RANDY HANDLEY: This Guy Is Blue

Randy Handley

This Guy Is Blue

© 2003 Randy Handley (634479034220)

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Blue mind candy from the well-regarded songman and a gang of Nashville's best kept secretsidemen.

notes

Over the course of more than twenty years in music, I have had many opportunities and have worn a number of different hats. Here are a few of the highlights.

My early love for blues and R&B led me to a long string of one nighters in clubs and coffee houses from Chicago to Denver, working with some of the great old school artists like Sonny Terry and Brownie McGee, Bukka White, and Clarence 'Gatemouth' Brown.

After a time, I settled in Denver and began writing songs while continuing to perform in a wide range of settings with everyone from Steve Martin to REO Speedwagon, as they came through town. Then, in 1979, returning from a gig at Kaanapali Beach on Maui, I decided to stop in L.A. for a few days to check out the music scene there and was surprised and pleased to find myself quickly signed to a contract as a staff songwriter. During the next few years I wrote songs recorded by artists like Diana Ross, John Denver, and The Carpenters, while I continued to perform opening shows for legendary talents like Etta James and Rikki Lee Jones.

By the mid-eighties I was back in in Denver, but this time I was fronting the Randy Handley Band which became quite popular, playing the ski resorts and cities in the west, as well as winning a number of awards including: The Denver Post 's Best Local Band ( I also won for best male vocalist ), and Westword 's Best Rock Band and Best Blues Band in 1986. The fun might have gone on even longer except for two things that happened in 1989. First, I learned that a song I co-wrote with my friend, Jocko Marcellino of Sha Na Na, was to be used in the up coming film Rainman, and shortly thereafter my friend Mike Wanchic, producer and guitarist for John Mellencamp, told me that John wanted to record a song of mine for his new album "Whenever We Wanted", which became a million seller .

With a couple of fresh successes in songwriting, I felt I should try my luck in Nashville where I have been ever since, working as a keyboard player, singer, and songwriter.

Recently, I have been all over the map, touring with Lee Roy Parnell, and having the honor to perform with him at venues like the Grand Ole Opry, & The Ryman Auditorium, and in concert with greats like Willie Nelson and many others. I also had the good fortune to sign with Forerunner Music and have a nice string of cuts with artists ranging from the Nashville Bluegrass Band to Hal Ketchum and Jo-El Sonnier. But the capper came in 1998 when Garth Brooks called to tell me he was recording a song of mine on his "Magic of Christmas" album, which broke all records going platinum in 1999. My friend, Cam King, and I were quite honored to have the only Nashville penned song on that collection.

Today I am excited at the prospect of another decade of doing what I love: playing, singing, and writing music.

reviews

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  • THIS GUY IS BLUE
    author: TIM HILDEBRANDT

    Randy, we're lookin forward to your new album. Gone to long without that authentic hardcore blues. stay good.

  • Great! Handley still has a great sexy sound for blues!
    author: Catherine Doggett

    I'd have given it 5 stars but I own an album of Handleys from 25 years ago he made in Colorado. Now that was 5 stars. He still has it and I'm glad I found it. Make more recordings, Randy. I've missed hearing you.

  • Above the Power Lines is perhaps a new form of Gospel
    author: Bob Price

    Above the Power Lines allows my urban mind to make a transcendence from this all-too-distracting landscape of modern reality. Thanks to the songwriter for allowing me to see through his open eyes. More songs like this might actually make a dent in the emotional armour I have accumulated.

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