NEWS FLASH SOMEWHEREVILLE CHOSEN BEST OF 2003 IN NETHERLANDS FROM DUTCH ROOTS RADIO RING: BEST ALBUMS OF 2003---- category: roots / americana O1) Richard Ferreira – Somewhereville – Miranda Records Like the albums of Nick Lowe and Peter Wolf, another example of the unique mix of country and soul 02) Greg Trooper – Floating – Sugar Hill Records / Munich 03) Billy Joe Shaver – Freedom’s Child – Compadre / Sonicrendezvous 04) Warren Zevon – The Wind – Artemis Records 05) The Cruzeros – El Nino - Blue Leaf Records 06) Joe Fournier – Whiskey Stars – Dusty Records 07) Van Morrisson – What’s Wrong With This Picture – Blue Note 08) Ben Atkins – Mabelle – Hightone / Sonicrendezvous 09) David Childers and The Modern Don Juans – Room #23 – Silver Meteor 10) Ronny Elliott – Hep – Blue Heart Records XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX RECENT REVIEWS: NO DEPRESSION NOV. 2002 Working with some familiar names from non-mainstream Nashville (the players include bassist Dave Jacques and drummer Rick Schell, and Greg Trooper and Gwil Owen are among the co-writers), journeyman guitarist/vocalist/songwriter Richard Ferreira has created an album full of memorable songs- some of them blessed by horns, all of them soulfully delivered. Ferreira may have a Nashville address but his heart seems to be shopping for real estate in Memphis. In addition to its American Sound Studio feel "SOMEWHEREVILLE' features shout-outs to the city in both "Moon Over Memphis",the album's striking centerpiece, and the swamp-rocking "Memphis Money". Or maybe he's just restless, "roadmap spread out 'cross the front seat," like the title track's protagonist. There are side trips to Northern Ireland courtesey of the sax-sweetened Van Morrison vibe of "Bye Bye Baby", and to Southern California thanks to the Jackson Browne-ish "Invisable Man". The folk-leaning closer "Guilford Mill on which Ferreira displays his versatility by contributing mandolin and accordian, could pass for Canadian troubadour Gordon Lightfoot. And the aforementioned "Moon Over Memphis" re-creates the late Rick Danko's elastic blending of roots and soul. Apparantly there's a little bit of Somewhereville most everywhere, including the great beyond. RICK CORNELL NO DEPRESSION NOV. 2002 +++++++++++++++ ROCKZILLAWORLD.COM Richard Ferreira Somewhereville Miranda Records by William Michael Smith Now here's an anomaly, a soul record coming from the heart of the Plastic Factory. Richard Ferreira's Somewhereville just may be the best record to come out of Nashville, Tennessee in 2002. The head-twister in all this is that it is as much a soul album as anything else (it certainly isn't a country album). It has more in common with Muscle Shoals and Memphis than with Music Row. Hell, this album never heard of Music Row (although Music Row has certainly heard of some of Ferreira's songwriting accomplices). There isn't a single aspect we look for in great music that isn't present here in overabundance. Ferreira's voice has incredible range and a warm, gentle soulfulness that would be the envy of 99% of the singers in so-called Americana (but I suspect Ferreira could work in any genre). If the mark of great singers is their handling of ballads and quieter material, check out Ferreira's performance on "House of Rain" or "One Step Closer." Depending on the track, Somewhereville will remind listeners of Van Morrison ("Bye Bye Baby"), Jackson Browne ("Invisible Man"), Gordon Lightfoot ("Guilford Mill"), or Levon Helm ("Moon Over Memphis"). But on tracks like "I Give Myself Away," "Invisible Man," and "House of Rain," we get a likeable Ferreira voice that doesn't offer easy comparisons. Musically, with Pinmonkey drummer Rick Schell anchoring the ensembles, the album ranges from the brassy soul of artists like Van Morrison or The Band. The mellow arrangements featuring the warm, mellow Memphis groove horns of Jim Hoke. There is everything here from a swampy Memphis twang-rocker ("Memphis Money") to rootsy folk trio work like "Guilford Mill" that could be mistaken for a missing Lightfoot track. Elvis Costello's bluesy sophisticated pieces also come to