"Nothin' At All" WHITTON music with lyrics video

Here's a little tune off my "Rare Bird" album called, "Nothin' At All". Written by myself, Ian Coyne and Peter Fox! Thanks to the musicians who played on this track - Ben Burget and Dave Richards!

ENJOY!!

~ W

Nice Interview With Suite 101!

SINGER-SONGWRITER WHITTON 

Singer-songwriter Whitton talks to Suite101 about her new album "Rare Bird" and her upcoming concert on August 16, 2012, in New York City's The Living Room.

On Wednesday, August 1, 2012, Suite101 chatted via phone with pop singer-songwriter Whitton. Throughout her career, she has recorded with such producers as David Hauser, Kevin White and Ronan Chris Murphy. Several tracks from her previous, self-titled EP were featured in such film as The 5th Quarter (starring Aidan Quinn and Ryan Merriman), as well as Exit Strategy.

PHOTO COURTESY OF JEFF FASANO

“Rare Bird”

Her newest album Rare Bird was released independently and it features ten tracks, several of which were co-written by Ian Coyne, Peter Fox and Joe Solo, the latter of which has worked with Grammy winner Macy Gray. “I am fortune to have worked with so many great writers and producers on this project,” she says.

Similar to her EP, several songs from this album were featured in such film as She Wants Me, which stars Charlie Sheen and Hilary Duff, as well as Meth Head. “That was a lot of fun. It’s exciting when your songs get placed in different places,” she says.

Nominations and Awards

Thanks to the critical acclaim derived from Rare Bird, she garnered a nomination for an 2012 Independent Music Award (IMA) in the “Best Pop Album” category. “That was really cool and it opened a few doors for me,” Whitton says.

If the IMA nod was not enough, she was also named “Best Female Acoustic Rock Artist” by the New York Music Festival. “That was great! Any time you win an award or are nominated for one, it reassures that this is exactly that you should be doing. It’s nice to get some recognition from time to time,” she says.

The Living Room in New York City

On August 16, 2012, Whitton is expected to perform at The Living Room in New York City. “I heard so many great things about that venue and I have been looking forward to playing there forever,” she says. “I have some great players who live in New York who will perform there will me.”

Whitton Featured on “Dexter”

In addition to her musical endeavors, Whitton has been featured as a guest vocalist on Showtime's Emmy-nominated television hit series Dexter. “I got to work with one of the show’s music producers. He called me to do some background vocals on a couple of theme songs for the show and its soundtrack,” she says.

To learn more about singer-songwriter Whitton, check out her official website.

Read more at Suite101: Interview with Whitton: "Rare Bird" | Suite101.com 

Germany's Style Desk Review

I got a nice write up in Germany's Style Desk Review! (Scroll down): http://styledesk.org/2012/07/30/favorite-songs-7/ 

Here's the translation: Breit at the age of six, began to sing and perform with the Whitton. A native of Los Angeles artist exudes an easy charm of 40's, which is reflected not only in their outfits. Attentive fans of the series 'Gossip Girl', are likely to have heard the odd song from her. For everyone else there is her song 'Turn Of The Light'.

“Rare Bird” is Nominated for “BEST POP ALBUM” in the IMA's!

Whitton’s album “Rare Bird” is nominated for “BEST POP ALBUM” in the Independent Music Awards 2012! PLEASE VOTE! 


Simple steps, go to:  http://www.independentmusicawards.com/imanominee/11th/Album/Pop, click on “Login or Register to Vote!” Register with your email/password. An activation link will be sent to you (check your spam/junk folder if you don’t see it soon). After activating the link, go back to:  http://www.independentmusicawards.com/imanominee/11th/Album/Pop, log in and you’ll see next to each artist are 5 empty stars. Scroll down to find “WHITTON” and click 5 stars! Then, they will email you a confirmation link again. THANK YOU for the love and support everyone!!!


And if you're up for it, leave a comment about the album, "Rare Bird"!

www.WhittonMusic.com

Cliché Magazine Review!

