6 December 2019

Hot on the heels of his latest release Grandpa’s Hands, Rob Mayes has unveiled his new Christmas song, titled It’s That Time of the Year Again. You can listen to the track here. The singer/actor has been steadily releasing new music over the last few months, with the aforementioned Grandpa’s Hands and Closer being put out for public consumption. Mayes has now turned his hand to releasing festive music, with the Christmas track premiering on Your Life in a Song yesterday (December 5). Speaking about the track, Mayes said that Christmas is a very important time in the calendar year, but it always comes with a tinge of sadness for him as it reminds him of someone he dearly misses – which he tries to convey as best he can in It’s That Time of the Year Again. “Christmas is a special time for gratitude and family and giving…nostalgia,” Mayes said. “But with that, at least for me, comes a bit of sombreness. There’s an inherent sadness. And I feel that so few holiday songs capture that sentiment of longing and melancholy inherent in the beauty of togetherness and annual celebration and missing the one you want to be with most.” “And to me, Christmas is a time for jazz – jazz is cozy, there’s a beauty and almost perfect flaw in dissonance – which is why I wanted to write a song that melds country and jazz, hope and longing, with sadness and I hope the stripped-back production of piano, pedal steel, and vocal lends itself to that feeling of lonesomeness and open sonic space.” Rob Mayes will soon be appearing on the silver screen once more as he is set to star in ‘Soldier’s Heart’ alongside Val Kilmer, AnnaLynne McCord and Jake Busley, while he was recently in ‘The Road Home For Christmas’ with Marla Sokoloff and Marie Osmond.

Robert Vincent has released his second single in the space of a week in the shape of My Neighbour’s Ghost, which also comes with a video. You can see that below. [wpdevart_youtube]QPi-rD4c5LQ[/wpdevart_youtube] The single, which follows in the footsteps of This Town and both singles will feature on Vincent’s upcoming album, ‘In This Town You’re Owned’, which is due for release on February 14 – Vincent’s first record on his new label, Thirty Tigers. Working on Vincent with the album was Brit Award winning producer Ethan Johns, with the record being described as his most socially and politically poignant album to date. Speaking about the song, Vincent explains that there is a great deal that we can learn from everyday life and will always continue to do so, but we as humans also contemplate several factors about whether we do enough or whether we should do more. “There is so much we can all learn from life,” Vincent said. “‘Life will take you, if you like it or if you don’t, so live it’. Do we sometimes take our lives for granted? Do we always live life to the full? Should we take in what is going on around us more?” Ever since Vincent was picked as ‘Whispering’ Bob Harris’ Emerging Artist Award at the 2016 UK Americana Awards, the Liverpool based artist has gone from strength to strength. Earlier this year, Vincent appeared multiple times at C2C and was also a part of Harris’ ‘Under the Apple Tree Sessions’ at Bush Hall as part of Country Music Week.

Upcoming duo O&O have released a special live acoustic video to accompany the release of their single Here We Are, which dropped on November 15. You can watch the video below. [wpdevart_youtube]q19EPN8REfw[/wpdevart_youtube] After a year long wait, the London based Israeli-American pair, made up of Orian and Obadiah, released the single but have now opted to put out an accompanying video for it, which was shot at North 17 Studios in the English capital. The track was premiered on Country Hits Radio when it came out and in addition to that, the duo also got TV airtime to discuss the song as they appeared London Live TV to open up about the meaning of the song. In addition to the video, which features a lot of the colour pink, O&O have released their first batch of dates for a 2020 tour in the UK, which includes dates in Bristol, Manchester and London. The tour announcement comes in the aftermath of the duo’s headline date in London at the Finsbury, while they also recently performed at Country in the Afternoon – a sold out event – at The Half Moon in Putney. In addition to the new music, O&O have also been working hard on their YouTube account by launching a series of collaborations on their channel, which is growing in popularity quite noticeably. O&O will be playing: February 25 – The Bristol Fringe, Bristol, England February 27 – Barnoldswick Music & Arts Centre, Barnoldswick, England February 28 – Old School BBQ Bus, Manchester, England March 5 – The Bedford, London, England Ticket information regarding the dates will be released in due course.