Anderson East

Anderson East grew up in what sounds like the setting of Footloose. “It was a tiny southern town with no music scene at all,” he said of the site of his Southern Baptist upbringing. Naturally, the singer-songwriter, guitarist, and piano player wanted what he couldn’t have, grasped for anything to listen to, and as a consequence started to play music when he was about 10 years old. Now, the Athens, Georgia native and Nashville resident gives us 15 tracks soaked in Americana and soul, evoking the likes of Ryan Adams and Ray LaMontagne.
Flowers of the Broken Hearted is a two-disc set, although it wasn’t originally intended for such a release. The first half, White, was recorded in L.A. with producer Chris Seefried (Fitz and the Tantrums), and the second, Red, came unexpectedly back in Nashville. The first way to describe the result is the most obvious: a break-up album. Told from different vantage points, East dances back and forth along the spectrum of emotions that come with the demise of a relationship.

He gives us a more-fish-in the-sea attitude on album opener “Better” (“Yes I loved you better, better than he will/ Oh, but I love her more, more than you”), traffics in someone-get-this-guy-a-drink sadness on “Memento” (“I’ve been having a hard time being alive when the only thing that makes me right is you”), and a laissez faire wish for a past lover’s happiness on “No Part” (“Piece yourself piece by piece together/ For the first time in a long time, feel like yourself/ And I don’t want no part of it”).

The most interesting story, however, comes in the form of “Fire Song”, a tale about a woman burning down her house to purge her old life. This character calls to mind a liberated version of the leading lady from Dave Matthews’ “Grey Street”: “She’d been waiting for the fire to set her free.”

Filling out the stories and the sadness is East’s voice, an instrument with the ability to recall Ryan Adams (“Lonely”), develop a country twang (“Expiration Date”), and even bring to mind a raspier, more immediate Michael Buble (“English Major”). That versatile vocal instrument is joined by punchy keys, strings dripping in drama, classic electric guitars, and retro-sounding backup singers. And a video of an acoustic version of disc-two track “Ghost” also suggests that East has the vocal chops to execute a pretty powerful live show. - Consequence of Sound

- We’ve been following the work of Anderson East for a little while now, particularly as he gears up to release his upcoming record Flowers of the Broken Hearted - which you can pre-order via PledgeMusic. Today, we’ve been watching his newly released video for the song “English Major” and it’s our favorite so far: all stripped-down, soulful songwriting and sweet performance.

LINK: http://youtu.be/tW_g-9wX6Ug - Lockeland Springsteen

Category: Folk/Pop/Rock

Anderson East is a singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist originally from Alabama, now based in Nashville, Tennessee.

LINK: http://youtu.be/vdT8UfJ2tOo

Anderson released EP Transitive Property in 2011 and is set to release a double CD Flowers Of The Broken Hearted

LINK: http://youtu.be/lj-KKP2TTLg

Flowers of The Broken Hearted is 94% funded through Pledge Music and with 4 days left, YOU CAN HELP! Be a musical hero and help this extremely talented young man.

LINK: http://youtu.be/3UIWaD3IFRw

Anderson is offering FOUR FREE TRACKS for download HERE.

Support the music you love! And we LOVE Anderson East.

COMMENT:
Hector Zarzuela
Really liking this guy, Soulful! And he does indeed have some soul. (And some jazz and some funk.) Thanks once again for your impeccable scouting. - ConvoZine

As the son of a gospel-singing father and grandson of a Southern Bapist pastor, it's no surprise that Nashville-based singer/songwriter Anderson East's brand of Americana is mixed with a generous helping of soul. East is set to release his debut double LP Flowers of the Broken Hearted in September 2012. Both halves will explore the same overall theme, albeit from two stylistically different perspectives. Disc One will rest within the Americana and soul genres, while the second disc is more modern and dark. The sample songs I've heard are very encouraging, as East channels Ray LaMontagne on the title track, while the fantastic, soaring "Fire Song" sounds a bit like James Vincent McMorrow. "New Life/New York" suggests the influence of Ryan Adams, and not just for city name-checked in the title.

