Nashville’s all-analog Fry Pharmacy studio and features the touring band that accompanies Mitchhart for an impressive 275 shows a year, including his famed ongoing residency at Nashville’s Bourbon Street Blues and Boogie Bar.

http://www.stacymitchhart.com/

jazz | pop

Nashville-based guitarist/vocalist/producer, Les Sabler, released his seventh CD in 2014, entitled Jobim Tribute, which he produced in Nashville, Tampa and Los Angeles. It has been very well-received by critics, radio and listeners and reached #1 on Amazon’s Brazilian Jazz and Latin Jazz best sellers one week after its release.
The mix of seven lushly produced vocal tracks and five instrumentals is already receiving high praise from a unique array of tastemaking voices.

Unlike many homages to Jobim, which simply scratch the surface of his catalog, Jobim Tribute delves refreshingly deeper, mining obscure gems amidst the more familiar to engender a fuller understanding of the legend and his music. Complementing Sabler’s exquisite vocals, acoustic guitar playing and thoughtful arrangements throughout Jobim Tribute are contributions by a carefully chosen ensemble of musicians, both old friends and fresh acquaintances, including keyboardist Clay Perry (Julio Iglesias), acoustic bassist Byron House (Robert Plant’s Band of Joy), drummer Celso Alberti (Airto, Flora Purim, Stevie Winwood) and the late Joe Lala (CSNY, Bee Gees).

His 2010 recording, Crescent Shores, spent several months near the top of the jazz and smooth jazz album download charts at Amazon.com, as high as #2 and received substantial international attention. In recent years, Sabler’s recordings continue to receive global radio play, including twelve selections programmed in rotation by Pierre-Jean Lavigneon Canadian music service Galaxie.

In 2007, Sabler released his fourth album, Sweet Drive, produced in Los Angeles by Brian Bromberg. The disc is a varied, soulful body of contemporary jazz, R&B and adult pop music that delivers a master’s class level of musicianship, performance and production on eight thoughtfully composed originals and four carefull-selected classics. Accomplished musicians Jeff Lorber, Eric Marienthal, Ricky Peterson, Vinnie Colaiuta, Alex Acuna and Gary Meek played on the record, while the Jerry Hey-orchestrated horn section added warmth, fullness and explosive energy to the tracks.

Critics praised Sweet Drive and the collection was nominated as Album of the Year at the 2008 Canadian Smooth Jazz Awards. Sabler, who performed at the awards show in March, earned a second nomination as Guitarist of the Year. He also received a nomination as Jazz Artist of the Year at the 2008 Canadian Indie Awards. Smooth jazz radio program, Café Jazz, named Sabler the #1 most played Canadian artist in 2007, while Sweet Drive was the #1 most played album by a Canadian artist, and “Club Street” was the #2 most played single by a Canadian artist.

Like many Canadians, Sabler grew up an avid hockey fan, thus it was a thrill for him to team with vocalist, Marshall Gillon, to perform the U.S. and Canadian National Anthems before numerous games for the Tampa Bay Lightning and Tampa Bay Rays. Together, they have done more than seventy anthem performances over ten seasons.

http://www.lessabler.net/

Richard Griffin

rock & roll | r&b

pop | r&b

Over the last 20 years, flugelhorn and trumpet artist, Michael Fair, has placed himself prominently into the competitive smooth jazz market. Michael has carved a unique niche for himself musically here in the Middle Tennessee area for a couple of reasons. Performing and recording smooth jazz in a city primarily known for country and contemporary Christian music makes him a bit unique, and being notorious for playing the flugelhorn and trumpet make him a Nashville anomaly.

Michael’s partnership with the trumpet began early in his life. At the age of 12, he was given his first horn. It was no time at all until he began playing the songs that he heard his parents listening to by Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass. Michael’s early performances included solo features in school bands. He studied trumpet performance at Middle Tennessee State University and graduated in 1979 with a Bachelors of Music. Early post-
college gigs included the typical frat band circuit, club gigs and casuals. Michael moved to Southern California in 1985 and actually did not touch the trumpet or flugelhorn for two years while pursuing other interests. A move back to Nashville in 1987 seemed as natural as picking the horn back up and joining up with a new band, The Cliff Notes, at the time. Working with this group gave Michael exposure to the Nashville music community, opening up opportunities for both live and session work.

http://michaelfairmusic.com/

Latin rock

Rachel Rodriguez grew up in Michigan, belting out traditional Mariachi and Country music, in her father’s band. He was her biggest influence, and always encouraged her to embrace and infuse all that she is into her music and songwriting. She honed her skills singing in honky tonks, at family events, fiestas and festivals. After years of singing along side her father, Rachel decided it was time to branch out to find her own voice, which brought her to Nashville.

Rachel has established herself, in the Music City, as an enchanting front woman, with her powerful vocals and versatile repertoire. She has taken her musical roots and has created a style of her own. The combination of her Latino heritage, rock ‘n roll attitude and soulful voice give her a unique sound. Since her arrival to Nashville, she’s had the privilege to work and perform with some of the industry’s top talent.

Inspired by the desire to introduce her children to Spanish and their Latino heritage, Rachel wrote, recorded and recently released a bilingual children’s album called “Songs for My Little Amigos.” That, along with her self-titled album, “Rachel Rodriguez,” can be found on iTunes and cdbaby.

In addition to Rachel’s roles as wife, mother, and performer, she also teaches Creative Movement & Music at local pre-schools, volunteers at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum, and is an Alumni member of the WMBA (Women’s Music Business Assoc.).

http://www.rachelrodriguez.com/

pop | soft rock

Tiffany Johnson’s powerful vocals soared from the inside of a house studio in Nashville. She was live recording her rendition of “Somewhere Over The Rainbow” – a song she’s been singing for the past 30 years. Two of these performances were especially memorable. The first was when she sang her little heart out at a community festival in grade school. The second is etched into her mind forever. It’s what she pictured when she closed her eyes in that house studio. It was when she stood atop a roof in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, against the night sky, and sang for a group of humanitarian aid volunteers.

She recorded that song live for her most recent project, Five Minutes More. It is a culmination of Tiffany’s complete singing career. She first traveled with The Bandits when she was eight years old. She’d stand up in front of crowds at country bars in the Southeast and do what she loved most. During her teens and twenties, she toured the country with a gospel group called TRUTH. Her solo career included opening dates for Bob Carlisle, NewSong and Ashley Cleveland. Currently, she can be found singing backup for Nashville’s critically acclaimed Etta Britt, performing in Nashville at various events, including benefits for charities such as Songs For Sound and Soles4Souls and singing regularly at Hopepark Church.

The record includes odes to ex-boyfriends, love songs and even a worship song. But the title track is different. It expresses her desire to have just five more minutes with her late father – a sentiment many can identify with.

tiffanyjohnson.net

nujazz