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SUE FOLEY Scores Three Blues Music Award Nominations for Her ‘Pinky’s Blues’ Album

Eric Alper
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SUE FOLEY Scores Three Blues Music Award Nominations for Her ‘Pinky’s Blues’ Album

Pinky’s Blues, the new Stony Plain Records album from award-winning blues guitarist/singer Sue Foley, scored a trifecta of nominations at the recently announced nominees from the Blues Foundation for the 43rd Blues Music Awards. Foley garnered nominations for “Album of the Year,” “Traditional Blues Album,” and “Traditional Blues Female Artist.”

“I’m over the moon about these three Blues Music Award nominations,” said Texas-based Sue Foley after she heard the news. “What an incredible honor to be acknowledged in Memphis. Speaking for everyone who helped create Pinky’s Blues, we’re proud to have made a real blues album and are thrilled that folks are loving it.”

Featuring several Sue Foley originals, as well as songs from some of her favorite blues and roots artists, Pinky’s Blues showcases Sue Foley (guitar, vocals), accompanied by Chris “Whipper” Layton (drums), Jon Penner (bass), and Mike Flanigin (Hammond B3 organ), who also produced the album. The legendary Jimmie Vaughan joins is a special guest on rhythm guitar on the track, “Hurricane Girl.”

Pinky’s Blues is the follow up to Sue Foley’s award-winning album, The Ice Queen, (2018). Foley’s new album is a raw, electric guitar driven romp through the backroads of Texas blues, with Foley’s signature pink paisley Fender Telecaster, “Pinky,” at the wheel.

Foley won “Best Traditional Female (Koko Taylor Award)” at the 2020 Blues Music Awards in Memphis, was nominated for a Juno Award (Canadian Grammy), and she took home the award for “Best Guitar Player” at the Toronto Maple Blues Awards. For the last few years Foley and her band have kept a rigorous touring schedule across the USA, Canada and Europe. Some highlights were appearances at Love Rocks NYC (with Cyndi Lauper, Dave Mathews and Tedeschi Trucks) at The Beacon Theater (NYC), guesting with Jimmie Vaughan (opening for Eric Clapton) at Royal Albert Hall in London, Montreal Jazz Festival, Ottawa Bluesfest (with Buddy Guy), Moulin Blues (Holland), NPR’s Mountain Stage (with Bela Fleck), and The Jungle Show (with Billy F Gibbons and Jimmie Vaughan) in Austin, Texas.

Ronnie Earl And The Broadcasters Deliver a Loud and Clear Shout-Out of ‘Mercy Me’ On New Album

Eric Alper
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Ronnie Earl And The Broadcasters Deliver a Loud and Clear Shout-Out of ‘Mercy Me’ On New Album

Ronnie Earl, a four-time Blues Music Award winner as “Guitar Player of the Year,” follows up the critical and commercial success of his last album, Rise Up, with Mercy Me, a new set of wondrous music with his long-time band, The Broadcasters, on April 15 via Stony Plain Records. Mercy Me will also be released later this summer on vinyl LP.

Over a 45-year career as one of the world’s top blues musicians, Ronnie Earl has transfixed audiences with his distinct sound of emotion-laden blues. On his own and with his band The Broadcasters, Ronnie is a four-time Blues Music Award winner as “Guitar Player of the Year,” with 28 albums and multiple chart-topping compositions in his catalogue.

Ronnie sets the songs of this album into context with a quote from Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr prominently placed in the album art: “The Blues tell the story of life’s difficulties, and if you think for a moment, you will realize that they take the hardest realities of life and put them into music, only to come out with some new hope or sense of triumph.”

These 12 songs present triumphant Blues – uplifting and hopeful songs that point to a better tomorrow, including “Soul Searching,” “A Prayer for Tomorrow,” “The Sun Shines Brightly” and “Your Love Keeps Lifting Me Higher And Higher.” Celebrating artists who have contributed to the theme of hope, Mercy Me includes “Blues for Ruthie Foster,” “Blues for Duke Robillard” and “Dave’s Groove,” co-written with Dave Limina.

