Album Release Turkey Weekend / Watch My Video on YouTube!

Happy Thanksgiving! 
I sure have a LOT to be thankful for this year!  Someday I will invite you over for turkey, not kidding... As a huge thanks for supporting me in my plight I'm offering the download of the single "I Won't Fall Down" all Thanksgiving weekend for all those who view the brand new music video at LINK. The link to the download of the FREE MP3 will appear in the comments of the video from Thursday to Sunday, all weekend. :)

LINK TO VIDEO: http://youtu.be/Cid6rYrLAQM

Thanks for all those who have sup

ported my fundraiser thing athttp://www.indiegogo.com/iwontfalldown

If you like the video and free Mp3 download, you can grab the rest of the album at http://www.cdbaby.com/brandonscottmclean4

If you like the video, please SHARE it with your friends and click LIKE on YouTube and/or Facebook. 

Thank you to everyone who was involved in making the video, especially Rob Underhill. Check out his other stuff at http://www.robunderhill.com/

Enjoy your turkey weekend,
Brandon

What gets youuuuuu in the Halloween SPIRIT?

Happy Halloween!!!

Windsor Oaks Band here and we have a special Halloween pumpkin carving video for you. My dear friend Michelle brought a pumpkin down from New Jersey (she's alright after FrankenStorm)....We decided to carve it up and share it with you. Hope you have as much fun watching this as we did taping it! And a HUGE Thanks to Pete for letting us film this at his house.

here's the link: http://youtu.be/l0D1elpz8-4

Adios,
Spookily,
Scarily,
Brandon Scott McLean

A BIG "Thank you" and... the two best bands I bet you've probably never seen live

Thank you thank you thank you :)

I think this year I got an unprecedented record number of  “Happy Birthday" posts on my my facebook timeline, and I got a lot of a handful of birthday support to the Indie GoGo Project. :) I have such amazing friends and family and I feel so lucky. Thank you.

This week I saw two huge bands, Lucero and Passion Pit.  and I gotta say I was absolutely blown away by both bands.  And the dudes in Passion Pit were all so cool and met us after and stuff too... I wanna thank my friend Katie Jones for bringing me to see Passion Pit on a last minute ticket.

I've decided to put the new album out as a solo album called Young & New vol. 1: I Won't Fall Down, but I'll explain more about that later...

Well, have a good weekend...I'm off to go to play acoustic style Napper Tandy's in Raleigh with my friends Shane and Alex - The Windsor Oaks Band.  Tomorrow I got a solo gig at the Well in Raleigh--first solo gig in a while...kinda got the jitters. lol

Still ain't too proud to beg, 

Brandon Scott McLean

Spotlight: The Windsor Oaks Band

Formerly Cougar Magnum, The Windsor Oaks Band has carried the musical torch since 2006.  We got a bunch of new songs, and getting ready to go up to NY to record some of them.  Here's one Shane wrote called TOUCH THE SKY, from our early 2012 performance at Deep South in Raleigh:

We had the whole WOB come into Bongo's studio background vocals for a few of the songs on our Young & New album including "I Won't Fall Down" and one I'm really excited about, "Three Little Birds" by Bob Marley.

We got lucky that Ryan Smith was in town for some other reasons (because he actually lives in CT) and Alex Shepherd was able to get out of work to come sing their hearts out for this project for a few minutes.
Check out the Windsor Oaks Band at www.thewindsoroaksband.com and follow on twitter at @WindsorOaksBand.


All the best,
Brandon Scott McLean

Young & New Engineer/Producer Spotlight: Bongo John

Well, today Shane and I have joined together with some friends to leave for a short cruise from Florida to the Bahamas, so that I can compete in the semi-final round of a karaoke contest in the eventual hopes of winning $10,000 and maybe even $250,000.  (My song is "Friends in Low Places" and you can see my earlier victorious performance at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ej4NI8fEgck hahaha) Anyway, while I go gamble on a song in the middle of the ocean, I can't help myself but tell you about someone very special to our whole Young & New recording project:

I want to tell you about the amazing man who helped us get this whole project off the ground...

