Kirk Demarest - Singer & Songwriter
With the release of "Don't Try This At Home", Kirk Demarest enters the Country Music market with a combination of humility and high hopes. This new collection represents a mix of upbeat rockabilly, tender ballads, and novelty songs - a unique combination of traditional and modern sounds.
As Demarest puts it, "I'm not trying to break any new ground here - My purpose in doing this record was to introduce myself to an audience of country music lovers, and try to have some fun in the process. I think I've succeeded on both counts".
"Don't Try This At Home" is Demarest's second album for the FoxHill label; the first, "My Side of The River" was released in 1997, and was a combination of oldies, pop, raggae and calypso, disco, and yes, country too! He says that his conversion to country was completed during that first project. "I have always performed country music in my live shows", he says. "During the sessions for 'My Side of The River', I knew that the music that I was doing was an important part of who I was musically; but I also knew that the next album would be straight country".
Kirk started this new album by going back to some of his favorite country songs from his live shows; "Heroes", the 1990 hit by Paul Overstreet gets a fresh treatment here. As Demarest also performs classic oldies in his shows, he also looked back to some of the pop classics of the 50's and 60's for fresh country music. His arrangements of "It's All Over Now" (a 60's blues classic) and the Carl Perkins hit "Honey Don't" remain true to the originals while giving them a mainstream country flavor. He also created an arrangement of the Hollies 1969 hit "He Ain't Heavy (He's My Brother)" that is both haunting and beautiful. The original entries are equally stong; "Never Been Good at Goodbye" is a tender ballad of love lost and potentially rediscovered, while "Fool's Game" is a blues/bluegrass mix that pushes the envelope of modern country music.
"Don't Try This At Home" is a unique album in other respects. First, it is priced much lower than the average selling price for a CD. Demarest says, "As a new artist, I need to do something to keep the selling price reasonable, so that more people will be tempted to buy the album. If the average person knew what the actual cost of making a CD is today, they wouldn't believe the markup. I know that there are other costs involved for advertising, and studio fees, and such, but today's prices are just too high for the average record buyer"
In addition to the low price, this album is also a fund-raising project for several organizations. In Pennsylvania, for instance, sales benefit 'Joey's Eagles', a non-profit group that helps the families of cancer patients. In other parts of the country, a portion of the proceeds from this disc will help local chapters of 'Habitat For Humanity', a Christian housing ministry that helps to build affordable housing both here in the U.S. and abroad.
"Don't Try This At Home" will be available in many local record stores and gift shops, and globally through Amazon.com, the Internet giant music and book retailer. Demarest said that the tie-in with Amazon was crucial for this release. "I would be the first to admit that we don't have lots of money to put behind this thing", he says. "Rather than have the album be available in small parts of a few states, I wanted it to be available to virtually anyone in the country. This alliance with Amazon means more than that - a country music fan in Texas or Australia can order my album in a few seconds, and have it delivered in just a few days -- technology is so amazing!"
Produced by Kirk Demarest and Steve Casper for the FoxHill Music label, Don't Try This at Home is an entertaining 10 song set, and an enjoyable entry into the country music scene for singer-songwriter Kirk Demarest.
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