Radio Orange, Vol. 1

Over the years, I’ve worked with numerous recording artists — designing CDs, DVDs, logos, shirts, hats, stickers, posters, programs, collector edition tickets, hats, drum decals, stencils… you name it.  What started as a personal passion became a rewarding part of my professional career. I’m frequently asked how I got into music-related design work — I think it is the result of years of providing design work for indie and emerging artists and building strong relationships with everyone involved from the artists to the management to the labels to the cd replicators, screen printers, etc. I think it blossomed because I love music, I go to shows, I genuinely engage with the local music community. After 20 years, I still design CDs and other merchandise for several artists that have worked with me for as long as I can remember.

The following is a select list of artists for whom I’ve designed that I think you might like — the Rolling Stones said it best, “It’s only rock n’ roll but I like it!” The links provided are direct to iTunes, ENJOY!

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Caroline Aiken

Independent to the bone with 7CDs, and a Grammy nomination for a Contemporary Folk CD Grammy in 2006. Her performances, direct and sincere, are known for spawning a high level of infectious energy, and those that have heard her perform live, leave wanting more. At home on both guitar, piano and harmonica, her genre spans many styles, from rock/blues/folk/country, piano ballads to finger style guitar picking, all accompanied by her rich and soulful voice.

Favorite tracks: Another on the Rise, Good Intentions, Love Ain’t Goin’ Nowhere

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Molly Bancroft

Solo projects

Lift (alt rock band)

Award-winning singer/songwriter and guitarist/producer Molly Bancroft has tasted quite a bit in her life so far as a musician. Molly has received critical acclaim for her 2 solo records, 3 releases from her band LIFT, and more recently for collaborations with internationl DJs — most notably co-writing and performing Gabriel and Dresden’s #1 Billboard hit single Tracking Treasure Down — this success has led to Molly’s voice and catchy songwriting chops being noticed and sought after worldwide.

Collaborations

• Tracking Treasure Down (#1 Billboard hit), “Let Go,” “Closer” and “Dust in the Wind”with Gabriel and Dresden
• Just Like You Said with John Shelvin
• In the Dark with Morgan Page
• Not Alone with Gianluca Motta
• Fountains of Youth with Loverush UK
• No More Mistakes and Wait for a Moment with Phynn
• LOVE THIEVES EP Sparks with singer/songwriter/producer Adrianne

Favorite tracks: Tracking Treasure Down (Gabriel and Dresden), Mesmerize (Lift), Wait (Lift), Hey Cheri

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Dickey Betts

Best known as a founding member of The Allman Brothers Band, he was inducted with the band into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1995 and also won with the band a best rock performance Grammy Award for his instrumental “Jessica” in 1996. Recognized as “one of the most influential guitar players of all time”, he had early on in his career one of rock’s finest guitar partnership with the late Duane Allman introducing melodic twin guitar harmony and counterpoint which “rewrote the rules for how two rock guitarists can work together, completely scrapping the traditional rhythm/lead roles to stand toe to toe” Dickey Betts was ranked #58 on Rolling Stone’s 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time list in 2003.

Favorite Tracks: Jessica, Ramblin’ Man (Allman Brothers)

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Michael Bolton

Michael Bolton (born February 26, 1953) is an American singer-songwriter and a former hard rock singer. Best known for his soft rock ballads and tenor vocals, few people know he is a former hard rock singer. His achievements include eight top ten albums, two number one singles on the Billboard charts, and awards from both the American Music Awards and Grammy Awards.

Favorite Tracks: Lean on Me, How Am I Supposed to Live Without You, When a Man Loves a Woman

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The Funk Brothers

The Funk Brothers have “played on more number-one hits than The Beatles, Elvis Presley, The Rolling Stones, and The Beach Boys combined” and are featured in Paul Justman’s 2002 documentary film Standing in the Shadows of Motown, based on Allan Slutsky’s book of the same name.

The Funk Brothers is the nickname of the musicians who performed the backing to most Motown Records recordings from 1959 to 1972. The Funk Brothers played on Motown hits such as “My Girl”, “I Heard It Through the Grapevine”, “Baby Love”, “Signed, Sealed, Delivered I’m Yours”, “Papa Was a Rollin’ Stone”, “The Tears of a Clown”, “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough”, and “(Love is Like a) Heat Wave”.

Standing in the Shadow of Motown

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Michelle Malone

An Internationally acclaimed rock music and blues singer-songwriter and guitarist, Malone “churns up those Southern roots with the vigor of Lucinda Williams while embracing her inner Keith Richards” (PLAYBOY MAGAZINE). “Why Michelle Malone hasn’t knocked the likes of Sheryl Crow and Bonnie Raitt off of their roots-rock and blues pedestals blows the mind. (THE VILLAGE VOICE)

Over the course of her 20 year career, Malone has won numerous awards including Best Female Vocalist(4x) and Best Acoustic Guitarist (2x)(Creative Loafing), Album of the Year (Atlanta Magazine). Her CD’s Sugar Foot and Debris were both on the Grammy ballot for best Contemporary Blues and Best Americana Albums respectively. Her songs have appeared in movies (Bam Bam and Celeste, All Over Me, Shotgun Jesus) and television (Dawson’s Creek, Felicity, Brooklyn South), and have been recorded by Indigo Girls, Antigone Rising, and the Hip Hop group Vistoso Bosses.

