Runway 27, Left wins The Akademia Music Award for Best Blues Song

With critical coverage by German magazine 'Der Folker', playing their first concerts in Switzerland and two of their performances filmed full length by Austrian TV station Servus TV, 2015 was a fairly successful year for Runway 27, Left. Receiving their first award ever, The Akademia Music Award for Best Blues Song in the January 2016 Akademia Music Awards, the new year sees the acoustic blues duo make a head start. On the winning song, The Akademia thinks that "Aptly titled, 'Tex-Mex Food And Texas Blues' combines easy lyrical stylings with a cool electric guitar riff to create a great anthem for any merry bar scene."

On their current album 'Friends And Catfish', Lukas Weber of Planet.tt Magazine from Vienna, Austria, says that "Half of the album was recorded at historic Sun Studio in Tennessee, the other half in Berlin; the result is something to be proud of (to listen to). Editor's picks: 'Blue Sunday' & 'Talking To Myself'."

Radio personality Josep Palmada of the Red Hot Blues Radio Show on Radio Vilafant from Spain thinks that 'Runway 27 Left from Vienna (Austria) show a very personal approach to the blues. It's a duo consisting of Anthony 'Tone' Kammerhofer and Erich 'Weissfeder' Brandl, mainly influenced by blues, country, Rock'n Roll, Zydeco and Bluegrass. Their second album 'Friends And Catfish' was recorded in the USA and Europe, and all songs on the album are original songs. It's great work.'

With more than 80 performances from 2011 to 2015 in Germany, Austria and Switzerland, acoustic duo Runway 27, Left's first album 'Weekend Warriors' was released on their label 'Weissfeder Records' in March 2012. The harbinger of their first album, radio-only release 'Flawed & Flattened', had already gathered radio airplay in the UK, the USA, Spain, The Netherlands, Australia, Germany, Austria and Macedonia.

Eventually, April and May 2012 saw their first, brief guest appearances upon invitation by local artists in Memphis, TN, and New Orleans, LA. February 2013 saw them back in Memphis, TN, for recording their first few songs for their upcoming second album at historic Sun Records Studio, further enhancing their strong bond with St. Blues Guitar Workshop, too. The second part of their second album was recorded in September 2013 at Tonbrauerei Studios in Berlin, Germany. In January 2016, Runway 27, Left received the Akademia Music Awards for Best Blues Song for 'Tex-Mex Food & Texas Blues'. Both albums, 'Weekend Warriors' and 'Friends And Catfish' are available on all respective download platforms worldwide.

Runway 27, Left is a blues project having former Trans Am/Sun Luca/Run Riot bass player Erich 'White Feather' Brandl and My Other Brother lead vocalist Anthony 'Tone' Kammerhofer team up.

The musicians (Erich Brandl - guitars, bass, backing vocals and Anthony Kammerhofer - lead vocals, rhythm guitars) try to reconnect with the roots of pop and rock music, calling their style 'In-Blues Entertainment'.

Runway 27, Left's concert schedule for spring 2016:
10 Mar 2016 - Mausefalle - Bonn, Germany
11 Mar 2016 - Backpackers Inn - Einbeck, Germany
12 Mar 2016 - Summa Summarum Musikkeller - Frankfurt, Germany
09 Apr 2016 - Werkl im Goethehof - Vienna, Austria
02 Jun 2016 - Cafe Engelchen - Amberg, Germany
03 Jun 2016 - Kaffee Augenblick - Winterthur, Switzerland
05 Jun 2016 - Alfonsos Live Music Club - Munich, Germany
07 Jun 2016 - Ludwigs Bar & Cafe - Nuremberg, Germany
10 Jun 2016 - Landgasthof Adlerbraeu - Ernstbrunn, Austria
05 Oct 2016 - Black Pearl Bad Zwesten - Bad Zwesten, Germany
06 Oct 2016 - Rock Bar Reinhardshausen - Reinhardshausen, Germany
07 Oct 2016 - The Kings Arms - Nuremberg, Germany
27 Oct 2016 - The Early Bird - Innsbruck, Austria
28 Oct 2016 - Irish Pub Haslach - Haslach im Kinzigtal, Germany

