Austin, TX. (Top40 Charts/ Smith Entertainment) - Recording artist Jason Allen, the Texan with a country voice of pure gold, will release his new album, THE TWILIGHT ZONE (Smith Entertainment; Aug. 5, 2008), with a series of in-store appearances and special album release shows across Texas.
The album of 11 tracks features Allen's take on Stevie Wonder's 1984 hit, the ordinary-day love song "I Just Called to Say I Love You," which is THE TWILIGHT ZONE's first single and extraordinarily perfect as a get-up-and-dance two-stepper. It also includes a range of intensely personal story-song originals like "He's Still Dancin' with Her," several cuts that harken back to early R&R and timeless R&B like "Elvis Tonight.," plus one bonus track.
Special in-store appearances around the release of THE TWILIGHT ZONE, recorded at Cherry Ridge Studios in Flooresville, include:
5:30 p.m. Tuesday, August 5, at Lonestar Music, 1243 Gruene Road in New Braunfels;
6 p.m. Wednesday, August 6, at HEB Plus, 1150 N.W. Loop 1604 in San Antonio;
6 pm. Thursday, August 7, at Cavender's, 4435 S. Lamar Blvd. in Austin; and
2 p.m. Saturday, August 9, at Hastings, 1306 W. Davis in Conroe.
In addition, singer-songwriter Allen, who plays lead, acoustic, slide, baritone and requinto guitars on the album, and his touring band - Al Quaid on electric and upright bass, Brian Dunn on drums, Randy Reinhardt on steel guitar, and Chris Whitten on fiddle - will play shows and festivals in August and September behind the new record.
Allen, a new father since January, grew up traveling, learning to sing and play guitar on the back roads of East Texas as his father, a master bricklayer, moved the family from town to town. Front-porch sing-alongs and then experience on stages wherever the family went helped him hone his craft. At 10, he carried a guitar on his back; at 18, he hit the road himself, playing lead guitar in a honky-tonk band. Over the years, Allen has remained "firmly planted in the soul of country," as one writer put it, reaching out to listeners and making their days better with music.
