| Webpage: http://www.genebutlerband.com | ||||
| Location: Los Angeles, California, USA | ||||
| Description: The Americana Roots sound of Gene Butler is foot-tapping, raw and uniquely his own. | ||||
| Biography: Born and raised in Macon, Georgia, Butler began singing publicly at the age of nine with the Cotton Street Gospel Choir (an all Afro-American choir in which he was the only Caucasian). Originally starting out as a high tenor without pitch or tone, he was relegated to being the one member of the choir asked to whistle and hum all the songs rather than attempt to sing along with the others. However, he stuck with it and by the age of thirteen he had developed into a middle baritone and was actually allowed to sing with everybody else. Butler wrote his first song in collaboration with his best friend, Larry Crawford, after they spent a night in jail for violating Macon's "under eighteen" ten o'clock curfew law. They were both ten years old at the time and the song is titled "Momma, Wished I'd Listen To You". Butler still sometimes sings the acapella song during his show and always makes a point of performing it before ten o'clock. At the age of sixteen, Butler and his family left Georgia for Seattle, Washington. There he began to play the guitar, and with two of his five brothers, formed a group called the Mudville Flats. They were a local hit and toured the Northwest for several years. It was in Seattle that Butler sold his first song to a recording group, The Jerry Rowen Trio. "What Moment of the Day" was written as a kick-butt country song, but wound up as a tame bosa nova tune on the Rowen album. After listening to the album once, Butler never played the song again. Butler struck out on his own at the age of twenty-one and headed for the Big Apple. It was there that the acting bug bit him. After doing a ton of theater in New York, he became a "quad-costal-ite" by moving to Los Angeles. Since relocating to Los Angeles, Butler has been able to scratch out a decent living by acting and writing in film, television and stage. But during that time his first love, music, would not let him go, and in the year 2000 he picked up his guitar again and hasn't stopped playing, singing and songwriting since. With over ninety-three original songs to date, and more pouring out, Butler has placed songs in the films "Holyman Undercover", "Run On" and "Armadillo Texas". He's also placed several songs in the popular television series "The Gilmore Girls" and the movie of the week "Sirens". In the past five years Butler and his band has played in almost every known live music venue known to man and woman...and also, in a few that probably shouldn't be known to anybody. The band recently finished their second tour of the Sunset Strip - playing at the famous Troubadour Club, the Viper Room, the Key Club and the House of Blues. They are now hard at work promoting their new CD "That Light is Always On" on the independent label Concrete Country Music. |
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Showing posts with label The Gene Butler Band. Show all posts
Showing posts with label The Gene Butler Band. Show all posts
Sunday, April 15, 2012
Spotlight: The Gene Butler Band
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