Favorite tracks: Teen Lament, Redemption Dream, Grace, Blue Suede, The Edge

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Angela Motter

Motter’s first recording, a pop-jazz single “Secret Lover” from the compilation album “Best of the Jazz Flavours Cats IV” (Primedia), received heavy airplay in Atlanta and on the nationally syndicated radio show “Jazz Flavours.” Her next recording, “Outta Control,” was acoustic-driven salted with slide guitar and drew praise from both East Coast and West Coast press. Creative Loafing Atlanta’s Jeff Clark hailed it as “swampy, steamy, incredibly sexy.” Motter’s next project, the critically acclaimed album “Pleasure and Pain,” introduced the musician’s very out, very sultry and very accomplished blend of rock, jazz, blues, soul and funk to the world beyond her Atlanta digs. Motter picked up a win that year in the Best Out Recording category for the track “My Mama Told Me” at the Gay and Lesbian American Music Awards (GLAMA)

Favorite tracks: Just Around the Corner, I’m Free, Damn Your Eyes, Out of the Blue

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Nelson

Matthew and Gunnar Nelson are the sons of teen idol Ricky Nelson and grandsons of Ozzie Nelson and Harriet Hilliard from the TV series Ozzie and Harriet. In the early 1990s, Matthew and Gunnar Nelson zoomed to number one with “(I Can’t Live Without Your) Love and Affection,” had three Top 10 singles, four #1 MTV videos, and became massively popular overseas. Every magazine from Rolling Stone to People did cover stories, and the twins performed on television shows like “Late Night With David Letterman” and “Saturday Night Live.”

Favorite tracks: (Can’t Live Without Your) Love and Affection, After the Rain

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Alix Olson

Howard Zinn was once quoted saying “Alix Olson is a brilliant performer, an ingenious poet, a serious thinker, a funny person. She brought me to my feet.” One part peace vigil, one part protest rally, and one part joyful raucous concert, Alix ignites audiences everywhere she performs. Olson’s innumerable stage, broadcast, radio and print appearances include twice headlining HBO’s “Def Poetry Jam” (Russell Simmons), and an inclusion in Utne Magazine’s InRadio compilation. Alix has released 2 CDs and 2 books of her work, is the feature of the documentary film Left Lane by Samantha Farinella and edited “Word Warriors: 35 Women Leaders in the Spoken Word Revolution” (Seal Press, with a foreword by Eve Ensler).

Favorite tracks: America’s on Sale, Womyn Before, Independence Meal

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The Outlaws

The Outlaws are a southern rock band formed in Tampa, Florida in 1967 by late guitarist/vocalist Hughie Thomasson (Lynyrd Skynyrd). The band was the first act signed to Arista Records under Clive Davis.

Favorite Tracks: There Goes Another Love Song, Green Grass & High Tides, Riders in the Sky

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Doria Roberts

A regular on the national singer/songwriter circuit, Doria Roberts creates songs that have been described as “a delicious, bohemian blend of folk, jazz and pop”. Doria’s versatility as a songwriter and entertainer is never lost whether she is performing solo or with her band.

Favorite Tracks: Perfect, Restoration, Dying Man’s Wish (It’s 5am), Hold on Me

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Shaw/Blades

Shaw–Blades is Tommy Shaw of Styx and Jack Blades of Night Ranger (and both from Damn Yankees). It is an informal duo which has produced two albums — “Hallucination” “Influence”, the latter of which consisted solely of cover songs that influenced them. Both members still principally record and perform with the acts which made them famous.

Favorite Tracks: Your Move, Time of the Season

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STYX

If you are not familiar with Styx, you probably have not listened to the radio in the last 30 years! Legendary classic rockers Styx were, and still are — a hugely popular and influential American progressive rock band whose multi-platinum albums of the 1970s and 1980s placed several Top 10 singles into the Billboard charts including “Lady”, “Come Sail Away”, “Renegade”, “Babe”, “Crystal Ball”, “Miss America”, “The Best of Times” and “Mr. Roboto”. From 1977 to 1981, Styx released four consecutive albums that have been certified Multi-Platinum (signifying at least 2 million units sold) by the RIAA: The Grand Illusion, Pieces of Eight, Cornerstone, and Paradise Theatre. They were the first band recognized to have achieved this feat when the RIAA began certifying Multi-Platinum albums in 1984.

Favorite Tracks: Renegade , Come Sail Away, Too Much Time on My Hands, Fooling Yourself

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Beth Wood

The Fort Worth Star-Telegram calls Beth “a superb singer-songwriter whose versatility discourages labeling. So, call it what you will, but listen with mind and heart wide open, and you may just find yourself transformed. If you ask Beth to describe her music, she might just shrug. Some have called it folk, pop, folk-pop, country-folk, Americana, etc. Beth prefers to say it is soulful, organic, free-range, barefoot music delivered through a high energy communicator of joy.

Favorite Tracks: 1952 Vincent Black Lightning, Clean Up (Before I Change My Mind), At Last, 1500 Times