Sun August 18, 2013
Wry-to-Romantic American Songwriter Maurice Tani Releases Two New CDs
SEE EVENT DETAILS
San Francisco veteran singer-songwriter Maurice Tani and Freight & Salvage in Berkeley announce a double CD release show on SUNDAY AUGUST 18 at 8:00pm. This show celebrates the simultaneous release of Tani's fourth and fifth albums: a new studio album, “Blue Line”, and “Two Stroke”, an album of acoustic duos and trios with bassist Mike Anderson and a variety of others.
Maurice’s August 18th special performance at Freight & Salvage will be primarily acoustic, featuring material from the two new CDs as well as the previous three. The set will begin with bassist Mike Anderson but joining in at various points will be English songstress Pam Brandon, jazz pianist Randy Craig and Ken Owen on the drums.
Bio:
Born and raised in San Francisco, Tani was just a bit too young for the Summer of Love, but was still profoundly influenced by the California culture that gave the world country rock from the Bakersfield variety to psychedelic to the singer songwriter types.
Barely into his twenties and hungry for experience, he moved to central Texas to work the hardcore country, blues and rock circuit between Austin and Dallas, playing five sets a night, seven nights a week for months at a time, eventually making connections that led to his moving to New York City just as the punk rock scene of CBGBs and Max's Kansas City was exploding in Lower Manhattan. By 1977 he was back in San Francisco as punk, power pop and new wave was taking hold in the Bay Area and began a stretch of five years and four critically acclaimed albums with ex-Flamin' Groovies front man Roy Loney's band, The Phantom Movers.
Through the rest of the '80s and '90s, Maurice was the lead guitarist and a featured vocalist for Zasu Pitts Memorial Orchestra and Big Bang Beat, two large, 12-18 piece dance bands that gained worldwide exposure from a 2 hour PBS New Years Eve tri-mulcast (2 television stations with different views and FM stereo radio audio all broadcasting simultaneously) that was broadcast annually for many years on public TV around the US and Europe. ZPMO won the Bammy Award for Best Independent Album of 1985. After 15+ years of touring, Tani was ready for a change and made the decision to return to his roots in original music.
Since making the shift back to songwriting in 1999, Maurice has spent the past 13 years as an active part of the California alt-country/Americana scene. Fronting his own bands, Calamity & Main, 77 El Deora, he has produced a series of albums for himself and others. In recent years, with singer Jenn Courtney as his muse, central character and sparring partner, Tani has constructed a repertoire of rye humor and romantic ruminations.
Tani & 77 El Deora represent the best in Americana: smart without making a fuss about it. The lyrics are worldly but universal. The musical ideas hit home. The playing is as good as you’re going to hear this side of Austin. Above all, the band covers a lot of ground, from wistful ballads to hard driving honky-tonk rock, from personal meditations to satirical cultural observations, from electrified twang to down-home acoustic. Once in a while, they even find new shades of meaning in some cover you thought had been long since played out. This band is different. This band is special.
“All in all, possibly the best indie ‘Americana’ band to come from the Bay Area . . . ever . . . period.” - Paul Olguin
"BLUE LINE", a new 77 El Deora studio album jangles some familiar nerves and scuffs up some new ground off the band's beaten path. From their lightest to their darkest forms, the songs are examinations on the conflict of the human condition. Deception, obsession, delusion, denial, damnation, renewal, redemption, mysticism, snake oil saviors, bad debts, cheatin', lyin', drinkin', dyin', broken hearts, shattered dreams, twangy guitars and tattered hearts.
As on previous outings, Tani alternately goes it alone and spars with female counterparts -long-time muse and collaborator Jenn Courtney and bluegrass and swing chanteuse Pam Brandon. Supported by a large cast of other musicians, the arrangements utilize every implement in the 77 El Deora toolbox from the finest scalpel to the largest hammers. From dark and serious tales of broken hearts and tortured souls to the band’s trademarked TPO’s, (Tani's affectionate acronym for his “Trailer Park Operettas”), filled with bad break-up lines and smart mouth rejoinders.
