Great NW Music Preview

Southern Nights CD

by Michael P. Jones

[NOTE: The "Great Northwest Music Preview" will be a regular feature in Positively Entertainment. Send your CDs and any promotional materials to Great Northwest Music Preview, P.O. Box 398, Rhododendron, Oregon, 97049. Be sure to include a pricelist, any shipping costs, and ordering information. Please note that none of the materials can be returned, nor is it guaranteed that all submissions will be reviewed.]

Southern Nights Volume 1: Americana

Southern Nights is a trio that hails from the Portland metropolitan area and does things right. Whether they are up on stage or in a studio, or just creating a package for their CD, they give their best and it comes through loud and clear.

The new CD, titled Southern Nights Volume 1: Americana, has been released just in time for the new millenium. It features 13 outstanding songs, all new, written in 1999. Eleven of the tunes were written by Wayne Richards, with Maybe and When We Were Young co-written by Richards and Karolyn Laster.

Southern Nights consists of Wayne Richards, Carolyn Laster and Cheri Brown, three incredibly talented individuals who have gained recognition as their music increases in momentum. For the past several years, Southern Nights has performed at the prestigious Stormy Weather Arts Festival on the Oregon Coast; their performances also dominated the Great Northwest Music Stage at the Cascade Geographic Society's increasingly popular "Mount Hood Huckleberry Festival & Barlow Trail Days" and at the "Mount Hood Salmon & Mushroom Festival."

Wherever they perform, audiences love them. Perhaps it's their particular style of new folk that features all original songs that touch everyone. Perhaps it's their blend of outstanding guitar work with beautiful harmonies that seem to invoke continuous reveries once they stop performing on stage, or when the recording halts, as in the case of this CD.

The Southern Nights trio consists of a blend of individuals whose talents appear to be seemingly unlimited. If the CD offers any sort of proof to this truth with it's new folk mood harnessed with an interesting and strong dose of countrified flavor, then you can hopefully expect even more recording projects in the future.

All the vocals were performed by Richards, Laster and Brown, with Richards on guitar. However, assisting on the CD were a number of people who are not only talented musicians, but also great friends of the three. They wanted to lend a hand in making this recording project a reality. They include Ken Brewer on fancy guitar; Arlene Hale on bass; Tracy Grammer on violin and mandolin; Mike Pearson on piano and organ; Dave Griffith on flute and wind synthesizer; Gary Watters on synthesizer and keyboard; Mark Evilsizer on percussion and drums; and Doug Fulton on harmonica.

Soup Surprise, the lead song on the CD, is a good illustration of Richards' work as a songwriter, with clever lyrics accompanied by country-flavored music, not to mention an appropriate illustration of a can of "Soup Surprise" inside the accompanying song booklet. It's a great beginning to an impressive recording.

So Easy is probably the best song and it rightfully deserves this credit since it made it into the finals of the Portland Songwriters Association's Showcase Finals.

Maybe, written by Richards and Laster, as well as their other jointly-written song, When We Were Young, are two other favorites. Both are possessed of lyrics that will be long remembered by listeners as thought-provoking poetry.

Country Love is equally as good as any other stand-out song on the CD. Written by Richards, this tune portrays love and is masterfully crafted with lyrics that are interwoven into some interesting country-folk instrumentation that accents the song's message of simple living and appreciating the love that goes along with it.

Southern Nights Volume 1: Americana was produced, engineered, and mastered by the person the trio describes as "the patient, gifted genius of Gary Watters aka Pat Doro" of Take The Lid Off Productions. An impressive recording project, Watters has captured this threesome perfectly on disc.

Richards has a long tradition of performing, recording, and publishing. He is one of the founders of the Portland Music Association and currently serves as its president. A dedicated tunesmith, Richards has written hundreds of songs. One of his tunes, So Easy, placed in the finals for the Portland Songwriters Association Showcase, while Blossoms of May took second at the Dallas Texas Songwriters All-State Gospel Competition.

Laster is the second member of Southern Nights and is the primary promoter of her trio. She is also an accomplished writer and radio talk host who is always in demand as a studio singer. Laster is a national award-winning singer who possesses an impressive range to her voice that has almost a magical quality to it. She was a member of a Regional Touring Champion Accapella Quartet and was invited to perform at the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall and at the Superdome in New Orleans. But her main talent clearly is when she is on stage or in the recording studio performing as a member of Southern Nights, capturing the songs with her beautiful harmonies or lead vocals.

Brown is the third member of the trio. An accomplished singer with impressive credentials, she was a member of the four-time Regional Champion Accapella Chorus in which her group was selected to perform in the multi-ethnic "Good In The Hood" production. She was also accepted as one of Portland's famous "Singing Christmas Tree" performers, and toured and performed in Europe. Brown is well-known for her beautiful vocals and perfect sense of timing, wonderful range and world-class ear for music. She has opened for such entertainers as Manhattan Transfer as well as Roy Clark. Her role in Southern Nights brings an amazing range of experience and vocal gifts to the trio.

To order the CD Southern Nights Volume 1: Americana, send a check or money order for $15 (plus $3 for shipping) to: Green Swings Productions at P.O. Box 82267, Portland, Oregon, 97282.

For touring and booking information on Southern Nights, also contact Green Swings Productions by calling (503) 257-0643. You can reach them via electronic mail at so_nights@yahoo.com or see Bandstand for more information.

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