JEFFREY HALFORD AND THE HEALERS

JEFFREY HALFORD AND THE HEALERS (USA)
Americana, roots with a bluesy twist
Available for Europe, August/September 2023
BOOK JEFFREY HALFORD AND THE HEALERS

Live review Jeffrey Halford & The Healers - GC De Wildeman - 19/10/2021 - Rootstime.be

Tourdates 2022: more dates will be added.
13/10/2022 - Thursday - Mandy´s Lounge - Germany - Homburg
16/10/2022 - Sunday - Texel Blues - The Netherlands- Texel
18/10/2022 - Tuesday - Music Star - Germany - Norderstedt
19/10/2022 - Wednesday - Music Star - Germany - Norderstedt
20/10/2022 - Thursday - Club Am Donnerstag - Germany - Hamburg
22/10/2022 - Saturday - Ramblin Roots - The Netherlands - Utrecht
24/10/2022 - Monday - Het Groot Verzet - Belgium - Lint
25/10/2022 - Tuesday - Qbus - The Netherlands - Leiden
27/10/2022 - Friday - Pallieter sessions - Belgium - Herselt
29/10/2022 - Saturday - Hoeve Blues - The Netherlands - Venray
30/10/2022 - Sunday - Muziek mit Bus - The Netherlands - Groningen

Some people call this music Americana, we call it rock ‘n’ roll country soul with a different shade of blues. Halford is one of California’s finest songwriters. Born in Dallas, he migrated to Los Angeles (in the late 60s and 70s) and then stewed in the blues and rock ‘n’ roll in Oakland and San Francisco. Jeffrey Halford and The Healers have played live relentlessly, sharing stages with Etta James, Taj Mahal, Jimmy Cliff, Los Lobos, Guy Clark, John Hammond, and Gregg Allman, just to name a few.

Los Angeles Weekly called Halford “one of the best voices in Americana today.” And Bill Wyman of the Rolling Stones recently heard Jeffrey Halford & the Healers and said, “I really like the way these guys groove.”

The band’s sense of reckless abandon has always been there. It is what has kept people coming back to their live performances and buying their finely crafted records over the years. This recording showcases tracks compiled from eight different releases and their evolution as a band. It’s no surprise that their music has traveled across the pond and that they’ve been touring the EU with their live show for the last five years.

Jeffrey Halford and The Healers sense of reckless musical abandon has been further honed on this European tour with the arrival of new bassist Mike Anderson (Big Blue Hearts, Eric McFadden). Of course, multi-instrumentalist Adam Rossi will present. This well-oiled machine runs like a diesel engine and is exactly what keeps people coming back to Halford’s live performances repeatedly. Go see them when they are in your area…

European management and PR

contact Jan Janssen at JohTheMa promotions

Release and distribution

Soul Crusade
A Bulletproof Collection of Songs Inspired by Gospel, Folk, Soul, and Blues.

Marin County, CA June 2022, Of the many marks of genius associated with rock n’ roll greatness, the knack for surrounding oneself with transformational talent looms especially large, with The Rolling Stones being perhaps the most notable example. Jeffrey Halford treads a poetic rootsy path on his latest release, Soul Crusade, combining a bulletproof collection of songs inspired by gospel, folk, soul, and blues, with a formidable roster of musical contributors. The result is one of Halford’s most approachable and easy-grooving. That said, don’t be fooled by the conversational veneer, this is the kind of ease made possible only through lived experience. Halford’s hard-fought musical decades have brought him to a place of supreme musical wisdom. As you dive into the album and hear for yourself the combined confidence in his writing, playing, and singing, it’s easy to understand what drew his collaborators in.

Notable guest contributors include lap slide master Bruce Kaphan (REM, Jewel, The Black Crowes, Sheryl Crow), singer-songwriter/multi-instrumentalist Tom Heyman (Alejandro Escovedo, Chuck Prophet), and alt. blues pioneer Preacher Boy, and also Mark Karan (BobWeir). There’s some family magic afoot as well, with Jeffrey’s son and daughter Aaron and Hannah adding their skills to the mix. One familiar face in the crowd is Halford’s longtime musical partner and band member Adam Rossi, who not only played drums and keys but also co-produced the album. “It’s basically Adam Rossi and I dialing in the feels,” said Halford. “We have 15 years of playing together so he gets it, he’s fast, creative, and has an open mind.”

Seconds into the opening track, it’s immediately clear Soul Crusade is not just an album title, it’s a manifesto. “Another Skyline,” with its stately groove and plaintive melodies buffered by discreet horns and swelling organ, evokes the best of canonical roots-rocks legends such as The Band at their most gospel-inspired. The same can be said of the Al Green Esque “Walk to the River”, an early candidate for the album’s standout track. The Randy Newman, New Orleans inspired “Pie Eyed Poets Plea” is a standout. Bookending the collection is “Sad Sinking Feeling”. It’s an equally soulful composition, with a touch of that folksy “Sittin’ on the Dock of the Bay” vibe, but the song’s easy swing also calls to mind “Harvest” era Neil Young, a comparison that continues to hold water when listening to tracks such as “Wandering Kind” and “Pescadero”. The latter is one of Halford’s strongest vocal melodies, and if you don’t have a tear in your eye after hearing Halford rhyming “the winding road narrows” with “Pescadero,” then yours is a harder heart than most.

