Monday, April 1, 2024

JEFF LAKE’S MIDNIGHT SUN: COUNTRY FRIED ROCK!


Singer/Songwriter Jeff Lake presents his debut album “MIDNIGHT SUN” - available now on Spotify and all the major music services. Jeff Lake combines elements of folk, bluegrass, and rock to form his own brand of Americana, or as he likes to call it - “COUNTRY FRIED ROCK”.

“Midnight Sun” was released to radio on January 2, 2024. It debuted on the AMA (Americana Music Association) chart at #136. Nearly two months later, it has inched its way up to #100. With 96 radio stations playing songs from the “Midnight Sun” album nationwide, the title-track and single is sitting at #120 on the Music Row chart.

“Midnight Sun” the album (and the song) are a smörgåsbord of string instruments intertwining traditional acoustic instruments - acoustic guitars, fiddle, banjo, mandolin, pedal-steel & upright bass - with electric guitar power chords & all the regular rock accouterments.

The song leads with a rhythmic, rap-styled vocal hook with a layered 80s rock-styled treatment, and is an homage to Led Zeppelin’s “Immigrant Song” - “Hey, ho, got to go to the midnight sun where the hot springs blow!”

Lyrically, the song speaks to Lake’s own plight as well as the plight of artists everywhere - feelings of detachment, displacement, depression & life in a rapidly changing world:


“Got a few bucks in my pocket

“And a ticket for the train.

“I sip my whiskey in solace

“And think about the good ol’ days.”



Another homage, this one to Jim Morrison, illustrates the point further in verse 2:


“All the streets - they are uneven.

“All the faces lookin’ strange.

“All the women here are wicked

“As I drift through outer space”



But, all is not doom and gloom says Lake: “There’s this magical place - the lands of my ancestors - where we can all go to dance and sing and live happily ever after!”



A multi-genre singer/songwriter, Lake has written music for Universal Greece recording artist, Michalis, and the theme song for CBS’s Latin American Idol spinoff show, the “Nueva Estrella Awards”. He has performed and recorded alongside members of TSO (the Trans Siberian Orchestra), the Dennis DeYoung Band (Styx), as well as the Billy Joel Band.

Jeff Lake picked up his first guitar at 8 years old. By junior high school he put together his first band for the annual talent show. By 17, he played his first professional gig and has never looked back. Music aside, Jeff is a long suffering Mets & Jets fan, and a Civil War buff. He was a journalism/history major at Brooklyn College before quitting school to pursue music full-time.

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