{"id":418,"date":"2012-02-12T20:00:32","date_gmt":"2012-02-12T20:00:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lrhr.dreamhosters.com\/wp\/?p=418"},"modified":"2015-11-12T20:04:59","modified_gmt":"2015-11-12T20:04:59","slug":"tommy-malone","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lrhr.dreamhosters.com\/wp\/?p=418","title":{"rendered":"TOMMY MALONE"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Tommy<\/a>BIO<\/strong><\/p>\n

Malone\u2019s musical roots run deep, beginning with the formative \u201870s bands Dustwoofie, the Cartoons and the Continental Drifters; the last of which spawned a stripped-down band known as the Subdudes. With a single tambourine for percussion and a keyboardist who favored accordion, the Subdudes almost single-handedly bucked the \u201880s trend of mile-high production, proving that memorable songs, soulful delivery and true chemistry were all you really needed. The original quartet disbanded after 1997\u2019s Live At Last album; Malone first joined the short-lived supergroup Tiny Town (with Pat McLaughlin, Ken Blevins and fellow Subdude Johnny Ray Allen), then made his solo debut with 2001\u2019s Soul Heavy. But solo projects were put aside as a reshuffled Subdudes lineup appeared in 2004, producing another run of first-class albums before disbanding\u2014for good, it seemed\u2014in 2011.<\/span><\/p>\n

He formed another short-lived band with his older brother Dave\u2014whose own longrunning band, the Radiators had also just broken up\u2014but wound up gravitating to the funky New Orleans club Chickie Wah Wah, where he played regular gigs to work out a new batch of solo songs. The first result was Natural Born Days, recorded with an all-star cast including keyboardist Jon Cleary, guitarist Shane Theriot, bassist David Hyde, drummer Doug Belote and singer Susan Cowsill. Reviewing that album, OffBeat magazine\u2019s David Kunian notes, \u201cIt\u2019s a crime that Tommy Malone isn\u2019t better known around the world. He is a triple threat\u2014beautiful singer, fine songwriter, and killer guitarist.\u201d No Depression\u2019s Alan Harrison confided that after listening to the album, \u201cMy pulse was racing far too fast for a man my age.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Malone\u2019s only regret was that he didn\u2019t finish Natural Born Days in time to play the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival in 2013, so he resolved to have the followup ready for a spring 2014 release. But despite its quick turnaround, Poor Boy sports the finely crafted songs and soulful delivery that fans have come to expect from Malone.<\/span><\/p>\n

Once again he assembled a cast of old and new musical partners. Anchoring the studio band on Poor Boy is coproducer and multi-instrumentalist Ray Ganucheau, who played in the \u201890s incarnation of the Continental Drifters before joining Malone to record and tour behind Soul Heavy. Representing another Drifters lineup is drummer Russ Broussard, who joined that band in the later \u201890s and now plays regularly with his wife Susan Cowsill and with bluesman Johnny Sansone. Completing the core band is Sam Brady, a key part of Malone\u2019s road band over the past year.<\/span><\/p>\n

Another old musical friend, co-writer Jim Scheurich\u2014a bandmate from Dustwoofie days, and a frequent collaborator on Natural Born Days\u2014again contributes to a handful of tracks. Ex-Tiny Town mate Pat McLaughlin co-writes the lively \u201cBumble Bee\u201d\u2014a song that literally had us laughing for two hours,\u201d Malone notes\u2014and ace Nashville songwriter Gary Nicholson co-authored \u201cOnce in a Blue Moon.\u201d Malone wrote the remaining tracks on his own including \u201cTalk to Me,\u201d which draws an especially soul-baring vocal. \u201cThat\u2019s just one of those times when you dig down deep and say what you need to say. We cut it with almost nothing besides voice and 12-string. If it\u2019s real, it\u2019s real.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cTime to Move On\u201d and \u201cWe Both Lose\u201d both take a more pointed look at friendships gone south. \u201cThere\u2019ve been a few of those in my life, a couple people that weren\u2019t doing me much good emotionally,\u201d he says. \u201cBut I don\u2019t like songs that point the finger too much, so I tried to be a little more delicate with those.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

