Jeff Michaels - Texas Quake

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 46:20
Size: 106.1 MB
Styles: Texas blues, Funk, R&B
Year: 2016
Art: Front

[4:02] 1. Texas Quake
[3:47] 2. Waiting For A Friday
[5:08] 3. The Real Story
[5:38] 4. Neighbors
[3:45] 5. Disco Dust Fever
[4:27] 6. Habanero Heat
[4:46] 7. Marvelous
[4:41] 8. Bad News
[5:32] 9. Big Black Boots
[4:29] 10. Happy Ending

Sizzling BBQ-flavored electricity & more from the roadhouses and ice houses of Texas, Louisiana and beyond with more soul than a month of Sundays and guaranteed to get you to where you're going in style.

Born in St. Louis, veteran Austin artist and BMI songwriter Jeff Michaels is a virtuoso guitarist whose artistry spans the realms of blues, funk and jazz. As a bandleader, and as a musician, Jeff is a sound innovator with a passion for pushing creative boundaries and exploring movement and change. Before he was 14, somehow wound up learning the ropes in ice houses near the bayous and redneck towns in and around Houston playing blues and country, eventually graduating to Austin and Central Texas, where he remains today. A musicians' musician, he's written and played with some primo writers, artists and producers. Jeff signed with Cherry Lane Music Publishing in the early 90's, is a current BMI artist and has well over 200 songs to his credit.

Texas Quake

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Jeff Michaels - Red Hot Texas Blues

Size: 99,1 MB
Time: 34:17
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Released: 2017
Styles: Blues Rock, Funky Blues
Art: Front

01. Bus Driver (4:19)
02. Not This Time (6:46)
03. Red Hot Texas Blues (2:50)
04. Rolling On Down The Street (5:40)
05. Settle Down (3:56)
06. Ain't Got No More (4:37)
07. Bus Driver (Long Trip) (6:05)

"Red Hot Texas Blues" is Michaels’ first blues album in several years, surprising, since he's lately spending as much time with his funk band as he is with Art Napoli and their metal speed-rock explosion known as "Trash Rock Kings"; his roadhouse blues extravaganza live shows have been less and less frequent. With material ranging from the gutsy, gritty blues call to arms of “Not This Time” (the protagonist is clearly an easy touch yet somehow manages to escape the temptation..) to the elegant yet emotionally shattering ballad “Rolling On Down The Street” to the soul-nourishing, all-out funk attack of the opening track “Bus Driver” on which Michaels’ voice rises up to meet the almighty power of the dirty funk riffs rolling out of the wall of marshalls...

Red Hot Texas Blues

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Jeff Michaels - Electric Texas

Size: 100,2 MB
Time: 38:54
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Released: 2015
Styles: Blues Rock, Funky Blues, Texas Blues
Art: Front

01. Backyard (4:01)
02. Bring Her Back (4:18)
03. Electric Texas (5:24)
04. Fools (3:50)
05. Friday Rain (5:21)
06. Could Have Been Anyone (3:39)
07. Fall In Love (4:03)
08. Some Days (3:05)
09. Fire It Up (5:09)

Jeff Michaels has, without question, enough energy to power all of Texas on a summer night. Pure nitro, ignited by the heat of his soulful, smokey voice and the power and passion of always inspired, endlessly tasteful guitar work.

Born in St. Louis, and after getting in a lot of undisclosed trouble, his family eventually arrived in Houston, only for Jeff to be introduced to the cutthroat bayou city blues roadhouse scene, where he was clearly too young to be, and got in a whole lot more trouble, smoking, drinking and generally carrying on. Eventually dropping out of school and worked in a junk yard during the day pulling parts and building cars when he wasn't playing his beaten stratocaster and his old beer stained silver-face pro reverb he's had since those days.

"He played thousands of nights playing everything from blues to funk to country to jazz to blistering rock; you learn to sink or swim in those places fast; he swam like a fish - he couldn't be touched." - Jack Hammond

Getting popular in clubs was not an issue; filling rooms brought him frequent gigs in Austin and San Antonio, which saw him being drawn into studio work, his true love, where he was eventually signed with Cherry Lane Music Publishing and rest is history; hundreds of BMI licensed songs written, produced and placed, thousands of smoking shows supporting some fine names in a variety of genres and a fresh start with SRO Records footing the bill for the complete remixing and remastering of his first three albums, "Long Live Texas Blues", "Working For The Enemy" and "Open Late Night".

Jeff's latest efforts are coming soon in the form of two separate studio albums, the fire-laden, combustible blues of "Electric Texas" and the bayou days-inspired, low down funk of "Blues Steppin'", both, of course, on SRO Records.

Electric Texas

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Jeff Michaels - 2 albums: Working For The Enemy / Open Late Night

The maturity in the phrasing and melodic statements are a far cry from lightning fast licks from the early days. "There is a difference between music that coarsely entertains and merely propels a listener versus music that matters on a much deeper level, that truly has the timeless weight of truth, beauty and soul. I want to make music like that. Anything else at this point is inexcusable." As Jeff is now nearly constantly ensconced in his studio, obviously his natural habitat, I sense a level of comfort and ease he evidently hasn't possessed in a long time... I knew him when he was couch surfing his way from gig to gig, skinnier than a toothpick and even though he was in many dire situations by today's standards, he smiled and carried on as if all was perfect; a king of the world, unaware of his royal bloodlines.