Whitton: Vintage-Inspired Songstress on the Rise to Stardom

BRITTANY REDDEN OCTOBER 31, 2011 0

Singer-songwriter Whitton takes vintage to a whole new level with her timeless voice and sense of style.  The Nevada-born crooner sat down with Cliché and told us all about her childhood, road to fame and what’s to come in her life as a budding artist.  Check out Whitton’s newest album “Rare Bird” on her website or Facebook page now!

Photo by Jeff Fasano

Cliché:  Tell me about yourself, where did you grow up, where are you living now?

Whitton:  Well, I grew up in Reno and I went to catholic school.  I started dazzling Reno folks at the age of 6 in a theater show called “Sunshine Generation” where I would sing in all the old age homes.  Now I’ve finished my new album “Rare Bird” which I’ve been in the studio for two years making, so I’m just getting my touring boots on and getting ready to go out and tour the US this coming spring.  I typically like to tour with only about a four piece because you know how much money that is to have such a big band on the road, but I have a CD release on the 22^nd in Reno with my full 10-piece band.

C:  What was it like growing up in Reno?

W:  As you can tell my stage name is Whitton, but my first name legally is Jaime.  My parents decided to have 6 kids because of the movie sound of music.  My mother cut her hair like Julie Andrews, she made all of our clothes out of curtains, and she sings and plays the ukulele.  My dad is an actor in Hollywood, James Lawrence Whitton, so they decided to raise us there and now we all have our own musical endeavors.

C:  Did you always know this is what you wanted to do?

W:  I graduated high school when I was 17 and then had a record deal in Malaysia with my first band called “Jaime and the Blue Suits,” which was a big 10-piece band.  We played jazzy techno-blues music, a very interesting, very European sound.  So, that actually fell apart and from there I joined a reggae band for a couple of months.  At the end of my 17^th year I moved with my sister, Stacey Whitton-Summers, to Myrtle Beach, SC where we recorded my second album, but our first album together.  She’s actually a Marilyn Monroe, Shania Twain and Gretchen Wilson impersonator.  I was so fortunate to get to travel with her because she goes all over the world.  We would just go play music on the side.  It was really a fun experience.  However, as far as this album I’m just releasing, I saved all my pennies that I made over the last few years installing voice and data cables for computer connection, building microwaves and radios for corporate buildings and then bartending on weekends.  So I really saved all my money to get the top players, the top recordings, the top engineers and even down to the illustration, so I’m very, very proud of this new record.

C:  Can you define for us your current musical style and what influences how you developed that?

W:  I’ll tell you how this endeavor got started.  I play guitar, and anytime you play guitar and you’re just a vocalist you have acoustic music or folk music or Americano or what not its all in the same family.  So I was playing guitar at an open mic in Pasadena and there were four people in the audience and my current producer with this album, Ian Coyne, was one of them.  I had just been hired for a 1940s review show on a cruise line and I was getting ready to leave and he wanted to write a song together.  I decided to go in and we wrote a song together and it was immediately placed in a film called The Fifth Quarter with Andie Macdowel and Aiden Quinn. So then I thought, “How can I leave now?  I can’t leave!”  So we just ended up writing a handful of songs.  He produced a couple of my acoustic songs.  I’ve also had the liberty of writing with a couple of great writers on the album in Joe Solo, who’s written for Macy Gray and Fergie, and Peter Fox who’s written for Rachel Yamagata, so its been quite the experience.  As far as my music, you take my natural acoustic sound and intertwine it with a little big band, singer-songwriter stuff and that’s what the sound came out to be on this album.

C:  What about your lyrics?

W:  They’re all very, very personal.  I was the last of 6 kids so I have just a natural ability to observe, so I’m always observing strangers, people, family, and friends.  So I do write about other people, but they all come from a very personal place.

C:  Was the 40s big band idea something you’ve always been attracted to?