One surprise highlight is Stevie Wonder\u2019s \u201cBig Brother,\u201d the first cover tune on a Malone solo album. \u201cStill pretty timely, isn\u2019t it?\u201d he says of the 1972 track. \u201cAnd I\u2019ve always been a huge Stevie Wonder fan, in fact Talking Book was the first album I ever bought. To this day I think it\u2019s his best record.\u201d An even earlier influence gets recalled on \u201cYou May Laugh,\u201d which sports an unmistakable British Invasion feel. \u201cMy brothers and I all watched the Beatles on Ed Sullivan, and we all got guitars afterwards, I was only seven but they were a huge influence, on me and so many other Baby Boomers.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Another longtime influence is his hometown of New Orleans, where he\u2019s now resettled after a few years as a Katrina exile in Nashville. The Crescent City feel is hard to miss, whether it\u2019s the funky groove on \u201cAll Dressed Up\u201d (\u201cmy party song for geriatrics,\u201d Malone laughs), or his evocation of debutante balls in \u201cPretty Pearls.\u201d \u201cAs everyone knows, trying to sum up New Orleans is like trying to explain rock and roll to an alien. But it\u2019s my home and it feels good\u2014the language you hear on the street, the craziness in the air and the obvious things like the great food. And I rekindled a few old friendships, which really helped on this album.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Look for Tommy on the road this spring and summer, with keyboardist Brady joining him as the Tommy Malone Duo. And to everyone\u2019s surprise, he\u2019s also signed on for a string of dates with the other original Subdudes\u2014keyboardist John Magnie, bassist Johnny Ray Allen, and percussionist Steve Amadee\u2014together for the first time in 17 years. So far they\u2019re taking it slow, doing selected dates including a New Orleans club show during Jazz Fest. \u201cI think our days of being constantly on the road are over, but it\u2019s not often you get four guys with this kind of chemistry and this much good music,\u201d he says. But Malone plans above all to follow his muse, whether as a solo artist, band member or collaborator. \u201cI just plan to continue doing what I do best, and that\u2019s writing, recording and playing new material.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

PRESS<\/strong><\/p>\n

“Bands like this and men like this once thundered across the American music scene in mighty herds. Few are left now. Bruce Springsteen<\/a> and Tom Petty<\/a> come leaping to mind. Bar bands — guys who pour their hearts out — have gotten a bad name of late. Because of their refusal to do any one trick over and over and their tendency to produce what the uninformed may refer to as pastiche, albums like this often go overlooked. That’s a real shame. Tommy Malone<\/a>‘s band is a facile instrument, pliable and expressive enough to be the perfect vehicle for his accomplished songwriting. And it’s the song that’s the thing. Tales of heartache exist peaceably with the odd murder ballad and tender musing. Malone<\/a>‘s voice is mature, and his arrangements are impeccable. There used to be a lot of Tommy Malones<\/a>. Let’s hope he doesn’t go the way of the buffalo.” – Rob Ferrier, AllMusic.com<\/p>\n

www.tommymalone.net<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

BIO Malone\u2019s musical roots run deep, beginning with the formative \u201870s bands Dustwoofie, the Cartoons and the Continental Drifters; the last of which spawned a stripped-down band known as the Subdudes. With a single tambourine for percussion and a keyboardist who favored accordion, the Subdudes almost single-handedly bucked the \u201880s trend of mile-high production, proving […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[36,2,15,28,35,25],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-418","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-americana","category-artists","category-legacy","category-pop","category-singersongwriter","category-soul"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p5O8RF-6K","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lrhr.dreamhosters.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/418","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lrhr.dreamhosters.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lrhr.dreamhosters.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lrhr.dreamhosters.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lrhr.dreamhosters.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=418"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/lrhr.dreamhosters.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/418\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":441,"href":"https:\/\/lrhr.dreamhosters.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/418\/revisions\/441"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lrhr.dreamhosters.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=418"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lrhr.dreamhosters.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=418"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lrhr.dreamhosters.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=418"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}