With a nearly nonexistent viable music outlet for the music he loves and chooses to explore and an antiquated yet disarming old school studio veteran approach coupled with the liberating freedom of limitless experimentation. He's played thousands of the scrappiest gigs in some of the roughest places in Texas and beyond that you'd ever find yourself, and as a result knows how to throw a hell of a party for even the most hardened listener. After realizing where the endless roadhouses were leading, he made the decision that changed everything. "First, I am going to relax and spend my time with family and friends. Then, I am going to glue myself to the studio whenever possible and I'm going to write, record and mix and I'm not going to stop; that's what I love to do." Little did he realize this would lead to the ultimate musical freedom; "I can play anything I want. I immediately adopted a Becker/Fagan-like philosophy that was essentially "I'll play the stuff I'm best at, then bring in exactly who I want for the rest. Mix it when I'm ready." The happy result is unstoppable. ~Charles E. Crawford -

Album: Working For The Enemy
Bitrate: 320K/s
Time: 34:43
Size: 79.5 MB
Styles: Roots, Texas blues
Year: 2014
Art: Front

[4:39] 1. Working For The Enemy
[3:13] 2. Black Water
[3:12] 3. Spread My Wings
[3:41] 4. Cry Out
[5:32] 5. Take A Ride
[4:38] 6. Joe's Garage
[2:33] 7. It's Ok
[7:12] 8. Memories

From the title track "Working for the Enemy", to the most superb house shaking cover of "Black Water" you will ever hear, to the poignancy of "Cry Out", these are classic cuts from the start, and far from mining familiar ground. Jeff Michael's music has the energy to deliver and the soul to pull it off.

Working For The Enemy

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Album: Open Late Night
Bitrate: 320K/s
Time: 39:57
Size: 91.4 MB
Styles: Roots, Texas blues
Year: 2014
Art: Front

[5:42] 1. You Got The Money
[7:29] 2. Open Late Night
[5:08] 3. One Last Cheap Cigar
[5:15] 4. Light It Up
[7:36] 5. Might Be The Last
[3:45] 6. Sorry About The Bodies
[4:58] 7. Upper East Side

Open Late Night

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Jeff Michaels - Long Live Texas Blues

Bitrate: 320K/s
Time: 50:48
Size: 116.3 MB
Styles: Texas blues
Year: 2014
Art: Front

[3:41] 1. Riverside
[4:23] 2. Texas Sky
[4:06] 3. Saxonite
[4:34] 4. Long Live Texas Blues
[4:27] 5. Family
[7:52] 6. Is It True
[6:18] 7. Come On Mama
[6:47] 8. My Truck (Still Has Some Gas)
[2:42] 9. I Should Have Known
[5:54] 10. Down That Road

"No one was more surprised than us, when after seemingly decades of commercially failed screaming rock assaults, a more sophisticated Jeff comes back around with effortless, soulful, elegant nuance with heavenly vocals, all while throwing a hell of a party - exactly what the doctor ordered - Bravo, Jeff. Folks, wait till you hear THIS guy.." ~ Austin Blues & Jazz Society

The maturity in the phrasing and melodic statements are a far cry from lightning fast licks from the early days. “I can practice all day out back (in the studio) but it’s a different ballgame when the song starts; playing for the song is all I do these days.” As Jeff is now nearly constantly ensconced in his studio, obviously his natural habitat, I sense a level of comfort and ease he evidently hasn't possessed in a long time... I knew him when he was couch surfing his way from gig to gig, skinnier than a toothpick and even though he was in many dire situations by today's standards, he smiled and carried on as if all was perfect; a king of the world, unaware of his royal bloodlines.

With a nearly nonexistent viable music outlet for the music he loves and chooses to explore and an antiquated yet disarming old school studio veteran approach coupled with the liberating freedom of limitless experimentation, a decade ago he had the simple epiphany that by merely indulging his equally insatiable technical interests, he would be free to record whatever he wanted to, whenever he wants.

"Look, no more slime from the music industry getting their hooks in, I simply keep the profit/loss equation out of the picture and suddenly I'm free to create for the sake of creating and hopefully, the magic will just happen." Besides, while surely the music industry is shark infested waters, the tech industry are shark hunters. "After decades of a life on the run punctuated at times with every conceivable variation on the personal or business trainwreck imaginable, why do I need to revisit that? I'm happy, I work with people that help make me keep a solid work/life/play balance and I still somehow sleep at night". Anything is now possible: blues, jazz, funk, rock, urban, indie... instrumental or traditional; the door has been flung wide open.

He's played thousands upon thousands of the scrappiest gigs in some of the roughest places you'd ever find yourself, and as a result knows how to throw a party for even the most hardened listener. After realizing where the endless roadhouses and drastically deteriorating health were leading, he made the decision that changed everything. "I'm done. I'm not spending time away from my family to go play to rowdy drunks for, after expenses, chump change. I'm an adult, I need intellectual challenges that far exceed the limitations of the pop realm and I need to support my family better than "getting by." Little did he realize this would lead to the ultimate musical freedom; "I can play anything I want. I immediately adopted a Becker/Fagan-like philosophy that was essentially "I can play the stuff I'm best at, then bring in exactly what I want for the rest. Mix it when I'm ready." The happy result, is unstoppable.

This is a new chapter in his life; indifference to trends or market share, playing for the sake of playing, listening for the sake of listening and finding songs and himself in instruments he never knew he could play. This is going to be a great ride.

Long Live Texas Blues mc
Long Live Texas Blues zippy

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