AgriNews January 2015 Page 24_Layout 1 15-01-08 3:53 PM Page 1
Page 24 The AgriNews January, 2015
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Finch’s Greg Hanna makes music: Second album to be released in 2015 Pamela Pearson AgriNews Contributor ASHVILLE — TAkINg wITH HIm
N
A drEAm To pLAy
muSIC profESSIoNALLy,
grEg HANNA HAS rELEASEd ANoTHEr CouNTry SINgLE THIS pAST
JuLy,
moVINg HIm up STEAdILy IN THE rANkS of CouNTry muSIC.
HANNA, wHo grEw EASTErN oNTArIo, SpECIfICALLy THE fINCH ArEA, Now rESIdES IN NASHVILLE wITH wIfE SHErEE ANd THEIr Two dAugHTErS. Hanna’s first self-titled album was released in 2009 under his record label Pheromone Records LLC in both the United States and Canada. It includes radio hits such as It’s a Man’s Job and Makin’ Love Real. Hanna spent most of 2013 touring, being featured in both radio and television interviews but told AgriNews, one of the best events he participated in was the Country Music Awards (CMA) Music Fest, held in Nashville on the Chevy Stage, right in front of the Ryman Auditorium, home of the Grand Old up IN
Opry (or as Hanna refers to it as the Mother Church of country music). “That was one of those ‘pinch me’ moments, giving me a sense of accomplishment at a whole other level,” he said. Other past career highlights include touring with Toby Keith, Trace Adkins, Dwight Yoakam and appearing on the American reality television program Nashville Star 3. Hanna has also been nominated twice by the Canadian Country Music Association once in 1998 for Independent Male Artist of the Year Award, and in 2011 for Rising Star Award. This past year Hanna returned to the studio to begin working on a second CD, and feature song, Gimme More Money (released in July). Most recently, he released his version of the Wayne Rostad classic Christmas in the Valley. Rostad is also an Ottawa Valley country musician known not only for his music, but the CBC television show On The Road Again. During the 2013 Christmas season, Hanna released his comical
Nekked As A Reindeer featuring Brad Mates from the Canadian band Emerson Drive. Gimme More Money is also Hanna’s fifth song to be made into a music video, or ‘mini movie’, as Hanna calls it. “I take the wheel as far as producing the video goes but am now also getting my hands wet on the production side.” Hanna referred to this experience as being similar to that of songwriting “It’s nice to start something out and then watch how it turns out. The first line of Gimme More Money says ‘in the parking lot at the county fair’ — so that’s where we staged the shoot. It is always a fun experience.” AgriNews asked Hanna who his musical influences have been over the years and he listed musicians from George Jones and Motley Crue, to Kim Mitchell and Bryan Adams, claiming Okie From Muskogee by Merle Haggard was one of the first songs he learned to play. Hanna, when at Tagwi Secondary School, was also a member of the band Off
A stompin’ good time
Pictured above, Country musician Greg Hanna, orignally from Finch, now based in Nashville, came home to play the Russell Fair. Courtesy Photo
The Dead End. “We played all the top 40s rock, ‘70’s rock and some up-tempo country. I also played the Legion Halls and fairs, and we also had a ‘pure’ country band named Combination Country.” Hanna continued that he pretty much cut his musical teeth on country music at the Chesterville Legion where he played every second Saturday of the month. After Tagwi, Hanna moved to London to study
Music Business and Recording Engineering. Upon graduation, he recorded his first Pro EP with Canadian producer Jack Richardson, known for his work with The Guess Who and Bob Seger. Other recording partnerships include Buddy Cannon, an award-winning producer who has worked with artists such as Kenny Chesney, Sara Evans and George Strait. Hanna also has worked with Chris Farren, producer for Deanna Carter
E. Ontario performer making inroads in L.A. and Toronto Veteran Eastern Ontario recording artist Cory M. Coons (right) has begun working with Torontobased Danie Cortese Entertainment to promote his new EP Share A Little Time. The roots-rock musician aims to reach a wider audience and build a strong foundation for his career, which recently received a boost when he won the Producer’s Choice Award for Studio Album of the Year at the 2014 L.A. Music Awards. The rural Dundas County resident appears with L.A. Music Awards founder Al Bouman (left) at the Tinseltown ceremony. See Coons’s website — www.corymcoons.com.
and Paul Brandt, and with songwriter and long-time friend/co-writer/co-producer Kim Tribble. Hanna remarked that the musicians he works with currently are mostly Nashville-based, but when in Canada he will sometimes call upon the ‘401 crew’ from back-in-the-day when playing ‘the club scene’. When reflecting on his new songs and how they differ from his older material, Continued on page 28