Maurice Tani & Mike Anderson: “TWO STROKE” is the answer to demand for a CD of Tani's material as performed by him and 77 El Deora bassist Mike Anderson on the acoustic listening circuit. These are stripped down versions of many of Maurice's songs that were originally issued in heavily produced form -often with female vocalists, now sung by Tani.
Like all of Tani's recordings, “Two Stroke”, features many guest players, but in this case, only one at a time, adding just a taste of seasoning to the very quiet renditions that allow the songs to sing in new ways. This is a very different album of familiar material to Tani's fans.
“This music is neither retro nor country; it's twang noir. A fully realized universe, on a dark night, with an AM radio station sending out a strong signal from somewhere down Highway 99. Are you listening?” - Scott Bloom, Bay Area Twang
“This is thoughtful, heart-wrenching stuff about human asteroids that wonder where and how they lost their way and if there is a GPS that works. …darkly funny comments on power, desire, adrenalin, ambivalence, and narco squad surveillance.” -Jeep Rosenberg, Freight Train Boogie
Artist website: https://www.77eldeora.com/
show less
Maurice’s August 18th special performance at Freight & Salvage will be primarily acoustic, featuring material from the two new CDs as well as the previous three. The set will begin with bassist Mike Anderson but joining in at various points will be English songstress Pam Brandon, jazz pianist Randy Craig and Ken Owen on the drums.
Bio:
Born and raised in San Francisco, Tani was just a bit too young for the Summer of Love, but was still profoundly influenced by the California culture that gave the world country rock from the Bakersfield variety to psychedelic to the singer songwriter types.
Barely into his twenties and hungry for experience, he moved to central Texas to work the hardcore country, blues and rock circuit between Austin and Dallas, playing five sets a night, seven nights a week for months at a time, eventually making connections that led to his moving to New York City just as the punk rock scene of CBGBs and Max's Kansas City was exploding in Lower Manhattan. By 1977 he was back in San Francisco as punk, power pop and new wave was taking hold in the Bay Area and began a stretch of five years and four critically acclaimed albums with ex-Flamin' Groovies front man Roy Loney's band, The Phantom Movers.
Through the rest of the '80s and '90s, Maurice was the lead guitarist and a featured vocalist for Zasu Pitts Memorial Orchestra and Big Bang Beat, two large, 12-18 piece dance bands that gained worldwide exposure from a 2 hour PBS New Years Eve tri-mulcast (2 television stations with different views and FM stereo radio audio all broadcasting simultaneously) that was broadcast annually for many years on public TV around the US and Europe. ZPMO won the Bammy Award for Best Independent Album of 1985. After 15+ years of touring, Tani was ready for a change and made the decision to return to his roots in original music.
Since making the shift back to songwriting in 1999, Maurice has spent the past 13 years as an active part of the California alt-country/Americana scene. Fronting his own bands, Calamity & Main, 77 El Deora, he has produced a series of albums for himself and others. In recent years, with singer Jenn Courtney as his muse, central character and sparring partner, Tani has constructed a repertoire of rye humor and romantic ruminations.
Tani & 77 El Deora represent the best in Americana: smart without making a fuss about it. The lyrics are worldly but universal. The musical ideas hit home. The playing is as good as you’re going to hear this side of Austin. Above all, the band covers a lot of ground, from wistful ballads to hard driving honky-tonk rock, from personal meditations to satirical cultural observations, from electrified twang to down-home acoustic. Once in a while, they even find new shades of meaning in some cover you thought had been long since played out. This band is different. This band is special.
