Floating Records artist: Jeffrey Halford and the Healers - Lo-Fi Dreams - New Release Review

I just had the opportunity to review the most recent release, Lo-Fi Dreams from Jeffrey Halford and the Healers featuring country, soul and rock laden music. Opening is Two Jacksons, a simple rock radio track with flavors of John Cougar and the Eagles. Halford on lead vocal and guitar is joined by Adam Rossi on drums and keys and Bill MacBeath on bass. Elvis Shot The Television is a cool track with a memorable lyric, cool slide by Halford and cool keys and drums by Rossi. One of my favorite tracks, Door #3 has a great melody, cool backing vocals by Rossi and iridescent guitar lines by Tom Heyman. Bird Of Youth is a hot country rocker with a hint of British style, a driving beat, a cool bass line and a healthy dose of slide guitar. Very cool. Sweet Annette is a curious track with a hint of Lou Reed, cool lead guitar and euphoric steel guitar swirling in the air. Cool blues rocker, Looking For A Home, has a simple melody and country blues style with a snappy drum beat, raw slide guitar work and cool harp work by Jimmy Dewrance. Wrapping the release is ballad, Great Divide, with somber vocals by Halford, tension added by Rossi on keys and really cool Spanish flavor added by acoustic guitar. Very nice closer for a solid release.  

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Floating Records artist: Jeffrey Halford and the Healers - Lo-Fi Dreams - New Release Review

I just had the opportunity to review the most recent release, Lo-Fi Dreams from Jeffrey Halford and the Healers featuring country, soul and rock laden music. Opening is Two Jacksons, a simple rock radio track with flavors of John Cougar and the Eagles. Halford on lead vocal and guitar is joined by Adam Rossi on drums and keys and Bill MacBeath on bass. Elvis Shot The Television is a cool track with a memorable lyric, cool slide by Halford and cool keys and drums by Rossi. One of my favorite tracks, Door #3 has a great melody, cool backing vocals by Rossi and iridescent guitar lines by Tom Heyman. Bird Of Youth is a hot country rocker with a hint of British style, a driving beat, a cool bass line and a healthy dose of slide guitar. Very cool. Sweet Annette is a curious track with a hint of Lou Reed, cool lead guitar and euphoric steel guitar swirling in the air. Cool blues rocker, Looking For A Home, has a simple melody and country blues style with a snappy drum beat, raw slide guitar work and cool harp work by Jimmy Dewrance. Wrapping the release is ballad, Great Divide, with somber vocals by Halford, tension added by Rossi on keys and really cool Spanish flavor added by acoustic guitar. Very nice closer for a solid release.  

  If you support live Blues acts, up and coming Blues talents and want to learn more about Blues news and Fathers of the Blues, Like ---Bman’s Blues Report--- Facebook Page! I’m looking for great talent and trying to grow the audience for your favorites band! -  ”LIKE”

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Shoeless Records artist: Jeffrey Halford & The Healers - Rainmaker - New release review

I just received the newest release, Rainmaker, from Jeffrey Halford & The Healers and it rocks. Opening with title track, Rainmaker, singer, song writer, guitar player, Halford is joined by Paul Olguin on bass, Adam Rossi on keys and vocals and Michael Messer on drums. A straightforward British feeling rock track, it has a very memorable melody. Lost Highway is a solid rocker with a driving beat and grinding slide guitar. Mexico has a classic 60's western/mexican feel. I really like it. Simple Link Wray like guitar work with cool riffs and effects really punch this track up and highlight Halford's vocals. Possibly the best track on the release. Vinyl has a bit of an alt rock feel like the Talking Heads or the B52's but with a 60's feel. Actually pretty cool track with some over the top organ work from Rossi and stylized guitar work from Halford. Thunderbird Motel has solid ballad characteristics in more of a folk vein. Very nice track. 2nd Chance has a folksy blues sound, with Halford on vocal and resophonic guitar and Pam Delgado and Jeri Jones adding really nice backing vocals. Nature's Choir again has a bit of a British sound almost like early Kinks or Who. Bruce Kaphan adds a flavor of steel guitar giving the track just that taste of country. Nice job. North Beach is a stripped down rocker with a really nice rhythm. Halford plays an understated slide guitar solo and Rossi on keys maintains a balance with the release overall. Cry Of Hope is a really nice ballad with beautiful crying steel guitar by Tom Heyman echoing in the background. Another of my favorite tracks on the release. Harry We Need You has a lot of strength as a basic pop rocker ... could easily be the theme song for a television show. Wrapping the release is Joaquin, a nicely constructed acoustic ballad.

