Thursday, January 28, 2010

Russ Paris' (of Russ & Julie's House Concerts) Favorite Albums & Singles

Russ' Favorite Albums & Singles

http://www.russparis.com/favorites.html


ALBUMS
1. John Batdorf
- Old Man Dreamin'
2. Gravity 180 - Gravity 180
3. John Wort Hannam - Queen's Hotel
4. Timothy B. Schmit - Expando
5. Dan Fogelberg - Love In Time
6. John Fogerty - The Blue Ridge Rangers Rides Again
7. Blame Sally - Night of 1000 Stars
8. Jeff Larson - Heart Of The Valley
9. JaLaLa - That Old Mercer Magic!
10. Various Artists - Keep The Light Alive: Celebrating the Music of Lowen & Navarro

Time The Conqueror & If The World Was You

SINGLES
1. Berkley Hart - She's So Beautiful
2. Gravity 180 - California Blues
3. Keith Urban - Kiss A Girl
4. Blame Sally - Pass The Buddha
5. John Wort Hannam - With The Grain
6. Jeff Larson - Sudden Soldier
7. Rob Thomas - Her Diamonds
8. Timothy B. Schmit - Parachute
9. Mark Knopfler - Get Lucky
10. Kenny Edwards - The Fever


OLD MAN DREAMIN' named one of the Best Releases of 2009 from Pete Fornatale, the host of Mixed Bag

Pete Fornatale

Mixed Bag Host

Best releases of 2009:

  • John Batdorf - Old Man Dreamin'
  • Chad and Jeremy - Ark-eology
  • John Fogerty - The Blue Ridge Rangers Rides Again
  • Mark Knopfler - Get Lucky
  • Lyle Lovett - Natural Forces
  • Willie Nile - House of a Thousand Guitars
  • Carly Simon - Never Been Gone
  • Regina Spektor - Far
  • Bruce Springsteen - Working on a Dream
  • The Subdudes - Flower Petals

http://www.wfuv.org/music/best/bestof09_staff.html

Wednesday, January 27, 2010

Mini-Review and Dutch Radio Play of OLD MAN DREAMIN' - full review to come

This is pretty cool. A little pre-review of Old Man Dreamin' with a full review (and Dutch radio play) to come soon. **** (:

Kippenvel – Ruud Heijjer

http://www.kippenvel.net/?cat=33


Category: English pieces

John Batdorf – Old Man Dreamin’

Posted by Ruud on 26 januari 2010 | No comments

John Batdorf seems a debutant, but almost made it big in the seventies with Batdorf & Rodney. That group made two LPs and scored a hits as Silver later too. After that Batdorf remained active as a songwriter and producer/composer of scores for tv-series. He also issued four CDs with Michael McLean in the nineties.

His solo-EP Side One and his solo-CD Home Again lead to Old Man Dreamin’, for which he wrote with McLean again. Their experience of years results in eleven songs in which Batdorf mixes country rock and folk with catchy melodies.

Batdorf sings lyrics in which he combines his personal life with involvement in both a crystal clear and emotional way, backed by a rootsy band. The layered close harmony background vocals and the firey guitars also make this a CD of a kind of which too few are made.

****

A full review of OLD MAN DREAMIN' from this author/columnist will be published around 15 February in the Dutch roots music magazine "Heaven", and as soon as we receive it, this blog post will be updated to include the full review.

In addition, Ruud Heijjer will also play songs from OLD MAN DREAMIN' in his local radio show and plans to play one of the songs for next Tuesday (Feb 1st) during the first hour. Shows take place on Tuesdays from 21:00 (9pm) to 23:00 (11pm) local Dutch time. Californian time is minus 9 hours. You could listen to shows as streams via 'Uitzending' directly above the picture. Then select a date and an hour. Ruud Heijjer will be playing more tracks from OLD MAN DREAMIN' on future Tuesdays.

Friday, January 15, 2010

John Batdorf is One ‘Old Man’ Who’s Still Got It Going On by Leah R. Garnett in Music After 50


John Batdorf is One ‘Old Man’ Who’s Still Got It Going On

John Batdorf's latest album 'Old Man Dreamin'' is filled with songs that talk both humorously and seriously about aging in a young man's world.

John Batdorf's latest album 'Old Man Dreamin'' is filled with songs that talk both humorously and seriously about aging in a young person's world.

