Artist of the Week: Bret Michaels
Birth Date: March 15, 1963
Genre: Rock, Pop, Country, Americana
In my day job, I work for Bret Michaels, so this artist of the week feature will be a little bit different.
Over the years I have had an insider’s view of the artist Bret Michaels. There are many facets to Bret Michaels, but the songs he’s written during the time I have worked for him and being a part of the process of releasing some of those songs has been pretty amazing.
My favorite songs are probably different than most people’s favorites. That holds true for almost every artist I listen to. When you work for an artist you get to hear songs that don’t make it to the album or are just for special projects. I will admit that I have a few favorites I can’t share, but I will share my favorites of the released tracks.
If you have never seen Bret Michaels live, you should. I say that not from an employee standpoint, but from a music fan standpoint. He has so much fun on stage and it shows. He wins new fans with his down-to-earth, party-like-a-rock-star way about him. He enjoys what he does and does his best to make sure that everyone enjoys themselves at his shows.
My song choices for this Artist of the Week lean towards the country star in Bret, with a few fun rock songs, too. I am a big country music fan, but it’s not so much that some of these songs are country that makes me like them, but the story within each song that I love. Bret writes music that he wants to write. While he’s been classified in one genre or another, he just writes what he writes and it comes out the way it comes out. He listens to and enjoys all kinds of music, and has his whole life, so it is expected that he write all kinds of music.
The music selections below are for the tracks I can share with you, with their Rhapsody links. Someday I hope to be able to share with you some of the other tracks that he hasn’t released, there are a few good ones in there.
1) “Little Willy” (A Letter From Death Row) – http://www.rhapsody.com/artist/bret-michaels/album/a-letter-from-death-row/track/little-willy
2) “Steel Bar Blues” (A Letter From Death Row) – http://www.rhapsody.com/artist/bret-michaels/album/a-letter-from-death-row/track/steel-bar-blues–violent-endings
3) “Menace To Society” (Songs Of Life) – http://www.rhapsody.com/artist/bret-michaels/album/songs-of-life-poor-boy-records/track/menace-to-society
4) “Forgiveness” (Songs Of Life) – http://www.rhapsody.com/artist/bret-michaels/album/songs-of-life-poor-boy-records/track/forgiveness
5) “Songs Of Life” (Songs Of Life) – http://www.rhapsody.com/artist/bret-michaels/album/songs-of-life-poor-boy-records/track/songs-of-life
6) “Fallen Angel” (Show Me Your Hits: A Salute To Poison) – http://www.rhapsody.com/artist/bret-michaels/album/bret-michaels-presents-show-me-your-hits—a-salute-to-poiso/track/fallen-angel
7) “The Other Side Of Me” (Ballads, Blues and Stories) – http://www.rhapsody.com/artist/bret-michaels/album/ballads-blues-and-stories/track/the-other-side-of-me-song
8) “Open Road” (Freedom Of Sound Vol. 1) – http://www.rhapsody.com/artist/bret-michaels/album/freedom-of-sound-vol-1-a-collection-of-songs-past-and-presen/track/open-road
9) “Lookin’ For A Good Time” (Freedom of Sound Vol. 1) – http://www.rhapsody.com/artist/bret-michaels/album/freedom-of-sound-vol-1-a-collection-of-songs-past-and-presen/track/lookin-for-a-good-time
10) “Future Ex-Wife” (Freedom of Sound Vol. 1) – http://www.rhapsody.com/artist/bret-michaels/album/freedom-of-sound-vol-1-a-collection-of-songs-past-and-presen/track/future-ex-wife-country-demos
For everything Bret Michaels, including samples of all of his released songs and a few new ones – including “The App Song” – go to http://www.bretmichaels.com