Dave Grohl of Foo Fighters Can Play Drums With His Teeth

Eric Alper
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Dave Grohl of Foo Fighters Can Play Drums With His Teeth

Dave Grohl reveals the “dental drumming” habit he and Nirvana bandmate Kurt Cobain shared and demonstrates it for Howard Stern.

Country Rocker Marshall Potts Brings “The Storm” with New Single

Eric Alper
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Country Rocker Marshall Potts Brings “The Storm” with New Single

Available now, Marshall Potts is blowing in strong with “The Storm” — the fierce new single from his forthcoming third album of the same name set to arrive this Spring.

The country rocker from Canada’s West Coast is fusing Americana with classic rock on this heavyweight song — supercharged and ready to rip off the shingles and tear down the roof.

A rural songwriting superstar living on a 160-acre oasis in his native BC, Potts treads the line on folk, country, and rousing rock and roll on an album drenched with his powerhouse vocals. Delivering on his commitment to convey the universal messages of positivity and optimism, Potts creates music he calls “moving beyond your past, taking back your power, embracing the moment and living in the here and now.”

True to form, his crossover track “The Storm” is as buoyant as a thunder rolling cascade of heavy guitar, and raining melody. “This is a song of understanding, realization, and action,” Potts says, adding, “We realize what’s important to us when we have massive change, and like a storm, it will pass but it’s what we learned about ourselves that makes us better human beings as a result.”

In addition to gearing up for the song’s titular album and its upcoming release, Potts has celebrated two previous album drops, international airplay and touring, plus movie soundtrack credits. Of the new album, Potts says: “it foreshadows the positive outcome we can all expect when we take the time to learn about ourselves, seek our own truths, heal our old scars and reemerge standing our ground in our own power. The hero story we are all meant to walk and the gratitude that leads our lives as a result.”

Armed with his band of brothers, Potts has scored label distribution through Sony/The Orchard, with the release at the helm of his 2022 performance plans — including getting back on the road touring. In addition to the singles, Potts provides a visual component to the tracks through music videos available for streaming on YouTube.

“When the wind comes it brings change,” Potts muses on the lyrics of “The Storm”, “and only truth alone remains. ‘Cause it reveals your pain, that’s why the Storm came.” His anthemic challenge on the record implores for self-reflection. “We get the chance to redefine what’s most important to us and where we need to refocus our intentions.”

Forget battening down the hatches, or boarding up the windows; “The Storm” has already arrived and Marshall Potts is commanding it.

Rocker EDISON RUPERT Recounts A Tale of Hard Living in “Ticket To A Place”

Eric Alper
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Rocker EDISON RUPERT Recounts A Tale of Hard Living in “Ticket To A Place”

Life can be punishing, and the world can be a cruel place, and sometimes we just want someone to lay it all out how it really is, without varnish or artifice. Canadian indie folk-rocker Edison Rupert does just that in his rollicking ballad of hard luck, “Ticket To A Place.”

“Ticket To A Place” starts out with marching, percussive electric guitar as Rupert tells the sad tale with plain-voiced candor in the vein of Johnny Cash. The story begins in the first person, as Rupert narrates the empty, anonymous existence of a cipher:

I’ve got a ticket to a place that nobody knows
I’ve got some years on my back with nothing to show
If you come looking for me, I’m hiding in the shadows
I’ve got my own dirt pile pillow, It feels like home

The accompanying music video depicts Rupert walking alone down a dirty snow-crusted street in Ottawa in the dead of winter, singing and playing his electric guitar. The guitar begins to rock and the tale takes on an infectious, bluesy melody as Rupert croons right up to the edge of a moan about the soul-shaking shame of this life, slouching in the shadows: “There’s nowhere to go/Beneath this low,” he laments. “And I’d lay my bones/Anywhere that you can’t find me.”

And then the song’s perspective suddenly shifts, with Rupert now recounting an encounter he had with a haggard man: “I picked up a ragged man from laying in the street/He said it’s my day to go son, can’t you see?” It’s this perspective that’s actually based on one of Rupert’s own life experiences – he was inspired to write “Ticket To A Place” after a sad and memorable encounter with a homeless man in Ottawa, on the very street where the music video was filmed.