“This album explores dimensional love and the crazy times we live in,” Halford explains. “It started with some social issues that were bothering me and then moved to relationships which I feel is hard to write about.” An example is the song, “Sad Sinking Feeling”. “This was written in Boston. I had just left my son and it was a beautiful night. The song just came to me: In the fall/the falling leaves/drift through the trees/ my hearts on sleeve, I get that sad sinking feeling when you leave. As Hemingway once said, ‘write what’s true’. I experienced the same feeling after reuniting with another friend not seen for 20 years. Vulnerability is a new territory for me.”

Known for good stories and songs, Halford also surrounds himself with talented musicians who don’t worry too much about the technical details of music. “Music is more about feel to me than technicalities.” Over the last 30 years Halford has been touring with his band, The Healers sharing bills with some of music’s most acclaimed artists and songwriters as well as Halford’s influences-such as Taj Mahal, Los Lobos, George Thorogood, Greg Allman, Etta James, John Hammond, and Texas Greats Augie Meyers, Guy Clark and Robert Earl Keen.

Fans who’ve been following Jeffrey Halford through his many musical decades won’t be surprised at the maturity and mastery on display throughout this impeccable collection of soulful folk-rock. He’s been building toward this kind of work his entire career, and there’s a deep pleasure in experiencing a master working at the peak of his power. For those new to the man and his music, you can look forward to discovering one of the great troubadours working in the Americana tradition.

Release and distribution
LABEL: Continental Song City (CSCCD 1192)
DISTRIBUTED BY: Continental Record Services
FORMAT: Digital | CD Digipak
EU RELEASE DATE: September 23rd, 2022
FILED UNDER: Blues | Soul | Gospel | Folk

Beware of Worthless Imitations Vol. 1 1999-2019.

In 2019 Rolling Stone magazine hailed Halford’s songwriting as “stellar impressionistic storytelling that leaves you wanting more.” Nashville Scene called Halford “one of the best slide players on the planet.” Let’s just say he’s tasty. Travel from the badlands to the bayou, then to the bohemian bar rooms where Kerouac found himself. Or the fields in the high plains where the Sioux Indian rainmakers danced. Check out and listen to 20 tracks. 20 years. Beware of Worthless Imitations Vol. 1 1999-2019.

LABEL: Continental Song City (CSCCD 1181 – EAN: 8713762011819)
DISTRIBUTED BY: Continental Record Services – Continental.nl
FORMAT: Digital | CD Digipak
EU RELEASE DATE: September 17, 2020
FILED UNDER: Country | Soul | Rock | Americana

Some great artists have joined Halford on these tracks, including Augie Meyers (Bob Dylan, Texas Tornadoes), The Gospel Hummingbirds (Oakland, California), Chuck Prophet (Green on Red), and Myron Dove (Santana), just to name a few. If you write good songs, great musicians will come.

The songs are authentic American rock ‘n’ roll, hard-driving at times but then the channel changes to some beautiful ballad tracks that will leave you floating on the Sea of Cortez In Mexico.

Jeffrey Halford and the Healers review on Rootstime.be

Jeffrey Halford and The Healers review on AltCountryForum.nl

Jeffrey Halford and the Healers review on Rootsville.eu

Jeffrey Halford and The Healers review on Bluestownmusic.nl

Jeffrey Halford and The Healers
Produced by Adam Rossi, Jeffrey Halford, and Don Zimmer
Floating Records
Recorded in San Francisco and Mill Valley, California

Release date: April 19th 2019
File under: American Roots, Americana, Blues, Soul
World wide distribution at Burnside Distribution
BeNeLux: Sonic Rendezvous

“Atmospheric, funky, rustic, and raw this is narrative Americana at its finest; poetic story songs delivered with the voice of authenticity, sitting atop a moody bed of dirty slide guitars, organic drums, and swampy bass. Subtle touches of violin, piano, and lap steel adorn a song cycle that chronicles the westbound adventures of two mythic brothers in an equally mythic America.”

Jeffrey with co-writer Don Zimmer and Adam Rossi {band member, co-producer} created something so many strive for, and yet too few achieve a genuine Americana concept album that is simultaneously devoid of pretension, and richly authentic. If Cormac McCarthy played guitar, he’d have a regular slot at The Sad Cafe, and folks would come from miles around to hear him sing “The Ballad of Ambrose and Cyrus,”

Along with The Healers, who are Adam Rossi (co-produced, a modern-day David Copperfield) and Bill MacBeath (Alvin Youngblood Hart) Guests stars Mark Karan (Bob Weir) and Tom Heyman (Alejandro Escovedo, Chuck Prophet) brought some serious mojo to the record. Here are some press quotes about West Towards South:

“The playing is tasty, arrangements on point. Halford’s ability to weave in canonical references is impressive. Dylan allusions, but more impressionistic. Pour yourself another round.”

– RollingStone.com

“Perfect rhymes that paint vivid word pictures over an electrifying musical soundscape. A must for your collection.”

– LAMusicCritic.com

“They have a unique style of Americana that sits above the rest of their peers.”

– IndiePulse.com

“The one thing that grabbed me was the authenticity this album brings. It will leave any listener wanting more.”

– MiddleTennesseeMusic.com

Jeffrey Halford and The Healers review on AltCountryForum.nl

JEFFREY HALFORD AND THE HEALERS on Facebook

www.jeffreyhalford.com