Indeed, fans of Adams' more introspective, somber work (think "The Shadowlands," "Starlite Diner," or "Wild Flowers") should really dig songs like "No Part" and "Expiration Date," as well as East's previously-released EP, Transitive Property [2011], which is available for free (or name your own price) on his bandcamp page. Likewise, East's first EP, Fire Demos [2010], is also free at that same link.

East crowd-funded his double LP through PledgeMusic and has already met the project's target, which means that 10% of proceeds beyond that amount will support Water Aid, a charity that provides clean water to the world's poorest countries.

Check out the three-track sampler below. With this kind of talent and sound, Anderson East is poised to break out in a big way.

- Given and Taken In Ink

Anderson East is a talented singer-songwriter from Nashville whose upcoming full-length release Flowers of the Broken Hearted is sure to garner lots of attention. Anderson has all the makings of the next Ryan Adams, not to mention his music has hints of Amos Lee and Ray LaMontagne. I had a few questions for Anderson about the new record and his music and below are his answers. Here's 10 Questions for Anderson East:

Just Off Mainstream: You're about to release your first official LP entitled Flowers of the Broken Hearted. What's it been like putting together this album and creating a full-length record?
Anderson East: This new record has been a lot of things: fun, exciting, frustrating, nerve racking, inspiring, fulfilling, scary. But I'm so happy with it. I recorded the first disc in LA with my friend Chris Seefried producing. It was a really wonderful experience. We had a great band that I was honored to be in the same room with. The songs came out great, but the sweeps in style from song to song were too drastic. But that's my personality and I wasn't going to fight it. But once it was done, we we're trying to sequence it and it was like "what kind of record is this." So I came back to Nashville and instead of taking the more "left field" tracks off, I put more and more variety on it. I took two guys in and we cut eight songs in one day and then I did all the overdubs later at my studio. And while all of this was coming to together I started to understand what was happening lyrically and musically in a global perspective. It was like a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde scenario. I was telling the same stories from opposite ends of the spectrum and so the double album came to be.

JOM: This album has been funded by fans through Pledge Music. What was that like seeing the fans fully support you?
AE: Man, I tell you, it was one of the most humbling experiences I've ever had. To tell you the truth, I didn't want to do it and didn't think it was a big deal or that people wouldn't care, but the support from the community and the bond that took place was really incredible. I'm forever grateful to each person that stepped up to the plate and made it a success. Just amazing.

JOM: A couple of the rewards for supporting your record include having you sing lullabies over the phone and even calling a fan's ex boyfriend or girlfriend. Are you going to have to call any exes or are you off the hook?
AE: Well, I'm off the hook with dog cussin' someones ex, but I'm extremely well-versed in profanity, so someone missed out on that. But, I am having to sing some folks to sleep in the Netherlands and Germany. Pretty crazy, but I'm actually looking forward to it.

JOM: Not all of the proceeds from the money you raise for the album are going to actually getting the record released. What's the charity that you are supporting and how did you get involved in that?
AE: 10% of our exceeded goal goes to help WaterAid. These people bring clean water to impoverished areas and they also have an educational plan in place and the means to get the local communities to improve the water situations around them. Look, I can go turn on my faucet and stick my face under it and drink it until my guts bust. But there are thousands and thousands of people on this earth that are literally dying for that privilege. We complain a lot about all sorts of things, but having an abundance of water at our disposal is completely overlooked and taken for granted. Seems like a no-brainer.

JOM: How would you describe your music?
AE: Good. Worth listing to. In specifics, it's hard. Like I touched on earlier, the styles move and change. It can be a mellow Americana tune to an upbeat rocker with mellotron and omnichord for the bridge. Then you flip over and it's more ethereal and edgier. But, hopefully the listener can pin out the voice in everything. That's the common thread. At least I think so. But it's honest, it's music.

JOM: What prompted you to start writing songs?
AE: I could never learn cover songs when I was younger. I tried and tried to learn Jimmy Page solos note for note and nothing would ever work out. I guess I didn't have the patience. This was around the ADD epidemic. But anyway, so I was like, "well, I'll just write my own so no one can say they're wrong." Also, I got a 4-track cassette recorder and was in love from day one. All I ever wanted to do was make a record and so I figured I needed to write something to make this "record" with. That thing changed my life. Oh and wanting girls to like me.

