Joe Tell's Music Blog: Ian McFeron

Ian McFeron live @ Merge
Friday, October 3rd, 2014 – 7:00pm-10:00pm / FREE

Merge, 439 Delaware Ave, Buffalo, NY 14202 - (716) 842-0600

Ian McFeron tours in support of his album "Time Will Take You", recorded in Nashville and produced by Grammy nominated Doug Lancio. McFeron is joined on stage by longtime friend and musical accompanist Alisa Milner on fiddle, cello, and harmony vocals. In the Spring and Fall of the last five years, McFeron has scheduled a ten-week tour performing over sixty shows across the nation. This will be McFeron's ninth national tour.

Seattle-based Ian McFeron released his 7th studio record Time Will Take You on April 2, 2013. Produced by Doug Lancio (Grammy nominated producer for Patty Griffin), the folk-rock album also includes two of Ryan Adams’ Cardinals - drummer Brad Pemberton and pedal steel player Jon Graboff - as well as Nashville-based piano and organ player Micah Hulscher and two from McFeron’s road band - fiddler and harmony vocalist Alisa Milner, and bassist and harmony vocalist Norman Baker.

Themes for "Time Will Take You" were taken directly from McFeron's own touring experiences performing up to 170 shows per year across the United States. The album maintains stout-hearted positivity while exploring themes of troubled times, hard traveling, and a thin pocketbook. Fans of John Lennon, Bob Dylan, Paul Simon, and Jackson Browne will feel at home in his music.

More recently, in March of 2014, McFeron released a ten track acoustic album (titled "Acoustic") recorded in just two days at Studio Litho in Seattle, WA with the help of recording engineer and producer Chad Brown of Nashville, TN. The album features previously released songs as well as four unrecorded songs presented in a stripped down acoustic format with accompaniment from fiddler, cellist, and harmony vocalist Alisa Milner.

Praise for Time Will Take You

“With a jingle of tambourine we get a likely candidate for album of the year – simple as… Soaked in California sunshine one minute, then deep in the dustbowl the next, it’s like a greatest hits of everyone you like.”
- Rudie Humphrey, Americana UK, May 2013

"By diligently listening to Ian McFeron's 7th album, it is a mystery that he is not signed to a major label, although he is mentioned in the same breath as both Bob Dylan and John Lennon....."
-Hans Bloom, Dalademokraten

"McFeron is a wordsmith of quality who seems at ease with acoustic guitar or piano..."
- Blues Matters, August 2011

'Ain't Dead Yet' could easily be a great lost Dylan song from the mid 1960s or more likely a brand new Justin Townes Earl Song - it really is that good."- Maverick Magazine, July 2011

"...You don't have to know about Ian McFeron's background to know that these songs were all probably written in cheap hotels in the middle of the night, and history tells us that's where the best ones come from..."
- Alan Harrison, Maverick Magazine, UK

"Seattle duo pays frequent calls to S.A. That's a good thing because McFeron is a fine singer and songwriter, an alt-folk/rock/Americana performer who strikes a cool balance between the mellow and the edgy."
- Jim Beal, San Antonio Express, 11/25/10

"Singer-songwriter Ian McFeron has a surprisingly diverse musical palate, shifting from alternative country to acoustic rock and blues."
- Gene Stout, Seattle PI, September 2005

Ian McFeron NEW ALBUM "Acoustic"

Big News! The Acoustic Album is now available - and for a limited time (until May 1st), we are offering the album at a discount price, free shipping, AND Alisa and I will sign and personalize the album to you (or someone special). The album, recorded at Studio Litho in Seattle by Chad Brown, features fresh new acoustic arrangement of six previously recorded favorites along with intimate performances of four never-released songs. You can listen to the album here: http://www.ianmcferon.com/Acoustic_Album

2013 Time Will Take You release

Ian McFeron broke into the Seattle music scene when discovered by “The Mountain” in Seattle (AAA-formatted KMTT at 103.7 FM) shortly after releasing his debut album, Don’t Look Back (2003). Within months, the first single “Love Me Twice” edged out songs by Modest Mouse, Bob Schneider, The Bo Deans, and Ray LaMontagne in The Mountain’s “New Music Throwdown,” a weekly competition where listeners vote for their favorite of two new songs. Ian has shared the spotlight with international and national artists such as Patty Griffin, Nanci Griffith, Shawn Mullins, Brandi Carlile, Amos Lee, Sister Hazel, Mike Doughty, Hayes Carll, Missy Higgins, Julia Fordham, The Hothouse Flowers, and Jars of Clay.

A prolific songwriter whose lyrical prose and fervent work ethic has drawn comparison to Bob Dylan and Ryan Adams, Ian McFeron has released a steady stream of albums: Don’t Look Back (2003), A Long Way To Freedom (2005), Fistfight With Father Time (2006), Let It Ride (2007), Love Me Blue (2009), and Summer Nights (2011). His seventh, full-length album Time Will Take You (released April 2, 2013) was recorded and mixed in just two weeks at Studio G! in East Nashville, TN. Produced by Doug Lancio (Grammy nominated producer for Patty Griffin), the album features musical performances by Lancio as well as Ryan Adams and the Cardinals’ drummer Brad Pemberton and pedal steel player Jon Graboff - as well as Nashville-based piano and organ player Micah Hulscher and fiddler and harmony vocalist Alisa Milner, and bassist and harmony vocalist Norman Baker, (both from McFeron’s road band).

From the beginning, McFeron dedicated himself to building audiences the old fashioned way: on the road. Traveling from city to city, state to state, nation to nation, McFeron performs an average of 200 shows a year spread throughout the United States and Europe, inspiring listeners with his beautifully crafted songs and honest narratives. On the road, McFeron is often joined by Alisa Milner, a Texas-style fiddler, cellist, and harmony vocalist and long-time friends Norman Baker and Mark Bateman on bass and drums.

I'd like to thank Ian and Alisa for taking an interest in my music blog, Thank You!