| CD REVIEW Becoming August |
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Band : Becoming August Anna Libby is a singer born with a natural talent, but all she had done prior to her dad telling his friend Allen Higgins (aka Higmo) about what a wonderful voice his daughter has, was to sing at elementary school, high school, and a few karaoke events at which she showed a stunning aptitude to covering the likes of Led Zeppelin, Martina McBride, and Sara Bareillis. Higgins, a routined musician, finally got around to meeting Anna at a local social event…so they talked about music a little, and he ended up inviting her to come over some time to sing. But they kinda left it at that, untill a couple of months later he got a call from her, as she wanted to do some recordings to give her dad as a Christmas present. Now to say that Higgins was sitting in awe when he first heard Anna sing…is an understatement, for she truly has a great voice! The two finished that Christmas project, and during the recordings Higgins invited her to collaborate on some new material he’d been working on which he was about to record at Bobby Keyes’ BK Studio in Saugus, Massachusetts (near Boston, and but a mere 200 kms from the band’s hometown of Brunswick in Maine). People whom Keyes worked with in the past, and in other studios, include non lesser that Jerry Lee Lewis, Martha Reeves, but also more current major bands such as Kids On The Block and Robin Thicke. Artists which have found their way to his own studio, include Trillionaire Records recording artist Tony Lynn Washington, The Brew, and The Mystix. From a couple of songs, the project [musically supported by Higgins as songwriter/ guitarist, bassists Marty Ballou & Russel Keyes (the latter only on 3 tracks…and very probably related to that other fellow by that name mentioned earlier…I guess), piano/ organ players Tom West & Mason Thayer (the latter only playing piano on the track “Famous”), and drummers Marty Richards & Jim Gwin (the latter on the same 3 songs as Keyes, placed at the end of the album) turned into a complete album’s worth of material, which is exactly what we’re presented with here. The material is really quite diverse, ranging from softer and semi-acoustic Country/ Folk diddies (“4 Nothing”, “Amy’s Song”) to great old style Blues-fueled Hard Rock, with some cross-hybridisation in between…and the perfect way to display Anna’s multi-faceted vocal abilities! You can check that out from the 5 songs posted at myspace.com/becomingaugust (they also have a page at ReverbNation, by the way). Meanwhile, Anna let Allen know she wanted to get some experience in a band situation, perform in front of an audience, so Allen got together a bunch of musicians he’d worked with before in another band, and after just a few jams bassist Paul Lavigne and drummer/ keyboardist Sean McNeil both decided they wànted in on the project! The band is currently looking for a keyboardist to complete the live line-up. They’re also looking for a national act to open for on a tour of New England! 88/100 Tony. |