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For some
musicians, it
all comes down
to what happens
on stage.
Anthony Gomes
burns with
blazing vocals
and incendiary
guitar work
throughout
Live,
the first
full-length
concert release
from a man who
plays as many as
250 dates
annually in
North America
and Europe,
making new fans
each night out.
Mining
blues-rock, soul
and gritty R&B
styling for the
past decade,
Live
is a summation
of where
Anthony’s been
and also offers
a glimpse of
where he might
be heading, too.
The album finds
him immersed in
his element –
performing for
an audience and
making a
connection.
Certainly,
Anthony enjoys
the craft of the
studio, but that
passion and
power truly
rises to its
greatest heights
during his live
performances.
“Some of my
favorite artists
and bands would
release live
albums to
bookend a period
and then move on
to a new sound,
a new journey,”
Anthony says. “I
feel like this
is a
booking-ending
of this sound
and style for me
as I look
forward.”
Nominated as
“Artist of the
Year” by
BluesWax
magazine 4 years
in a row,
winning one of
those years,
Gomes acclaim
continues to
grow as a
songwriter and
especially as a
performer.
While the
original plan
for a live album
was to record a
series of dates
in Nashville,
fate overtook
the project when
Anthony and his
band lined up a
test recording
during a show at
the Triple Door
in Seattle,
Washington on
February 27,
2007. Listening
back to the
90-minute
performance,
Anthony and his
team realized
they already had
the live album
they wanted.
“We just played,
not thinking
about the red
light being on,”
he says.
“There’s no
studio trickery,
this is it. We
started to pass
it on to some
fans before
releasing it and
they all said
it’s their
favorite CD:
‘This is the
Anthony Gomes
that we know,
the person we
see in a live
show.’”
Originally from
Toronto, Canada,
Anthony received
his first guitar
in his early
teens and he
hadn’t even
asked for it.
But instant love
for music turned
to dedication as
he followed a
life path.
Moving to the
USA in the late
1990s, he first
settled in one
of America’s
greatest blues
cities, Chicago,
as he learned
his trade night
after night.
Then, to further
his
musical
education as a
songwriter and
continue the
advancing of his
own spirit, he
headed south to
Nashville, where
he’s still based
today. Anthony’s
recording debut
came in 1998
with Blues
In Technicolor,
followed by the
acoustic and
intimate
Sweet Stringin’
Soul in
2000 and 2002’s
Unity.
Each album was a
journey from the
heart, as 2006
saw the release
of his finest
artistic
achievement and
commercial
success so far,
Music Is
the Medicine,
which hit
Billboard’s Top
200 Indie Chart
and spent 16
weeks on the Top
15 Blues Chart,
peaking at #4.
And now comes
Live,
which
Anthony sees as
a companion
piece to his
studio work,
while also
serving as an
introduction for
his newest fans.
“The album
captures the
essence about
what happens
between and
artist and the
audience, that
energy you can’t
capture in a
studio,” he
says. “The show
is a journey and
within, there
are great
individual
performances.
It’s an organic,
living,
breathing
document of that
one night.”
The set list
includes a
churning “Music
Is the Medicine”
as Anthony works
the crowd into a
frenzy, while
the funky and
soulful
“Bluebird,” a
highlight of the
last studio
release, soars
even higher
here, the
interplay
between guitar
and keyboards
capped by group
vocals on the
refrain. The
explosive
“Testify” is so
powerful,
Anthony thinks
it shreds his
original studio
track.
The album also
features a cover
of Led
Zeppelin’s
“Heartbreaker,”
both a challenge
and a thrill for
Anthony. “It was
intimidating,
but also very
natural, part of
who I am,” he
says. “I played
it in my first
band in high
school and grew
up on that
music, so it’s
an extension of
myself and it’s
nice to pay
respects to an
act that
influenced me as
a musician and a
songwriter.”
On “I Won’t Let
You Down,” one
of four new
songs on the CD,
Anthony thanks
his greatest
supporters
throughout his
career – his
parents. “You
want to make
them proud of
the man or woman
you’ve become,”
he says.
“They’ve given
so much to raise
you and you want
to make sure
you’re doing a
good job in
their eyes and
live up to the
legacy of your
family.” Equally
compelling is
“Wings of a
Song,” which
harkens back to
Anthony’s
lifelong mission
statement that
music can indeed
change the
world.
As Live
ends one
creative period
for Anthony,
he’s already
looking ahead to
the next
chapters in his
ever-continuing
musical story as
he prepares to
unveil Anthony
Gomes and the
New Soul
Cowboys, a song
summit between
blues, R&B and
country too. Of
course, his
unofficial
membership in
the Nashville
Muzik Mafia.,
which includes
Big and Rich,
Cowboy Troy and
Anthony’s
one-time backing
singer Gretchen
Wilson should
make it all the
more colorful.
“I’m very
well-received in
Nashville, being
a southern
rock/blues
musician and
I’ve been laying
down the
groundwork for
this new
direction, being
a roots player,
too,” Anthony
says. “Yes, I’m
a blues guy, but
as I said on my
first album, my
blues is
Technicolor.”
And the sound of
Anthony Gomes
has never been
more widescreen,
full of Hi-Def
excitement, than
on Live.
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