Bill Wence - Analog Man In A Digital World
By: George Peden, Sr. Staff Journalist
Bill Wence could not have picked a better title for his latest album. It has been a long haul from humble beginnings as a lettuce worker in and around Salinas, to be a touring and band brother to Bobby Bare (and many others), to marketing mogul to some of the most promising on today’s radio.
However, the apprenticeship has served the former DJ and keyboardist well, as his latest release proves. Analog Man in a Digital World is an 11-tracker, offering good music for the finely tuned country fan.
Wence does not come tricked, over-produced or wearing a fat hat, rather his music is for the fan who loves their pleasures simple with melody and memory. Bill Wence remembers when it was fun to make notes; unlike today’s industry trend that only courts a cash register.
However, I digress…
The album opens with “Borderline Crazy." The tune – popularised in recent times by Texan country favorite Kevin Fowler – is a version skirting Joe Sun (remember him?) vocal similarities to maximum effect. With a band of renown, players like (to name a few) “Stick” Davis, Charlie McCoy, Louis Myers, and Sister Morales, adding harmony, the tune is a standout favorite.
The harmonica and piano-led “Missin’ Millie” plays with sounds and lyrics that harp back to another time, while “I Like Your Kind Of Love” is a jukebox platter for those looking for an update to the Andy Williams (1957) original. The tune stands all the better with the added vocal chops of Becky Hobbs.
With a keen and easy-on-the-ear selection of tunes, the album doesn’t stray far from the borders of classic fare. Tunes like the self-penned “Lookin’ For You,” with it’s upbeat and powered chorus, and the remembered Righteous Bros hit, “Unchained Melody," reworked with a quicker stride, all add polish.
“I was doin’ it all right, doin’ it all wrong,” laments Wence on the revealing “Thirty Years." The track is a shout-out to those who have passions, but lose them to the suburban dream of the house, car and money. Along the way, at about the thirty-year mark, according to the lyrics of this Angelo M. tune, you realize that half your life has slipped away never to return.
It can be a scary confrontation.
One suspects it won’t be of concern to Bill Wence. He is making music, still, this analog man in a digital world, and doing it his way.
The album is out now on 615 Records.
https://www.facebook.com/bill.wence
Bill Wence could not have picked a better title for his latest album. It has been a long haul from humble beginnings as a lettuce worker in and around Salinas, to be a touring and band brother to Bobby Bare (and many others), to marketing mogul to some of the most promising on today’s radio.
However, the apprenticeship has served the former DJ and keyboardist well, as his latest release proves. Analog Man in a Digital World is an 11-tracker, offering good music for the finely tuned country fan.
Wence does not come tricked, over-produced or wearing a fat hat, rather his music is for the fan who loves their pleasures simple with melody and memory. Bill Wence remembers when it was fun to make notes; unlike today’s industry trend that only courts a cash register.
However, I digress…
The album opens with “Borderline Crazy." The tune – popularised in recent times by Texan country favorite Kevin Fowler – is a version skirting Joe Sun (remember him?) vocal similarities to maximum effect. With a band of renown, players like (to name a few) “Stick” Davis, Charlie McCoy, Louis Myers, and Sister Morales, adding harmony, the tune is a standout favorite.
The harmonica and piano-led “Missin’ Millie” plays with sounds and lyrics that harp back to another time, while “I Like Your Kind Of Love” is a jukebox platter for those looking for an update to the Andy Williams (1957) original. The tune stands all the better with the added vocal chops of Becky Hobbs.
With a keen and easy-on-the-ear selection of tunes, the album doesn’t stray far from the borders of classic fare. Tunes like the self-penned “Lookin’ For You,” with it’s upbeat and powered chorus, and the remembered Righteous Bros hit, “Unchained Melody," reworked with a quicker stride, all add polish.
“I was doin’ it all right, doin’ it all wrong,” laments Wence on the revealing “Thirty Years." The track is a shout-out to those who have passions, but lose them to the suburban dream of the house, car and money. Along the way, at about the thirty-year mark, according to the lyrics of this Angelo M. tune, you realize that half your life has slipped away never to return.
It can be a scary confrontation.
One suspects it won’t be of concern to Bill Wence. He is making music, still, this analog man in a digital world, and doing it his way.
The album is out now on 615 Records.
https://www.facebook.com/bill.wence
