Biography

Premier Cuts
01 SHAWNA RUSSELL - Sounds Like A Party
02 R W HAMPTON - Shortgrass
03 JUSTIN J GRANT - The Devil's At Your Door
04 DAVID WOOD - Old Enough To Be Someone's Hero
05 KRISTI KALYN - My Heart Has Swingin' Doors
06 BONNIE PAUL - A Home

Also including
07 HAYLEY OLIVER BAND - Heartless
08 GORD BAMFORD - Hank Williams Lonesome
09 GARY CAMPBELL - My First Million
10 FRANK IFIELD - Forgettin' About You
11 ALY COOK - Spend It
12 MEXICAN JOE WALKER - Steal My Heart Away
13 OLDE BOSTON TEA PARTY - Half A Pot Of Coffee
14 TIM McKAY - It's Your Song
15 CURTIS & NATASHA MAGEE - Daddy & Me
16 SAM MILLAR - Guardian Angels
17 ACE DIAMOND - I've Got The Gasoline Blues
18 SEAN WILSON - Rosie

plus a vintage Jasmine Records track from Gene McGown and a special tribute to the late Mel McDaniel who died a few weeks ago featuring an interview with the man, plus a couple of his biggest hits, "Shoestring" and "Baby's Got Her Blue Jeans On."

A LOOK AT THE PREMIER CUT ACTS ...

SHAWNA RUSSELL
Making her debut on Hotdisc Shawna is a singer-songwriter from the States who is just one step away from the big time. Her exciting new eponymous album is about to be released and features the single "Sounds Like A Party" which is a perfect example of the guitar-driven country rock music she loves to play. She's written or co-written all 10 songs on the project. There is no doubt her music will find favour in Europe.

R W HAMPTON
There are many singers in country music whose country connections could best be described as "loose" but no such problems with regards R W Hampton who is a westerner through and through and already his traditional cowboy music has been given the big thumbs up all over the world. He has a string of Hotdisc number one songs to his name and his latest offering, "Shortgrass" as already been voted the Wrangler Outstanding Original Western Composition of the year.

JUSTIN J GRANT
Not a great deal is known about Justin except he is from Ireland, he writes terrific music and has a quite remarkable voice. He has one foot in country and the other in gospel and the combination is very potent. His first single is "The Devil's At Your Door" and it has the one of the hookiest choruses you'll ever have the pleasure to listen to - in fact I guarantee that once you've heard it you'll be subconsciously singing it for the rest of the day. You have been warned!

DAVID WOOD
David's singing career began only a few years ago but he is certainly making up for lost time. His only regret is not doing this sooner. His long musical career has involved management and promotion but we are all delighted that he's decided to step out front on his own and give the world a taste of some pure to the bone country music. He enjoyed a Top 5 hit with his last song but this time out of the blocks he tackles "Old Enough To Be Somebody's Hero" and this one is also set to do well.

KRISTI KALYN
Kristi is another new name on Hotdisc and the lady from Texas has a lot of experience travelling the world performing on stage not just musically but doing sketches and impressions and basically learning her trade. But she has always wanted to do her own thing and now she is enjoying looking after her own career and playing the music she loves. She has drawn heavily on some personal tragedy which has dominated her recent life and for years put family before music. But now the focus is on her music and the first single is "My Heart Has Swingin' Doors", a song she hopes will be successful for her.

BONNIE PAUL
She's a singer, a writer, an actress, a marathon runner and a collector of vintage Coca Cola merchandise, and her talent has well and truly spread to this side of the atlantic with a lot of interest in her music in Europe. Bonnie Paul has released a couple of singles already which have done well, and she has hopes that "A Home" will do just as well, if not better, over here.

THE OTHERS THIS MONTH
We pay tribute to the late Mel McDaniel who sadly died recently with a couple of his great songs, "Shoestring" and his number 1 smash "Baby's Got Her Blue Jeans On." There's also an interview included which he gave me back in the 1980s just after he appeared at the Wembley Country Music Festival. The man was a down to earth good guy who loved his fans and had a pretty prolific career with his label, Capitol, before being put out to pasture (like so many country stars of the past) but he continued to work and was one of the greatest live performers with a big fan base. In the interview he tells the story behind the song "Shoestring" written by Bob McDill and how the subject of the song became a mini celebrity before he himself passed away.

Frank Ifield has re-released a song called "Forgettin' About You" which has become very popular again in Australia, where he now lives. Frank, born in Coventry, became the first British singer to sell a million copies of a single when "I Remember You" topped the charts. In the 1970s and 80s he recorded plenty of country music material when he was on the Spark label and he made several appearances at festivals in the UK. Sadly he had to give up singing due to ill health just after his final British tour with Barbary Coast, but he is very much involved in the music business still and has championed the careers of many including John Stephan, Nicki Gillis and Donna Boyd.

There are a couple of new names on Hotdisc too including New Zealander Aly Cook who is a feisty young lady with a no-nonsense approach to her music, and Ace Diamond with a very bluesy offering about the price of fuel. Gary Campbell from America has a very powerful single out called "My First Million" while Gord Bamford - no stranger to Hotdisc - has covered a fantastic single written by top writer Byron Hill called "Hank Williams Lonesome."

Quite a scattering of British and Irish acts too including new product from Sean Wilson, Curtis & Natasha Magee, The Hayley Oliver Band with the brilliant retro-styled "Heartless", Mexican Joe Walker, Tim McKay and Sam Millar.