Eid's Human Debut

Eid's Human Debut

Bruce Von Stiers

Music Connection Magazine has this list it calls the 100 Hottest Live Unsigned Artists. Someone that made that list for 2012 and 2013 is alt folk/ Americana artist Joseph Eid.

Joseph has one of those immigrant stories that you hear about every once in a while. He was born in Liberia to Lebanese parents. Then his family moved to the U.S. and Joseph grew up in the suburbs outside of New York City. He was supposed to become a doctor and even got as far as pre-med in college. But the music bug had hit him early on, so Joseph dropped out of school and worked on his music. From New York to L.A., Joseph has gained experience as a performer and songwriter.

Joseph has just recorded and released his debut album. The title of the album is Human. Joseph produced the album with Brian Soucy. All of the songs on the album were written by Joseph.

The album is a bit Americana, a bit folksy and a tiny bit country.

Joseph packed the album with a top notch group of musicians. Vern Monnet plays the electric and acoustic guitars, along with the dobro and pedal steel on the album. Vern has recorded with Freddy Fender, Billy Swan, Randy Meisner and other country and rock artists. Rob Larkin also plays acoustic guitar. Besides doing session work like this album, Rob also has a band called the Wayward Ones. Bobby Crew is on keys and Steve Nelson is on acoustic and electric bass. Debra Dobkin and Lynn Coulter both do the drums and percussion. Debra has recorded with Rebecca Pidgeon, Missy Higgins, Delbert McClinton, The Pointer Sisters and Bonnie Raitt among others. As for Lynn, he's worked with greats like Carole King, Rita Coolidge and Leon Russell. Jennifer Condos is on electric bass. She's played for Marc Cohn and Over The Rhine. Leah Zeger is on strings. Not only is Leah now a member of the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra, she's performed with Pearl Jam, Willie Nelson, Kristen Chenoweth, Miley Cyrus and Cee Lo Green. Leah also provided backing vocals on the album.

Other artists who provided backing vocals are L.C. Jones, Craig Stull, Karen Tobin, CC. Treadway and Alison Coster. L.C. has a solid following as an Americana artiest. Craig has performed on a lot of albums, including one I reviewed a while back, Davi Sings Sinatra: On The Road To Romance. Karen has recorded a couple of albums and plays a lot of clubs in the L.A. area. C.C. has performed with the fusion group The Flowdown. Alison is a singer/ songwriter whose work has shown up in a few films and continues to record.

As for Joseph, he does the lead vocals, some backing vocals and plays the acoustic guitar on the album.

Ready Now is the first song on the album. It has a subtle beat with vocals that sometimes become whispery. It is about getting her to understand that her other relationship is over and that he's waiting for her. The song has some cool string music and a nice acoustic guitar bit at the end.

The title track, Human, is a ballad with cool music and great vocals. It's all about the human condition and the ups and downs of life. Again there is some great string music in the song.

Hit Me Up has a kind of Country sound with steel pedal in the background.

Something Real is a fun, toe-tapping song. He is admonishing her about not making a real, physical connection. It seems that professing her love on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube just wasn't getting it done. Not only is the song fun, Joseph made a cool music video for the song.

Slowing things down is an endearing ballad called The Rock.

Next is a short percussion laden song called Take A Breath.

Rain has some cool guitar work. The song has a light head bopping beat.

What Will You Do? is about doing your own thing. The song has a light rock element with some nice keyboard background music.

Don't Leave is a nice ballad with great backing vocals.

Near the end of the album is a reprise of The Rock, in which Joseph speaks some of the lyrics.

Great Lesson is a mild and somewhat sad ballad.

The album concludes with It's Only Love. It is a ballad that has a strong steel pedal background making it seem more of a Country song. Joseph has mellow vocals that are aided by good backing vocals.

Joseph Eid is probably one those names that will be heard a lot in the not too distant future. His music is a good mix of Americana, Folk and Country. With heartfelt lyrics, great music and touching vocals, this album is well worth listening to. And Joseph adding the great backing vocalists and musicians on the album is a major plus.

Human is available on iTunes and other digital and traditional music outlets.

To learn more about Joseph Eid, visit his official site at http://josepheidmusic.com/ or on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/JosephEidMusic

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