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Will Callery's reputation as a songwriter and performer
is widely known and respected by artists and fans across genres.
His music has been recorded and performed by artists ranging from
Willie Nelson and
Jerry Jeff Walker to
Norah Jones.
Born in Terre Haute, Indiana, and raised in Owensboro, Kentucky,
Will Callery fell in love with the sounds and songs of the South. Eventually
the muse led Will to the west coast where he developed his songwriting
skills playing legendary coffeehouses and roadhouses from
San Diego
to Coos
Bay, from Cid's Blue
Beat in Newport Beach to The
House of the Rising Sun in Redondo, The Ice House in
Pasadena, The Ash Grove in LA, and The Golden Bear near San Diego.
Will Callery’s songwriting talent was recognized
immediately, and he began touring with such notables
as Ramblin’
Jack Elliott, David Lindley, Sonny
Terry and Brownie McGee, Chuck McCabe, Arlo Guthrie and
Taj Mahal.
Will eventually returned to the sunny South and moved
to Nashville where he worked
as a staff writer for April-Blackwood Publishing (CBS). He rented an
apartment on
17th Avenue
and hung out with some of “the boys that made the noise on 16th Avenue,” living in the same house as
such legendary songwriters as Kris Kristofferson.
After forming “Lusaza Goose,” a duo with Roger
Bartlett, Callery moved to Austin, Texas, where they began opening shows for
Jerry Jeff Walker, Willie Nelson and Little Feat.
Jerry Jeff Walker soon recorded
several songs written by Will Callery, including
“The Pot Can't Call The Kettle Black,” “The First Showboat,”
“Leroy,” “Pass It On,”
and “Hands on the Wheel.
While touring Colorado and New Mexico with Billy C and
the Austin Healeys, Callery got a call from Willie Nelson informing him that
Willie had just cut his song, “Hands on the Wheel” on a new concept album,
titled
The Red Headed Stranger,
released by Columbia Records in 1975. This landmark record went
double platinum, won a Grammy nomination and put Will Callery on the
international map as a songwriter and performer. Jerry Jeff Walker was
instrumental in getting “Hands on the Wheel” to Willie Nelson, playing it
for Nelson at an “all night song-swapping session.”
“Hands on the Wheel” was also chosen as the title song
for the movie,
The Electric Horseman, which starred Robert Redford and Jane
Fonda. This helped Callery develop a strong solo writing and touring career
with his contemporaries, Jerry Jeff Walker, Charlie Daniels, Milton Carrol
and Willie Nelson
Will Callery was later signed to a four year contract
with Lone Star Records, Nelson’s Texas
imprint for the Columbia label. His first
album received critical acclaim by fans and press alike.
Rolling Stone selected
“The First Showboat” as a Top Single Pick and called it, “A strong
offering...brilliantly constructed,” and “a smashing debut by the
multi-talented entertainer.”
Rolling Stone went on to say,
“Few singers have made a more noteworthy entry into the commercial
marketplace than Callery.” His
performance career has taken him across the country and included shows at
Willie Nelson’s Fourth of July Picnics, which drew over 300,000 people.
Callery can also be seen in the film,
Heartworn Highways, with Townes Van Zandt, Guy Clark, Steve
Earle and Rodney Crowell. In addition to his film work, Will has written
songs for such television shows as “St. Elsewhere” and “Northern Exposure.”
However, Callery’s success came with a price. After
developing a drug abuse problem that hindered his career and personal
health, Callery returned to his home in
Kentucky.
He bought a chainsaw and went to work falling timber for five dollars
an hour, eventually moving to the Pacific Northwest working as a lumberjack
in Washington, Oregon,
Idaho and Montana. But the music never left his heart
and soul.
Now the time has come for Will Callery to return to the
music that stirs his soul and so many others. His new CD,
Rider Comin’ In, was
recorded in Austin
at The Zone Studios with legendary musicians Will has worked with over the
years such as Joe Forlini, guitar man extraordinaire who has worked with
Jerry Jeff Walker, Willie Nelson and Stevie Ray Vaughan. T. Gosney Thornton
adds harmony vocals and soulful blues harp. Greg Lowry plays anything with
strings not to mention “pipes” and “thumb piano.”
Will’s dear friend Jerry Jeff Walker performs a duet with Callery as
they reprise perhaps Callery’s most-famous song thus far, “Hands on the
Wheel.” And last, but not least,
the incredible rhythm team of Eddy Cantu (drums) and Ted Sweeney (Fender
fretless bass) work their usual magic.
Rider Comin’ In will be released nationally on September 16,
2008 on Feats Records, distributed by Burnside Distribution.
Publicity:
Mark Pucci Media
770-804-9555
mpmedia@bellsouth.net
Radio Promotion
Bill Wence Promotions
615-776-2060
billwencepro@earthlink.net
Management
Brian Gavron
615-587-3323
bgavron@comcast.net
Booking
Richard Sutton – The Sutton Agency
(936) 875-5696 – office; (936) 414-4380 - cell
rwsutton35@aol.com
Record Label
Feats Records
92 Holly Lynn Lane
Leitchfield,
KY 42754
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