“The song ‘Ticket to a place’ is about a real-life experience I had more than 15 years ago,” Rupert said. “I saw a homeless man lying in the middle of the road with the traffic stopped in front of him. People were just watching from the sidewalk, and I went over to him and got him up and onto the sidewalk where I asked if he was ok, and in the end, he just wanted someone to care.”

The experience struck him as a reminder to not let his compassion get diluted and desensitized by the overflow of homeless people in downtown Ottawa. This is perhaps why he chose to tell half the song’s tale in the first person — to humbly put himself directly in a homeless person’s shoes, to live the experience through song. “I was reminded to keep my kindness towards people no matter who they are,” he said.

Edison Rupert is a new musical artist from Ottawa. He has been making music for more than 15 years, and yet he is just starting to put it out there now. He’s a one-man show, and everything you hear is Edison writing, performing, engineering, mixing, and mastering in his basement studio. Equipped with a heart full of sincerity, a house full of gear, and a drive to put his new music out to the world, Edison Rupert is not looking to slow down anytime soon.

Eddie Vedder Celebrates Acclaimed Ukulele Songs Solo Release With A Pair Of Vinyl Reissues

Eric Alper
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Eddie Vedder Celebrates Acclaimed Ukulele Songs Solo Release With A Pair Of Vinyl Reissues

On May 6, Eddie Vedder is set to reissue both Deluxe Edition and Standard Edition LP versions of his acclaimed second solo album, May 2011’s Ukulele Songs, the first time this record has been pressed on vinyl since its initial LP release a decade ago.

The Deluxe Edition LP features the original 16-track Ukulele Songs album on high-grade 180-gram black vinyl in expanded packaging that includes a 16-page booklet and a special lithograph. The Standard Edition LP has also been pressed on 180-gram black vinyl.

Ukulele Songs comprises a fine mixture of original material penned by Vedder that he initially performed live, alongside vintage classics and standards. A recast, uke-driven version of “Can’t Keep,” which originally appeared as the opening track on Pearl Jam’s hard-charging November 2002 album Riot Act, opens the proceedings, while newer-bred original songs like the resigned lament of “Sleeping By Myself,” the charming love orbit of “Satellite,” the hopeful brightness of “Light Today,” and the instrumental interlude “Waving Palms” all set the table for the 35-minute album.

Guest vocalists appear on a pair of key Ukulele tracks, both of them fine covers of notable standards. First, Glen Hansard (The Frames, Once) adds his Irish folk DNA to “Sleepless Nights,” which was written by Felice and Boudreaux Bryant and remade by The Everly Brothers in 1960, in addition to later being covered by the likes of Emmylou Harris, Patty Loveless, and Elvis Costello.

Second, Cat Power lends her passionate tone to “Tonight You Belong To Me,” a jazz standard written in 1926 by lyricist Billy Rose and composer Lee David. This track has also been subsequently covered by the likes of Frankie Laine, Patience and Prudence, and Dottie West. Versions of “You Belong To Me” were also recently featured in the acclaimed 2019 film drama Blackbird and in an episode of the 2020 HBO horror-drama series Lovecraft Country.

The LP’s other noteworthy covers include stirring takes on Billy Rose and Edward Eliscu’s “More Than You Know,” Michael Edwards and Bud Green’s “Once In A While,” and the album-closing reading of Fabian Andre, Wilbur Schwandt, and Gus Kahn’s “Dream A Little Dream.”

Produced by Eddie Vedder and Adam Kasper (Foo Fighters, Soundgarden), Ukulele Songs peaked at No. 4 on the U.S. Billboard 200, hit No. 2 on the U.S. Top Rock Albums on Billboard, and achieved Gold status in Canada.

