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Blues Underground Network Featured Review - Roy Trevino "Roy Trevino" |
 One of my pet peeves is artists whom really have a lacking
internet presence, as there is no excuse for it in this day and age. Roy
Trevino is one such artist, which is a little bit of a shame, because he
is one very extraordinary Singer, Songwriter, and Performer, and really
deserves to have the very best promo via the internet he can get,
especially so when it comes to promoting his superb Debut Self Titled
Release, "Roy Trevino".
This Self Titled Album is my
first introduction to Roy Trevino, a South Texas-based Blues Guitarist and
Singer, whom learned his Guitar prowess from studying from none other than
the Legendary Ronnie Earl and along side Sean Costello whom was also one
of Ronnie's students at the time. Although Roy Trevino's career seems a
little sparse, he has had the good fortune to have fallen into the right
crowd, at the right time, which included the good luck of having Legendary
Producer Jim Gaines on board for his Debut Album. Jim Gaines Credits
are far to long to show here, but please take a quick look on
his website here (
http://www.bessieblues.com/gcredits.html ) to see the amazing list of Artists and Albums he has
Produced and/or Co-Produced/Engineered.
"Roy Trevino" consists of 10 Tracks, of which all but
one are originals, written by Trevino. The one Track which is not an
original was Track 6 "Lively Up Yourself", a Bob Marley song. "Lively Up
Yourself", is a song
"which Marley used to open
many of his concerts, in order to get the audience worked up; American
R&B star Prince used it for the same purpose." Joining
Roy Trevino on this album were J.J. Johnson (Drums), David Boyle
(Keyboards), Chris Maresh (Bass), Kyle Thompson (Drums on Track 10
"Little Girl"), Ed Hobizal (Piano on Tracks 7 & 10 "La
Luna"/"Little Girl"), and John Nelson (Percussion). Additional
credits go to Robert Bailey, Vicki Hampton, and Roy Trevino
(Background Vocals) and Roy Gonzalez, Jacob Gonzalez, and J.J. Johnson
(Handclaps). Roy Trevino played all Guitars and did all Lead Vocals.
"Roy Trevino" was mostly recorded at a "studio in
Austin called Church House, an old Baptist church converted into a
recording studio." Roy said, “Church House has
a Neve Melbourne Console as its heart and we got some great sounds out of
that and various other vintage gear and mics."
I have
noticed more bands and artists, nowadays, going for a more authentic vintage
sound to their music, which I
really like.
Roy Trevino starts
off his album with 3 great Blues Rock songs that really show off his
Singing and Guitar playing skills, of which my favorite was Track 2, the
homage to previous Blues greats called "The Boy Can Play", but as good as
those first 3 Tracks were, I really felt that the meat and potatoes of
this album started with Track 4 "Sin Ella". "Sin Ella" starts off with Roy
singing in Latin and has a distinctive Santana feel to it. For the 2nd
half of the song he changes over to English which polishes off the Track
nicely. From that Track on Roy Trevino shows off what he is really capable
of, offering up a wide range of creatively performed songs, done in a
variety of styles, including of course, the Reggae tinged Bob Marley
cover.
With Roy Trevino's
Debut release, he really shows us that he is no Flash In The Pan artist.
Roy really knows his stuff and really knows how to get the message across
when performing his songs, whether it be Straight Ahead Guitar Driven
Blues Rock or a more intimately laced song such as his wonderfully done
closing Track "Little Girl", one of my favorites on this
album.
With such a strong
Debut release, I feel Roy Trevino is on the cusp of really breaking out
into the mainstream of great Singers, Songwriters, and Musicians, as he
certainly has all the skills, and then some.
Roy Trevino "Roy
Trevino" is an album I have no problem recommending to those that not only
like Blues Rock, but also enjoy a little extra, as well.
I hope that
Roy Trevino, gets his main website
up soon, as he is an artist that deserves a good internet presence... Till
then, please check him out on his Facebook Page.
Review by
John Vermilyea (Blues Underground Network)
Additional Artist Info... Facebook
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