Title: Walkaway Sessions
Artist: Renee & the Walkaways
Label: CD Baby
Product Type: COMPACT DISCS
UPC: 700261380926
Genre: Country

Bobby Charles' 'Walkin' to New Orleans' is one of Fats Domino's classics. You can hear that 'sound' in 'The Walkaway Sessions'! It is the Debut Release from Renee & the Walkaways from in and around New Orleans......well, Walkin' distance anyways! :) Renee attended Bobby's last recording session and credits him as her inspiration for becoming a songwriter. Unable to attend his funeral due to illness, she wrote 'Goodbye Bobby Charles' as a tribute to his memory. It's Track #13 and features Dr. John on organ and Marcia Ball on keyboards. It seems like this 'See Ya Later Alligator' songwriter is being seen and heard Sooner rather than Later! Swamp Pop, Classic New Orleans R&B, Louisiana Roots music from Blues to Country and Cajun.....and crossing over into Texas with Augie Meyers, Lisa Morales and Carlos Alvarez for some original Tex Mex. 'Poor Cold Heart' will have you two stepping and treat you to a fabulous guitar solo featuring both Redd Volkaert and Pete Anderson! Bassist extraordinaire David Hyde Produced and Arranged the Songs, Renee' wrote them, and it sounds like about a dozen legendary Roots Musicians are at least in spirit right THERE. Then you find out they ARE there on these recordings.......That's why it's called 'The Walkaway Sessions'....'A' list Groovers Salt and Peppered throughout the 14 songs. Marty Balin (yes, that Marty Balin!) duets with Renee' on 'In the Middle of the Night' and sounds like it could have been the follow up hit to Marty's 'Miracles' in a setting with a swampy mist floating through the air and a full moon shining down on Lake Ponchartrain! Released just last week, The Walkaway Sessions is receiving amazing notice for such a NEW Singer/Songwriter. Born and raised in Northeastern Kentucky, residing in Southeast Louisiana since 1979, Renee' Cheek has got the Roots Thang in her bones! Produced by bassist David Hyde, this debut CD showcases Renee's vocal diversity pegging her somewhere between Karen Carpenter and Patsy Cline. Heart touching lyrics and unforgettable melodies are placed in well thought out arrangements perfectly showcasing each original song. More than fifty six musicians collaborated on 'The Walkaway sessions', a compilation of fourteen songs that took two years to curate and produce. This music is pure roots Americana drawing from genres spanning country, swamp pop, Texas dance hall, and a bit of psychedelia. Check out this recent review of 'The Walkaway Sessions'! January 17, 2014 by Nick DeRiso Something Else Reviews Renee and the Walkaways - The Walkaway Sessions (2014) The genesis of this easy-rocking, blues-belting, soul-lifting collection of songs has probably played out - with far less success - on a million couches, in a million musician's living rooms. Renee Cheek and David Hyde started with a wish list of guests. Cheek, a singer just as adept at the winking aside as the sultry come on, and the Julliard-trained bassist Hyde even arranged the songs on The Walkaway Sessions - independently released this week - with certain all-star voices in mind. Who hasn't thought something along those lines? You can imagine the conversation playing out: What if Dr. John played keyboards on my song "Finally Found," or "Goodbye Bobby Charles" - or both? Wouldn't "Fool" and "A Song for Robert" sound cool with the addition of Augie Meyers of the Sir Douglas Quintet? Marty Balin, the guy from Jefferson Starship? He's perfect for "In the Middle of the Night" and "Daydreaming." Who wouldn't want to collaborate on a track with Al Johnson, famous of the legendary Mardi Gras anthem "Carnival Time"? What if we could get Marcia Ball, Pete Anderson (Dwight Yoakam), Shane Theriot (Hall and Oates, the Neville Brothers), John Bush (Edie Brickell and the New Bohemians), bouzouki master Beth Patterson and Leon Medica (Louisiana's LeRoux)? Thing is, all of that happens on The Walkaway Sessions - impishly named, since that's what all of these famous folks did: Play their ever-loving asses off, then split. It took trips by Cheek and Hyde to Austin, Nashville, New Orleans and Baton Rouge, even Tampa, and some studio magic from engineers like Nelson Blanchard, to get all of these dreams fulfilled. But it happened, one by one by one. Cheek and Hyde then surrounded those performances with their own broader musical vision. That proves to be the string that holds The Walkaway Sessions together. Rather than sounding pasted together, the results bristle with a singular kind of feel - and no small amount of emotion, notably on the Charles tribute song. (Renee says she has taken lasting inspiration from attending the composer of Fats Domino's ageless "Walking to New Orleans" during his very last recording sessions.) "In the Middle of the Night," meanwhile, unfolds like a mysterious swamp ride. "No Regrets," co-written by Johnson and featuring his familiar bark, quickly becomes a new anthem for Cajun YOLO-ers. "Easy Come Easy Go," with Meyers on an old-school Vox Continental organ, two-steps along with a feel straight out of "She's About a Mover." And "Too Stupid to Stop" is as much fun as it sounds. Nick DeRiso Nick DeRiso has also explored jazz, blues, rock and roots music for Gannett News Service and USA Today, All About Jazz, Popdose, Living Blues, No Depression, the Louisiana Folklife Program and Blues Music Magazine, among others. Honored as newspaper columnist of the year five times by the Associated Press, Louisiana Press Association and Louisiana Sports Writers Association, he oversaw a daily section that was named Top 10 in the nation by the AP in 2006.

Tracks:
1.1 Finally Found You
1.2 Fool
1.3 In the Middle of the Night
1.4 Real Fun Burn
1.5 No Regrets
1.6 A Song for Robert (Keep Your Heart Open)
1.7 Shoulda Been the One
1.8 Poor Cold Heart
1.9 I Don't Need You
1.10 Easy Come Easy Go
1.11 Too Stupid to Stop
1.12 Daydreaming
1.13 Goodbye Bobby Charles
1.14 Fish Kills