TJ WEST

TJ West Premier: “Unwritten Story” by Joe Bourdet

Posted by on May 20, 2021 at 9:02 am

Photo by: Leigh Newman

Joe Bourdet has been a figure on the California roots music scene for a number of years, playing in and writing music for several bands, including The Whispering Pines, Painted Hills with Josh Schwartz, and early on in his career, he was a guitarist for artist and producer, Jonathan Wilson. Bourdet is a California native hailing from Nevada City, CA and as an avid outdoor enthusiast, he brings that love of nature to his writing and music. Giving a nod to 70s folk-rock and singer-songwriters of that era, Bourdet puts his own signature spin on the music explaining that the sound is more “Topanga Canyon” than the widely known sound of LA’s Laurel Canyon.

Not only does he play and write music, but he repairs, restores, modifies and builds instruments and recording equipment. Some of the instruments that you hear on the album are vintage and lovingly restored and modified by Bourdet himself. With a stint as an audio engineer in music and film productions, Bourdet has the skills needed to engineer, mix, and produce his own debut album.  With help from his friends and some top professional technicians in music, he did just that. His new debut solo album coming out on June 18th is titled, Meadow Rock and TJ West is excited to premiere a single off of the album, “Unwritten Story/” The song is a co-write with Thomas Hien, an award-winning singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, composer and producer.

Bourdet explains the song notes “A friend from Bavaria, singer-songwriter Thomas Hien, was on one of his frequent visits to Los Angeles and suggested we get together and attempt this co-write. Based on a progression and chorus idea that Thomas brought, we fleshed out verses and bridge, then recorded a demo. Although not done to a click track, the ebb and flow of the demo we made was nice enough to serve as a guide for the final track. Later, quarantine necessitated that I play all the parts on this one as I invented the arrangement, as I often do, via trial and error. Will Scott was brought in to nail the drum performance. This track was done exclusively at my Mountain Sounds Recorders. Special thanks to Sammi for the gift of the upright piano.”

UNWRITTEN STORY – (by Thomas Hien and Joe Bourdet) Traveling West Music (ASCAP) & Mountain Sounds (ASCAP)
Will Scott – Drums

Joe – Guitars, Hammond Organ, Piano, Bass, Fender 6, Vocals

Recorded at Mountain Sounds Recorders,

joebourdet.com  |  Pre-Order Meadow Rock   |  fb

Kim Grant

Kim Grant

After growing up listening to Dolly, Merle and Willie, Kim Grant spent the 90’s immersed in the Chicago indie rock scene. Spending many nights at the famed (now-defunct) venue Lounge Ax, bands like Bad Livers, Giant Sand, Handsome Family, Palace Brothers and Wilco turned her on to what was then called Alt-Country. After moving to Los Angeles in 2000, she found this same feeling of musical community at a tiny west side bar called The Cinema Bar where she met artists, Mike Stinson, Randy Weeks, Tony Gilkyson, Ramsay Midwood, and Kip Boardman. These talented folks spurred her enthusiasm for the Southern California roots music scene and the Americana music scene as a whole. Now a music publicist, Grant (alongside Liz Garo and Pam Moore) founded the Los Angeles, weekly roots music series, The Grand Ole Echo in 2005. Also with Garo, Grant helped to curate the Roots Roadhouse American-roots music festival in both 2011 and 2012. Also in 2011 she began co-producing a SXSW day party with Julie Richmond titled, Grand Ole Austin which is still going strong. Visit TJ West on fb and kgmusicpress.com.
Kim Grant

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