mind occasionally. Ferreira's warm, elastic voice coupled to the ear-friendly music and arrangements would be enough to make this a superior album, but we get the added pleasure of top-flight songs. Ferreira is one of the young turk left-side-of-Nashville writers who are able to provide material to the commercial establishment but who shine brighter when left to their own devices and natural artistic tendencies. His cowriters on Somewhereville include the noted Nashville vet Gwil Owen. On "One Step Closer," they offer a gentle ballad that would fit perfectly with The Band, while their "House of Rain" is a quiet twangy country-folk with a primo lyric in any genre. Greg Trooper is the writing partner on "Invisible Man," one of the album's most intense pieces with its rootsy wistful verses and the soul-inflected, Van Morrison déjà vu choruses. Hoke's horns give this track the perfect blue tint. 'Baby I'm your invisible man You can't see me for who I am I'm everything I don't appear to be I'm not a dream, I'm not a ghost I'm just the one that loves you the most Tell me why is that so hard to see' "Memphis Money," cowritten with Mark Irwin (who wrote Alan Jackson's hit "Here In the Real World"), is the roadhouse rocking-est track here. It's a tale of a man with "a little job that I gotta do/There's a man down in Memphis and he needs a ride/'Cross the mighty Mississippi to the Arkansas side," and it gets way down in a swampy funk groove with a sharp edge honed by Bill Dwyer's electric guitar leads. 'If the phone rings twice don't pick it up That just means your baby ran out of luck But meanwhile honey fix up your hair And wait for me 'til I get there Tonight we'll party 'til the sky turns sunny We'll be rollin' in Memphis money' Further evidence of Ferreira's songwriting and performing talent is his working with songwriter/vocalist Mark Luna on the title track. Former Texan Luna has written for Lee Roy Parnell and Shawn Colvin and sung with everyone from Willie Nelson to Faith Hill. For the rootsy title track, he and Ferreira have touched on the universal emotions of leaving the old town, the feelings of leaving kin and lovers behind. The chorus is a heart-grabber that hints there may be extenuating circumstances forcing this flight from the familiar to the unknown of Somewhereville. Tell my mama I didn't hurt nobody Tell her that I love her so Tell my daddy I didn't hurt nobody Well, that's all he needs to know As good as the cowrites are, both of Ferreira's tunes here are bona fide highlights. The bluesy soul of the twang-meets-horns "Bye Bye Baby" sounds like Van Morrison hit and is the kind of song Sam and Dave or Otis Redding touched us all with. I can hear those cathedral bells as I'm walking down the avenue Someday I thought I'd hear them bells ringing Now singing just for me and you But sometimes love isn't fair Yyou can't cry for a love that isn't there So bye bye baby goodbye Ferreira's "Guildford Mill," which closes out the album brilliantly, is a quiet Gordon Lightfoot paean to the working man and the faceless, nameless, thankless drudgery of factory work. It is an indictment of industrial society softened only by the sympathy and humanity of Ferreira's lyrical aptitude. This one goes directly back in a straight line to "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald" or to "The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll." '3 a.m. and 3 hours to go And I stop and drink some coffee Still warm from the stove I think about my children Sleeping in their beds And I hope there'll be answer To all the prayers I've said' The only doubt I have about Richard Ferreira and Somewhereville is how will he ever top something this good the next time he goes into the studio. Believe me, it's going to be a challenge. Somewhereville would be a masterpiece for most artists. Even on Music Row. * www.milesofmusic.com or www.cdbaby.com Or if you're interested in ultra-minimalist websites, there's www.RichardFerreira.com Contact William Michael Smith at wms@rockzilla.net =============== Twangfest By DANIEL DURCHHOLZ St.Louis Post-Dispatch 06/07/2003 Perhaps the