“All in all, possibly the best indie ‘Americana’ band to come from the Bay Area . . . ever . . . period.” - Paul Olguin
"BLUE LINE", a new 77 El Deora studio album jangles some familiar nerves and scuffs up some new ground off the band's beaten path. From their lightest to their darkest forms, the songs are examinations on the conflict of the human condition. Deception, obsession, delusion, denial, damnation, renewal, redemption, mysticism, snake oil saviors, bad debts, cheatin', lyin', drinkin', dyin', broken hearts, shattered dreams, twangy guitars and tattered hearts.
As on previous outings, Tani alternately goes it alone and spars with female counterparts -long-time muse and collaborator Jenn Courtney and bluegrass and swing chanteuse Pam Brandon. Supported by a large cast of other musicians, the arrangements utilize every implement in the 77 El Deora toolbox from the finest scalpel to the largest hammers. From dark and serious tales of broken hearts and tortured souls to the band’s trademarked TPO’s, (Tani's affectionate acronym for his “Trailer Park Operettas”), filled with bad break-up lines and smart mouth rejoinders.
Maurice Tani & Mike Anderson: “TWO STROKE” is the answer to demand for a CD of Tani's material as performed by him and 77 El Deora bassist Mike Anderson on the acoustic listening circuit. These are stripped down versions of many of Maurice's songs that were originally issued in heavily produced form -often with female vocalists, now sung by Tani.
Like all of Tani's recordings, “Two Stroke”, features many guest players, but in this case, only one at a time, adding just a taste of seasoning to the very quiet renditions that allow the songs to sing in new ways. This is a very different album of familiar material to Tani's fans.
“This music is neither retro nor country; it's twang noir. A fully realized universe, on a dark night, with an AM radio station sending out a strong signal from somewhere down Highway 99. Are you listening?” - Scott Bloom, Bay Area Twang
“This is thoughtful, heart-wrenching stuff about human asteroids that wonder where and how they lost their way and if there is a GPS that works. …darkly funny comments on power, desire, adrenalin, ambivalence, and narco squad surveillance.” -Jeep Rosenberg, Freight Train Boogie
Artist website: https://www.77eldeora.com/
San Francisco veteran singer-songwriter Maurice Tani and Freight & Salvage in Berkeley announce a double CD release show on SUNDAY AUGUST 18 at 8:00pm. This show celebrates the simultaneous release of Tani's fourth and fifth albums: a new studio album, “Blue Line”, and “Two Stroke”, an album of acoustic duos and trios with bassist Mike Anderson and a variety of others.
Maurice’s August 18th special performance at Freight & Salvage will be primarily acoustic, featuring material from the two new CDs as well as the previous three. The set will begin with bassist Mike Anderson but joining in at various points will be English songstress Pam Brandon, jazz pianist Randy Craig and Ken Owen on the drums.
Bio:
Born and raised in San Francisco, Tani was just a bit too young for the Summer of Love, but was still profoundly influenced by the California culture that gave the world country rock from the Bakersfield variety to psychedelic to the singer songwriter types.
Barely into his twenties and hungry for experience, he moved to central Texas to work the hardcore country, blues and rock circuit between Austin and Dallas, playing five sets a night, seven nights a week for months at a time, eventually making connections that led to his moving to New York City just as the punk rock scene of CBGBs and Max's Kansas City was exploding in Lower Manhattan. By 1977 he was back in San Francisco as punk, power pop and new wave was taking hold in the Bay Area and began a stretch of five years and four critically acclaimed albums with ex-Flamin' Groovies front man Roy Loney's band, The Phantom Movers.
Through the rest of the '80s and '90s, Maurice was the lead guitarist and a featured vocalist for Zasu Pitts Memorial Orchestra and Big Bang Beat, two large, 12-18 piece dance bands that gained worldwide exposure from a 2 hour PBS New Years Eve tri-mulcast (2 television stations with different views and FM stereo radio audio all broadcasting simultaneously) that was broadcast annually for many years on public TV around the US and Europe. ZPMO won the Bammy Award for Best Independent Album of 1985. After 15+ years of touring, Tani was ready for a change and made the decision to return to his roots in original music.
