Dawnbreaker

Dawnbreaker is the debut solo album from former Chesterfield's frontman, vocalist and guitarist, Scott Sharrard. Imagine the soulful, funky rock of Prince and Lenny Kravitz combined with the confessional ballads of Coldplay or Zero 7 and fused with the virtuostic guitar styles of Jimi Hendrix and Eric Clapton... now you might start to understand the sonic landscape that is the music of Scott Sharrard. Diverse influences abound in Scott's musical palate and the resulting fusion becomes the kind of sophisticated pop music that we have not heard in generations. He is already a renowned songwriter, vocalist, guitarist and producer and Dawnbreaker also features his talents as a drummer, bassist, keyboardist and arranger. Scott Sharrards music was originally introduced to the world through his work as lead guitarist and vocalist of the New York City band, The Chesterfields. The band independently produced and released two albums (2001's Henry Street Soul and 2003's The Chesterfields-EP) to wide critical acclaim. The band received strong college radio airplay and performed and toured at a wide array of East Coast and Midwest clubs, theaters, and festivals. They also opened shows for such artists as Dr. John and Midnight Oil and received critical praise from Rob Thomas (Matchbox 20), Billboard Magazine, and Ahmet Ertegun. During this time, Scott built a solid reputation as a freelance guitarist, vocalist, producer, and composer; working with a variety of artists such as: P. Diddy, Marshall Crenshaw, Cornelius Bumpus, LewSoloff, Michael Powers, Matt Wilson, Jerry Vivino, Grant Green Jr., P.J. Lougrhan, KatyPfaffl, Brian Charette, and many others, performing all styles from HipHop to Modern Jazz. In 2003, Scott amicably parted ways with The Chesterfields and began recording demos for what is now his debut solo album, Dawnbreaker;, with Producer/Engineer Charles Martinez (Rob Thomas, Keith Richards, MickJagger) and drummer Charlie Drayton (Keith Richards, B-52's). Scott's music can tell stories of fast living and urban isolation (A Thousand Days and In Her Arms&), explore the trials and complexities of love (Down), or express a need for truth and spiritual redemption (Approval and Show Us The Way). All of these lyrical themes, combined with an endless palate of relentless grooves, soulful vocals, soaring guitar work, and dense harmonies culminate to create a universal soul music that is the music of Scott Sharrard. Dawnbreaker Written, Arranged and Performed by Scott Sharrard Produced by Scott Sharrard and Charles A. Martinez Mixed by CAM Music and Lyrics by Scott Sharrard, Copyright 2003/2004 (except track 1, additional music by Charles A. Martinez) Mastered by Michael Fossenkemper at Turtle Tone Recorded and Mixed at Halo Sound, Cold Spring, New York, 2004 Featuring: Scott Sharrard: all Vocals, Guitars, Bass, B-3 Organ, Key's, Drums and Percussion with: Charles A. Martinez: Bass (tracks 1,4, 6 and 9), Synth Bass (3 and 6), additional Guitar (1), Murf (9) Charlie Drayton: Drums (tracks 3 and 9) Brian Charette: B-3 Organ (track 3) James Dooley: Piano, Guitar harmonics and Strings (track 9)

The traditional record labels dominated music market is coming to an end. If you haven't noticed the latest MP3 download services on Amazon.com, you're missing the beginning of the end of traditional music distribution era.

The big players now are teaming with social networking sites such as MySpace.com to find new ways to sell music. Why? They can't help it. People don't want to pay for CDs anymore. Plus, there's no need to buy CDs when you can download them for free somewhere on the internet. After several years of battling, the big labels finally realized the trend is irreversible.

However, this is not new for the independent/unsigned musicians. Independent musicians have long been promoting their recordings via unconventional channels. The entry of the big record labels on the internet music communities will have an impact on the indie musicians. But unsigned musicians still have one obvious advantage over the big labels - giving out music for free.

Why should you give away free music on the internet? One obvious reason is that people don't want to pay any more. People I mean by teenagers and generation Y and beyond. Those are the audiences who don't understand life without the internet. You probably can find a free copy of any given song on the internet if you dig far enough.

The latest proof to this is that big record labels are teaming up with the social networking sites to promote and distribute music. This is the marketing niche where independent musicians have had since the beginning of the internet usage. So how much impact will indie musicians feel? Big. The social networking communities have been independent musicians' marketing channel, the entry of big players will certainly push the small bands to the back burners. For independent musicians to achieve any form of success on the Internet, they have to take radical steps that big labels won't take such as giving away music for free. At this point we don't know how the record label/social networking music alliance will work out, but one thing for certain is that the music won't be all for free downloading.

Shilin Yin, Founder

Ucombo.com - Showcase, share, and sell original music - Free online music store.

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