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DENAE GARDNER

4D recording artist Denae Gardner’s music is very fresh and current sounding. There’s no doubting that. Take a listen to her recent radio single “Runaround” or her latest, “Heartache Train,” and you can hear how unique her talent is. But, at the same time, the Idaho-based singer has a deep appreciation for what has come before her. She feels that’s important.

“You have to appreciate where music came from,” the stunning 19-year-old songstress says. “That’s a really big thing with me. That’s why I listen to so much of the old stuff. It’s all related. Music, as we know it today, came from Country and Blues. Obviously, I know they are different sounding, but I just love it all.”

Her love of the “old stuff” goes back to childhood. “I listened to Classic Country at my grandparents’ house, but also grew up on Classic Rock with my parents. So I kind of have both of those influences. I listened to a lot of the Beatles when I was very young. I also listened to a lot of older Traditional Country, which is a lot of what I listen to now,” she says, with the passion echoing in her voice.

Gardner’s story begins back in California, where she performed the National Anthem at several events. Upon moving to Idaho with her parents, things really kicked into a higher gear for the lovely songstress.

It was the legendary band Led Zeppelin that was one of her biggest influences growing up, as she recalls. “What really inspired me to want to get involved in music as a career was that I watched a live DVD of Led Zeppelin when I was in the eighth or ninth grade. Watching that really inspired me, and then, I heard the music of Etta James. That’s when I knew that’s what I wanted to do the rest of my life.”

Gardner blends those sounds all together into a style that she calls “Rockin’ Country Blues with a Bluegrass Twist.” That style is very much in evidence on such tracks as “My Love Will Not Change.” She began perfecting that sound while a pre-teen, while living in California. Her father booked her to perform the National Anthem at car and motorcycle races. After moving to Boise with her parents, she formed a band that played many events in the Idaho area, including several High School events, as well as clubs.

Denae’s management company, Tunnell International, introduced her to producer David Z. She was thrilled to be able to join forces with the highly-respected David Z in the studio. As a producer, David’s credits speak for themselves. He’s sat behind the glass on projects by such artists as Prince, Eric Clapton, Jonny Lang, Tim McGraw, and even Etta James, one of Denae’s all-time favorites. She’s well aware that’s not a connection that one makes every day, and is grateful for the opportunity.

“Having David Z as a producer has catapulted my career, and helped me so much,” Denae said. “He’s such a great producer, and has all these wonderful contacts, and that’s why I’m able to get all of these wonderful players. That’s what makes it so great.”

One of those players is the legendary Al Perkins, who has played with Emmylou Harris, Dolly Parton, and the Eagles, as well as another huge Rock band that Denae knows well. “I’m a huge Classic Rock fan, and he played with the Rolling Stones. He told all these old stories. That just floored me. I thought that was so cool!”

Gardner has been out and about during the first half of 2011, putting names and faces together on her first radio tour to promote “Runaround.” The tour, which took her to forty radio markets in a two month period, is a vital part of getting an artist noticed by radio. Denae says the importance of getting to know the Music Directors and On-Air talent can not be underestimated.

“That was very important to me. I had a blast,” she said. “I’ve never actually been able to travel throughout the Country, particularly in the south. People were really nice, and they seemed to enjoy what we were doing. Having that opportunity to go out and to meet programmers, it’s kind of old school, but I think it’s really important. You’ve got to get out on the road, and make those connections.”

She definitely made quite an impact on the listeners and radio stations, as her “Runaround” picked up several additional adds due to the exposure. In some cases, live performances of songs she did on the radio tour, like “Sky Is Crying,” also netted airplay, as well.

With a new single set to impact radio, Denae is in this career for the long haul. “I know it’s cheesy, but I just want to be successful. I just want to continue to build. I don’t expect to have an outright, huge hit, but I just want to keep building in a positive direction, developing a fan base, and getting a little more popular with each single. I just want to get out and inspire people with my music.”

After all, that’s the way that artists like Blake Shelton and Country Music Hall of Fame member Reba McEntire built their careers, and she admires that blueprint that they chose for their careers. “I think that is true longevity. I would rather take the smaller steps, but always in a more positive direction. I would love to have a career like either one of theirs.”

Denae wants to carry the torch for artists such as McEntire, Loretta Lynn, and Connie Smith, who kept the ‘twang’ in their music. “It’s really important to me that we keep Traditional Country flavor in our songs. I grew up with Traditional and Classic music, and I really want to keep that strong.”

If you ask her about her biggest influence, you might be surprised. When asked what performer she would most love to sit down and seek their career advice, she said “Hank III, hands down. I would love to sit down and have a conversation with him. I love what he stands for. I would love to ask him about how he has kept his sound so traditional.”

She also hopes to bring out the emotions in her music to the listeners, and if her music inspires them, she knows the feeling. “That would mean the world to me. I have wanted that for so long,” she says.

Denae says that as much as she loves recording, she really wants to take her music out on the road to the people. That’s where she feels right at home. “Being in the studio is a blast, but to really see me, you’ve got to see a live show. I feel music rushing in my blood. I just let it all out on stage. I move around a lot, and I know that as long as I am having a good time, I know the audience is having a good time. I know that when I go to concerts, I love it when I can forget about the world for about two hours. I want to create that for people, where they will forget about anything that is troubling them.”

