By Pati deVries. Photo Credit: Todd Wolfson.
Jeff Plankenhorn is pleased to announce the release of his new single "Alone at Sea", the title track off of his 4th album, due September 29th via Blue Corn Music, and new tour dates have been announced.
Plankenhorn's songwriting, expressive vocals, and musicianship are front and center on Alone At Sea produced by Colin Linden (Bruce Cockburn, Keb Mo). Lyrically that exploration manifests in songs such as the title track, which poured out of Plankenhorn, aka Plank, so fast, he had to be convinced not to tamper with it. "Alone At Sea" is nestled between two of the album's many up-tempo tunes and envisions an adventurous soul who's searching for self-awareness and learns to appreciate solitude — as Plank has since moved to Canada's Vancouver Island freed him from his previously landlocked Austin, Texas existence. Plankenhorn explains that the song “Alone At Sea” is almost a stream of consciousness, a song I wrote combining the search for self-awareness and love for adventure. To find yourself alone but to be OK. But who will you leave behind?"
Born and raised in the midwest, Plank's musical travels began when his older brother gave Jeff his first guitar at age ten. Fast forward to his dropping out of college because his three bands (a bluegrass group, a hip-hop collective, and a 12-piece funk outfit) were doing so well. His musical journey led to Memphis and a chance meeting with Texas singer-songwriter Ray Wylie Hubbard – as well as to Plank's 20-year sojourn in the Lone Star state. The slide guitarists’ next level talent opened many doors leading Jeff to perform with the likes of of Hubbard and Joe Ely, Ruthie Foster, Bob Schneider, the late Jimmy LaFave, and others. In 2016, he officially launched a new chapter as a solo artist with the release of SoulSlide.
"His first solo album, 2003's Plank, included contributions by British-born Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Famer, the late Faces/Small Faces/Rolling Stones keyboardist Ian "Mac" McLagan — Jeff paid tribute to Mac on the Alone At Sea blues-rocker "Juggling Sand." Jeff paid tribute on the Alone At Sea song, blues-rocker "Juggling Sand." "I hope that someday I learn to play piano like him," says the too-modest Plank, whose luscious licks always get audiences moving when he reunites with his Purgatory Players’ partner, Scrappy Jud Newcomb. In fact, Newcomb shares writing credits on two songs: “Flat Tire,” a horns-of-a-dilemma, get-me-out-of-this-jam tale, and “Maybe It’s Not Too Late.” A favorite at the Purgatory Players’ weekly fundraising “pseudo-gospelish brunches,” the uptempo tune, full of tasty slide guitar and horn work, is a nod to Plank’s love of the sacred steel tradition born in African-American Pentecostal churches.
Though his live performances include shifts among piano, electric guitar, and his famed "Plank," the self-designed hybrid lap-steel guitar he plays standing up, "Maybe It's Not Too Late" is the only Alone At Sea track on which he plays it. Plank says that's because, when Linden heard the demos that he'd recorded with acoustic guitar and lap steel, the producer liked them so much he built his vision for the album around that sound. So, Plank concentrated on acoustic, while Linden contributed electric and 12-string acoustic guitars.
For Jeff Plankenhorn, there's nothing quite like the feeling of bringing people together to experience the joy music brings. He's so good at it that won an Austin Music Award, Best. Misc. Instrument and he received nominations for Musician of the Year, and Best Guitarist. In 2016-2017, he also earned Album and Song of the Year nominations for his album, SoulSlide, and the single, "Trouble Find Me.”
Listeners quickly get that Plank loves a good groove, but he’s also become quite accomplished at ballad-writing, as proven by two of the album’s other standouts, “Bluer Skies” and "You’ll Stay”. Still, despite his newfound love of solitude, for Jeff Plankenhorn, there’s nothing quite like the feeling of bringing people together to experience the joy music brings.
These days Plank happily finds himself on the road over 150 days a year. "I like the idea that people get uplifted at my shows, there are so many ways to get away from the hubbub of day-to-day living. Dancing is one of the more noble and effective, in my humble opinion. Better than any drug I’ve ever tried. I like the idea that everybody who walks in — I don't care if you're a biker or a drag queen — I want you there. Music is supposed to bring people together."