best aspect of Twangfest, the alternative-country showcase that extends through Saturday at Blueberry Hill's Duck Room, is that its nightly multiband bills offer enough known quantities that, for the price of a ticket, you're practically guaranteed to hear something you're familiar with and like. But you'll also be privy to one or two acts that you've never heard before, and there is little that is more exciting or gratifying to a true music fanatic than the discovery of something new and wonderful. That is what happened at the Duck Room on Thursday when Richard Ferreira took the stage. A journeyman singer-songwriter who is about to turn 50, Ferreira released his debut album, "Somewhereville," last year without much fanfare - a huge oversight, it turns out. Backed by a five-piece band that included a pair of tenor saxophones, Ferreira's music veered between the sounds of Elvis Costello (to whom he bears a strong vocal resemblance) and Van Morrison to the deep-seated Southern soul of songwriters Dan Penn and Tony Joe White. Ferreira's songs, such as the horn-driven "Invisible Man" and the gorgeous ballad "One Step Closer," on which his voice broke into a lilting falsetto, had members of the audience looking at one another and wondering why they'd never heard of him until now. Call the singer alt-country's own Roy Hobbs. =============== FREIGHT TRAIN BOOGIE RICHARD FERREIRA **** (4 STARS) Somewhereville... (Miranda) From the interesting mix of Memphis soul grooves and solid country sounds on this album, Somewhereville must be one hell of a place. Sign me up for a trip there pronto. And when you hear this CD by Ferreira, you'll want to go there with me. Although Ferreira only writes two of the CD's nine songs by himself (choosing instead to have solid country songwriters like Angelo and Gwil Owen assisting) he unequivocally supplies this CD's spirit and personality. The Memphis groove thang seems to be popping up in country music related circles much more than in the recent past and I wonder if it signals a moving on from the Bakersfield and '50's style country that used to be most prevalent. I've always felt a mix of Al Green and George Jones would be great, and both are Americana as hell, so I don't see anything wrong with Ferreira giving us his special mix of both styles. This is cool, mature country with some solid soul. I love it. Reviewed by Scott Homewood FREIGHT TRAIN BOOGIE http://www.freighttrainboogie.com/independent_reviews.htm +++++++++++++++++ SANTA MONICA MIRROR Richard Ferreira's Somewhereville is like Van Morrison and Tom Petty backed by The Stone Pony's house band. I expected alt-country pedal steel but was pleasantly surprised by Memphis sounding horns. "Bye Bye Baby" is a love-didn't-work-out song that's right up Morrison's R&B alley. "Invisable Man" is a great song for every guy who ever felt the girl of his dreams was totally unaware of his existence: "Every time that you are near/I just seem to dissapear/Baby I'm your invisable man" This track alone makes Ferreira a writer and singer worth following. Tony Peyser Santa Monica Mirror --------------- SAN FRANCISCO HERALD Richard Ferreira, "Somewhereville" , from Nashville: this new millennium's hybrid of Van Morrison meets that other Elvis (Costello).......nutritious and delicious in execution, content and vibe, kids. Kimberlye Gold. San Francisco Herald --------------- The TENESSEEAN 8/23/200 For the uninitiated, a Richard Ferreira performance can be a shocker. It's odd, at first to hear such an anquished, soulful, remarkable voice coming from such a pleasant, self effacing fellow. And until now, its been odder still to be knocked out by Ferreira'a glorius songs and voice and yet be unable to take a sample back home. So tonight is beginning of a good thing. Ferreira will amble to the Douglas Corner stage, play and sing with support from bandmates Rick Lonow, Dave Francis, Bill Dwyer and backup from keyboard man Jack Irwin and horn players Randy Liago and Dennis Taylor. And the show marks the release of his new solo album "SOMEWHEREVILLE" Its a fine piece of work. Peter Cooper The Tennesseean 8/23/2002