So, when listeners hear “Heartache Train,” on the radio, what exactly would Gardner want people to think about her? “I want them to think that this girl has genuine talent, and really feels what she is doing, and that’s she is sticking to her roots. I just want them to appreciate it!”

Jimmy Bivens has become a familiar name in The Pacific Northwest, and as far away as Paris, and London. At times he has appeared as a solo artist, with friends sitting in, and other shows are with his full band.

Jimmy played 186 shows in 2009 and will top 200 shows in 2010. His mix of Hi-NRG Country/Rock-A-Billy/Bluegrass and “down-home” charm has earned him a place among the top draws on the touring circuit. In London they called him, “Mick Jagger in a cowboy hat”, and in Paris a few weeks later he was dubbed “The barefoot Cowboy” for his penchant for playing barefoot!

"Bivens has created an eclectic, mostly grin inducing set of standout songs ..."

Michael Deeds - The Statesman

The first time Jimmy Bivens played on a stage he had a three-member audience that couldn't even see him. "My friends and I went to visit my dad at a club. He told me I could get up on stage and play a song if I wanted," recalls Bivens. It was daytime and the stage was closed off behind a heavy velvet curtain. "I climbed up there and kicked out a version of an old Conway Twitty song with my buddies. I didn't think that anyone could hear us, but when we got done I heard a little bit of applause. I peeked out from behind the curtain and saw my dad, the clubowner, and Tammy Wynette." It wasn’t strange for Jimmy’s dad , Wayland Bivens, to be hanging out with someone like Tammy Wynette. Wayland is a Country Swing Hall of Fame musician who had big connections in the music industry.

The band is Rob Wilson on drums, Brian Palmer on guitar and vocals (Wartime Radio Revue, Cheri Keagy, Freda Payne, Leslie Gore, Richard Street of The Temptations, The Coasters, and Bowzer), Kyle Lockhart on Mandolin, Fiddle, and Guitar, Ed Dedise on bass, and Jimmy Bivens on lead vocals and rhythm guitar.

Also appearing on the bill at Arcadia Blues Club with Bivens, is Andy Walo, a well known blues and rock guitarist in the Los Angeles, and Las Vegas blues scene.

The first time Jimmy Bivens played on a stage he had a three-member audience that couldn’t even see him. “My friends and I went to visit my dad at a club. He told me I could get up on stage and play a song if I wanted,” recalls Bivens. It was daytime and the stage was closed off behind a heavy, velvet curtain. “I climbed up there and kicked out a version of an old Conway Twitty song with my buddies. I didn’t think that anyone could hear us, but when we got done I heard a little bit of applause. I peeked out from behind the curtain and saw my dad, the clubowner, and Tammy Wynette.”

It wasn’t strange for Jimmy’s dad, Wayland Bivens, to be hanging out with someone like Tammy Wynette. Wayland was a country swing hall of fame musician who had big connections in the music industry. “A friend said to me once, ‘can you imagine what your life would be like if you would have grown up around your dad?’ Bivens recalls with a smile. Instead of growing up with his dad however, Jimmy was raised by his mother and stepfather. That is until he was 15. “I was born in Lewiston, Idaho on October 24, 1959,” says Bivens. “Since then I have lived in 7 states and somewhere around 75 residences.” But it wasn’t the moving around that bothered Jimmy, it was the way his family treated him. “Things weren’t so good at home. I realized that I was better off on my own than staying with my mom,” says Bivens. So at age 15, when most kids were just starting to think about getting their drivers license, Jimmy left home, albeit with the complete blessing of the court system.

”When I would think of a song I’d sit on the back of my truck and work it out”, said Bivens. Then, in 2002, Jimmy found himself in Las Vegas at a Clay Walker show and it was backstage where Bivens ran into Walker’s bandmates Rex Wiseman and Curt Walsh. After a brief conversation, Jimmy let Wiseman and Walsh hear some of the stuff he had been writing. After listening, Wiseman said to Bivens, “You gotta be one of the best writers I have ever heard.” Jimmy laid down the plans to record an album with Wiseman and Walsh. To make his first album, Jimmy did it proper - in Nashville in 2005 with Wiseman and Walsh onboard.

“I love entertaining people ... whether they are 3 or 93. You gotta smile when you play,” says Bivens without a hint of sarcasm.

Bivens’ second album Jimmy Bivens “Live” was recorded live at The Knitting Factory by engineer/mixer Billy Cobb of Los Angeles, CA (BRC) (whose credits include The Outlaws, Kenny Loggins, Dean DeLeo of Stone Temple Pilots, and others) and the multi-camera “live video taping” was directed/produced by Don Tunnell, owner of TEV Media 1, (whose video credits include Jimmy Page & Robert Plant, Bill Wyman of The Rolling Stones, Spencer Davis, and others).

The new album “Jimmy Bivens Live” contains new Bivens songs and a couple of covers of songs written by friends of Jimmy’s and a great arrangement of “Can’t You See.”

And what does the future hold? Jimmy is expanding his touring schedule with his manager Don Tunnell of Tunnell International to promote his new CD for 4D Records.

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DENAE

New Country Single at Radio NOW! HEARTACHE TRAIN

... Released August 1, 2011

jimmy bivens

Great new CD recorded in LIVE Concert at The Knitting Factory...