by Gary Powell

The media loves to tell the story of the naturally talented performer “discovered” by chance. This one myth, however, has done more harm than good in promoting business infrastructures that favor chance over discipline, luck over persistence, and style over substance. Even a more insidious result this myth can cause is to push the truly gifted performers, composers, or artists many times, and understandably, to simply exit the premises to avoid the inbred structure of nepotism and pretense.

Enter eleven-year-old Kenna Chris into my life and on to the music scene in the spring of 2009. What I’ve learned is different about Kenna, after having been her vocal-coach and music teacher since then, is that she loves to sing so much that she looks forward to the work required of her. Someday, with her permission, I’ll post the video of how she started as a singer. Kenna is also a dancer and actress, and is happy to do whatever is required in developing all her talents.

I couldn’t be more proud of this wonderful person. Kenna brings light and happiness in my life and I always look forward to her sessions in the recording studio. I’ve written a song for Kenna that will be available on iTunes later this spring.

I hope you will become involved in supporting wonderful people like Kenna–these singers who come through my studio and life hoping for something more than just mythology. This is real – and in this studio we investigate the idea that music is deeper than fame and that it enriches beyond bedazzlement. Bravo, Kenna.

Filed by Gary Powell at 5:25 pm under Watch Film & Video
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Yes, there is every reason that you, the independent musician, will want to learn about Red Staple, the newest resource for leveling the promotional playing field. Up until now, “LP” content for songs on iTunes has been reserved for major labels; not any more. Red Staple is a fast and affordable tool for LP creation.

Welcome to Red Staple. We’re helping musicians, film makers, distributors, artists, bloggers and others package content in a unique way for digital platforms.

Their service provides a variety of templates to which you can add your own design elements. But more important, it is not limited to song releases. Red Staple can also help deepen your audience’s experience for all of your digital projects, be it music, film, photography or blog. It’s also an effective tool for wedding videographers, event planners and for conferences as well.

Red Staple is the brainchild of my friends Lori Jordan and Dee Jordan who have both worked in the upper echelons of media creation and digital distribution in Hollywood. These are the good guys. These are the people who are providing technology that changes our previously-held and restricted paradigm of who the gatekeepers are. Given this capability, I couldn’t be more happy about supporting this new product.

At SXSW visit BOOTH 747 and get your act together…..literally!

Filed by Gary Powell at 12:05 pm under Winning People
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By Gary Powell

In the fall of 2008 I was holding a workshop; “Pop Vocal Performance Techniques for the Theatrical Singer” at DeSales University in the beautiful Lehigh Valley of Pennsylvania. This was my second trip to DeSales invited by theatrical director, educator and longtime friend Dennis Razze who directed me in the role of Jesus in JC Superstar in 1980. We’ve been best buds ever since.

The Broadway show as a genre has adopted many new vocal styles over the decades broadening the palette of sounds demanded of “Broadway” singers. Hence the workshop. My work in the recording studio since 1978 forced me to become fluent in every vocal style from barbershop quartets to hip-hop. These skills are what brought me to DeSales to present this vocal workshop.

While at DeSales, professor Patrick Mulcahy invited me to speak to his theater class. After class a handsome student, with an appealing scruffiness and iPhone in hand, asked if I would listen to his songs. After some cajoling and deal-making by JP with a student in the audio booth of the theater’s black box, I listened about 30 seconds of JP Dunphy’s singing, whipped out my Bose headphones and suggested we retire to the lobby to hear more and for me to listen more critically. Obviously, this young singer had some game.

JP’s songs were mostly covers, but often more appealing from a vocal standpoint than were the originals. I had a couple of hours to kill, so JP graciously adopted me and helped me remember what it was like to be in college. We drove about town in his tricked-out Cooper Mini, which he continues to modify himself; all the while both our iPods were trading-off songs and blaring out the windows. JP picked up the pledged chocolate chip cookies for his fellow student and “black box” audio tech and returning us to his dorm room/recording studio. JP’s songs were recorded in this very typical box-like college dorm room with bunk beds; not much audio gear, but loads of talent. Most of the time it’s the other way around.

Ever since meeting JP I had wanted him to come to Austin and spend a week with me, but it took a couple of years for me to button up my previous contracts and to move my studio more toward talent development. We finally booked the travel plans and the recording sessions and our song “Get Away” is the first result. There will be many more offerings coming from JP Dunphy; some from me and some directly from him and others. My goal is to empower our most talented musicians and songwriters to take on the responsibilities of developing their music and performing careers themselves. In this, I am happy to me a mentor, sometimes producer and friend.

My best wishes to you, JP, and for your success.

You can follow JP Dunphy on both Facebook and Twitter.

“JP Dunphy, Get Away” Now Available for Worldwide Download from These Stores:

Filed by Gary Powell at 11:52 am under Miramuse
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Austin Producer Gary Powell has been searching Texas for outstanding performers across many genres of music since 1978 to cast singers in his productions. Meet Leslie Powell – no kinship to Gary and talented without the need of nepotism. Gary produced Leslie Powell on her first iTunes release, “Rain Check” written by both Gary Powell and Helen Darling. Leslie graduated from Westwood High School in Austin, Texas in 2010 and is studying theatrical arts at the University of Texas. Please support Leslie in hopes that we will hear more music from her in years to come.

“Leslie Powell, Rain Check” Now Available for Worldwide Download from These Stores:

Filed by Gary Powell at 9:41 pm under Miramuse
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by Gary Powell

When we take action, initiate; we put into motion all kinds of good things that can happen. Maybe it’s kind of like the “break” on a pool table. You don’t have to be an expert for balls to fall in the pocket. Just don’t quit shooting, even if temporarily blocked from entering the pool hall. Choose to not take the shot at all and the less talented than you will get the break. So, simple. Take the shot.

Filed by Gary Powell at 8:00 pm under Music Business Insight
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by Gary Powell

Jazz pianist and long-time friend Jeff Hellmer came to the studio in 2008 with the purpose of creating a solo piano recording of seldom-heard Christmas songs. Jeff was graciously helping me build a catalog of holiday music for Miramuse, which at the time was a business-to-business solution for helping companies learn how to best utilize music to enhance their brand or deepen their relationships with customers and even employees.

I had researched ancient hymns and carols in the mid-1980′s for Ensemble 109 at the University of Texas and had written several vocal arrangements for several of these beautiful pieces of music; most of them lost to antiquity. Jeff freely improvised from these original hymn arrangements delivering a freshly re-harmonized interpretation of these ancient carols. Jeff also added a classic in “Oh Christmas Tree” and and one of my own tunes which I wrote as he waited, “Enchanted Star.”

The gift Jeff Hellmer brings to us is a relationship to music that belies that relationship’s underlying complexity while deepening our own. Jeff’s musicianship invites us to engage his music in an atmosphere free of self-agrandizement. What’s that sound like? The sound is alive, safe and disarmingly intelligent! – Gary Powell

Now this recording is available for download from iTunes, Amazon and Rhapsody for the rest of the world to hear. Thank you Jeff for making my Yamaha C7 sound better that I could ever do myself. Also, thank you to master piano technician, Brian Henselman, for keeping this piano in top shape.

“Jeff Hellmer, Christmas Jazz” – Now Available for Worldwide Download from These Stores:


Read the Song Lyrics

Filed by Gary Powell at 11:57 am under Miramuse
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