First Published June 2023
ALYSSA BONAGURA
Critically acclaimed Nashville singer-songwriter, producer and multi-instrumentalist ALYSSA BONAGURA celebrates the new roots she’s found on British soil with her new EP FLY WITH ME, which landed June 2nd, via Extreme Music, and is available to stream and download now.
The title track received an exclusive first play from Bob Harris on BBC Radio 2 the night before the EP’s release, when he described Fly With Me as “a glorious song… a beautiful, beautiful track.” The lyric video for Fly With Me features highlights from the last twelve months.
Each song on the EP represents a diary entry, letting listeners into Alyssa’s life more than ever before, with the lyrics detailing the new world blooming around her since relocating to London and falling in love with a Brit.
The EP was performed, produced, programmed, and mixed by Bonagura, with the exception of cinematic love song One Kiss, which features strings composed by Laurentia Editha, of Hans Zimmer’s Bleeding Fingers Music collective.
“I’m excited to share ‘Fly With Me’ with the world because every note, lyric, and production idea came from such a free space where I could unapologetically be myself and create without the confines of a specific sound. Written and crafted in my little studio in Franklin, TN.,” shared Bonagura.
“I hope I can be an inspiration to more female producers out there to be fearless and create whatever is in your heart no matter the genre. I’m so grateful to my new team at Extreme Music and Bleeding Fingers for believing in me and giving these songs wings.”
Deliberately blurring boundaries between genres, these five songs blend the southern country storytelling Bonagura has become known for in recent years, with the free-thinking spirit of rock and roll, and the sweeping sound of British pop. Her first release with Extreme Music, the production arm of Sony Music Publishing, the EP is a taste of what’s to come, with a full album planned for release before the end of the year.
“Alyssa is a creative force of nature, her hooks punch so hard they leave you with seeing stars. I cannot wait to get these songs in front of a wider audience”, says Russell Emanuel, CEO/President of Extreme Music.
Consistently in demand as a songwriter and collaborator, recent releases include the 90’s-inspired Keep It Safe (which has three-millon+ streams to date), a duet with Caroline Jones (also known for her work as a member of Zac Brown Band), which Bonagura also co-wrote.
Last month, Alyssa kicked off Live Nation’s inaugural Highways Festival at the Royal Albert Hall alongside Kip Moore, Morgan Wade, Jackson Dean and Stephen Wilson Jr., with a family-friendly Country For Kids set.
A summer packed with UK shows and festival performances kicked off on June 3rd at Country in the Afternoon in London, and will be followed by a July 4th performance at The Bedford in London (American music night with Alyssa Bonagura & Friends), followed by the BCMA Fan-Fest in Newark on July 9th, and the Hot Box Country & Folk Festival in Chelmsford on August 5th.
A celebrated songwriter, producer, and multi-instrumentalist, Bonagura has spent the past decade fine-tuning a sound that reaches far beyond her Nashville roots. Alyssa is a lifelong road- warrior who spent her infancy aboard a tour-bus with country music parents Baillie & The Boys. She also recorded a duet with Kenny Rogers at just ten years old, If Only I Had Your Heart, from his 1998 album, Christmas From The Heart. And – as if that wasn’t a close enough link to music royalty – Alyssa received her college diploma from Sir Paul McCartney at LIPA (Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts).
Alyssa has also performed stadium shows opening for Rod Stewart as a member of the major-label duo The Sisterhood Band, and currently balances her critically-acclaimed solo career with an ongoing gig writing songs for Jessie James Decker, Aerosmith frontman Steven Tyler, and others.
~ FLY WITH ME, the NEW EP from ALYSSA BONAGURA, is OUT NOW.
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DAVID NAIL
US country music star DAVID NAIL recently released his new single, BEST OF ME and an official music video featuring never-before-seen wedding footage of his 2009 wedding day to his wife, Cat. Now, the pair are sitting down for an intimate, eight-episode weekly series talking about their first meeting at the Nashville staple, Tin Roof, and how David asked Cat’s father for her hand in marriage. New episodes release every Tuesday, with the first two episodes now available to view.
In a recent chat, Nail told Taste of Country, “I mean, obviously this song is about (Catherine), but I really wanted it to be a tribute to my father-in-law, too, and how much I really wanted to get his approval. It was more than just wanting his blessing — I really wanted him to believe in me. I wanted him to believe in us”.
Episode 3 of the Best of Me series debuts on June 6th.
Billboard has described Nail’s superb vocal talents as being, “country canon, thanks to songs like ‘Red Light’ and ‘The Sound of a Million Dreams’.
The prestigious publication continued, “The singer-songwriter shows off his sentimental side on this solo write, about his wife Catherine, as he recalls the man-to-man conversation he shared with her father as Nail asked for her hand in marriage. Though he doesn’t have money or the finer things in life to offer, he does have one thing of even more value — a steadfast love and commitment. ‘I’ll give her the best of me/ If you’ll give her away,” he sings, as his nuanced vocal, layered over sweet guitar work, embodies the passion, vulnerability and hope embedded in the song’s sentiments. This is sure to be a wedding season favorite”.
The chart-topping singer has more new music due out this year and has new stops on his tour being added constantly, including a stop at Nashville’s 50th CMA Fest. Stay up to date with David Nail at davidnail.com.
Hailing from Kennett, Missouri, Nail is well-respected up and down Music Row. Some might even call him a “tour de force” as his songs pull no punches in evoking the demons with which he has wrestled through much of his life.
The GRAMMY-nominated multi-platinum singer/songwriter’s early releases, I’m About To Come Alive, The Sound Of A Million Dreams, I’m A Fire and Fighter, ignited his reputation as an innovator and creative risk-taker, yet left Nail feeling restless. This led to the departure of the only record company home he’d ever known, MCA Nashville, where he’d formed friendships that endure even now.
Through dealing with his own journey of mental-illness and the feeling of needing to “rebel against what people expect you to be”, Nail began making his most “organic” work to date, David Nail & The Well Ravens, with Jason Hall and Andrew Petroff. That project liberated Nail and propelled him into his next adventure.
Writing solo for the next few months led to his debut solo independent EP Oh, Mother, a reflective piece of work. Of the title track, Rolling Stone noted that “the song creeps in like a sunrise — quiet, restrained cello and keys are the only underpinning for Nail’s powerful vocals at first. But then it slowly builds to something more massive and majestic.”
That release was followed by Bootheel 2020 and Bootheel 2021, projects dedicated to the singer/songwriter’s hometown in the “bootheel” of Missouri. Nail plans on releasing more music, leaving behind any self-imposed restrictions. In his own words, “My philosophy has always been, I just hope to have a good enough year that I can have a next year while staying as true to myself as I possibly can”.
~ BEST OF ME, by DAVID NAIL, is OUT NOW.
On The Right TRAX 