Since making the shift back to songwriting in 1999, Maurice has spent the past 13 years as an active part of the California alt-country/Americana scene. Fronting his own bands, Calamity & Main, 77 El Deora, he has produced a series of albums for himself and others. In recent years, with singer Jenn Courtney as his muse, central character and sparring partner, Tani has constructed a repertoire of rye humor and romantic ruminations.
Tani & 77 El Deora represent the best in Americana: smart without making a fuss about it. The lyrics are worldly but universal. The musical ideas hit home. The playing is as good as you’re going to hear this side of Austin. Above all, the band covers a lot of ground, from wistful ballads to hard driving honky-tonk rock, from personal meditations to satirical cultural observations, from electrified twang to down-home acoustic. Once in a while, they even find new shades of meaning in some cover you thought had been long since played out. This band is different. This band is special.
“All in all, possibly the best indie ‘Americana’ band to come from the Bay Area . . . ever . . . period.” - Paul Olguin
"BLUE LINE", a new 77 El Deora studio album jangles some familiar nerves and scuffs up some new ground off the band's beaten path. From their lightest to their darkest forms, the songs are examinations on the conflict of the human condition. Deception, obsession, delusion, denial, damnation, renewal, redemption, mysticism, snake oil saviors, bad debts, cheatin', lyin', drinkin', dyin', broken hearts, shattered dreams, twangy guitars and tattered hearts.
As on previous outings, Tani alternately goes it alone and spars with female counterparts -long-time muse and collaborator Jenn Courtney and bluegrass and swing chanteuse Pam Brandon. Supported by a large cast of other musicians, the arrangements utilize every implement in the 77 El Deora toolbox from the finest scalpel to the largest hammers. From dark and serious tales of broken hearts and tortured souls to the band’s trademarked TPO’s, (Tani's affectionate acronym for his “Trailer Park Operettas”), filled with bad break-up lines and smart mouth rejoinders.
Maurice Tani & Mike Anderson: “TWO STROKE” is the answer to demand for a CD of Tani's material as performed by him and 77 El Deora bassist Mike Anderson on the acoustic listening circuit. These are stripped down versions of many of Maurice's songs that were originally issued in heavily produced form -often with female vocalists, now sung by Tani.
Like all of Tani's recordings, “Two Stroke”, features many guest players, but in this case, only one at a time, adding just a taste of seasoning to the very quiet renditions that allow the songs to sing in new ways. This is a very different album of familiar material to Tani's fans.
“This music is neither retro nor country; it's twang noir. A fully realized universe, on a dark night, with an AM radio station sending out a strong signal from somewhere down Highway 99. Are you listening?” - Scott Bloom, Bay Area Twang
“This is thoughtful, heart-wrenching stuff about human asteroids that wonder where and how they lost their way and if there is a GPS that works. …darkly funny comments on power, desire, adrenalin, ambivalence, and narco squad surveillance.” -Jeep Rosenberg, Freight Train Boogie
Artist website: https://www.77eldeora.com/
read more
Maurice’s August 18th special performance at Freight & Salvage will be primarily acoustic, featuring material from the two new CDs as well as the previous three. The set will begin with bassist Mike Anderson but joining in at various points will be English songstress Pam Brandon, jazz pianist Randy Craig and Ken Owen on the drums.
Bio:
Born and raised in San Francisco, Tani was just a bit too young for the Summer of Love, but was still profoundly influenced by the California culture that gave the world country rock from the Bakersfield variety to psychedelic to the singer songwriter types.
Barely into his twenties and hungry for experience, he moved to central Texas to work the hardcore country, blues and rock circuit between Austin and Dallas, playing five sets a night, seven nights a week for months at a time, eventually making connections that led to his moving to New York City just as the punk rock scene of CBGBs and Max's Kansas City was exploding in Lower Manhattan. By 1977 he was back in San Francisco as punk, power pop and new wave was taking hold in the Bay Area and began a stretch of five years and four critically acclaimed albums with ex-Flamin' Groovies front man Roy Loney's band, The Phantom Movers.
