PR: Michael Cerveris and Loose Cattle at 54 Below album

[cinemediapromo]

Posted: 11/6/13 at 7:18pm

For Immediate Release

TONY AWARD® WINNER MICHAEL CERVERIS AND HIS BAND LOOSE CATTLE
SET TO RELEASE LIVE AT 54 BELOW ALBUM, “NORTH OF HOUSTON”

(October 31, 2013 – New York, NY) – Michael Cerveris & Loose Cattle’s "North of Houston: Live At 54 BELOW" will be released digitally on November 15th and on CD on November 19th, 2013. The CD is now available for pre-order at http://amzn.com/B00G9COK36. The track listing and cover art were unveiled today by Broadway Records.

When the snazzy 54 Below Supper Club asked Michael Cerveris & Loose Cattle repeatedly to play, the band dragged their boots in typically disorganized fashion. What was this shabby downtown bunch going to do uptown in such plush surroundings? Well, the same ramshackle thing they always did, as it turned out. At least it was literally underground. And then, on the eve of their residency, Hurricane Sandy made the psychic distance between New Orleans and New York seem very small indeed.

After 5 days spent in the cold and dark, it seemed unlikely the shows would go on. But all the same, they carried instruments and walked miles across bridges, rode bikes, huddled in cars to practice with a heater on and squeezed on top of each other into a Broadway dressing room to keep playing--and to keep their minds off how creepy it was in pitch black lower Manhattan and how precarious this whole civilization thing was after all.

And the shows did go on. The first one was the Friday post-storm. A surprising number of hearty souls braved the lack of transportation and power. The night started heavy with the weight of what friends, families and neighbors in the Rockaways and Jersey Shore were digging out from under. Just being around people felt good, and songs like “Get Down River” and “Evangeline” got added to the set and took on more meaning. They learned (ok, half learned) Electricity at sound check as a kind of ode to wishful thinking. And Lo and Behold, by the end of the set, word trickled in that power was coming back on slowly in their homes downtown...not saying they made it happen, but....

By the end, worry and uncertainty was giving way to relief and resilience and a commitment to celebrating community...there may even have been Skynyrd played at some point. The next night was a rowdy show for a full crowd that carried on well past the allotted time, ending with an utterly unrehearsed, countrified “Pinball Wizard”.

Followers of Michael Cerveris’ stage and screen work may be surprised by the lack of Broadway crooning and pretense on hand here. But then, Cerveris’ fans know the only thing to expect from him is that expectations will be confounded. What is here instead is a document of a band at a moment in time, friends just playing together and making music they were raised on regardless of where they were born and how they pay their rent these days.

“North of Houston” was recorded live, clams and all, at 54 BELOW, NYC, and mixed by legendary producer Mark Bingham at Piety Studios, New Orleans.

Track Listing:
1. intro
2. Get Downtown
3. Gasoline And Matches
4. mandolin instruction
5. Backwater
6. Electricity
7. Jolene, F**k You
8. dedication
9. Dog Eared
10. Lost In New Amsterdam
11. Raise Hell
12. Ghost Of Virginia
13. longfellows and shortcomings
14. Evangeline
15. Get Down River
16. Run That By Me One More Time
17. band intros
18. Walking Down The Line
19. Hard Luck Story
20. Wagon Wheel
21. Pinball Wizard

54 BELOW is owned and operated by Tony Award winning producers Tom Viertel, Marc Routh, Richard Frankel, and Steven Baruch.

More “Live at 54 BELOW” titles will be announced shortly.

MICHAEL CERVERIS & LOOSE CATTLE: They were a couple at the time. And it was hard times. And because therapy was damned expensive, they thought if they spent more time singing in the living room, there'd be less time for fighting.

The idea was pretty simple: squeeze a bunch of friends together in a living room and play through some country tunes. Good time songs and sad ones, old ones and new ones. Not too much planning, not too much drinking (well...not everything went as planned). The name was conceived at a gig with their friend Laura Cantrell downstairs at Hill Country Barbecue under a sign warning of Loose Livestock (they never could quite remember it right) and they became Loose Cattle. Southern by birth or by inclination, they gathered some like-minded friends, made some new ones, convinced them all to lower their prodigious musical skills?to their commonest level and something like a band was born.

