Monday, June 16, 2008

Steve Altonian - New York City Cowboy

Hear The Track Here

Steve Altonian will be a name familiar to those few who inhabit the Soundclick forums, gotta hand it to him, he gots the self promotion thing down. Nothing wrong with that of course. This is a big place you have to do SOMETHING to get peoples attention. Hee hee, and we all thought it would be soooo easy. My introduction to his music came with Tell Me Why (January 2008) gaining him the distinction of being among the first Must Have tracks for 2008, which should tell you what to expect. Tell Me Why is a terrific Country ballad, sung with great style. That track had been available since September so it's nice to see that I'm a bit more timely in catching up with this one.

New York City Cowboy uses much of the same instrumental line up as his previous track joined by some very atmospheric slide guitar fills that send shivers down your spine. What Steve proved to me with his first track was that he is a dedicated, serious musician with his own vision and - seemingly - the ability to put it all together to make some very, very commercial sounds. Although Nashville is mentioned in the song, the country going down in this track has little to do with that city. It has heart and soul for a start and Nashville seems to have sold its to the major pap producers.

Steve Altonian sticks to the basics; a good, solid song, plenty of space in the arrangement and faultless performance (although I'm sure he may disagree with that. Most seasoned musicians would, but hey, they are all damn perfectionists anyway. From where I am sitting New York City Cowboy is a worthy successor to Tell Me Why and even surpasses it in some ways. The warmth and humanity in this track, lyrically musically draws the listener in regardless of description. A good song, well played will always get the attention. Splendid stuff.

Highly Recommended and MUST HAVE for fans (that's me)

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