Randy Weeks

Artist Information

Biography

Booking/Management - Mary-Lyn Vernon, info@randyweeks.com
Press - Cary Baker, Conqueroo, cary@conqueroo.com
Radio - Jenni Finlay, Jenni Finlay Promotions, jenni@jennifinlay.com

“An amazing songwriter” - Salon.com
“Smart songwriting and a broad palette of pop music influences” - CD Now
“Amazing musician” - Billboard
“Cooler than an Eskimo beer box” - Houston Press

His cool, easy-going attitude paired with his sharp and witty undertones make Randy Weeks' style undeniably his own. Soundtracking the ever-present undercurrent of our popular culture, Weeks' music can be heard on international radio stations, Grammy award winning albums, and in feature films.

Hailing from Windom, Minnesota, Weeks grew up on a steady diet of the music of The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Animals and The Kinks. California dreams lured him away from the Minnesota winters, and he spent nearly three decades as an integral member of the Los Angeles music scene.

As part of the scene that included Lucinda Williams, Dwight Yoakam, Jim Lauderdale, Rosie Flores and Buddy Miller, Weeks helped revive country rock and launch the Americana music movement as a member of the legendary Lonesome Strangers. The Strangers became the stronghold of California Americana, recording three influential albums, (two of which were produced by Pete Anderson (Dwight Yoakam)) which, not only earned them a Top 40 Billboard hit, but thrust them into the surge of the Americana Music Scene uprising.

In the late '90s Weeks struck out on his own, recording four highly celebrated albums. The first, Madeline (Hightone), is still considered among the most timeless albums of our generation. All Music Guide hailed Madeline as “a great album” while Salon.com called it “maybe the best breakup album since Chris Isaak’s Forever Blue.” His song, "Can't Let Go," became the sole cover and biggest hit on Lucinda Williams' Grammy winning album, Car Wheels on a Gravel Road.

Not one to sit back on his laurels, Weeks followed Madeline with a series of exceptional albums: Sold Out At The Cinema, Sugarfinger and, most recently, Going My Way. Sugarfinger scored Weeks' biggest hit with “Transistor Radio.” Described by CMT.com’s Craig Shelburne as “easy to sing, impossible to get out of your head,” this indelible tune became popular on L.A. taste-making radio stations KCRW and Indie 103.1 before spreading across the nation on terrestrial and satellite radio stations.

Upon the release of Going My Way, The Los Angeles Times named Randy Weeks the “Artist to Watch,” raving “[Weeks] puts together a batch of consistently evocative, witty lyrics that he sings in a distinctively wry Lou Reed-meets-Willie Nelson voice.”

Weeks' albums have consistently drawn rave reviews and made the "Top 10" lists of the likes of former Billboard Magazine music editor Chris Morris, No Depression’s Peter Blackstock. In addition, he’s had songs featured in several movies and TV shows, including Shallow Hal, Sunshine State and Say It Isn’t So.

Currently a resident of Austin, TX, Weeks continues to thrive in the Live Music Capital of the World and beyond. His incredible stand-out live show has earned Weeks new friends and fans everywhere he goes.

Ever so cooly, Weeks' songwriting and subject matter spans from the deep and poignant to the light and airy. It's been said that "Weeks can take you from crying in your beer to dancing on the bar." As an instrumentalist, Weeks' style effortlessly melds surf rock with folk rock; Americana with American Pop.

Randy Weeks has quickly and notably stepped out of the shadows of some of his more familiar contemporaries and into the limelight. And it is clear he is on his way to attain the recognition he most certainly deserves.

