Showing posts with label Give It Time. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Give It Time. Show all posts

Friday, December 3, 2010

Pete Berwick on Indie Spotlight this Sunday!

I just wanted to take a moment and remind everyone that the one and only Pete Berwick will be joining us on the show this week. Pete's always been a great friend of the show and it's been way too long since we've had him on.

From his website...

Berwick's journey began in Illinois in the mid seventies, hammering out irreverant country, roots rock and reckless honky tonk rave ups night after night to anyone in the midwest who cared to listen. Then after after almost fifteen years of non stop performing he headed to Nashville with a fistful of songs and the clothes on his back. By the time Berwick arrived in the music city, Steve Earle was on his way to jail and Jason & the Scorchers had broken up. Signed by an up and coming independent record label in the heart of music row, Berwick was heralded by many in town as the one to run with the cowpunk gauntlet left at the roadside. After years of belting it out in biker bars and nowhere dives, Pete now found himself opening shows for Charlie Daniels, Doug Kershaw, and other musical legends. He was invited to make cameo appearances in music videos by The Kentucky Headhunters and Travis Tritt, and also appeared on a commercial for Monday night Football. But as fast as luck goes up in Nashville, it comes down even faster. The promising record deal went bust, but not before the recording of the critically acclaimed "Ain't No Train Outta Nashville." Recorded in Waylon Jennings old studio, The album was shelved in 1991 due to contractual disputes and economic hardships. Disgusted with the politics of the music industry, Pete bought several acres of land fourty miles east of Nashville and resigned to shooting his guns, writing some of the songs that would become his third album "Just Another Day In Hell" and working at the local factory.

Berwick later moved back to his hometown in northern Illinois, and free from the publishing and other legal disputes tying up the album, he released "Ain't No Train Outta Nashville" on his own label in 2007. From there it shot to #5 on Cross Country Satellite Radio and #20 on The Roots Music Report Charts, and the title song appeared in Paramount Pictures "The Thing Called Love" starring River Phoenix. Prior to releasing "Ain't No Train Outta Nashville" Berwick recorded and released also on his own label "Only Bleeding" with Brian Wilson bassist Bob Lizic, and as the critical acclaim started pouring in, he hit the road once more in support of both albums.

After thirty years of belting out his sweat soaked ballads and rockers in bars and clubs, and thousands of shows and two albums later he delivered his third recording, "Just another Day In Hell", co-produced with Jason Botka and Mike Kozitka at Skye Bleu Studios In Villa Park, Illinois. An eighteen song epic of non fictional tales which colorfully and often brutally describes the trials and hardships left behind on the long hard trail, "Just Another Day In Hell" is Pete Berwick's biography and heart and soul worn on his tattered sleeve. From shattered relationships, broken dreams and drug abuse, to prison walls and battles with angels and demons, this is as real as it gets. Pete's rough and ready vocals spit out stark tales of heartache, pain and redemption, and just like life, the endings aren't always pretty.

Now in 2010 Berwick delivers his fourth album, "Give It Time." An in-your-face- assualt of blistering biker rock, hopeless romantic ballads and heartbreak anthems.

Though well below the radar throughout most of his career, Berwick's die-hard spirit and gritty songs have earned him due respect from critcs and fans weary of the cookie cutter fluff churned out by the pop and country music industry, and his albums have earned several top ten album of the year awards, and americana/roots rock artist of the year awards.


Please join us this Sunday starting at 9 pm (eastern) it's never a dull moment with Pete on the show!

Saturday, October 30, 2010

Pete Berwick's new CD "Give it Time"

I usually do critiques and CD plugs during the show (with a follow up blog of course) but with the show currently on hiatus due to my work schedule I really didn't want to wait to talk about Pete's new CD so here I am at 1 in the morning after a long day. So if I babble a bit here please forgive...lol

First let me just say that when I listened to Pete's previous CD (Just Another Day in Hell) I always thought that it would be a tough act to follow. I should have known Pete would pull it off with his latest release that just came out this week. Give It Time makes no apologies with it's honesty while offering encouragement for the future and an ice cold beer along the way. While not a complete departure from Pete's "cowpunk" roots it does offer a more hard rocking punch with a bit of the Berwick sarcasm thrown in for good measure. This CD like all of Pete's music is real life, and nothing like the bubblegum crap the industry likes to try to shove down our throats. This is real music for real people, I would defiantly recommend this and I very strongly encourage anyone who would like to know what real music sounds like to go to http://www.peteberwick.net and pick up a copy.

I have to say that it's because of Pete Berwick that I can ride in the car in peace with my wife. As I've mentioned before my better half and I don't have the same taste in music and traveling together can sometimes be a trial. I like hard rocking music, with a bit of country and blues thrown in, while she likes high paced dance music, rap and too much of the RIAA's spoonfed, homogenized bullshit (sorry princess).

When the "discussion" on what to listen to while driving becomes too intense, and the radio is about to be shut off for good, all I have to do is pop in Pete Berwick.

And we go in peace. We don't agree on most music, but we are both die hard Pete Berwick fans, and given how different our musical tastes are that is saying something.



---------------------------------------------------------------------
Show notes;

As I mentioned earlier in this blog my show is currently on hiatus. My work schedule has been insane as regular viewers know happens every year about this time. While not set in stone I am planning my return sometime in November.

See ya'll around the internets!

p.s. My good friend Rob Mazurek sent me an article about some assholes from the RIAA and the major labels saying that Indie artists are "Second Class Citizens" as far as they are concerned. I haven't had time to read it yet, but when I do I'm sure I'll be posting a blog about it, and will talk about it on my next show (whenever that is). Stuff like this really pisses me off, especially after listening to "Give It Time" I think that the independents could teach the majors a thing or two about what real music is. Yeah this is really pissing me off so stay tuned!