http://www.runway27left.com

Donna Ulisse releases 9th album for Hadley Music Group

"Black train, black train … I ain't staying where I'm at," sings Donna Ulisse on the spirited opening track to Hard Cry Moon, her ninth album on the Hadley Music Group label. While the lyric addresses a woman's determination to move on from a failed relationship, Ulisse could be expressing her desire to follow her muse where it takes her. And this time around, it's back to (mostly) original material.

After a brief detour with 2013's Showin' My Roots, which consisted mainly of classic country covers that had influenced her, the four-time IBMA songwriter of the year nominee (with songs recorded by Del McCoury, Doyle Lawson, Claire Lynch and more) is back with another superb collection of originals that demonstrate her gift for believable narrative, finely wrought detail and genuine emotion. When she wraps her warm, rich voice around these songs, you know they're real to her.

Ulisse is a writer on 11 of the 12 songs, penning four on her own. Fans will recognize regular co-writers Marc Rossi, with four songs here; Rick Stanley, her husband and touring band member (and cousin of Carter and Ralph); and the award-winning Jerry Salley.

The first single, "It Could Have Been The Mandolin," recalls a blissful evening in a blossoming relationship. Ulisse did a spoof video to promote the single which is shown below. Young love is also at the forefront of "We're Gonna Find A Preacher," while the feisty "Ain't That A Pity" depicts the downside of love.

Family stories have always been a key part of Ulisse's music, and here she offers two loving tributes. "Workin' On The C & O" is a poor man's railroad tale about her maternal grandfather, who began his career as a "gandy dancer." "Papa's Garden" honors her grandfather on her dad's side, an Italian immigrant who found great joy in growing things. She lovingly dedicates the whole album to these two grandparents who made such an impression on her.

In the spine-tingling "The River's Runnin' Free," the singer stumbles upon an acquaintance in the act of some eerily suspicious behavior by the water, demands: "Are you here to lay some kind of trouble in the ground, or are you here digging trouble up?" At the other end of the emotional spectrum is "Just As Long As We're Together," a love-conquers-all promise. And the gorgeously mournful title track is the type of acoustic traditional country ballad that no one can deliver like Ulisse.

The sole cover is the country classic "Whispering Pines," a song Ulisse has long loved, and one originally made famous by Johnny Horton, her husband's all-time favorite male vocalist. Ulisse sings the chestnut like one of her own, her voice tenderly pleading for the return of her baby.

The album closes with the lullaby-like "I'll Sleep In Peace At Night" which includes Fayssoux McLean on harmony, one of Ulisse‘s vocal idols from the time she first heard her singing harmony on the early Emmylou Harris records.

Ulisse handed the production reins to six-time IBMA guitarist of the year Bryan Sutton (Hot Rize, Ricky Skaggs, Harry Connick Jr.), who also was at the board for Showin' My Roots. As on previous albums, Ulisse is surrounded by some of the top pickers in bluegrass — which is to say some of the best musicians on the planet: Casey Campbell, a member of Sutton's touring band, on mandolin; Dennis Crouch (June Carter Cash, Emmylou Harris, Diana Krall, Steve Earle) on upright bass. Stuart Duncan (Alison Krauss; James Taylor, the Goat Rodeo Sessions album with Yo-Yo Ma, Chris Thile and Edgar Meyer) on fiddle. Scott Vestal (Dolly Parton, Doyle Lawson, Sam Bush) on banjo. Brent Truitt of the SteelDrivers engineered and mixed.

With Hard Cry Moon, Donna Ulisse offers more proof that, whether she is interpreting the work of others or her own compositions, she has earned her spot as one of bluegrass music's most captivating artists.

The album is available at Amazon, iTunes, CDBaby, County Sales and many other online stores.

http://www.donnaulisse.com

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