Grand Ole Echo performers for May 12

This week we have Brian Whelan, Amy Blaschke, Ryan Traster and Peggy Leggy on the backporch!   Here's a link to the Grand Ole Echo's own Matt Farber interview with Brian Whelan (and a bit of music, too!)  http://southlandserenade.com/2013/05/07/grand-ole-podcast-brian-whelan/ Sunday, May 12th @ The Echo Happy Day, Mothers! 1822 Sunset in Echo Park, CA 90026 5:30-9pm/Free/All Ages  With: BRIAN WHELAN "To me, Brian Whelan will always be the Kid. When he first materialized several years ago at the Cinema Bar, that charmingly crowded, noisy little room in Culver City known as “The World’s Smallest Honky Tonk,” he was an alarmingly boyish presence. At first he stood out because he didn’t look old enough to legally consume the beer he was holding. But he soon distinguished himself as a young lion behind the roots-rock sages – Randy Weeks, Mike Stinson, Tony Gilkyson – whose shows packed out the tiny joint. It became quickly apparent that Brian could play just about anything, and brilliantly; his formidable chops later found him a primo spot in Dwight Yoakam’s band. But he displayed other musical dimensions: He also played in a tough little pop-rock band, known variously as the Brokedown and the Broken West, which recorded a couple of fine records before lamentably breaking up too soon. He fronted another rockin’ unit, Wheelhouse, as a prelude for the album you’re listening to now. It shows off splendidly the many things – singing, playing, writing — that Brian does so exquisitely well. And it cuts across the broad swatch of stylistic turf that he occupies effortlessly, from the rootsy inventions of Gilkyson’s “Mojave High” and Stinson’s “Brand New Love Song” to a group of originals (two of them co-authored by Broken West cohort Ross Flournoy) that to my ears bear favorable comparison to the best of Nick Lowe or the Plimsouls. Yeah, he’s still the Kid to me. But Brian Whelan’s work is thoroughly mature and emotionally wise, and many another grown-up musician will envy its excellence." --Chris Morris Host, “Watusi Rodeo”/Scion Radio 17 Los Angeles, June 2012 www.brianwhelanmusic.com/about/ AMY BLASCHKE An Amy Blaschke song is like a well-worn gold locket, deceptively simple on the surface, opening to reveal a beautiful secret wonder. It could be a sneaky counter-melody of guitar or a lush, hushed vocal that perfectly captures one of the many shades of heartache. Blaschke writes songs as beautiful as they are restless. The instrumentation is mostly sparse here, but to call her instrumentation minimal and her compositions soft is misleading. That Blaschke’s dreamy, airy, singular purr is perhaps the most affecting instrument in the mix is a testament to the sheer vitality of her recordings. Blaschke hails from Seattle and started performing early on, playing her first show at the age of 16. She has been performing, writing and recording ever since, and currently calls Los Angeles home. Her current release,Desert Varnish, recorded in January 2011, was produced and engineered by Joshua Grange (KD Lang, Dwight Yoakam), featuring Grange on lead guitar, Ian Walker (KD Lang) on bass, Steve Nistor (Sparks, Sparklehorse) on drums and Jebin Bruni (Aimee Mann) on keys. The album is a return to her ethereal vocal roots, since her last full-length, Of Honey and Country on Go Midnight Records, released in 2007 under the band name Night Canopy, with multi-instrumentalist Nick deWitt (Pretty Girls Make Graves).  www.facebook.com/pages/Amy-Blaschke-Music/170541646304851 RYAN TRASTER  Ryan Traster is a Minneapolis-bred singer/songwriter currently residing in Portland. He has spent the better part of the decade traveling the nation making music on stages and in studios. He has had the privilege of recording or performing with members of The Jayhawks, Golden Smog, Jonathan Wilson Band, Ozma, The Elected, and more. Traster’s songs have been licensed to/placed on television networks like: Discovery Channel, E!, MTV, and VH1. He recently completed work on his debut full-length with producer Joe McGrath (Ryan Adams, Morrissey) and is planning for a 2013 release. ryantrastermusic.com/ LEGGY PEGGY  www.facebook.com/pages/Leggy-Peggy/133747983387707