From growing up in a household steeped in music and being a high school basketball hero to experiencing the tragic loss of his father when he was in college. Troy Ramey has seen the good, the bad and the ugly in life. Even though he grew up in a household with a musical father, Troy never saw himself as a singer. In fact, his focus was on basketball, which took him to college on a scholarship. After his father’s death, he transferred to Boston College seeking a new start. By accident, he was caught singing to himself at work, and to his surprise, he was persuaded to join some local musicians for their after-work jam sessions. But that’s history…
When Production, Instrumentation, Mixing and Mastering whizz-kid, Dante Lattanzi of Caelum Music Production sends you over an artist, you already know the quality standards before hearing one single bar of music! So my expectations were extremely high for this artist, when I got the call.
I listened to the songs by Troy Ramey, which are to be part of a 5-track EP to be released soon, 10 times in a row, the day I got the pre-release streaming links! In fact I pretty much spend my whole day listening to those songs. Troy, quite frankly, blew me away.
I’m not sure whether to describe this as alternative rock with a huge dose of classic soul, or rather, classic soul with a massive dose of alternative rock. It’s like Eddie Vedder meets Otis Redding over at Daryll Hall’s house on a Sunday afternoon. Either way it doesn’t matter much, as Troy Ramey surpasses all barriers and boundaries with a voice that could sing the phone-book and still blow the roof off the house.
Troy is easily one of the most captivating artists I have heard all year so far. He really flexes his vocal prowess and songwriting on these songs in a way that makes me wonder where he’ll go next after setting the bar so high here. He comes up with a unique style blending soul and rock with gospel influences that is immediately accessible and will bury themselves inside your head and heart after a few listens.
The chords are fleshed out far beyond anything else currently on the radio, while the phrases build on each other, and the arrangements are rich and sweeping. The result is a work with incredible emotional depth in the accompaniment, which goes hand-in-glove with the raw energy and expressiveness of Troy’s voice.
Troy Ramey is a wonderful songwriter and Lattanzi has orchestrated Troy’s sound to perfection. Songs like “Rosary”, “Restless Lady” and “The Lucky Ones” are full of intelligent lyricism and a voice that shatters the modern sound of rock and alternative male bravados. Troy wails and weeps with perfect restraint, never outdoing the song, the arrangement or himself. He just soars above it all. He’ll break through any crusty heart and pull at the strings.
His voice alone commands attention, and the minute I began listening, I was hooked. There’s a balanced perfection to every track, and there’s not a song that is indecipherable or devoid of pure listening satisfaction.
This artist is simply amazing and his music should definitely be heard by any music lover. The raw soul that Troy Ramey exhibits in these songs is simply awe-inspiring. The video of the song, “Rosary”, of which I also managed to get a sneak preview, perfectly communicates the deep heart-tugging tones of Troy’s storyline.
The emotion and heart in both Troy’s vocals and the instrumentation used in the arrangements make it perfect pieces of music. I doubt this could not have been done any better, by anyone else. And I repeat…ANYONE ELSE!
Troy Ramey will be launching a crowd funder here http://www.pledgemusic.com/projects/troy beginning August 18th which I expect to be a major success, especially with your help. In the meantime grab the single, “Rosary” on iTunes!
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