Bob Lefsetz is a notoriously tough customer. A well-known voice in the music industry, he’s been writing the Lefsetz Letter (now a blog) since 1986. Self-described as “beholden to no one and speaking the truth” he is the quintessential fan: an outspoken critic of any form of music that doesn’t serve the listener first and music executives second.

So, when Lefsetz encouraged his readers to take a listen to John Batdorf’s latest album, “Old Man Dreamin,” a lot of people took notice – especially John Batdorf. “He usually rips people to shreds,” Batdorf told me during a phone interview, with a chuckle. ”He is brutally honest, and does not hold back in is reviews; I was almost afraid to read what he thought of my new CD.” But Batdorf had nothing to worry about.

“The vibrancy, of a building career, by someone who’s practiced, who has something to say… this is what the aged audience wants, but is not getting,” Lefsetz wrote in a July 2009 issue of the ’Lefsetz Letter.’ But says Lefsetz: they’re getting it with Batdorf.

Batdorf, 57, was part of the duo Batdorf and Rodney back in the ‘70s. The duo achieved modest fame; had a few radio hits (Can You See Him, You Are A Song, Home Again, and Somewhere In The Night). They were, for a time, signed to both Atlantic and Asylum Records. Batdorf and Rodney disbanded in 1975. In 1976, Batdorf formed the band Silver and had a top-20 hit single, “Wham Bam Shang-a lang.”

Silver broke up soon after touring with the band America. The next two years, Batdorf was a staff songwriter for The Entertainment Company and had songs recorded by America, England Dan, the Currie Sisters, and Kim Carnes.

In 1982, Batdorf finally realized his dream of a solo record deal. He signed with 20th Century Fox Records, released a single, and the label promptly went under a week later.

At that point, Batdorf reassessed his career, and learned that there were opportunities for musicians behind the scenes in TV and commercial production. “I didn’t even know such a career existed,” said Batdorf. For many years, he made his living mostly composing, producing, arranging, and on vocal work for TV shows and commercials.

Batdorf has made five albums over the past five years. In 2004, he returned to live performing at his first house concert in Malibu, Calif.

Bob Lefsetz, who wasn’t familiar with Batdorf, attended the concert, and said in his blog that he was “stunned” by how good Batdorf was. Listen to and watch John Batdorf sing: “What D’Ya Got” from ”Old Man Dreamin’” to see something of what Lefsetz saw in the artist.

I’m reprinting pieces of what Lefsetz said about the album in his July 2009 post, because I can’t say it any better:

You put it on and you like a few tracks and then you play it again, and after each and every play new nooks and crannies are revealed, you like it more, and then play it more. This is the classic rock experience. Coming home, breaking the shrinkwrap and dropping the needle and being drawn into a whole new world. Amazingly, this concept lives on in the twenty first century, with John Batdorf’s new album.

I could sell this album out of my trunk to baby boomers. This is what they’re looking for. Youngsters will laugh and say that the record is wimpy, but they never lived through an era where you could love both Joni Mitchell and AC/DC. There’s nothing wrong with soft, there’s nothing wrong with tuneful.

Enough horses__t that people over fifty can’t write and perform vital material, that the audience should just retire. People are hungry for fulfilling new music. And John Batdorf has delivered it.

The lyrics to “What D’Ya Got” are both “autobiographical and tongue in cheek,” says Batdorf:

My kids focus too much on pleasure
They think dad’s sittin’ on a buried treasure
I gotta message that might surprise them
When their old man can’t subsidize them

“That’s exactly my life; I have two twin boys who are 24,” says Batdorf. The album overall “is a shout out at the music business. The people who are making it now are so young. I grew up when the moguls were guys in their late 40s and early 50s, not in their 20s.”

What did he think of making his first music video at 57? “It was a crackup; it was also exhausting. We shot four videos in one day with a borrowed high-definition camera. The edited versions came out really well; they capture both humor and sensitivity, which feels right to me.” To learn about Batdorf’s upcoming concerts, visit this page on his site.

Direct Link to This Article on Music After 50

Copyright © 2010, After 50 Company, LLC. All rights reserved.

Monday, January 11, 2010

Radio Playing "Old Man Dreamin'"

Added 1/10/10 John Batdorf Love: All I Really Know About It - Old Man Dreamin' CD
one of the featured songs on the Radio Crystal Blue podcast 1/10/10


Added 8/24/09
1 World Radio 1wor (internet), Madeira Beach, Florida
www.1worldradio.com
Madeira Beach, Florida USA
That Don't Seem Right to Me
Will I Love You Forever?
What D'Ya Got?

