ATLANTA, GA. (Top40 Charts/ Mark Pucci Media) - Noonan will celebrate the release of the new CD with a special show on Saturday, July 11, at Snug Harbor in Charlotte, where he'll debut his new band, the Fallen Gentlemen, featuring producer Mark Lynch on bass,
David Kim on drums and Chris Peace on guitar. Rounding out the band that night will be many of the players appearing on the new CD, including ace horn section Jon Thornton and John Alexander, and celebrated jazz chanteuse Beth Chorneau on backing vocals. Opening the CD release show will be good friend and local legend
David Childers (also on the new album) with his new band, the Overmountain Men.
Bill Noonan is best known around indie music circles as the leader and main songwriter of the Rank Outsiders, a Charlotte, NC-based roots-rock band that became mainstays throughout the Southeast from 1990 until 2002. On The Man That I Can't Be, his second solo CD, Noonan fully asserts himself as a frontman, realizing the complete range of his vision as a dynamic songwriter, vocalist and musician.
Now based in rural South Carolina not far Charlotte, Bill Noonan teamed up with producer Mark Lynch and drew on a stable of area musicians, including several former members of the Rank Outsiders to record The Man That I Can't Be. Nine of the even-dozen tracks on the new CD are originals, with three covers, most notably Noonan's down-home take on Gene Clark's 'Tried So Hard.' His original songs ably demonstrate the breadth of his influences, including southern soul ('Dirty Ragged Blanket'), the swampy sound of Tony Joe White ('Down at the Biddy Hut'), honky-tonk ('Bottles on the Bar'), the pure pop of Tom Petty-meets Del Shannon ('Money Girl' and 'Wasn't Meant to Be'), the Rolling Stones ('Down Again'), Johnny Cash ('Lonesome Blues' and the title track) and even rockabilly ('Road 99').
As the decade of the '90s began, the Rank Outsiders were already crafting the kind of edgy country meets rock and roll sound that later became tagged as 'alt-country' or 'Americana.' Bill Noonan led the band to Nashville in 1994, where they soaked up the spirit of both real country music and the inspired, edgy songwriting of artists like Rodney Crowell. The band's second CD, Checkpoint, was recorded at Garry Tallent's Moondog Studio in 1997 and generated significant airplay at radio and critical praise in the press.
After their Nashville residency, Noonan brought what he'd learned to Charlotte and began a weekly series of Americana-based shows at that city's famed Double Door Inn. He also created Rank Records, a co-op label that helped nurture a number of regional artists.
In 2003, he moved to rural South Carolina and began a new musical chapter, writing the collection of songs that would appear on his debut solo CD, Catawba City, in 2006. Catawba City brought his music to an expanded audience both here and abroad. Since then, he has continued to play frequent live dates around the Carolinas while recording and preparing for the release of The Man That I Can't Be.
In addition to the CD release show on July 11, Bill Noonan will support the release of
The Man That I Can't Be with other regional dates before touring around the rest of the country. Radio promotion for the new CD is being handled by Reid Radio Promotions (919) 768-1103 / [email protected].
For more info, visit www.billnoonanband.com or www.myspace.com/billnoonanband.
