For Immediate
Release:
Michael Lee Austin Puts The "Country" Back Into Country
Music With New Album 'Labor Pains'
Raleigh, NC -- Just a few years ago, Michael
Lee Austin was singing country cover songs in bar bands
across his adopted home state of North Carolina, dreaming of
what it would take to become a famous country artist
himself. The answer: Lots of charisma (check), vocal talent
(check), an uncanny ability to write and pick great songs
(check) and most importantly, Labor Pains—which not
coincidentally, is the title of his eagerly anticipated
debut album.
Labor Pains marks the debut release from Edging’s label,
Alive Records, which will market its artists via both
mainstream channels and through alternative and new internet
marketing strategies.
Labor Pains’ clever and witty title track, an instant
crowd-pleaser featuring the tag line “don’t tell me about
labor pains, just show me the baby,” is currently being
promoted to country radio stations across America, and
building momentum for the album with extremely positive
feedback from radio programmers all across the USA.
“I wanted to come out with an honest to goodness traditional
country record, as instead of a pop album that has those
countrified production touches,” he adds. “I grew up in
Massena, a small town so far up in New York we were
practically in Canada, and never listened to the radio. The
music I heard came from spending a lot of time at my
grandparents’ house, where they had an old record player and
albums by Hank Williams and Charley Pride. I think what
makes a strong country record is the sound and the feeling
it brings out.”
“From the time we decided to go ahead with this record and
set about finding the best tunes to record, we kept asking,
what makes me different?” Austin says. “But it’s not about
what makes an artist different, because there are only so
many ways to play country. It boils down to the song, how
that song feels and makes you feel, how you deliver it and
get the message across.
“When people listen to my music,” he continues, “they tell
me it doesn’t sound like anyone else, and that’s because of
the way I hear a the songs. I love listening to a lot of the
new pop stuff, but as an artist myself, it’s not my cup of
tea. I want people who hear Labor Pains to feel like they’ve
heard it someplace before, but they’re not sure
where…offering them something comfortable yet completely
fresh.”
“Country songs are all about the story,” says Austin. “They
make people feel good because they’re about everyday life
and everyone can relate to them. Singing a great country
tune is all about taking the listener’s mind off the
troubles of their day for three minutes, giving them a
release, and making them laugh, cry or feel something new.
Thirty seconds into ‘Labor Pains,’ people hear the tag line
and start laughing, and that’s when I know I’m connecting
with them.
Media Contact:
Steve Levesque/Guy McCain
Luck Media & Marketing, Inc.
310-860-9170, info@luckmedia.com