W:  Well when I met Ian, I had a few side projects coming up where I would sing big band songs and jazz songs and blues songs, so yes.  But I’ve always loved the style of Ella Fitzgerald and Billie Holiday.  I used to sing them in my room in front of the mirror, so I’ve always had a love for that type of music.  But Iam a singer-songwriter and that’s where my roots are.  My acoustic music is a little more vulnerable and melancholy sounding.  I don’t know if you’re familiar with Jeff Buckley, but that’s kind of where I stem from.  Ian really dissected my vocal ability and saw a little bit of vintage in it, so we built the instrumentation that was appropriate around the songs.  When I met him he had never done big band or jazz music either.  It’s just naturally what was developed.

C:  How would you describe your fashion sense?

W:  I’ve always had a love for vintage type clothing, like flowers in the hair.  Actually, my sister Stacey makes these amazing flower pins that you can pin anywhere.  They’re actually part of my merch called “Whitton de Fleur.”  I them in my hair and they are a very vintage cloth with a little sparkle to them.  Anything vintage and off-collar I am attracted to.

C:  You said it took you two years to put together this album.  What was that process like?

W:  It took a long time, but all good things take a long time.  We really crafted the songs and focused on making them the best they could be by getting the best players, building relationships and networking.  That all takes time.  It was definitely a process.  But I’m seeking a manager right now.  I have a marketing team, a publicist and a good group of people, but there’s always a time and place when you’re ready and now I’m ready to find management!  I’m planning to tour all text year through the US and parts of Europe.  The tour is not booked all the way but that is my intention.  So in the next couple of months it just depends on who I meet, but it’s all beginning to roll and I’m very excited.  I have a handful of shows coming up in the next couple of months and I have two residencies that I’m going through until the end of the year.  Now I’m just getting people to my shows and by next spring definitely doing a lot of shows outside of California

C:  Is there someone you dream of doing a collaboration with in the future

W:  Absolutely!  I would love more than anything to write and sing with a handful of artists: Rufus Wainwright, Amos Lee, Colin Hay, Ray Lamantaign.  And Thom York would be absolutely… well my life could end that day!

C:  So you’re big fans of those guys!  Who is somebody that really inspires your music?

W:  I had a friend named Shane Gooding and he was probably one of the most amazing and gifted musicians and songwriters that has ever lived.  I was very close with him and he passed away of cancer three years ago at 25.  He really was a huge person in my life that I walked with and just adored.

C:  Who would you say your role model is?

W:  I’m very, very fortunate to have such a brilliant family.  All my siblings are very unique in their own way and have such a gift specifically and I admire all of them.  They’ve all taught me so much.

C:  Have you ever felt pressure to fit in growing up, in high school or even now?

W:  Well, I was a complete loner!  [laughs] I was kind of in my own world, I didn’t have a specific group of friends.  I had one friend here, one friend there, I was friends with everyone!  But I always had older friends that were out of school.  I looked up to different mentors in music or in health and yoga, and I really look up to my family so I spend a lot of time with them.

C:  Did you ever go through a rebellious stage when you were growing up?

W:  Sure!  I made tie-dye clothes and traveled to all the festivals around California and Nevada selling hemp necklaces and tie-dye clothes.  That definitely has a package of being a little bit of a rebel.  I did date a guy in high school that drove a Harley.  He used to show up at my high school with a rose in his mouth and pick me up!  He was only about five years older, but it was still the fact that some guy on a Harley was picking me up.  He used to drop me off at the end of my street so my parents wouldn’t see.

C:  Have you ever had your heart broken?

W:  Oh yeah, of course!

C:  What kind of advice would you give someone to get through something like that?

W:  I really think real heartbreak never goes away.  It sits with you and you either accept it or you don’t and that’s how you survive in your life; just accepting a lot and trying to do the best that you can to deal with it.  I don’t really have the best advice for that sort of thing!

C:  What would we be surprised to know about you?

W:  I’m a really good cook!

C:  What kind of things do you like to cook?

W:  I’m a nutrition freak, so I do try to mix different vegetables and fruits and all sorts of fun green things in juices.  I make a mean peanut butter and jelly sandwich with fresh berries and nuts.  I just kind of put things together!  My mom had to piece things together in the fridge if we didn’t have a ton of food, so I’ve just learned to do that and make masterpieces out of almost nothing.

