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Serena Jean (ex-Hiway Freeker) on CONAN O'BRIEN Feb 29th!


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*~ Remember the jamband Hiway Freeker from Montreal? The 80s cover band Fantasy? The Burt Neilson Band 10th Anniversary @ the Opera House? The recent BNB-infused one-off band The Town Drunks? The Can-Jam Anniverary show this fall @ Lee's? If yes, then you'll likely remember the common thread throughout these musical experiences: the siren singer, Serena.~*

serenesfd3.jpg

Serena is living in NYC now, playing in several bands that are taking the city by storm. Along with 2 of her musical compadres - Kamara Thomas (of Earl Greyhound) and Amal Bouhabib (of Basement Band) - she has been asked to sing back-up for Shooter Jennings (son of Waylon!) on his Friday, Feb 29th performance on the Conan O'Brien show. Tune in and cheer her on that night!

Here's a taste of the vocal chops of the three ladies that will be singing on Conan: Serena, Amal & Kamara covering Gillian Welch's "My Morphine".

Links to bands referenced above:

http://www.myspace.com/basementband

http://www.myspace.com/shooterjennings

http://www.myspace.com/earlgreyhound

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*~ Some of the NYC bands that Serena is in that should be checked out: ~*

SERENA JEAN AND THE WHISKEY TRIPPERS

www.myspace.com/serenajeanmusic

The first band is her newly-assembled group "Serena Jean & the Whiskey Trippers". With a few gigs under their belt, and many more on the horizon, they play a mix of Serena-penned originals along with well-loved covers (by the Faces, Stones, The Band, etc.)

To give you an idea of the talent within this new group, here's a look at who she's sharing the stage with. Her band's lead guitarist is Gitano Herrara. Gitano hails from Argentina and in the early 90s, his former band opened (in front of 70,000 strong) for Guns N' Roses at their legendary Buenos Aires show. This was the final GN'R show that Guns N' Roses played w/ their remaining original members (Slash/Duff/Axl); in addition, it was the last night of the Use Your Illusions world tour.

Her bassist James Preston just recently played in a dude named Jon Fishman's band - (so you can imagine his talent!) And her drummer "Jimmy the Hat" is well-known in both the LA and NY scenes as a tight percussionist, versatile in style.

Take a look/listen to her band singing an SJ original "The Whiskey Led Me Down". This footage is from a performance at the Living Room, NY this past January:

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LARUNE

Http://www.larunetunes.com

Serena is also in a band called Larune, whose band members include both Kamara Thomas and Matt Whyte of Earl Greyhound.

Check out the Larune encore (a Kamara Thomas original) from their NYE show @ NYC's Mercury Lounge.

Larune spearheads a weekly country revue called "The Honky Tonk Happy Hour" at the Lower East Village haunt 'The Living Room'. Each Sunday, from 6-8pm, Larune & their Periodic Label-mates join together to create a whiskey-soaked, countrified musical embrace (the most recent of which was recorded for an upcoming XM radio special). Shooter Jennings is a big fan of this event & has taken up sitting in on these weekly gigs.

Each Sunday several bands play, all drawing from the Periodic Label's talent well. This community of musicians is thriving. And guess what? They love their music so much, they're giving it away for free. Look here:

http://theperiodiclabel.com/index.php/series/

for a complete listing of the label's musicians.

Check out this label's website and download all songs for free of their featured artists. A few of my favourites include Widower, Larune & Ian Love.

A few additional links to some of the aforementioned bands - check 'em out & friend them up if you like 'em:

http://www.myspace.com/serenajeanmusic

http://www.myspace.com/widowermusic

http://www.myspace.com/ianlove

http://www.theperiodiclabel.com

http://www.larunetunes.com

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Enjoy & congrats again to Serenes!

:D

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The only person I've ever encountered who could make Ballad Of A Thin Man sound incredibly sexy.

ISTR Hiway Freeker covering a Dylan's "Thief On The Cross" (I think that's the title; IIRC, they claimed it had only been performed once by Dylan) one night at Dekcuf. (I wonder if I still have the recording...)

Aloha,

Brad

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The only person I've ever encountered who could make Ballad Of A Thin Man sound incredibly sexy.

ISTR Hiway Freeker covering a Dylan's "Thief On The Cross" (I think that's the title; IIRC' date=' they claimed it had only been performed once by Dylan) one night at Dekcuf. (I wonder if I still have the recording...)

Aloha,

Brad[/quote']

From what I've read, Thief On The Cross was only performed once in New Orleans during his Christian phase ... but strangely, I think I also have a recording of it from Toronto. I sure hope you have the recording of HF doing it.

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  • 2 weeks later...

hey bouche - it sucks cause she found out the day before the show she wouldn't be able to sing b/c of visa issues. apparently she need a specific performance visa to appear as talent on the show. shitty. :(

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