“Bongo John” John Metcalf is one of Raleigh’s greatest human beings and best musicians.  He has a notable reputation in central NC for his skills as a drummer, percussionist, keyboardist, songwriter, and recording engineer.  Most of his formative years were spent recording noises and experimenting with sound recordings, which eventually led to his position as a recording engineer at Studio 313 in Morrisville, NC, where he has worked for over four years.  With extensive experience with ProTools, Logic, and Sonar recording software platforms, and an eclectic taste in song-writing, he has managed to work with several styles/genres of music, such as rock, jam-band, funk, pop, reggae, folk, jazz, blues, drum-n-bass, electronica, world beat and classical. In his 15+ years living in the Raleigh area, he has recorded/performed with many artists, including Yo Mamma's Big Fat Booty Band,  Rubber Gypsy, Jason Adamo, Zegg, Miles Partridge & The Hipslack, Rebecca Lynne, Triplicity, The Monika Jaymes Band, The Finger Puppets, Ascella Vega, Montage, Jordan Okrend, Cammie Ward, and Triple Fret.  He has a few solo albums, a comedy album, a piano instrumental album, and a series of drums and percussion lessons called The Bongo Method. 

You have got to check out this super quirky music video he made for one of my favorite Bongo songs, "Doomsday Romance":

Check out his website at http://www.bongojohn.net and drop him a line to say hello.  If you ever need a drummer or percussionist for a project, a recording engineer or a studio, or even just a great friend full of laughter, don’t hesitate to contact him.

The more money we raise with our IndieGoGo campaign, the more likely we’ll be able to work with a badass like Bongo John again.  You can get a limited edition copy of our upcoming CD for a contribution of just $30, or you can just throw us a buck and smile knowing you helped us out big time. :) http://igg.me/p/204091?a=1024370

Love,
Brandon and Shane
Young and New

Cool video of me and Shane and Bongo John - shredding guitar solos

Hey, Shane and I are getting on a cruise ship this week for 2 nights so I can participate in a karaoke contest to hopefully win some extra cash to fund this project.  Now I know what you're thinking, "How can these clowns afford to go on a cruise when they're trying to raise money for an album?"  Well to answer your question...this CRUISE is FREE because I won the last karaoke contest on the last boat I was on....pretty sweet huh?  And we played a couple shows in the last couple nights to be able to afford to get down ton FL, and we plan on finding a "lettuce gig" somewhere in the next 48 hours to help recoup some of our bar tab! (Translate: 'Let Us Play a Gig Here.')

For our album, we did a cover of "Three Little Birds" by Bob Marley.  So I felt it appropriate to share a little video I made with the footage of the first and only take of our trading guitar solos in the song.  Bob Marley....cruise ship....island....get it?


[Don't see the video above? Here's the link: http://youtu.be/9gsIiQrPzNs]

There's a chance I could win a bunch of money on this boat, but I'm not getting my hopes up.  No matter what it's going to be a super fun time.  This is some more info about the karaoke contest I'm part of: http://www.idolcelebration.com/

Bon voyage,
Brandon and Shane
Young & New

Song Spotlight: “I’m Alive” by Brandon Scott McLean

Hi,

Two of the songs on our brand new album are actually cover songs.  There are a few reasons for this, but mainly because our versions have been turning heads in bars for quite some time and I believe in these songs so much that I just had to get them out of my head. 

One of the songs we covered is called “I’m Alive.”  This song is co-written and recorded by the country singer Kenny Chesney.  He wrote the song with Dean Dillon and Mark Tamburino, and it was first recorded by Willie Nelson on his album Moment of Forever, which Chesney also produced.   Chesney himself later recorded it (as a duet with Dave Matthews) on the 2008 album Lucky Old Sun.  This version later appeared on his 2009 Greatest Hits II album, from which it was released to radio in August 2009.

Hear Dave and Kenny’s version (and see the official video) here:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WLgLfD3wElQ

The song has gotten some pretty seriously mixed reviews.  Seems reviewers like the song but haven’t really liked a version of it that has come out….(and frankly, I’ve felt the same way for a couple years now.) 

CM Wilcox of The 9513 gave it a thumbs-down review, and said that the song had "somewhat ambitious" lyrics, made note of Matthews' vocal performance, but said that Chesney sounded like a "workaday singer" and that the duet did not have a sense of interplay between the two vocalists.  The Washington Post said, "The song is supposed to be an anthem about strength and survival and soldiering on…Yet it sounds more like a weary wish than a declaration,” and the Hartford Courant said that it "may be the plainest thing Matthews has ever done."

I feel the same way.  I think the lyrics are so powerful and intense, but the song was so lagging and dreary….UNTIL NOW…check out my version:

Despite all the bad reviews of Dave and Kenny's version, the song reached #6 on the Country Charts, and #32 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 2009.  I think our song has a chance of making some waves, since so many people already know and love the tune but haven’t heard anything like this.  Do you agree?

Thanks for listening, and thanks for your on going support...you can share it on facebook, twitter, or show your grandma!

Love,
Brandon Scott McLean