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press release
ROBERT HAZARD
Acclaim Mounts as Veteran Tunesmith Uncovers "Rootsy, Blues-Inflected Side" with The Seventh Lake Strong Response Sparks Production on Followup CD with 4-time Grammy Nominee Producing "Robert Hazard has found a new powerful voice." - Sing Out! "At times, he sounds like Scarecrow-era Mellencamp, tapping a wide range of folk and roots styles to spin his yarns." - Philadelphia Inquirer ROBERT HAZARD has long been held in high regard for his craftsmanship as singer-songwriter and his ability to deliver his songs. But until recently, he hasn�t truly unleashed the storyteller inside. In an audacious return to his songwriting roots, as well as his recording career, the native Philadelphian - who now splits his time between the Adirondack mountains and the Central Florida coast - has reached deep from within to create his most recent album, THE SEVENTH LAKE. Produced by the legendary T-Bone Wolk (Hall & Oates, Carly Simon, Elvis Costello, Saturday Night Live Band), Hazard's self-released, haunting collection of intimate and revealing songs about life, love and relationships has earned mounting acclaim from the media and the music industry. The wonderful response has prompted a writing flurry that already has led Hazard back to the studio to assemble the much-anticipated followup album, with four-time Grammy nominee Skip Drinkwater (Sheryl Crow, Taj Mahal, Link Wray, Moby, Herbie Hancock) producing. Hazard penned "Girls Just Want to Have Fun," one of the most enduring pop songs of our time made. He also made Philadelphia music history while turning heads across the country as a charismatic '80s rocker who galvanized a region with his incisive lyrics and hook-laden melodies. With increasing radio airplay at�more Triple A and folk outlets around the country, including Philadelphia's award-winning WXPN, THE SEVENTH LAKE introduces ROBERT HAZARD as poet guitarist, no longer content with being a front man who writes songs for a band. Shedding his rock persona has been entirely liberating for Hazard, allowing him to celebrate the storyteller side of his writing he had kept hidden for most of his accomplished career. The 11 songs of THE SEVENTH LAKE are deeply personal with pointed lyrics, presented in a structure that brings new emphasis to Hazard�s timeless sense of melody and familiar explorations of broken hearts and love yearnings, loneliness and spooky despair. Sing Out!, Paste Magazine, Philadelphia Inquirer, Newark Star-Ledger, Asbury Park Press, Allentown Morning Call, Lancaster Intelligencer and Harrisburg Patriot-News top a fast-growing list of media praising Robert for his new music. Hazard also has made several recent TV performances: NBC10's 10! Show (three times) and CBS 3, both in Philadelphia; Fox "Good Day Philadelphia"; Fox 45/Baltimore Morning News and Your Morning on CN8 (three times), seen in more than 7 million East Coast homes. With an arsenal of instrumental assistance, including harmonica, violin, congas, accordion, mandolin, organ and upright bass, THE SEVENTH LAKE is Hazard's most organic and poetry-driven album to date. Recorded and produced at T-Bone Wolk's Soundesign studio in Brattleboro, VT, THE SEVENTH LAKE features guest appearances by Gary Burke (Joe Jackson) on drums, Jimmy Gordon (J.J. Cale) on harmonica, Derrik Jordan on violin and Matt Cullen on background vocals. The album depicts a sincere plea for a lover to give a relationship true meaning ("Open My Heart"), and lightheartedly follows an unbridled optimist, Texas swing-style, on a foolish search for romance ("Looking for Love"). On "Shadow," Hazard's bluesy, broken vocals recount the sad tale of a bad dog who too many times bit the hand that feeds. And on "Whole Lot of Water," Hazard describes a man who spends his whole life trying to get off an island, and despite escaping to find wealth, discovers too many regrets in his new environs. ROBERT HAZARD and his new roots band � Larry Broido on guitar and mandolin, Ken Bernard on drums, Todd Erk on bass and Michael Vernaccio on keyboards � have been touring the East Coast since their August '04 debut at one of the nation's oldest and most revered musical gatherings, the Philadelphia Folk Festival. Along the way, Robert assembled a benefit at the Lenape Regional Performing Arts Center in Marlton, NJ, in which he raised money for local flood victims. He recently has opened for Chris Smither, Jonatha Brooke, Patty Loveless, Steve Forbert (twice) and Hall & Oates with Todd Rundgren, co-headlined with Gary Bennett of BR5-49, and has been a fixture at East Coast festivals, theaters, clubs and house concerts. "I feel like I�m in the music," says Hazard. "And all I want to do is personally deliver these songs." THE SEVENTH LAKE is available at www.roberthazard.com and can be found online at Amazon.com and CDBaby.com. |
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