Benjamin Wagner “Live At Rockwood Music Hall” Due November 19
I’ll be releasing a new EP, “Live At Rockwood Music Hall,” on November 19th. The 8-song recording will be available exclusively on Authentic Records Online and iTunes.
“Live At Rockwood Music Hall” tracks were culled from three separate Rockwood Music Hall performances over the course of sixteen months: March 25, 2007; July 10, 2008, and September, 25, 2008.
My longtime band mates and pals Chris Abad (guitar), Tony Maceli (bass), Ryan Vaughn (drums) and Jamie Alegre (drums) all appear on the recording, as does singer/songwriter extraordinaire Jamie Leonhart.
“Live At Rockwood Music Hall” is being mastered by Jon Locker at his Sonic Factory Studios.
The track listing includes electric and acoustic performances of songs from “The Invention of Everything Else” and “Love & Other Indoor Games,” plus a number of covers.
1- Giving Up The Ghost
2- The Last Time
3- Promise
4- How To Fight Loneliness
5- Killing The Blues (featuring Jamie Leonhart)
6- Live Forever
7- The Boys Of Summer
8- Wonderwall
It’s worth noting that the performance of “Promise” — a song written for my wife — is taken from the March 25th performance, exactly two years after our first meeting there, and two weeks after getting engaged.
Now, you know that Rockwood Music Hall is way more than just another New York City venue.
Since opening its doors in 2003, Ken Rockwood’s Lower East Side rock club has been the epicenter of a new singer/songwriter movement, playing home to talents as diverse as Bryan Dunn, Misty Boyce, Wakey! Wakey!, Sundown, Chris Abad, Rich Girls, Jeff Jacobson, Lara Ewen, Dan Torres, Ian Axel, Brent Shuttleworth, and many, many more.
Moreover, founder (and Professor & Maryanne front man) Ken Rockwood and Tommy Merrill have built a home for local musicians and music lovers alike. At an era of online social networking, and a city city crowded by isolation, this intimate, brick-walled room has become a de facto community center.
I was lucky enough to get in early, and have been performing there regularly since just a few weeks after it’s grand opening.
It’s appropriate, then, that my first real live album (“February 25, 2005” was a solo performance recorded in my living room) should be recorded in that great, great-sounding little room with Ken Rockwood himself on the mixing board.
Voting for album art will begin next week.
Meanwhile, mark your calendar: “Live At Rockwood Music Hall” arrives November 19th. We’ll celebrate the release — how else? — with a full-band performance at Rockwood.
