Dynamic Roots Music Singer/Songwriter
Gina Sicilia Readies New CD, It Wasn’t Real, for
Release April 30 on VizzTone Label Group
New Album
Produced by Grammy-Winner Glenn Barratt
PHILADELPHIA, PA - Dynamic roots music
singer/songwriter Gina Sicilia announces an April 30 release date for It
Wasn’t Real, her new CD on the VizzTone Label Group, which promises to
expand her burgeoning career as one of the most creative, exciting and diverse
artists in the genre today.
Produced by Grammy-winner Glenn Barrett, It Wasn’t Real
was recorded at Morningstar Studios in Gina’s hometown of Philadelphia,
and features the singer backed by a cadre of local all-star session players who
bring a soulful intensity that matches Sicilia’s emotionally-charged vocals.
The new album’s nine original songs showcase Gina’s growth as
a songwriter who can deal with universal themes of love and fate, but is able to
inject a personal deep-felt longing throughout with her commanding vocal style.
The lone cover is a scintillating re-working of the great Etta James’ 1961 hit,
“Don’t Cry Baby.”
“These songs mean a lot to me,” Gina says. “My goal is to
write in a way that’s observant and soulful, and to get at the pleasures and the
pressures of love, joy, family, responsibility…all the complexities that are
part of living. And with Glenn’s help and the support of the great band he put
together, I think I’ve made my best album.”
Considered a true rising star in the blues world ever since
her debut album, Allow Me to Confess, brought her world-wide
acclaim in 2007, Gina manages to raise the bar even further with It Wasn’t
Real, throwing down a music gauntlet of soul, power, grit and energy for
others to follow. Her songs and performances gracefully cross genres on the new
album, too, with echoes of soul, rock and even Americana woven throughout the
tapestry of sound she’s created on the new disc, bringing Gina’s music to an
even wider audience.
“Even though I’m mostly known in the blues world, I love
and I’ve absorbed all kinds of music — R&B, country, doo-wop, jazz, soul,
pop and blues. So when I get inspired to write a song, it’s likely to go
anywhere and even combine those styles,” Sicilia explains. Threads of those
genres can also be heard in her previous three albums, including 2008’s
Hey Sugar and 2011’s Can’t Control Myself, which
were all produced by Sicilia’s bandleader and guitarist Dave Gross.
“Working with Glenn took me out of the comfort zone Dave
and I have together, and that made me a little nervous and forced me to push
myself,” Sicilia recalls. “That gave me the edge and the encouragement I needed
to explore the entire breadth of my vocal range, which I think people get to
hear for the first time on this album.”
Gina Sicilia got her first true taste of performing in front
of an audience at age 19 during the weekly jams held at Philadelphia blues and
jazz club, Warmdaddy’s, beginning in 2005. She’d already acquired her eclectic
musical taste from her parents, who played all kinds of music on their home
stereo, including pop tunes from her father’s native Italy. But after she
ordered a packaged-for-TV compilation album called Solid Gold Soul
that featured Bobby Bland, Etta James, Otis Redding, Aretha Franklin and others,
she become hooked on old-school soul, blues and R&B.
She had planned a career in
journalism despite the encouragement of her musical mentor, Russell
Faith, an important local composer and musician who’d written songs for
Frank Sinatra. His death in 2004 galvanized Sicilia into action. “I started
taking the subway by myself to the jams at Warmdaddy’s,” she says. “From the
first time I got the courage to go onstage, the musicians there encouraged
me.”
It was at the Warmdaddy’s jams that Gina met Dave Gross, and
soon thereafter they started dating and performing together. Gross encouraged
her to record, and Allow Me to Confess was released just after
Sicilia graduated from Temple University and was free to begin touring. The
album was soon picked up for distribution by the VizzTone Label Group and
Sicilia rapidly signed with a national roots music booking
agency.
“I see myself as always evolving, reaching for a new
place where I want my music to be and a way I want it to sound,” she proclaims.
“I don’t know if I’ll find that place, but I’ll never stop
searching.”
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I just received the newest release, It Wasn't Real, from Gina Sicilia. Sicilia has a rich voice and a smooth delivery. Opening with the title track, It Wasn't Real, Sicilia delivers a sultry pop jazz track with nice sax work backing by Jay Davidson. Next up is a track that I became familiar with through my love for James Brown. This has a totally different feel with a more laid back swing type groove. Davidson again steps up with a sweet solo. Walkin Along The Avenue has a distinct 40's sound and possibly the coolest track on the release. Dennis Gruenling plays some really complimentary harp on this track and Joel Bryant adds a nice B3 line. City By The Water is a strong radio play track with a real bluesy feel. Davidson again gets the chance to shine with a real solid sax solo. The release is wrapped with country influenced Walkin' Shoes. Overall this release will appeal to a more adult audience with strong pop melodic tendencies. It is very well done.
“These
songs mean a lot to me,” Gina says. “My goal is to write in a way that’s
observant and soulful, and to get at the pleasures and the pressures of love,
joy, family, responsibility…all the complexities that are part of living. And
with Glenn’s help and the support of the great band he put together, I think
I’ve made my best album.”
