Shane Cooley Releases "West Land" And Sets Up New Tour

Virginia singer/songwriter Shane Cooley may be dreaming of California nights, but his new music means serious business.  After graduating from William and Mary last Spring, booking an upcoming U.S. tour (and third time on the West Coast), and recording his new album, West Land, Shane is treating 2011 as his time to shine.
 
Cooley, who recently won 2nd place as "Best Male Artist" in the International Acoustic Music Awards, says that the album represents his departure from a past life.  Most of the songs are about exploring new cities out West, and living on the American road.  Partnered with producer Stewart Myers (Jason Mraz, Lifehouse), Cooley played most of the instruments on the album himself, including drums, guitars, piano and harmonica.

"West Land is for all intents and purposes a 70s record," said Cooley.  "I have always felt like I was born in the wrong time, and have been envious of the artists that were around in that era.  Music was treated with a degree of respect then, from both the artists' perspective and the audience's."  Despite his reputation for being a prolific songwriter, Cooley treated the album as if it were to be on two-sided vinyl. He narrowed it down to seven songs he thought were appropriate thematically.  "It's not about how many songs can I throw on a CD," Cooley explains, "These songs fit together, and are meant to be listened to that way."  Cooley sites Neil Young's Harvest and Bruce Springsteen's Darkness on the Edge of Town as two "holy grails of influences" for production and arrangements.

The physical CDs of West Land will be available at his CD release party at Capital Ale House Music Hall in Richmond on 2/11/11.  A link will also be available for downloading the album on that day, which will be posted on Shane's Facebook music page.  An iTunes release will follow shortly after.

The CD release party in Richmond will also mark the launch of The Home Sweet Home Coast-to-Coast Tour, where Shane will be joining Adam Smith (Nashville), The Melillo Brothers (NYC) and Adam Web (Philadelphia) on an artists-for-artists tour for 8 weeks.  "The first Home Sweet Home Tour (last July) was originally a step up from gig swapping, travelling together to each other's home towns, exposing our music to each other's markets, and having a free place to crash while we're at it," said Cooley.  "This time we've expanded, pooling our resources to create a national tour." 

After Shane Cooley and Adam Smith perform in Richmond and Charlottesville, the two will join the other acts to perform in Philadelphia, Harrisburg, Sedona, Las Vegas, Paso Robles, Los Angeles, San Diego, Phoenix, Tuscon, Las Cruces, Roswell, Santa Fe, Austin, New York City and Cape May.  Along with performing, the group will also be speaking about their experiences as panelists at Millenium Music Conference in Harrisburg and Cape May Singer Songwriter, as well as making an appearance at South by Southwest Music Festival in Austin.

Shane will then be returning to Virginia to perform at several local events in April, and to plan his summer tour.  More can be found on Shane Cooley at www.sonicbids.com/shanecooleymusic.  Look for the link to download West Land on 2/11/11 at www.facebook.com/shanecooleymusic.