Through the rest of the '80s and '90s, Maurice was the lead guitarist and a featured vocalist for Zasu Pitts Memorial Orchestra and Big Bang Beat, two large, 12-18 piece dance bands that gained worldwide exposure from a 2 hour PBS New Years Eve tri-mulcast (2 television stations with different views and FM stereo radio audio all broadcasting simultaneously) that was broadcast annually for many years on public TV around the US and Europe. ZPMO won the Bammy Award for Best Independent Album of 1985. After 15+ years of touring, Tani was ready for a change and made the decision to return to his roots in original music.
Since making the shift back to songwriting in 1999, Maurice has spent the past 13 years as an active part of the California alt-country/Americana scene. Fronting his own bands, Calamity & Main, 77 El Deora, he has produced a series of albums for himself and others. In recent years, with singer Jenn Courtney as his muse, central character and sparring partner, Tani has constructed a repertoire of rye humor and romantic ruminations.
Tani & 77 El Deora represent the best in Americana: smart without making a fuss about it. The lyrics are worldly but universal. The musical ideas hit home. The playing is as good as you’re going to hear this side of Austin. Above all, the band covers a lot of ground, from wistful ballads to hard driving honky-tonk rock, from personal meditations to satirical cultural observations, from electrified twang to down-home acoustic. Once in a while, they even find new shades of meaning in some cover you thought had been long since played out. This band is different. This band is special.
“All in all, possibly the best indie ‘Americana’ band to come from the Bay Area . . . ever . . . period.” - Paul Olguin
"BLUE LINE", a new 77 El Deora studio album jangles some familiar nerves and scuffs up some new ground off the band's beaten path. From their lightest to their darkest forms, the songs are examinations on the conflict of the human condition. Deception, obsession, delusion, denial, damnation, renewal, redemption, mysticism, snake oil saviors, bad debts, cheatin', lyin', drinkin', dyin', broken hearts, shattered dreams, twangy guitars and tattered hearts.
As on previous outings, Tani alternately goes it alone and spars with female counterparts -long-time muse and collaborator Jenn Courtney and bluegrass and swing chanteuse Pam Brandon. Supported by a large cast of other musicians, the arrangements utilize every implement in the 77 El Deora toolbox from the finest scalpel to the largest hammers. From dark and serious tales of broken hearts and tortured souls to the band’s trademarked TPO’s, (Tani's affectionate acronym for his “Trailer Park Operettas”), filled with bad break-up lines and smart mouth rejoinders.
Maurice Tani & Mike Anderson: “TWO STROKE” is the answer to demand for a CD of Tani's material as performed by him and 77 El Deora bassist Mike Anderson on the acoustic listening circuit. These are stripped down versions of many of Maurice's songs that were originally issued in heavily produced form -often with female vocalists, now sung by Tani.
Like all of Tani's recordings, “Two Stroke”, features many guest players, but in this case, only one at a time, adding just a taste of seasoning to the very quiet renditions that allow the songs to sing in new ways. This is a very different album of familiar material to Tani's fans.
“This music is neither retro nor country; it's twang noir. A fully realized universe, on a dark night, with an AM radio station sending out a strong signal from somewhere down Highway 99. Are you listening?” - Scott Bloom, Bay Area Twang
“This is thoughtful, heart-wrenching stuff about human asteroids that wonder where and how they lost their way and if there is a GPS that works. …darkly funny comments on power, desire, adrenalin, ambivalence, and narco squad surveillance.” -Jeep Rosenberg, Freight Train Boogie
Artist website: https://www.77eldeora.com/
show less
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Freight & Salvage
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2020 Addison Street, Berkeley, CA 94704
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