JOM: You're from Alabama originally, but you've been in Nashville for a little while now. What's it like being in a city that's known for it's country music and trying to have a singer-songwriter career?
AE: Alabama is a beautiful place that will always be with me and the upbringing I had translates to now. Now Nashville, yeah, this place has been littered with more songwriters than I-65 has been littered with cigarette butts. But it's - Just Off Mainstream - The music you haven't heard yet.

Anderson East - Dan
Today we're doing things a bit differently. Roll it homie!

Q: Did you know from the time you were a kid that you would be a musician or were you just thrown into it?
A" Yes and no. I never intended to play music. I wanted to be a visual artist for most of my life. A kid in my neighborhood had a guitar and taught me "Hotel California" and I instantly wanted a guitar. But when the time to play in the band in school came around, I had no interest in any of it. To much damn work to play some boring music. I felt like everyone needed a distortion pedal.

Q: What does your songwriting process look like?
A: No rhyme or reason, man. I like recording great songs more than I like to write great songs but the fact that you need to record great songs in turn makes you want to write great songs. Ya dig? So it ranges from just sitting down with a guitar and banging out a tune or writing the music and recording it really fast just to see what the vibe of the track is and then write to what I've recorded.

Q: What does touring look like? Do you play for smaller venues or does it get bigger every time?
A: For me right now it can be the most random things ever. Some nights it's great, some night it sucks. I remember opening for Loretta Lynn in a sold out theater to five thousand people and then the next night playing to five people and two of them were bartenders. But I feel like it's like being a ball of tape. As you roll around the country you have people that you stick to and your ball starts to get bigger.

Q: Have you toured with any big names?
A: Cat Stephens, Elvis, Brad Pitt, Prince, Superman. Yea those folks are big deals.

Q: Do you think you'll pull a headlining tour in the near future or stay as an opening act?
A: Who knows man. I'll play for a middle school football practice if I have to.

Q: How is recording on your own? Do you sometimes wish you had professionals in there with you or do you prefer to make it all up by yourself?
A: Well… I feel pretty comfortable in a studio. That's where I've spent most of my adult life. I mean I have recorded with some really heavy cats and great producers and have worked for a few of them. But I just like recording good music. Like I just produced The Vespers newest record with my great friend Daniel Scobey and it was amazing. Its very rewarding to see other things beyond your own music doing well. But I love recording my music and I love recording other people. It's a fascinating world. Air being moved by paper speaker cones that you then listen to. It's pretty amazing.

Q: What kind of roadblocks have you faced in the studio/on the road? What were the most challenging where you thought "this could be the end of our career"?
A: Confidence and trusting what feels good. Also booking gigs is a pain in the ass. Some people are great at it, but I despise it. But yea back to the important stuff. Having the confidence that you are doing what you are put on this earth to do. It's hard when you're singing to walls, but if you can close your eyes and have the peace to know that your exactly where you're supposed to be, even if the gig is shit or if the take you just put down isn't right. Music is the ultimate form of communication. And I'm sure there are tons of other people that put it much more eloquently than I. But we're trying to give life some meaning and connect with rest of the people on this rock. It's sad and hard and lonely but when those moments come along that you leave your own body, your own ego and realize that the things your making and are putting out are bigger than yourself and didn't ever belong to you in the first place, you take a step back are realize how magical it all is. Just being the vessel for someone else to find something that they didn't know was there prior. Ok… Did I answers your question?

Q: Say 10 years from now, you've been picked up by a major label and you're doing great. Do you think you'll look back to this time and wish you could be independent again and have to work so hard to make ends meet or will you be happy the hardest part is over?
A: The hardest part is never over. Or at least I don't want it to be. When it gets easy, I think you've stopped looking for the magic that made you start playing in the first place. Sure, more money would be great, but I have no desire at this point in my life to be on some big major label. I want to be responsible for my life and my art. Not some greedy bastard in a board room feeling like "I gave that poor pony a career." I'm not a material driven person, unless we're talking about gear. If the lights are on and I'm fed and the people that are in my corner are taken care of, then I'm happy. I'm not interested in lining the pocket of a company. Not that I'm saying all record labels are the boogy monster, but a lot of people are trying to be him. I know people on majors that have great experiences and their careers move fast and they play big shows and that - The Indie Scene