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| Susie Blue & the Lonesome Fellas Nominated for Best Western Swing Song Chicago's Western Swing band Susie Blue and the Lonesome Fellas was nominated by the Academy of Western Artists for "Best Song" for their recently released single "A Thousand Good Nights", and their vocalist Solitaire Miles, a veteran of the Chicago Jazz and Swing scene, was nominated for "Best Western Swing Vocalist" Western Swing is an outgrowth of Big Band Swing from the late 1930's through the early 1950's and the band is made up of Chicago's best Jazz, Swing and Country players. The music is a mixture of Southwestern Roots, Big Band Swing, and Jazz played by a hot string section featuring guitarist Neal Alger, Pedal Steel Virtuoso TC Furlong and Fiddle Maestro Stuart Rosenberg. Eric Schneider is featured on Sax and Clarinet along with bass, piano and drums, creating a distinctive and wildly entertaining and eclectic form of American music. Susie Blue and the Lonesome Fellas was awarded the AWA Will Rogers Award in 2016 for "Best Song" for "Love is a Lingering Thing" and has been featured on BBC Radio, NPR, and on hundreds of radio stations across the US and Internationally. Their new single "A Thousand Good Nights" has been nominated for "Best Song" this year and was originally recorded by the Father of Western Swing, Milton Brown and his Musical Brownies in 1936. Vocalist Solitaire Miles, a long time Swing and Jazz Vocalist who has worked with esteemed jazz bandleaders like Johnny Frigo, Von Freeman, Doc Cheatham and Willie Pickens, attributes her love of Western Swing to her early work with Jazz Violinist Frigo who also led a popular Western Swing Band for 20 years on Chicago's syndicated radio show "The WLS Barndance". Mixing the best of Swing, Jazz and Roots music in her vocal style, she has been described by DownBeat Magazine as "a winning blend of Patsy Cline and Billie Holiday." The AWA is an International non-profit organization of Musicians, Artisans and DJ's who strive to bring more visibility and recognition to contemporary Western Artists who are preserving Western Music and Culture, as well as taking contemporary Cowboy and Western Music and Art to new and exciting heights. The Music nominations are fairly based on radio play, tallied by AWA DJ's across the globe. The AWA is not a Private Media Conglomerate who accepts payola for airplay, rather they feature the musicians and artists that they believe emulate the Western musical ideal. The 22nd Annual AWA Award Ceremony will be held in Fort Worth Texas on March 15th and you can find more information at their website http://awaawards.org/ You can learn more about Susie Blue and the Lonesome Fellas at their website http://www.susiebluelonesomefellas.com/ You can find the single "A Thousand Good Nights" on itunes, Amazon, CD Baby and Spotify. "Vocalist Solitaire Miles comes out of the Patsy Cline tradition. She sings Western Swing material with warm highs and holds her lows neatly. There's a jazziness about Miles's phrasing, but she holds fast to a sound reminiscent of roadside bars where just three people are left near closing at the pinball machine." - Wall Street Journal "Susie Blue and the Lonesome Fellas includes some of Chicago's best Jazz and Country players.The group is pureCowboy Jazz, and Miles adds a lively vocal style that brings to mind a winning blend of Patsy Cline and Billie Holiday. " - DownBeat Magazine "You can't listen to western swing and not smile, it's impossible not to smile, it's feel good music. Miles' voice is wonderful, what an instrument." - Michael Feldman, NPR "Susie Blue and the Lonesome Fellas is a new album of Western Swing which is popularwith many folks, and I do think this group does it very well, it's a lovely album." - Marie Crichton BBC Radio write your comments about the article :: © 2018 Jazz News :: home page |