Press Release for Honey Man

 For Immediate Release- January 7, 2013

Hey Mavis kicks up some dirt with their new CD Honey Man

On Saturday, February 2, 2013, Akron-based band Hey Mavis will celebrate the much-anticipated release of their second CD, Honey Man, with a concert and reception at Happy Days Lodge in the Cuyahoga Valley National Park. Happy Days Lodge is located at 500 West Streetsboro Rd., Peninsula 44264. Doors open at 7pm, concert begins at 8pm. Reception and CD signing to follow concert. Tickets are $12 and can be purchased by calling 330-657-2909 ext. 100.

The music of Hey Mavis can only be described as “Appalachian Americana”. With banjo, fiddle, upright bass, guitar, kick drum and harmonica, the quartet effortlessly moves from a softly orchestrated lullaby to a raw and raucous love song. “The songs feel soulful, they have dirt and substance,” says Hey Mavis founder Laurie Michelle Caner. “There is a sense of being grounded and close to the earth, and we try to breathe life into everything we do.”

After their most recent summer tour out west, during which Hey Mavis achieved notoriety as a finalist in the highly acclaimed Telluride Bluegrass Festival Band Contest, Laurie (banjo/vocals/songwriting) and Ed Caner (fiddle/viola) started working with Cleveland songwriter/guitarist/vocalist Brent Kirby and seasoned upright bassist, Bryan Thomas. Brent’s contributing songwriting talents create a worthy compliment to Laurie when it comes to arrangements, vocals and new songs. Bryan’s versatile and expressive bass playing gives the band an intense groove and rhythmic flexibility. Laurie’s heartfelt vocal delivery and banjo playing defines Hey Mavis’s sound, and Ed Caner’s wild and passionate fiddling is both virtuosic and unique.

Set to an instrumentation and impression of timeless Appalachian backwoods, the songs on Honey Man represent tales constructed around passing imagery of emotions and situations, such as relationships, the joy and labor of raising a child, hurting and heartbreak. In the title track “Honey Man”, Laurie intimately leads the listener through a Faustian “owe my soul to the devil” tale, while in “Say Hello to Paris” she sings about feeling strapped down by the responsibility of motherhood, only to realize all the beauty of the world lies in the children dancing ‘round her feet. Kirby’s “Let The Water Do the Work” has an upbeat revivalist message of “release and find your peace”. The songs on Honey Man seem to lead us on a journey through the complex emotions of adult life, where one can only end up where they began, in a place where the simplicity of love always wins.

Honey Man is produced by the legendary Don Dixon (REM, Red Clay Ramblers, Smithereens), who also produced their first CD. Red Wine. When speaking of the new CD, Don said, “Wrapped in original songs whose styles range from old timey to jazzy to blistering alt rock, Laurie's voice turns from cold steel to melted butter in the time it takes your heart to break."


For more information on Hey Mavis and their new CD, Honey Man, visit www.heymavis.com email heymavismusic@gmail.com or call 330-388-5123.

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