EDDIE VEDDER: UKULELE SONGS [Deluxe Edition LP & Standard LP]

Side A
Can’t Keep
Sleeping By Myself
Without You
More Than You Know
Goodbye
Broken Heart
Satellite

Side B
Longing To Belong
Hey Fahkah
You’re True
Light Today
Sleepless Nights
Once In A While
Waving Palms
Tonight You Belong To Me
Dream A Little Dream

Jake Clemons Band Free “Pop-Up” Show Tomorrow in Montreal in support of Red Cross Ukraine Relief Fund

Eric Alper
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Jake Clemons Band Free “Pop-Up” Show Tomorrow in Montreal in support of Red Cross Ukraine Relief Fund

Gifted singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Jake Clemons is a magnet for positive energy and emotion, consistently sharing stories and thoughts about life, his beliefs, and experiences through music. Jake and his Band are performing a Free Pop-Up Fund-Raising Show in Montreal this Friday March 11th at URSA Montreal, 5589 Park Ave, Montreal in support of Red Cross Ukraine Relief Fund. Donations Accepted at the door. Doors open at 7:30pm, show starts at 8:30pm.

“Watching this industrialized warfare against innocent civilians in real time is heartbreaking. Hope requires action, so I’m doing this show as a vehicle for those willing to actively say we are hopeful for Ukraine, and we’re actively sending resources for healing to the many who are hurting because of this terrible, unjust aggression.” Clemons’s song Eyes On The Horizon is a statement about the need to reach towards something better. “We always have to carry that hope with us,” he says. “We have to use it to look towards the horizon.”

Jake’s vast array of musical endeavors over the past decade have made him a familiar figure around the world. From recording and/or performing with Eddie Vedder, Glen Hansard, Tom Morello, Prophets of Rage, Roger Waters, US Girls as well as touring the world, to performing his own music with The Jake Clemons Band and spending the last 9 years as the tenor and baritone saxophonist with Bruce Springsteen’s E Street Band including appearing on Springsteen’s latest album “Letter To You” and the companion Apple TV Documentary.

Ottawa Composer Huguette Lavigne Celebrates the First Blush of Love with “I’ll Make You Happy”

Eric Alper
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Ottawa Composer Huguette Lavigne Celebrates the First Blush of Love with “I’ll Make You Happy”

All humans know it: there’s nothing quite like feeling that exquisite mind and body rush and intrinsic connection when you’re in the presence of the one you love. Ottawa-based pianist and composer Huguette Lavigne has captured that complex and thrilling set of emotions in her latest contemporary instrumental single, “I’ll Make You Happy.”

Lavigne’s joyous piece, with its ascending and descending progressions, excitement building crescendos, and a touch of nostalgia, takes you on a very similar ride to the one your heart takes when falling in love.

“A blush radiating from the core. A twinkle in the eye and your heart tells you what to do,” describes the Ottawa-based piano innovator. “When there is no need to say anything. When anything can happen.

“So, you see? Flirting can open the door to a nice conversation.”

Lavigne’s relationship with her music is a very fruitful, ongoing flirtation. Her method of composing the over 40 piano works she’s written to date is a beautiful manifestation of the urge to sit down at the keys, let go and let the muse take her wherever it pleases. That’s certainly true of “I’ll Make You Happy.”

“I was most likely at the piano improvising something that ended up creating this piece,” says Lavigne. “It was destined to be uplifting and joyous, with its many ascending happy phrases, the main drivers of the piece.

“As I was creating this piece, my musical soul was probably searching for an expression of joy, love, and romance!”

“I’ll Make You Happy” is the second composition Lavigne has released as a single from her third album, 2019’s Free and Easy. The prolific pianist has released four full-length recordings over the past six years. Her latest album, Five O’Clock Somewhere, was released in 2020. Her first album, Black Tie Affair, debuted in 2015 and the second collection of her works, Yin and Yang, was issued in 2018.

Lavigne’s playing and composing are truly extensions of her physical and mental being. She’s an artist who eschews the tradition of meticulously notating her compositions in favour of relying on a shorthand of her own to facilitate recall for future performances.

“There is something about breaking the rules that can be terribly satisfying,” says Lavigne. “My fingers sometimes go where they want to on the keyboard and at times I sort of have to take them back home or rein them in.”

Her final compositions are eventually stored entirely in her head and fingers. Once they’re recorded she moves on to the next piece.

“Not notating everything down keeps things fresh,” she explains. “You are open to new phrases and resolutions. This is risky, but oh so satisfying!”