Instrumentation

Randy Weeks - Vocals, Guitar
Joshua Grange - Bass, Guitar
Tony Gilkyson - Guitar
Don Heffington - Drums
Brian Wheelan - Bass, Guitar
Danny McGough - keyboard

Discography

Discography:
Going My Way (2009, self released)
Sugarfinger (2006, self released)
Sold Out At The Cinema (2003, self released)
Madeline (2000, Hightone Records)

Songs recorded by:
Lucinda Williams, Car Wheels on a Gravel Road (Can't Let Go)
Teddy Morgan, Louisiana Rain, (Fine Way to Treat Me)
Heidi Newfield, What Am I Waiting For, (Can't Let Go)

Songs have appeared in:
Shallow Hal Soundtrack, Fox Pictures (Countryside With You)
Stuck on You Soundtrack, Fox Pictures (This is the Last Time, I'd Walk A Thousand Miles)
Say It Isn’t So Soundtrack, Fox Pictures (Motor City, Make You Happy)
Jack Frost Soundtrack, Warner Brothers (Can't Let Go)
The Ringer Soundtrack, Fox Pictures (Ton Of Shame)
Country Bears Soundtrack, Disney (Can't Let Go)
Sunshine State, Sony Pictures (Can't Let Go)
All Hat, Universal Pictures (Can't Let Go)
Blacktop, Canada (Can't Let Go)
You Stupid Man, Warner Brothers (Don't Step Away, Baby You Got to Choose)

Official Website

http://www.randyweeks.com

Links

• Facebook
• Twitter
• Randy Weeks web site

Audio

• Can't Let Go
  Listen  
• Get Back to Me
  Listen  
• Big Man Make The Little Girl Cry
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• Fine Way To Treat Me
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• Transistor Radio
  Listen  
• Baby You Got To Choose
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• Sometimes I Don't Even...
  Listen  
• Could've Had It All
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• We Go Round In Circles
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• When I Get Over You
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• This Is The Last Time
  Listen  
• I'll Take My Candy
  Listen  
• Fu Manchu
  Listen  
• Make You Happy
  Listen  
• Summer Of Love
  Listen  

Lyrics

• Transistor Radio
• Sometimes I Don't Even...

Video

Motor City

Photo Gallery

Press

• Austin American Statesman [+ Show ]
  

  Randy Weeks should be playing on everyone’s radio. As a matter of fact, the Austin resident is such ...Randy Weeks should be playing on everyone’s radio. As a matter of fact, the Austin resident is such a fine vocalist and songwriter he should be singing directly to us. Opening for Jackson Brown at Red Rocks. Watching teenagers humming his songs and music scholars analyzing his breezy lyrics. Weeks splits the difference between unshakable pop and groovy roots-rock like few others.
  
  Brian T. Atkinson, Austin American Statesman

• Lucinda Williams [+ Show ]
  

  Randy Weeks...writes amazingly well crafted, beautifully melodic songs and delivers them with his ow...Randy Weeks...writes amazingly well crafted, beautifully melodic songs and delivers them with his own brand of laid back vocals and surfboard cool, very hip approach.

• Omaha Reader [+ Show ]
  

  Randy Weeks is a songwriter’s songwriter. That is, the kind of knockout songsmith other songwriter’s...Randy Weeks is a songwriter’s songwriter. That is, the kind of knockout songsmith other songwriter’s admire and turn to for material. Weeks’ “Can’t Let Go” became a spare, edgy rocker in the hands of Lucinda Williams, appearing on Williams’ 1998 Grammy-winning disc Car Wheels on a Gravel Road…. With his solo debut in 2000, Weeks was one of the early artists unafraid to ignore the boundaries between rock, roadhouse country, blues and soul. He quickly became a favorite on the Americana/alt. country scene and among discerning music lovers.

• Roughstock.com [+ Show ]
  

  It’s not often that an artist is able to meld truly interesting lyrics with ear catching melodies. W...It’s not often that an artist is able to meld truly interesting lyrics with ear catching melodies. With producer Will Sexton, Randy Weeks has crafted one of the best albums I’ve heard in the past couple of years. It’s a record that I can’t help but play over and over again.
  
