THE HISTORY
I wrote my first song in 1959, at the age of 11. As a teenager, I performed with and opened for the likes of Dee Clark, Gene McDaniels and the Beach Boys in my capacity as guitarist, vocalist and songwriter for a number of bands. I also played solo gigs at coffee houses and other small venues.
Though I quit performing in the late 1960s, I continued writing until, early in 1999, I began to pursue playing and performing again. I have played in front of audiences as large as 5,000 and as small as 1 - with equal enthusiasm.
THE STYLE
I like to think of my style as “Acoustic, Bluesy, Funky, Folky Fun Stuff”. My solo concerts include about 50% original tunes and 50% hand-picked cover songs by artists such as John Sebastian, Donovan, The Amazing Rhythm Aces and Loggins & Messina as well as regional standouts Jimmy Landry, Al Coffey and Donna Pearson. I frequently intersperse poems throughout a performance to add variety and audience interest.
High on my list of personal priorities in composing and performing are key words and phrases: ENERGY, EMOTION, EXCITEMENT, CREATIVITY, PASSION, REPETITION, MEMORABLE, STRONG BUILD and HOOK HITS THE MARK.
CURRENT HAPPENINGS
My second album (CD) - titled “Speechless” - is in the works, on the heels of my debut with “Naughty And Nice”, which has surpassed my expectations in terms of sales.
SOME TESTIMONIALS
“.....I was impressed by how much you have grown as an artist in 6 years from starting over after a long hiatus from music to what I witnessed, what a transformation into an aspiring musician with great insight and wit and some fine guitar picking.”
LAURA MAYNARD, in a letter to my web site
“Bill Payne’s poetry and songs are honest and real. There are lines that make me think I knew him somewhere in another time; a western sky and simple pleasures of real love, great dogs, skippin’ stones and dusty roads.”
JANE GABRIELLE, Radar Rose, Bleecker Street
“.....made me realize the vast gulf between skilled performers who smoothly interpret other people's songs and the unmistakable authenticity of a musician who performs his own compositions. The singer/songwriter delivers the message first-hand and there is no substitute for that heart to heart communication..”
DAVID ST. LAWRENCE, http://ripples.typepad.com |
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