Singer Songwriter Willie Hines will be releasing his latest album, a new CD “Letters To Maria” on October 26, 2018. It will be available at the IAC Records website and all the usual places like Amazon, CD Baby, etc.
IndiePulse Reviews: “Letters To Maria” by Willie Hines
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In Review: “Letters To Maria” by Hines is everything you would expect from a multi-talented artist with years of experience, yet so much more as well, there is a robust passion and youth to his music.
Every song on “Letters to Maria” is a Shakespearean sonnet of love, want, desire and devotion. from Rock infused power chord filled tracks like “(I’m Not Waiting For The) Heartbreak” to soft spoken ballads , “This Is Our Love” and beyond, every track is an emotion explored and a heart exposed.
A blind look into the spiritually uplifting movements is a comment made in the liner notes by Hines on the Back Cover – “I am Just the messenger, bringing these stories of love and redemption to light, and though rough sketches they may be, they remain my heartfelt Letters to Maria.” – it has been a long time coming, this album, and it is something we all need to hear, feel and love, “Letters To Maria” is a passion play brought to life in music.
Letters To Maria marks Hines’ third solo offering since the 2000 debut “Yeahright”. “Whatever”, his second, was released in 2014. Online reviews from Melodicrock.com to Amazon have been positive and favorable.
In between days have found Hines releasing two full length albums with FACE CARDS, a side project endorsed by Grammy winner Bill Champlin (Chicago, Earth, Wind and Fire), as well as placing a song on the CD Smash! Tribute To Enuff Z’ Nuff and providing background vocals on “Hai Hai”, the second solo album from Supertramp’s Roger Hodson.
Hines, no stranger to the ever changing landscape of the music industry has made many departures to the path he has traveled. In 1980 at the ripe old age of twenty four years and some change Willie Hines scored a bonafide (albeit regional) number one hit single with his band THE LIGHTS out of Modesto, California that spent the summer in the top ten alongside Bob Seger, Paul McCartney and the Stones. “And my career has being going downhill quite nicely ever since.” states Hines with a air of sarcastic mirth.
A lot of roadwork ensued over the next few years until the northern California singer/songwriter/guitarist got a second wind in 1988 with his next band JET RED, signing with Relativity/Sony and releasing a self titled debut in 1989, supporting label-mate Joe Satriani, Y & T and others before calling it a day in 1992.
Hines, known more for crunchy guitars, big drums and even bigger vocals has had a brilliant career, but the latest album has shown the softer and more romantic side to this musical genius.
Letters To Maria finds him stripping it down a bit to reveal the vulnerability of the songs themselves. Pianos dance in a cloudy mist, cellos suggest melodies not sung, acoustic guitars shimmer and electric ones shake when necessary. It starts with the loudest song on the album and closes with the quietest, investing a pop sensibility into the mix of romantic abandon and personal redemption.
Some comments by the artist about his music “Little Tin Cup evokes the spirit of Dan Fogelberg, On Fire sports a fine guitar solo a la Dicky Betts and Let’s Not Waste Time is a catchy little pop song, period. Lyrics like “I just want to be the man you want, to dispel those ghosts of yours that haunt.” from In The End and “Writing our names in the stars, constellations like cars pass us by in our sea of dreams” from The Tenth Letter betray a melancholy undercurrent that comes from knowing just how fragile and precious love is.”
“Y’know, I’ve run the race, from high school gymnasiums to outdoor amphitheaters and back again and I got pretty lost there for quite awhile and an old and dear friend saved my life. And in the end I married her and the amazing thing to me now, in the autumn of my years, is that the joy of discovery in music and life never goes away. It’s a beautiful thing.”
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