Howser With Guitar: Jeffrey Halford Plays Americana Songs From The Soul,
In Concert W/ His Band, The Healers, At Armando’s – Friday, Nov.
15th
(MARTINEZ) – Much like the late Huell Howser, Jeffrey Halford’s songs are a musical road-map that
offer an enhanced understanding of California’s history, culture and people – as
well as that of others outside of California (i.e. “Louisiana Man,” written
about the Hurricane Katrina disaster in 2005).
Jeffrey Halford and
the Healers perform locally at Armandos, 707 Marina Vista, in Martinez, Friday,
November 15. 8 p.m. $10. Info: (925)
228-6985 or http://www.liveatarmandos.com/.
Marin-based Jeffrey Halford is definitely an artist that wears his musical heart
on his sleeve, writing compelling songs that deal primarily with the American
Way – from topics as varied as legendary Negro League pitcher Satchel Paige, to
our country’s interaction with Native Americans, etc., music that’s commonly
referred to as ‘Americana.’
Halford’s latest single “Harry We Need
You” is about politician Harry Hopkins, who was the principal architect of
President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s “New Deal.” Hopkins was also the head of
the Works Progress Administration (WPA), that was responsible for some 4.3
million Americans working by 1936, not long after the Great Depression and
leading up to World War II.
Called “Hemingway with a blues-y guitar” by Dirty Linen Magazine, The
Alternate Root magazine also writes,
“Halford’s
Broken Chord shutters, shakes, and shimmies across the surface of your
mind.”
Halford delivers a uniquely American melting pot of roots, blues, rock, and
kick-ass pop, mixed with Southern soul, a heap of Texas storytelling, and a dash
of Bay Area’s freewheeling liberal spirit/literary leanings/seedier side. Throw
in some desert sunshine and dirt, then stir together with an architect’s eye for
detail and durability and you’ve got yourself an idea why Paste magazine once named him to their “Ten Most
Influential Artists of the Decade.”
Jeffrey Halford’s original roots rock ‘n roll songs etch a uniquely American,
and specifically California, landscape. Look for a new Jeffrey Halford and the Healers album to be
released in 2013.