  If you support live Blues acts, up and coming Blues talents and want to learn more about Blues news and Fathers of the Blues, Like ---Bman’s Blues Report--- Facebook Page! I’m looking for great talent and trying to grow the audience for your favorites band! -  ”LIKE”

 

Folkish Festival@Marin Country Mart Presents.. Jeffrey Halford & The Healers

FOLKISH FESTIVAL PRESENTS...A SPECIAL ACOUSTIC PERFORMANCE BY JEFFREY HALFORD & THE HEALERS At The Marin Country Mart - Sunday, June 8, 12:30-2:30 p.m.        (LARKSPUR, CA) - Acclaimed roots-rock/Americana artist Jeffrey Halford & The Healers perform a special acoustic show (with special guests) at the Folkish Festival Kickoff, taking place at the Marin County Mart, Larkspur Landing Circle, Larkspur, Sunday, June 8. 12:30 p.m.-2:30 p.m. Free. Info: www.marincountrymart.com/. The Folkish Festival in the past has included such notable musicians as Ramblin' Jack Elliot (who performed there last year).    Jeffrey Halford and the Healers have just released their long-awaited new album Rainmaker (Shoeless Records). "This album is greasy organic with tube amplifier screaming under a low hum shag carpet, with the walls shakin' behind the words falling down the plaster," states Halford.    Halford is one of the premier purveyors of rootsy, bluesy rock ‘n roll (Americana), with a pop sensibility. RAINMAKER is Halford's seventh full-length album release and is the follow-up to 2008's critically- acclaimed Broken Chord  (which climbed to #7 on the Americana charts in the USA and Europe). On RAINMAKER Jeffrey demonstrates that both he and the band have aged like a fine Northern California wine. The recording showcases the best of Halford’s songwriting and his distinctive guitar, complimented by the crafted rumble of his band.    Long admired as a singer-songwriter-guitarist, Jeffrey Halford shows a new sensitivity on RAINMAKER. There are multi-dimensional character sketches and storytelling revealing the deep urgency of love, heretofore a new territory for Halford. With songwriting that nods as much towards Sam Shephard and Jack Kerouac as it does to the usual songwriting gods, RAINMAKER captures the multi-faceted soul of America past, present, and maybe future as well. This album is a redemptive journey that just happens to be a collection of songs.     RAINMAKER is complemented by an array of notable guest artists, including Bruce Kaphan (Talking Heads, Sheryl Crow, Black Crowes) on guitar and steel, who also co-produced the album. There's a gospel infusion via Pam Delgado and Jeri Jones (Blame Sally), plus noted drummer Trey Sabatelli (Jefferson Starship, The Tubes, Todd Rundgren), and Tom Heyman ({Alejandro Escovedo) on guitar. “This is great rootsy rock music. Halford’s slide playing is raucous, raw and foreboding. His poetry transcends the run-of-the-mill lyrics.”                             NO DEPRESSION “...Halford’s storytelling talents are obvious, almost a Hemingway armed with a blues guitar.”    DIRTY LINEN   JEFFREY HALFORD & THE HEALERS - LIVE SHOWS ITINERARY   June 8 (Sun.)             FOLKISH FESTIVAL               Larkspur, CA June 20 (Fri.)        CREEKSIDE MUSIC SERIES     Mill Valley, CA June 27 (Fri.)        ARMANDO'S                        Martinez, CA July 10 (Thur.)      KRUSH CONCERT SERIES      Santa Rosa,CA July 26 (Sat.)        CLAREMONT HOTEL             Berkeley, CA Aug. 10 (Sat.)      SONOMA COUNTY FAIR        Sonoma,CA                                       www.jeffreyhalford.com                          https://www.facebook.com/jeffrey.w.halford?fref=ts