Also very satisfying for Lavigne is the video for “I’ll Make You Happy”, featuring a wide array of couples in heartwarming displays of attraction and affection.

‘Whether it is enduring or a fleeting moment, love nurtures everyone and is the same at the core of every human being.”

A crossroads of cultures is at the core of Lavigne’s music as she was raised in a milieu of Franco Ontarian, Quebecois, and English Canadian influences. She studied composition at McGill University and piano at l’université de Montréal. Consequently, her music has a melting pot of elements of Neo-Classicism, Neo-Romanticism, Minimalism, Jazz, Folk, and Classical.

Lavigne’s inspiration always comes from a deeply personal place but the variety of influences she has had can often make what comes out of her fingers surprising.

“Somehow and unexpectedly, a style, theme, mood, emotion or vision is released from the deep recesses of memory,” she explains. “It’s a place where the subjective is stored and it surprises me when it lets something loose. Then, I either capture it, or let it go.”

With her newest single, Lavigne has captured the joyous abandon and mysterious magic of love.

Iconic Song Inspires Upcoming Children’s Book ‘Don McLean’s American Pie: A Fable’

Eric Alper
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Iconic Song Inspires Upcoming Children’s Book ‘Don McLean’s American Pie: A Fable’

Award-winning singer/songwriter Don McLean’s iconic anthem “American Pie” has inspired a new children’s book about a young boy’s journey to uncover his passion for music.

Commemorating the fiftieth anniversary of one of the top songs of the twentieth century, ‘Don McLean’s American Pie: A Fable’ weaves themes from the iconic song with experiences from McLean’s early life and, like the musical hit that inspired it, offers meaningful elements open to interpretation in a lushly illustrated tale.

“As ‘American Pie’ celebrates 50 years, I’m very happy to have a children’s book based on the premise of the song,” McLean said. “Everyone has a different interpretation of it. Releasing this fable brings another perspective to the lyrics, along with some backstory for when I wrote it. I hope every child gets to imagine in their own mind what ‘American Pie’ means to them and know that dreams can become reality.”

“Don McLean’s American Pie: A Fable” is the story of a newspaper delivery boy in the late 1950s who discovers the joy of friendship and music, eventually learning that when you recognize what makes you happy, you are never truly alone.

The June 7 book release also serves as the launch of IPG Publishing and of a partnership between the Chicago-based publisher and Los Angeles-based media company Meteor 17.

“I’m especially proud that this timely fable is the first release in our partnership with IPG Publishing,” Proffer said. “It echoes the spirit and sentiment of Don’s ‘American Pie’ and will leave the reader contemplating and feeling, just like the song that inspired it. After fifty years, the song maintains its relevance and the book will introduce its magic to a new generation.”

Released in 1971, “American Pie” was named one of the top five songs of the century by the National Endowment for the Arts and the Recording Industry Association of America, and the original recording was selected for preservation in the National Recording Registry by the Library of Congress as being “culturally, historically or artistically significant.” The song is also the subject of an upcoming documentary.

“At its heart, Don McLean’s iconic song was about real events that impacted a generation, and our book is similar in spirit,” said Richard T. Williams, Vice President, Business Development, Publishing & Licensing for IPG. “It doesn’t tell the literal story of The Day the Music Died, but it hints at how a young boy may have found inspiration from it, resulting in a lifetime of music and artistry—just as Don may have.”

He added that by pairing an emotionally resonant story with elaborate and whimsical illustrations, the publishing team hoped to inspire children to find their inner creative voices.

Find more information on ‘Don McLean’s American Pie: A Fable,’ including illustration examples, at Edelweiss.

Kicking Off Jazz Month To Honour Charles Mingus’ “Mingus Three” In A Deluxe Edition

Eric Alper
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Kicking Off Jazz Month To Honour Charles Mingus’ “Mingus Three” In A Deluxe Edition

This year, Rhino / Parlophone is kicking off Jazz Appreciation Month with one of the most influential figures in 20th-century American music, Charles Mingus, who would have turned 100 on April 22. This year, Mingus’ legacy will be in the spotlight with the release of a deluxe edition of his album, Mingus Three, just in time for his centenary as a virtuoso bass player, an accomplished pianist, bandleader, and composer.