Added 8/20/09
Isles FM 103 FM (local), Scotland, United Kingdom
www.isles.fm
Scotland, None United Kingdom
Don't Tell Me Goodbye
That Don't Seem Right to Me
Will I Love You Forever?
What D'Ya Got?
I Thought I'd Try A Love Song

Added 8/20/09
European Klassick Rock FM, Maidstone, Kent, United Kingdom
www.ekr.net
Maidstone, Kent UK
Ain't No Way

8/19/09
Old Man Dreamin' named the #2 Album of the day on the
Airplay Direct Global Charts!!
http://airplaydirect.com/

Added 8/19/09
West Limerick 102 FM WLCR, Newcastle West, Ireland
www.westlimerick102.ie
Love All I Really Know About It
Old Man Dreamin'
I Fall to Pieces
Don't Tell Me Goodbye
That Don't Seem Right to Me
Will I Love You Forever?
Sixteen
What D'Ya Got?
Ain't No Way
I Will Rise
I Thought I'd Try A Love Song

Re-Added 8/19/09
Awesome Radio (Internet), Adelaide, Australia
www.awesomeradio.net
Love All I Really Know About It
I Fall to Pieces
Don't Tell Me Goodbye
That Don't Seem Right to Me
Will I Love You Forever?
Ain't No Way
I Thought I'd Try A Love Song

Added 8/18/09
93.7 Express FM - Portsmouth, United Kingdom
www.expressfm.com
Love All I Really Know About It
Old Man Dreamin'
I Fall to Pieces
Don't Tell Me Goodbye
That Don't Seem Right to Me
Will I Love You Forever?
Sixteen
What D'Ya Got?
Ain't No Way
I Will Rise
I Thought I'd Try A Love Song
as well as the library of older songs

Added 8/17/09
Route 66 Radio - Costa Brava, Gerona, Spain
http://www.ruta66radio.tk/
http://www.myspace.com/ruta66radio
ruta66radio@hotmail.com
That Don't Seem Right To Me

Added 8/15/09
WCH Radio - Internet - Saint Louis, MO
http://www.myspace.com/wchradio
Summer of Love from Still Burnin'

Added 8/14/09
KTEP 88.5 FM, El Paso, Texas
www.ktep.org
Sixteen

Added 8/11/09
Start-Date Sunday 8/16/09
Radio Crystal Blue - Radio Live365 - Brooklyn, NY
LIVE365 www.live365.com/stations/142950 or the links at www.radiocrystalblue.com
Will I Love You Forever?

Added 8/9/09
Acoustic Pie Radio - Radio Live365 - San Diego, CA
http://www.live365.com/stations/kmartin9999
Don't Tell Me Goodbye

Added 8/9/09
WICR Shoutcast Radio - Worldwide Independent Country, Victoria Australia
http://worldwideindependentcountryradio.bigpondhosting.com/
Love, All I Really Know About It
Old Man Dreamin'
I Fall To Pieces
Don't Tell Me Goodbye
That Don't Seem Right to Me
Will I Love You Forever?
Sixteen
What D'Ya Got
Ain't No Way
I Will Rise
I Thought I'd Try A Love Song


Added 8/6/09
KVHU 95.3 FM, Seearcy, AR
www.harding.edu/KHCA/
I Fall To Pieces

Added 8/6/09
Radio Vilafant (107.3 FM), Vilafant, Spain
www.radiovilafant.net
Vilafant, Spain
That Don't Seem Right to Me

Added 7/10/09
"Blue Plate Special" with host B.A.
every Friday night at 10pm
on KOPN 89.5 in Columbia, MO
http://www.kopn. org
All songs from OLD MAN DREAMIN'
as well as songs from the Back-Catalog

Added 7/9/09
WORJ Radio, Live365.com, Milwaukee, WI
http://www.live365.com/stations/worjradio
I Fall to Pieces
Will I Love You Forever

Added 7/4/09
Radio Sigtuna (88.2 FM) Sigtuna, Sweden

www.radiosigtuna.tux.nu
Love:All I Really Know About It
That Don't Seem Right To Me
What D'Ya Got
I Thought I'd Try A Love Song

Added 6/29/09
Awesome Radio, Internet
http://www.awesomeradio.net/
Adelaide, Australia
Old Man Dreamin'
Don't Tell Me Goodbye
Will I Love You Forever?
Sixteen
Ain't No Way
I WIll Rise
I Thought I'd Try A Love Song

Added 6/27/09
G-I-R-A
http://www.g-i-r-a.de/php/
Bonn, Germany
What D'Ya Got?