Mindful that the Road to Hell is paved with actor/singers, Cerveris went to a lonely corner of the pasture and buried his Tony Award, five nominations and myriad accolades from stage outings in Broadway's Tommy, Sweeney Todd, Assassins, Evita, Hedwig, forsook his television lives as September the Observer on FOX's “Fringe” and Marvin Frey in HBO's “Tremé” and his punk and rock days spent touring and sharing stages with Bob Mould, Frank Black, the Breeders and Pete Townshend, turning instead to embrace his West Virginia roots along with Jersey-born co-vocalist Kimberly Kaye (former trumpet strumpet with WARP tour punk/ska vets New Direxion), Gabriel Caplan (guitarist for Naomi Shelton’ Gospel Queens), Jon Graboff (pedal steel multi-instrumentalist for Ryan Adams, Shooter Jennings, Laura Cantrell and many others), Alex Harvey (fiercely independent theater director and, more famously, the mandolin star of those Geico ads), Justin Smith (the giant fiddler of The Defibulators), Lorenzo Wolff (bass and sousaphone player for The Lisps), and Eddy Zweiback (percussionist and founding member of Losers Lounge).

And though they only ever meant to play in folks’ living rooms, they’ve found themselves flown to West Virginia to play Mountain Stage with Arlo Guthrie, gracing the Allen Room at Lincoln Center for the American Songbook series, with repeat appearances at Joe’s Pub and a residency at 54 Below--the source of live recordings for their rollicking debut album, “North of Houston” on Broadway Records, to be released 19 November 2013.

BROADWAY RECORDS is a new label dedicated to Broadway and Off Broadway-related recordings and is a division of the theatrical production and investment company, The Broadway Consortium. The Broadway Consortium (winner of Best Revival of a Musical Tony® Award in 2012) was co-founded by Van Dean and Kenny Howard. Broadway Records releases include the Original Broadway Cast Recordings of Matilda The Musical, Bonnie & Clyde and Lysistrata Jones, “Nick Jonas: Songs from How To Succeed In Business Without Really Trying”, “Laura Osnes: Dream A Little Dream – Live at the Café Carlyle” and Jekyll & Hyde 2012 Concept Recording and its new series of “Live at 54 BELOW” recordings. The Broadway Consortium’s Broadway producing credits include Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Cinderella, Big Fish, Chinglish, Bonnie & Clyde, Gore Vidal’s The Best Man, The Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess and Evita (2012). West End: Master Class (2012). The Broadway Consortium was also the lead producer of January’s From Broadway With Love: A Benefit Concert for Sandy Hook which recently aired on NY area PBS stations. Together, Kenny and Van executive produced the Grammy® nominated 2011 Broadway Cast Recording of How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying with Daniel Radcliffe and John Larroquette. The general counsel for Broadway Records and The Broadway Consortium is Barry Miller.
www.BroadwayConsortium.com
www.BroadwayRecords.com

54 BELOW, Broadway’s Supper Club, is the new performance venue in the grand tradition of New York City nightlife. A few blocks from the heart of Times Square and just below the legendary Studio 54, 54 BELOW is a classically designed state-of-the art nightclub in the theatre district that hosts audiences with warmth and style. The venue provides a food and beverage menu from early evening through the wee hours of the morning that is worthy of the world-class entertainment on the stage. In their description of 54 BELOW, The New York Times writes “the club has the intimacy of a large living room with unimpeded views and impeccable sound; there is not a bad seat. Its sultry after-hours ambience is enhanced by brocade-patterned wall panels planted with orange-shaded lanterns. And the atmosphere is warmer and sexier than in Manhattan’s other major supper clubs.” Located at 254 West 54th Street, 54 BELOW features up to three shows nightly with cover charges ranging from $15-$95. Tickets and information are available at www.54Below.com.

For more information on Broadway Records or the album series, contact: [e-mail], or @cinemediapromo on Twitter