Willard Overstreet

Artist Information

Biography

I try to tell real stories with memorable melodies. The songs are written primarily on acoustic guitar or piano and then arranged for a full band.
I would say the material is a combination of Rock, AAA, and Americana. Like most artists, I have many influences ranging from Tom Petty, Carlos Santana, Wilco and Edgar Allan Poe but the end product is the result of all my influences combined.
I started playing guitar and singing in grade school.
As a young teen I attended Interlochen Arts Academy in Michigan where I studied classical guitar and music theory.
Later I attended and graduated from the University of Cincinnati in Ohio and played locally there while studying.
Eventually attending Berklee College of Music, I continued to study guitar and privately studied voice.
While in Boston, I formed and fronted bands playing the local and regional circuit opening for national as well as regional touring bands.
As the journey continued, I ended up in LA where I immediately began performing at intimate acoustic clubs and later larger rock venues.
In Los Angeles, I recorded my first album "Paralyzed". It received airplay on college radio across the country and some larger stations in LA including KLOS and public radio station KCRW.
"Something To Hold Onto" is my second album.

Instrumentation

Willard
voice, acoustic guitar, mandolin, piano, harmonica

Discography

Paralyzed
Something To Hold Onto

Audio

• California
  Listen  
• Long Way Down (mastered)*
  Listen  
• Low
  Listen  
• Wildest Dreams (mastered)*
  Listen  
• Come to Me
  Listen  

Lyrics

• California
• Come To Me

Video

Photo Gallery

Press

• Willard Overstreet - Something To Hold Onto (CD, Heptone, Pop) [+ Show ]
  

  The second full-length release from Los Angeles, California's Willard Overstreet. This music is mark...The second full-length release from Los Angeles, California's Willard Overstreet. This music is markedly different from your average underground twenty-first century pop...mainly because the songs are extremely accessible and have tremendous commercial potential. Willard uses traditional instruments to flesh out his guitar-driven pop tunes. His has a nice friendly voice that is an integral part of the overall equation. This may be too slick for underground artsy music fans...but folks with an affinity for 1980s and 1990s FM radio pop should get a nice big jolt out of this one. Twelve tracks here including "The Way It Should Be," "California," "Wildest Dreams," and "Killing Me."
  
  http://babysue.com/2010-Feb-LMNOP-Reviews.html#anchor27733
  
  

• Willard Overstreet [+ Show ]
  

  Willard Overstreet is a singer songwriter living in Los Angeles. On his second album delivers Willar...Willard Overstreet is a singer songwriter living in Los Angeles. On his second album delivers Willard uncomplicated and stylish music that falls somewhere between Lloyd Cole ("The Way It Should Be"), Mark Olson ("California") The Waterboys ("Something To Hold On To") and The Sorentinos (You Made Yourself). There you have four comparisons. Another beautiful tune is the softer "Come To Me" that is the best song on the album. But there are a few songs that doesn't give me that much and are just there as fillers. And that is a pity because when this man is good as the mentioned songs, you have a really good album.
  
  http://www.melodic.net/reviewsOne.asp?revnr=8424

• Willard Overstreet “Something to Hold Onto” (Heptone Records, 2009) [+ Show ]
  

  There’s precious little information available about Mr. Overstreet other than that he resides in LA ...There’s precious little information available about Mr. Overstreet other than that he resides in LA and that this is his second album. Suffice to say that he has written all of the songs here and his band present them in an exemplary fashion.
  
  Opener 'The Way it Should Be' is a soft rock swoon that would not be out of place on any number of radio playlists. Towards the end there is a magnificent double-whammy in the shape of two top-notch cuts.
  
  'Low' is a mean and dirty rocker with an old-fashioned fat horn sound, dirty slide guitar and gutsy vocals. This a great swamp-like blues groan. Following this is 'Long Way Down' which captures the eighties sound of the likes of Steve Wynn in its propulsion and guitar harmonica thrash. The last song 'Killing Me' is a ballad. With tender vocals and sympathetic fiddle, it closes the album on a high note.
  
  http://www.americana-uk.com/auk/modules.php?op=modload&name=Reviews&file=index&req=showcontent&id=5196

Setlist

45min to 2 sets of original music from two records
as well as a few hand picked cover songs.

Basic Requirements

Calendar