7th And Beale: News

Crossroads And Highways, our first CD, is now available on CD Baby and Amazon.

It's also been delivered to a number of download sites but it takes some of them awhile to process new music. It should be on iTunes within the next couple of weeks. You can, however, download an MP3 version on CD Baby.

But the most exciting news is that we've already heard from a couple of DJs who want to play our music on their shows.

Ray Pieters hosts a webradio program called "Somewhere Between" in Belgium. And Rod Bradley's radio show, called "Stone Cold Country", is heard in Melbourne, Australia. We'll keep you posted as things develop.

We finished mixing our first CD, Crossroads And Highways, last Saturday and put it in the mail to Disc Makers on Monday. We should have the result of six months of hard work in our hot little hands in about two weeks.

Disc Makers will be mastering our mix, designing the CD packaging, designing and printing t-shirts, and duplicating 1000 copies of our CD.

Needless to say we're all very excited.

But once the copies of our CD arrive the real work begins: finding our audience.

We've discovered over the past six months through sharing rough mixes of our songs with a variety of people that our music isn't for everyone.

The most common comment is that our music sounds dated, not contemporary.

But the fact is we're not trying to fit current expectations; we're trying to write and record songs we feel strongly about whether they have a "contemporary" sound or not.

We're trusting that you folks, our fans, are out there and will travel the highways to find the crossroads. Welcome to 7th And Beale.

We've finally settled on a title for our first CD: Crossroads And Highways.

7th And Beale is a crossroads of styles and experience. Crossroads suggest an openness to information arriving from four directions. Take a brief gander at our list of influences on our MySpace profile (and that list is by no means exhaustive) and you'll see that we've been all over the map. But all that knowledge is now focused in one location.

And highways, as opposed to freeways or interstates, bring to mind an intimate exploration of the heartland. 7th And Beale was born within blocks of old Route 66, a highway so rich with memories that they practically seep into one's pores. A few blocks further Interstate 40 thunders with engines straining to get from here to there; all that seeps into the pores are nervous intensity and exhaust fumes.

So the concept behind Crossroads And Highways is the consolidation of knowledge and talent on one hand and the reaching out to new possibilities and historical truths on the other.

So get on a highway and make your way to 7th And Beale. You'll be at the crossroads.

We're steadily moving forward toward the completion of the CD despite Tim and Katherine suffering from minor illnesses earlier in the month and Gilbert having to undergo shoulder surgery.

All the songs have been written so we're now in the process of working out the arrangements and recording them. We're using Gilbert's garage for a studio which, given the winter weather and the lack of reliable heat, is quite an adventure. But it seems to be working.

Also this month we joined Taxi, the world's leading independent A&R company. Through Taxi we hope market individual songs to other artists or our own recordings to TV and film projects. We've already submitted four songs to six listings.

And coming up in February we may be doing some live performances. Nothing definite yet; we'll keep you posted.

The power that brought us here, to the crossroads of 7th And Beale, is love of music. Love of songs. Love of songs with real feeling.

The glitter of gold is no longer, if it ever was, a driving force. Money is nice to have but so much else is more important.

Stanfield has been writing words for songs for over 40 years. Gilbert started playing guitar when he was twelve. Katherine has been singing for as long as she can remember. Not one of us has made any real money in the music business. But our love for music has never waned.

You may say that we're dreamers. But we're not the only ones.

We're looking for those people who love music as much as we do. People who don't feel compelled to sling every musical experience "into the ditch of what each one means". Life is about a fullness that's all inclusive and not meant to be sliced and diced into marketable quantities.

So, we sing to those who respond whether they are few or many. We're well aware that what we do is not for everyone. But we know we'll touch the hearts of some.

Love. We're doing what we love. If you enjoy what we're doing we'd love to hear from you.

After spending the last three and a half months of 2007 writing and recording new songs, the group 7th And Beale is anticipating the fulfillment of several major goals in 2008.

Our initial goal is to release our first CD in April.

The next step will be to find effective ways to connect with the fans who feel our music adds something special to their lives.

During this time we'll continue to write and record new songs.

Another goal will be to discover other markets for our songs. We plan to pitch songs to other artists as well as look for ways to place songs in film and TV productions.

So, all in all, we expect 2008 to be a year filled with learning, growth, and, we hope, success.

And we're wishing all of you the same. Happy New Year!

Gilbert, Stanfield, and Tim made the sort of long trek to Bullhead City, Arizona, to record live drum tracks for "Mustang Man", "All She Ever Wanted", "His Loving Comes So Easy", and "Losing Side Of Leaving".

Our Broadjam reviewers have been telling us for awhile now that our drum tracks suck. Well, we fixed 'em.

Bill Foss, the owner of The Front Room Recording Studio, and a respected bass player and vocalist, introduced us to Oscar Vildasola, a drummer with years of experience in the Los Angeles music scene. Oscar's also a vocalist... that's him singing backup on The Righteous Brothers' hit “Unchained Melody.”

Due to the focused professionalism of both these guys we had our drum tracks in very short order.

Tim, our sound guy, is busy doing backups as I write this. And will have presentable mixes soon.

The month of November was full of learning experiences for all the members of "7th And Beale".

Stanfield began putting time into trying to figure out what in the world we're going to do with 1000 CDs once they arrive sometime in April 2008. This website is one aspect of his new knowledge.

Gilbert spent his time learning to gear melodies to Katherine's style of singing while also to keeping it interesting for her with tunes that are challenging, varied and fluid. He says, "Katherine's voice is a thing of beauty and a wonderful tool to work with."

Tim was busy learning the intricacies of his Roland Digital Studio and the personalities of the microphones he'd found.

Katherine started familiarizing herself with the discipline involved in singing for a recording device that hears everything but doesn't respond.

October 2007 was a busy month for the newly formed songwriting team of Sanchez and Major.

Gilbert worked on music for thirteen of Stanfield's lyrics and by the end of the month they'd agreed that seven of the resulting songs were strong enough to keep.

It was also during October that Tim Clark signed on as studio engineer and Katherine Stewart assumed the role of lead female vocalist.

With the arrival of this new talent the idea of releasing a self-produced CD began to take shape.

After proposing and then discarding several potential names for the group Stanfield and Gilbert finally settled on "7th And Beale".

Gilbert Sanchez and Stanfield Major, the songwriting team that create the core of "7th And Beale", met for the first time at Metcalfe Park in downtown Kingman, Arizona, on September 18, 2007, just a block from historic Route 66.

Stanfield had placed an ad in the local Dollar Saver publication and Gilbert replied.

There was an almost audible "click" as Gilbert began playing the guitar he'd brought and Stanfield opened his spiral binder full of lyrics.

Before the month was out they'd started working on several songs.