C:  What do you like to do in your down time?

W:  I toured up to Seattle and I have a friend up there whose dad said to me, “What do you like to do when you’re not working?”  I thought about it and I realized, wow, even on vacation I’m always working!  Sometimes that can be overwhelming, so even on vacation I love doing yoga. Another really therapeutic thing for me is gardening; I love to garden.  It goes with my cooking.  I’m actually working on a cookbook for my merchandise.  I’ve been trying to rack my brain on what’s different, what unique merchandise can I come up with.  I love to support local artists and I’ve been looking into getting a person who makes mugs by molding them and making them look really cool and authentic.  I already make these matchboxes with my face on it for your fridge and my sister’s flowers.  I try to be as creative as possible.  But a cookbook is definitely on my agenda.

C:  From here what does your future look like?

W:  This coming year while I’m touring (probably the beginning of spring or summer) I’ll be working on my next album.  I have 40 songs under my belt that I’m finessing and now I’m working with a new producer named John Avila, who is the bassist of Oingo Boingo.  I’m so excited about working with the top guys in the studio and I hope for a release next fall or next winter after the promoting “Rare Bird”

C:  You seem like a very down to earth person.  Is there a motto you try to live your life by?

W:  I was raised catholic, but I don’t necessarily think I’m a religious person.  I’m more of a spiritual person.  I connect with nature and just try to get to a place where I can mediate and just think about the good things in my life and look at other peoples’ life and be thankful every day for what I do have.

Review by Mickies Zoo Blogspot!

  Whitton at Hotel Cafe Oct. 12

Whitton brings a flare of the 1940s to her wishful, singer-songwriter sound. Take the sounds of an alluring Billie Holiday, mixed with the curious intensity of Norah Jones, and eclectic complexity of Regina Spektor, and you’ll get the best kept secret in Los Angeles - WHITTON.

Whitton will be performing at Hotel Café, on October 12th, at 9PM. For tickets and more information please visit
https://www.hotelcafe.com/tickets/?s=events_view&id=1216

Her new LP, “Rare Bird” is available now with 10 new tracks produced and co-written by Ian Coyne . There’s also several other co-writers including Peter Fox (Rachel Yamagata) and Joe Solo (Macy Grey) and mixed by engineer Michael James (New Radicals, Hole). Several tracks have already received feature film placements in: SHE WANTS ME (starring Charlie Sheen, Hilary Duff and Josh Gad) and METH HEAD (starring Lukas Haas, Wilson Cruz and Necar Zadegan).

The “Turn Off The Light” music video is also available at:
www.youtube.com/whittonmusic

For a sneak-peek of Whitton’s LP “Rare Bird”, please go to:
www.whittonmusic.com

Tracks from Whitton’s previous, self-titled EP also received placement in the 2011 films: THE 5TH QUARTER (starring Aidan Quinn, Andie MacDowell, and Ryan Merriman), EXIT STRATEGY (starring radio host Big Boy from Power 106, Jameel Saleem and Kevin Hart), and was featured on Delta Air Lines Sonicbids Radio Channel and in Delta’s “Sky Magazine”. WHITTON has recorded three full-length albums with acclaimed producers David Hauser (Redbone, Supreme Beings of Leisure, Iron Butterfly), Kevin White (writer for Billy Ray Cyrus) and Ronan Chris Murphy (King Crimson, Dishwalla). She also has won numerous awards including “Best Female Acoustic Rock Artist” by the New York Music Festival and been featured as a guest vocalist on Showtime’s Emmy-Nominated hit series “Dexter”.

Performance schedule:

10/12 Los Angeles, CA Hotel Café – CD Release Show

10/13 Las Vegas, NV House of Blues – Acoustic Strip

10/22 Reno, NV Cantina Las Tres Hombres

11/1 Los Angeles, CA Villain’s Tavern- Every Tuesday Residency

www.whittonmusic.com

http://mickieszoo.blogspot.com/2011/10/whitton-at-hotel-cafe-oct-12.html