|
Tyrone
Wells
Hold On
As a
young boy growing up in Spokane, Washington, it seemed
unfathomable that Tyrone Wells would soon be a popular and
passionate singer/songwriter. But with the release of his fourth
album Hold On,
Wells comes across as a figurehead for a generation that’s both
idealistic and confused, a young adult who croons about
heartbreak, true love and war with equal power and sincerity.
In
his four years on the music scene, Wells has evolved in an
honest and organic manner, first scrambling for gigs and selling
albums from the trunk of his car and eventually selling out The
House of Blues and having his songs featured prominently on
major television programs, including “Rescue Me,” which starred
Dennis Leary.
Hold On
is filled with soulful pop songs such as the poignant “What Are
We Fighting For,” which combines strummy guitars, chiming organ
and a pulsing funk beat. Then there’s the delicate, ruminative
“Sea Breeze,” in which Wells’ voice swirls around a bed of slow
beats and velvety rhythms and “Sugar So Sweet,” a groove-laden
soul song that reaches a crescendo with a surging rock chorus.
“I
was in such a great space when I wrote the record,” Wells says.
“I was just going for it, and trying to write the best songs I
could and I got totally lost in the process. But also, I had
just met my wife and I was experiencing the golden years of an
independent career. I was making a living doing music and there
was nobody telling me what to do.”
One
of five children born to a church minister, Wells experienced a
conservative upbringing, and while he was exposed to the music
of his church choir, he was discouraged from listening to pop
and rock music. Then, when he was in junior high, he heard
Stevie Wonder’s pop
sensation “I Just Called to Say I Love You,” and his live was
instantly transformed.
“I
thought, ‘Man, I really like this,’” Wells says. “I didn’t
understand the scope or power of great R&B at the time because I
hadn’t been exposed to it, but when I got older, I started
eating up all this stuff from The Commodores to Marvin Gaye and
it was really inspiring.”
Around the same time, Wells, discovered pop and folk performers
like Simon and Garfunkel,
Damien Rice, and David Gray, whose storytelling style rubbed off
on Wells and encouraged him to use his songs as tools to
communicate with his audience.
“I
don’t presume to be a teacher, but I feel like a lot of pop
music is not necessarily truth, and I want to be a communicator
of what I perceive to be truth.”
While
Wells wrote songs as early as junior high and high school, he
didn’t take the craft seriously until he attended college at
Hope International University in Fullerton, California. When he
wasn’t studying, he wrote songs on an acoustic guitar, and even
though he could hardly play the instrument, he soon started
playing local coffee houses. On night, he wound up at a small
place called McClain’s and after the show, he asked the owner if
he could play there every Thursday. She happily gave her
permission, and the residency lasted four years, during which
time Wells learned how to interact with an audience and hone his
performance chops. By the time he stopped playing there, the
room was maxed out every night and crowds were spilling out of
the doors of the venue and listening from outside. “
“I was like, ‘Wow, this is really working,’” Wells says. “The
fact that it sustained itself and grew, and I had to go to a
bigger room was amazing. I was selling a lot of records out of
the back of my trunk by doing things in a really grass roots
fashion, but I could see the growth and that was really
important to me.”
Wells
recorded his first album
Snapshot by himself on home recording equipment, then
followed with Live at
McClain’s in
2005. He started working on
Hold On in late 2005, and culled the songs from
material he had written over the prior two years. Unlike his
earlier records, which were solo acoustic,
Hold On is a full
band album. Excellently produced by Chris Karn, the record
proves that Wells is just as capable of turning up the amps and
rocking out as he is of soothing audiences with bittersweet
lullabies.
“It’s
great because I can do both kinds of songs live now,” he says.
“I love the intimacy of an acoustic show, and when I’m rocking,
I miss being able to break down and talk to the audience. But
you can’t beat the energy of the way the crowd reacts to a good
rock number.”
By
early 2006, Wells was regularly selling out Los Angeles clubs
House of Blues, The Viper Room, The Troubadour and The El Ray
Theatre and lots of people in the music business were taking
notice. The singer/songwriter was barraged with offers from
various record labels, but elected to sign with Universal Music
because they had the best understanding of his organic vision.
With
Hold On, Wells
appeals to generations of listeners on various levels. And his
crowds are made up of a growing element of fans that don’t
usually listen to his style of music. “There was this big
Korn fan recently who said to me,
‘Wow, your music really hits me really hard,’” recalls Wells.
“He talked about this girl he was kind of crazy about that he
met, her and played her one of my songs and said it reminded him
of her.’ It’s really great to write songs that can have that
sort of effect on people.”
The
songs on Hold On
resonate with honest, emotional expressions that strike a chord
in the listener. The title track is a heartfelt song about being
held in the arms of a loved one, “She’s Leaving” confronts the
disbelief of being walked out on and “Dreaming of New York”
draws a parallel between the majesty of the Big Apple and the
mentality of those who refuse to stop aiming for the stars. But
the most powerful song on
Hold On is the single “What Are We Fighting For?” a
track that could be perceived as an anti-war song or a number
about the difficulties of maintaining a relationship.
“I
was watching the news ,and was just overwhelmed with all the
death,” explains Wells. “And as I wrote the song, it started to
take on its own life. I was thinking about people, communication
and loving each other and then the rest of it just came out. It
addresses some important questions and I think that’s good. I’m
not going to be one of those people that’s always waving my
fists because I’m not that way. But I do want to share what my
life experiences have taught me because when I feel like I’ve
communicated something to someone in the audience, that’s when I
feel the magic.”
In
addition to “Rescue Me,” Wells’ magic has translated on the
television shows, “Ghost Whisperer,” “Summerland,” “Numb3rs,”
“One Tree Hill,” “The Mountain” and “North Shore.” And with
radio programmers embracing “What Are We Fighting For,” the
preacher’s son with the childhood love for Stevie Wonder seems
destined to join the pantheon of great singer/songwriters whose
music and message transcend music and become a part of the
collective unconscious of a nation in serious need of some
beautiful healing. |
