From this rambunctious Berry-esque-meets-Bottle Rockets rocker to the haunting, sublime wail of album opener “Antique Dreams,” Ozark-area singer/writer Mark Bilyeu’s solo debut has all the hallmarks of an Americana classic.
- Pop Culture Press
First One Free showcases Bilyeu’s musical strength and versatility…(he) proves himself as a clever wordsmith.
- Seth Ashley, Columbia Tribune
Homemade Hillbilly Jam introduces us to Mark Bilyeu, Big Smith's unpretentious, rootsy and soon-to-be-legendary singer-songwriter.
- True/False Film Festival, Columbia, MO www.truefalse.org/films/hillbilly.htm
Ozark-bred singer/songwriters Cindy Woolf and Mark Bilyeu have this much in common: They’re individual originals…making authentic American music together in the recording studio and on the road.
- Brian McTavish, The Kansas City Star
Bilyeu’s versatility as an accomplished singer and guitarist allows him to subtly traverse roots styles with ease.
-Michael Swanger, City View, Des Moines
Mark Bilyeu is one of those rare artists who has the courage to let the
songs use him as their instrument of expression. Somehow, Mark is able to
touch the floor of that deep, elusive well, stay down for a long time, and
then still possess the ability to come up and tell the rest of us the
amazing things he's seen. That deep, dark, well is always where the best
songs come from, and most singer-songwriters working today have never even
glimpsed that place. First One Free has rekindled my belief that music
still has power and that it still matters. It's refreshing, bold, and
important. First One Free speaks of many things, but the one thing that
rings the most true throughout is Mark himself. Mark is a fine craftsman,
and it's wonderful indeed to hear the way he uses his dedication to
traditional music as a launching pad for these brave new worlds of sound and
words.
-John Dillon, The Ozark Mountain Daredevils
"First One Free is a wonderfully expressive piece of work full of enticing lyrics, energized music, and engrossing character. Overall I rate it a damn good listen."
-Tom Irwin, Music Editor Illinois Times
“Bilyeu is a great guitar player, and he certainly shows it here…he’s a great singer, and last but not least he writes great songs that keep us singing and whistling them all day long. Other songwriters must feel jealousy listening to a truly great song like ‘Paint’ (track 12) that shows perfectly what this guy can do with lyrics. This one’s as strong as any Dylan. Bilyeu has made an album that’s both sharp and laidback…it gets better with each spin – in fact it’s easy to get addicted to this album – you keep playing it and enjoy it more and more. An absolute top album.”
-Holly Moors www.moorsmagazine.com
"From the stellar guitar playing, to the outstanding song quality, First One Free is a gem. Tear off the cellophane, open the jewel case and enjoy one of the best records of the year."
- Being There, www.beingtheremag.com
"[First One Free] offers a more complete picture of him as a singer, songwriter and artist…Sometimes the best [songs] need only to be played with sincerity, and that's clearly what happened during Bilyeu's time in the studio."
- Michael Brothers, Springfield News-Leader (entire article below)
"In my humble-pie opinion, Mark is one of the best songwriter-musicians I have known, and I've known a lot."
- Cary Hudson, www.caryhudson.com
"[Bilyeu] writes songs that pull you in to [his] space and performs them with passion. They bring back memories of early The Band days, with added spice…a top-shelf songwriter and player"
- Fayetteville Free Weekly
"It really coheres as a totally enjoyable listen throughout. Man, that's a great-sounding record. There hasn't been one like that, I don't figure, since Danny Whitten died."
- Brett Eugene Ralph, rowdy Kentucky musician
"While on tour with Moot Davis, local alt-country rockers Randy Burk and the Prisoners saw [the Mark Bilyeu Band] perform and were so impressed by his show they encouraged the owners of The Walnut Tap to hire him."
The City View, Des Moines, IA
www.dmcityview.com
After much thought, solo Bilyeu breaks through
For the past couple of years, Mark Bilyeu has suffered from a kind of split personality disorder. It's not a medical condition, but a musical one.
For years, local music fans have heard Bilyeu with Big Smith, the bluegrass-influenced family band that has become one of Springfield's leading cultural exports, right there with Bass Pro Shops and cashew chicken.
And more recently we have been able to hear Bilyeu's solo material — songs that draw more from rock and folk than Bilyeu's "hillbilly" roots. We've heard him perform these songs solo as acoustic pieces and with his short-lived electric trio the Quark Stars.
Now Bilyeu takes his most tangible step yet toward a solo career with the release of "First One Free," his debut album under his own name. It sheds the acoustic flavor most people associate with Bilyeu in favor of a rootsy, back-beat-driven sound. It offers a more complete picture of him as a singer, songwriter and artist.
"The idea for the album has been in my head for a long, long time," he says.
That's been the problem. Bilyeu says one of the main reason it's taken so long to record this CD is he's been overthinking the whole thing.
"It's going to be a lot of work," he thought. "It's going to take a lot of time. It's going to be tough to get this stuff just right."
Then in January, after so much fretting and forethought, he took the plunge. And you know what? It was easy. Armed with a slew of songs and surrounded by talented musicians, Bilyeu found all his hand-wringing was for naught.
"It was very easy," he says of the atmosphere during the sessions at Route 1 Recording in Monticello, Miss. "There was a lot of momentum. We just kept going and we never got bogged down."
This illustrates a point. Good songs don't always need a lot of dressing up. Sometimes the best ones need only to be played with sincerity, and that's clearly what happened during Bilyeu's time in the studio.
The 13 songs on "First One Free" range from raucous "Don't Need So Much" to the country twang of "It's Gonna Be Easy" to the quiet and poetic "Paint." Bilyeu hallmarks like "Antique Dreams" and "Burn Brightly" are there, too.
Two songs could be seen as a bridge to Bilyeu's past work with Big Smith.
One is "Backwater," which appears on Big Smith's "Big Rock" album. Given the rock 'n' roll treatment, the song features some tasty wah-wah guitar work from Cary Hudson, a longtime friend of Bilyeu's.
The other is "Home in the Country," a mid-tempo ballad mourning the loss of rural landscape to urban development: "When the stars up in the heavens have become the stuff of lore / then your home in the country ain't in the country no more."
It's a continuation of the regional voice and respect for the environment heard on Big Smith tunes like "Barrel Springs" and "Quarry Anthem."
Bilyeu recorded the album in Mississippi for several reasons. He knew he wanted Hudson and drummer Ted Gainey, who live there, to play on the album.
He also wanted to get out of town. Although Bilyeu has produced and engineered several albums for local artists on his MayApple Records label in his own home studio, he wanted fresh surroundings for the project. No phone calls, no bills in the mailbox, no distractions.
Plus, he didn't want to worry about tweaking the knobs on the soundboard this time. Hudson's cousin Chris Hudson co-produced the album.
"You know how people advise you not to be your own attorney?" Bilyeu says. "I didn't want to have to think about engineering the recordings. I wanted to be able to concentrate the songs and the performances."
The backing band is rounded out by Bilyeu's cousin Bill Thomas on bass and harmony vocals. Gotta have a cousin in the mix somewhere, it seems.
Which leads me back to Big Smith. Bilyeu says he's already fielding lots of questions from fans about its fate.
It's no secret the band has stopped writing songs and cut back on touring. But this doesn't mean Big Smith is done. Those guys are family. They share a bond that doesn't break.
"Even while playing with Big Smith, I've continued to do other things," Bilyeu says. "And this is just another thing I'm doing."
Finally.
Not yet in stores, the CD is available at www.mayapplerecords.com.
Michael Brothers News-Leader, Springfield, MO.