"Musicians Supporting Musicians" - Sweet Relief Musicians Fund Benefit

<<Benefit For Sweet Relief Musicians Fund At Plaza Linda>>

"Jeffrey Halford specializes in "swamp rock with soul," which means that Poor House Bistro, the valley's center for New Orleans food and music, is the perfect venue for the San Francisco singer/songwriter/guitarist and his band, the Healers." SAN JOSE METRO

"Jeffrey Halford and The Healers album, 'Broken Chord', does not hit your ears as much as it slinks, shutters, shakes and shimmies across the surface of your mind. Barrel roll pianos, big, fat swamp guitar notes and hard hitting rhythms push around Jeffrey's vocals. His voice comes on like a lyrical conversation as it snarls admonitions and finger points, naming names ("Louisiana Man", "Ninth Ward"), paints a picture of a hot rod pin up wife-to-be ("Rockabilly Bride") and offers a great visual of someone who looks like a barnyard feathered friend, forget about how he tastes ("Chicken Bones Jones"). THE ALTERNATE ROOT

How Sweet It Is: Jeffrey Halford & The Healers Play Plaza Linda Show Benefiting Sweet Relief Musicians Fund - Friday March 30

(CARMEL VALLEY) - "Musicians Supporting Musicians" is the theme for a benefit concert taking place at Plaza Linda Restaurant & Cantina on Friday, March 30, featuring San Francisco-based Americana troubadour, Jeffrey Halford and the Healers. Portions of the $10. admission proceeds go to the national Sweet Relief Musicians Fund, which provides financial assistance to all types of career musicians who are struggling to make ends meet while facing illness, disability, or age-related problems. Plaza Linda is located at 9 Del Fino Place in lovely Carmel Valley. Info: (831) 659-4229 or www.plazalinda.com.
The Bay Area-based singer-songwriter-guitar player has been hailed by respected music magazine Dirty Linen magazine as "Hemingway armed with a bluesy guitar."

Jeffrey Halford delivers a uniquely American melting pot of roots, blues, rock, and kick-ass pop - take some Southern soul, add a heap of Texas storytelling, a dash of Bay Area's freewheeling liberal spirit/literary leanings/seedier side, throw in some desert sunshine and dirt, then stir together with an architect's eye for detail and durability and you've got yourself an idea why Paste magazine recently named him to their "Ten Most Influential Artists of the Decade."

A guy who doesn't play favorites when it comes to words and music, Jeffrey Halford knows how to get his point across subtly, and he also knows when to hammer it home. But most of all, he knows how to craft music that grabs your attentionand keeps it - on record, but particularly on stage, where he and the band make you want to jump out of your seat..Jeffrey has shared the stage with Los Lobos, Taj Mahal, Guy Clark, Robert Earl Keen, and George Thorogoodto name a few. Turns out the streets of San Franciscomight have been the best teacher of all.

Watch Halford perform an intimate acoustic version of his poignant tune about the victims of Hurricane Katrina, "Louisiana Man," here:

Jeffrey Halford has been called "An Americana heavyweight" (MERCURY NEWS) for his heartfelt songs about the conditions of the everyday man and woman in America. Among his most memorable: "Cry of Hope," about Americans' need to keep faith in America; and "Louisiana Man," about the 2005 Hurricane Katrina disaster and our government's slow response to it. As validation of Halford's writing prowess, he won "2009 Songwriter of the Year" at the 5th Annual South Bay Music Awards. BROKEN CHORD went as high as #8 on the Americana radio charts.

Based in San Francisco over the last 15 years, Halford's original roots rock 'n roll songs etch a uniquely American, and specifically California, landscape. Look for a new Jeffrey Halford and the Healers album to be released late in 2011.

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