Added 6/25/09
RadioWayne
http://www.radiowayne.com
Live365 Radio
http://radiowayne.blogspot.com/
Email: radiowayne@att.net
From OLD MAN DREAMIN':
Love: All I Really Know About It
Old Man Dreamin'
I Thought I'd Try A Love Song
Don't Tell Me Goodbye
Sixteen
I Will Rise
What D'Ya Got?
That Don't Seem Right To Me

I Fall To Pieces
Will I Love You Forever?
Ain't No Way
As well as everything available on Airplay Direct from Johns' Back Catalog.


Added 6/12/09
The Thomas Miller Show
http://www.thomasmillershow.net/
Email: ThomasMiller@ThomasMillerShow.com or Info@ThomasMillerShow.com
Phone: 1.866.576.1119
What D'Ya Got
Love: All I Really Know About It
Old Man Dreamin'
I Fall to Pieces
That Don't Seem Right to Me
Will I Love You Forever?
Ain't No Way

Added 6/2/09
KKRF 107.9FM Country Unplugged Bluegrass Patterson IA
http://thecountryunplugged.tripod.com/
http://www.worldwidebluegrass.com/
From "OLD MAN DREAMIN":
What D'Ya Got
I Will Rise
Ain't No Way
Sixteen
Will I Love You Forever?
That Don't Seem Right To Me
Don't Tell Me Goodbye
I Fall To Pieces
Old Man Dreamin'
Love: All I Really Know About It

From the "Back-Catalog":
All For You
She's the Girl
I Don't Always Win
Ain't It Like Home
Home Again
Me and You
Solitude
Where Are You Now?
Can't Be Trusted
See Us Shine

Added 5/31/09
Musictogiusa MtG Internet Bristol CT
http://www.musictogousa.com/
Request Info: http://www.musictogousa.com/Requests.html
Requests Page (J for John): http://musictogousa.startlogic.com//playlistJ.html

Email: neonproductions@sbcglobal.net
Love: All I Really Know About It
Old Man Dreamin'
I Thought I'd Try A Love Song
Don't Tell Me Goodbye
Sixteen
I Will Rise
What D'Ya Got?
That Don't Seem Right To Me

I Fall To Pieces
Will I Love You Forever?
Ain't No Way

Added 5/30/09
Wykkyd Bru Radio WBR Internet
Selah, Washington State

http://www.wykkydbruradio.com/
Old Man Dreamin'

Added 5/29/09
Plenty Valley FM 88.6 FM Mill Park, Australia
http://www.pvfm.org.au/
phone #: (03) 9404 2111
email: justright886@yahoo.com.au
Love: All I Really Know About It
Old Man Dreamin'
I Thought I'd Try A Love Song
Don't Tell Me Goodbye
Sixteen
I Will Rise
What D'Ya Got?
That Don't Seem Right To Me

I Fall To Pieces
Will I Love You Forever?
Ain't No Way

Added 5/23/09
KTEP 88.5 FM El Paso, TX
http://www.ktep.org/
Request Line: 915-880-KTEP
That Don't Seem Right to Me

KDHX 88.1 FM St. Louis, MO
http://www.kdhx.org/
Time Warp Radio with Mark Hyken (Fridays 5am-7am CST)
Email: timewarp@kdhx.org
All songs from OLD MAN DREAMIN'
as well as songs from the Back-Catalog

KSBR 88.5 FM Laguna Niguel CA
http://www.ksbr.net/
http://www.ksbr.net/phones.html
Love: All I Really Know About It
Old Man Dreamin'
I Thought I'd Try A Love Song
Don't Tell Me Goodbye
Sixteen
I Will Rise
What D'Ya Got?
That Don't Seem Right To Me

I Fall To Pieces
Will I Love You Forever?
Ain't No Way

WORJ Internet Milwaukee, WI
http://www.worj.com/
email: thehat@execpc.com
What D'Ya Got?
That Don't Seem Right To Me

I Fall To Pieces
Will I Love You Forever?
Ain't No Way

"The AnJ Show" on "Our Generation Radio"
(from 4-6pm Pacific Time / 6-8pm Central Time / 7-9pm Eastern Time)
http://ourgenerationradio.com/sub-1.htm#DJ3
Old Man Dreamin'


-- more to come --