TOUR DATES
08.18 Campbell River, BC @ Spirit Square (trio) - 7pm
08.27 Courtenay, BC @ Simms Park (band)
09.07-09 Cody, WY @ Yellowstone Songwriter Festival (solo)
09.10 Billings, MT @ Craft Local (solo) - 6pm
09.14-16 Whitefish, MT @ Whitefish Songwriter Festival (solo)
09-19 = 09.21 Nashville, TN @ AMA Festival
09.20 Third & Lindsley (band - official showcase - 7pm
09.21 Love & Exile/Mule Kick & Devious Planet’s Rock ’n’ Roll Brunch 2:30PM
10.10 Grand Rapids, MI @ Rapids Brewery (solo)
10.11 Minneapolis, MN @ The Turf Club (solo) opening for Rum Ragged
10.12 Madison, WI @ Kiki’s House of Rightous Music (solo) - 8pm
10.13 WGN - TV live on-air performance - 11:45am
10.14 Berwyn, IL @ FitzGerald’s (solo) opening for Webb Wilder & The Beatniks - 8:30pm
10.15 Effingham, IL @ Village Wine “Sundays Fundays” (solo)
10.16 Lexington, KY @ Woodsongs (NPR) taping (solo)
10.18 Knoxville, TN @ WDVX’s Blue Plate Special (solo) - noon
10.19 Nashville, TN @ The Analog at The Hutton (solo)
10.20 Nashville, TN @ The Bluebird Cafe (solo) in-the-round w/tbd - 9pm
10.22 Austin, TX @ El Mercado w/The Purgatory Players
10.22 Austin, TX @ The Saxon Pub w/The Resentments
10.26 Oklahoma City, OK @ The Auditorium At Douglass (trio)
10.27 Greenville, TX @ Texan Theater (trio)
10.27 KWVH, Wimberley Valley Radio - on-air interview & performance - 10:15am
10.28 Temple, TX @ Cultural Activities Center (trio)
10.29 Austin, TX @ The Saxon Pub w/The Resentments - 7pm
10.30 KWVH, Wimberley Valley Radio - on-air interview & performance (solo) - 10:15am
10.31 Austin, TX @ The Saxon Pub - Dr. Plankenstein’s Halloween Horror Show
11.01 Austin, TX @ Guero’s/Texas Music Live (solo)
11.01 Good Day Austin - Morning TV
11.02 Houston, TX @ McGonigel’s Mucky Duck (solo) - 7pm
11.03 New Braunfels, TX @ The Redbird (solo) - 8:30pm
11.04 Austin, TX @ Stateside at the Paramount & The Saxon Pub present BIG AUSTIN RECORD RELEASE SHOW
11.05 Fulton, TX @ The Inn at Fulton Harbor (solo)
11.07 New Braunfels, TX @ Roots & Branches KNBT taping w/Ray Wylie Hubbard
11.12 Austin, TX @ The Saxon Pub w/The Resentments - 7pm
11.21 The Folk Project - free live online event - Tickets here - 7pm EST
11.30 Port Townsend, WA @ Rainshadow Recording (solo)
12.16 Austin, TX @ Klemm House Concert (solo)
12.17 Austin, TX @ The Center for Spiritual Living Central Texas (solo) - 11am
12.17 Austin, TX @ @ The Saxon Pub w/The Resentments - 7:30pm
12.18 Austin, TX @ El Mercado w/The Supper Club (solo)
12.20 Austin, TX @ Armadillo Christmas Bazaar (solo) - 2pm
01.11 Campbell River, BC @ Campbell River Theater (trio)
02.10 Santa Monica, CA @ McCabe’s Guitar Shop (solo) - supporting Robbie Fulks
03.15 La Grange, TX @ The Bugle Boy w/Michael O’Connor
03.16 Austin, TX @ Scarbourogh House Concert w/Michael O’Connor
03.17 Fischer, TX @ Devils Backbone w/Michael O’Connor - 1-4pm
03.17 Austin, TX @ The Saxon Pub w/The Resentments
03.19 Sun City, TX @ House Concert w/Michael O’Connor
06.20 Effingham, IL @ Moccasin Creek Festival/The Reel Marina (solo) - 4pm
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