  Going My Way album review - Matt Bjorke, Roughstock.com

• Los Angeles Times - Artist to Watch [+ Show ]
  

  Randy Weeks has to be doing something right -- Lucinda Williams not only covered his song “Can’t Let...Randy Weeks has to be doing something right -- Lucinda Williams not only covered his song “Can’t Let Go” on her breakthrough album “Car Wheels on a Gravel Road,” but it’s also become a cornerstone of her live shows. On his solo collection “Going My Way,” coming Feb. 24, Weeks puts together a batch of consistently evocative, witty lyrics that he sings in a distinctively wry Lou Reed-meets-Willie Nelson voice. His country roots are strong enough that he’s cranked out the instant honky-tonk classic “The One Who Wore My Ring,” yet, like Peter Case, he also obviously knows his Lennon-McCartney songbook well enough to come up with the pure-pop bounce of “That’s What I’d Do.” His recent move from L.A. to Austin led to “Going My Way” being produced by Texas Americana ace Will Sexton, and probably at least partially explains the juicy New Orleans funk they’ve brought to “I Think You Think.” That song and “I Couldn’t Make It” showcase Weeks’ love for language and his engaging wordplay.

• Villiage Records [+ Show ]
  

  There’s not a bad song on this disc and it grabs you the first time you spin it. Fans of Peter Case ...There’s not a bad song on this disc and it grabs you the first time you spin it. Fans of Peter Case will fall in love with his style and approach to the melodies on this one…A near perfect album.
  
  Album Review, Sold Out At The Cinema

• Village Records [+ Show ]
  

  Weeks is back with another memorable album…Listening to this reminds me of the first time I ever hea...Weeks is back with another memorable album…Listening to this reminds me of the first time I ever heard the Jayhawks. The ebb and flow of the songs is relaxed and you’ll find yourself humming along with the first listen. This is first rate material that we don’t hear nearly enough of these days…This is the no risk disc of the month, everyone will like this one.
  
  Album Review, Sugarfinger

• Pulse of the Twin Cities [+ Show ]
  

  …the truth is (Weeks is) quickly stepping out of the shadow of some of his more familiar contemporar...…the truth is (Weeks is) quickly stepping out of the shadow of some of his more familiar contemporaries and catching the ears (and typing fingers) of critics and blog-nuts across the world. Sugarfinger is a soul-satisfying, craftily-produced collection of backporch ruminations, love-sick balladry and barroom shufflin’…Musically, most of the material here is a gentle blend of countrified pickin’, pluckin’ an’ slappin’, while lyrically Weeks is, hands down, a genuine master….Most of these songs sound (or at least feel) like they could come comfortably crackling right out of a ‘60s-era AM radio, but the lyrics to the tracks hit home with such exhausted force that you immediately know they could’ve been written last month, or last week, or last night….
  
  A warm, inviting collection of polished little musical gems that’s just as fulla honey as its title implies and just waiting for the right ears (and hearts) to take in, appreciate and identify with. Hell, if Lucinda Williams herself calls him America’s best songwriter, he might just be worth a listen, eh? But don’t take our word for it—go to randyweeks.com and hear it for yourself.

• Performing Songwriter [+ Show ]
  

  Overall, Weeks has fashioned a stellar album. The music is light and fun without being overly fluffy...Overall, Weeks has fashioned a stellar album. The music is light and fun without being overly fluffy, and Weeks’ voice goes easy on the ears. Let Sugarfinger sweeten up your mid-winter days — we’re willing to bet you’ll be satisfied.

• Santa Barbara Independent [+ Show ]
  

  Like everything Randy Weeks turns his musical attention to, his live performance is an entity of sub...Like everything Randy Weeks turns his musical attention to, his live performance is an entity of substance. Weeks throws forth an offering of contemplative songs that wrench at the heart and service the soul. They make you want to cry and dance both at the same time.

• Kingsport Times News [+ Show ]
  

  Sugarfinger is one of those timeless pop treasures — crammed to the gills with songs that lodge them...Sugarfinger is one of those timeless pop treasures — crammed to the gills with songs that lodge themselves in your brain.
  
  

Setlist

Weeks has a repertoire of over 80 incredibly catchy, beautifully melodic, mostly upbeat original songs. Whether rocking with a full band or playing acoustic in an intimate listening room, Weeks can tailor the length of his set to fit almost any situation.

Basic Requirements

Calendar