Rhino/Parlophone will salute Mingus with an updated version of his 1957 trio recording with pianist Hampton Hawes and drummer Dannie Richmond. The seven original tracks have been expanded for the upcoming release, with eight previously unreleased session recordings discovered by chance recently in the London Parlophone vaults. The bonus tracks include different takes for all but one album track (“Laura”), plus two blues originals.

MINGUS THREE: DELUXE EDITION will be available on April 22 – Mingus’ birthday – as a 180-gram double-LP set and as a double-CD set. The music will also be available from digital and streaming services on the same day.

The music comes in a replica of the original record sleeve issued by Jubilee Records and a booklet featuring photos from the era. The set also includes new liner notes written by jazz arranger and pianist Sy Johnson, who collaborated with Mingus in the 1970s and helped arrange his 1972 album, Let My Children Hear Music.

He writes: “The Mingus Three session was booked for July 9, 1957. Mingus and Hawes brought their histories to the studio: Mingus with a long, powerful record of activism, outrage, and political attack anchored in serious music-making, and Hawes’ fanfare of jazz awards and huge success—and he could play!! The date would ultimately become a dialogue between Mingus and Hawes with punctuation from Richmond.”

Mingus recorded the session in a day with Hawes, a childhood friend who’d been in bands with Charlie Parker and Dexter Gordon, and drummer Dannie Richmond, whose association with the bassist lasted over two decades. Mingus Three included four standards (“Yesterdays,” “I Can’t Get Started,” “Summertime” and “Laura”), two Mingus originals (“Back Home Blues” and “Dizzy Moods”), and a group jam “Hamp’s New Blues.”

The bonus material provides a fresh glimpse into the principal players and offers alternate – not lesser – versions of album tracks, including swinging takes of “Summertime” and “Hamp’s New Blues.”

Mingus’s music continues to reach new audiences through artists like Mingus Big Band (directed by his widow Sue Mingus), Kamasi Washington, Chrissie Hynde (whose latest album includes a Mingus cover), Candace Springs, Elvis Costello, Gang Starr (who samples him), and Joni Mitchell (who wrote lyrics to his music). His musical legacy is still ongoing and will continue to play an essential role in music history for many generations to come.

MINGUS THREE

LP Track Listing:

Disc One: Original LP
Side A
1. “Yesterdays”
2. “Back Home Blues”
3. “I Can’t Get Started”
4. “Hamp’s New Blues”

Side B
1. “Summertime”
2. “Dizzy Moods”
3. “Laura”

Disc Two: The Outtakes
Side A
1. Untitled Blues
2. Untitled Blues – Take 2
3. “Back Home Blues” – Take 6
4. “Hamp’s New Blues” – Take 4

Side B
1. “I Can’t Get Started” – Take 1
2. “Yesterdays” – Take 2 (Incomplete)
3. “Dizzy Moods” – Take 2
4. “Summertime” – Take 3

CD Track Listing
Disc One: Original LP
1. “Yesterdays”
2. “Back Home Blues”
3. “I Can’t Get Started”
4. “Hamp’s New Blues”
5. “Summertime”
6. “Dizzy Moods”
7. “Laura”

Disc Two: The Outtakes
1. Untitled Blues
2. Untitled Blues – Take 2
3. “Back Home Blues” – Take 6
4. “Hamp’s New Blues” – Take 4
5. “I Can’t Get Started” – Take 1
6. “Yesterdays” – Take 2 (Incomplete)
7. “Dizzy Moods” – Take 2
8. “Summertime” – Take 3

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That Eric Alper

Eric Alper is a 6-time nominee for Publicist of the Year during Canadian Music Week and has overseen the publicity campaigns for over 183 JUNO Award-nominated albums (and 16 in 2025), 45 Grammy-nominated albums, including 47 JUNO Award, 58 Canadian Folk Music Award, 126 Maple Blues Award-winning albums and is also truly honoured to work with some of the biggest and most important artists of our time.

Contact me: eric@thatericalper.com

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