Official National Press Release For Next Stop, Willoughby
John Batdorf, the legendary singer-songwriter solo artist and one half of Las Vegas Rock and Roll Hall of Famers folk-rock duo Batdorf & Rodney, has released a brand new album Next Stop, Willoughby, a collection of ten original songs all written, produced, arranged, mixed, sung, and performed entirely by John. He will be touring this summer with select dates across the U.S.
Batdorf recorded Next Stop, Willoughby in his Central Oregon-based home studio over the course of the last six months. The project was inspired by Paul McCartney’s first one-man-band solo record in 1970. “Normally I recruit other musicians/singers to be a part of the album but this time I decided to do it all myself. I loved Paul McCartney’s first solo recordin 1970 where he pretty much did the same. So as I approach age 65, I figured now was the time.”
In his four-decade career, Batdorf has worked with many of the cornerstone figures of the music business as an artist, including Ahmet Ertegun, David Geffen, Clive Davis, Adele, Rod Stewart, Donna Summer, Dwight Yoakum, David Lee Roth, and Mtley Crue; garnered cult status as a classic folk-rock singer-songwriter of the bands Batdorf & Rodney and Silver, whose 1975 smash hit “Wham Bam Shang-A-Lang” is currently enjoying a renaissance as part of the 70s mixtape in the new movie and soundtrack Guardians Of The Galaxy ll; and reinvented himself as a successful film and TV composer, session vocalist, and inspirational musician in the substance recovery community.
In the last decade, he has returned to being an artist: reinvigorated not only by revisiting his canon classics, but by writing fresh, broadly resonate music on par with his beloved back catalog.
Through his many successful reinventions and working with the industry’s finest within each context, John surveys his legacy: “My whole life I’ve strived to do the best I possibly could and help people along the way with the talent I was blessed to be born with. That’s all we can really ever ask of ourselves.”
http://www.broadwayworld.com/bwwmusic/article/John-Batdorf-Channels-Paul-McCartney-in-New-Solo-Album-Next-Stop-Willoughby-20170607
