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Highway Ghosts

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Hometown	Boston, MA
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Band Members	David DeLuca; Dennis Barry; Dan Cody; Matt Slowick
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Upcoming Shows	None

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About the Artist

"...an auspicious debut that brims with equal parts heartache, swagger, and a dose of hard-won wisdom." -Jonathan Perry, Boston Globe

“...a tasty slab of country rock and roots.." -Chad Berndtson, Patriot Ledger

"..the band have put the essential parts together - well written songs, sound musicianship and solid production, and the end result is a more than solid debut showcasing the bands talents"
- Review in "Beat Surrender"

You can call it ‘Americana’, ‘Roots’, or just plain ‘Rock 'n Roll’; labels really don't matter to Highway Ghosts. Their goals are simple: write great songs, record high quality CDs, and perform as a solid live band. That's all.

But how do you balance the time constraints of a career, family, and home life with the demands of making great music? Highway Ghosts are on the road to finding that answer. Their debut CD After All This Time is an appropriate title for a band whose members are all approaching 40, but do not believe that you have to sacrifice everything to make a great album.

Highway Ghosts formed in 2007 when drummer Matt Slowick joined David DeLuca (guitar), Dan Cody (guitar) and Dennis Barry (bass) for an old fashioned jam session. They immediately knew they had something good, so they spent the next two years developing original songs which fit the style of Roots/Americana music. The songs tell familiar stories, from the heartache of "Taken" and "If You Were Mine" to the communal search for meaning in "In the End" and "Troubled Shoes", to the homesick yearning in "Home." Contributions from vocalist Ward Hayden (Girls, Guns & Glory) and keyboardist Jim Gambino (Swinging Steaks) enhance the album's musical potency. This CD represents everything that is important to Highway Ghosts: real people playing real instruments, rich vocal harmonies, and inspired songwriting.

Highway Ghosts want people to enjoy their music as much as they love making it. Over the next several years, the band will work diligently to promote their music and establish a reputation as a highly acclaimed roots/Americana band.

Contact information:
Email: david@highwayghosts.com
Web: www.highwayghosts.com

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"Highway Ghosts ready for the fast lane" by Patriot Ledger
Highway Ghosts ready for fast lane. By CHAD BERNDTSON For The Patriot Ledger Posted Nov 13, 2009 @ 12:32 PM Highway Ghosts is a relatively new band – about 2 years old – but its debut album, “After All This Time,” is a tasty slab of country rock and roots, far too cohesive for a crop of rookies. Naturally, there’s a good reason for that: At least three of its four members – guitarist/vocalist David DeLuca, bassist/vocalist Dennis Barry and guitarist/vocalist Dan Cody – are studied veterans of the Boston and South Shore club circuit. About “six or seven bands” have used some combination of the three during the past decade, DeLuca said. “We used to open for Swinging Steaks a lot and open for bands like the Fools,” DeLuca said. Then Matt Slowick, an old college chum, joined on as the group’s drummer. “We jammed and suddenly it seemed like we had the right lineup,” DeLuca said. “I always had a sense that we were better than what we were showing out there. We never made our mark, you know? We never had enough confidence in the writing. Suddenly, it felt like we had the material to do something.” The foursome launched in 2007 with two names: Highway Ghosts, which was devoted to the band’s original material, and Interstate Highway, which was the name used at clubs when the band played only cover songs. Gradually, said DeLuca, the gigs became a blend of originals and covers, and the band agreed to keep one name. Local cover gigs have led to more varied South Shore and Boston shows, where the band plays a healthy dose of covers but also pushes its originals to the fore. The band has a number of gigs on tap to close out 2009, including a return to Oliver’s at the Cask’n Flagon on Friday, and a visit to KC’s Pub in Weymouth in December. As for the album. it’s more like a pilot light than a blazing inferno: strong enough to be convincing – especially in its uptempo country rockers – and if the ballads aren’t quite so fluid, the album holds much promise of more accomplished material. DeLuca, who hails from Weymouth, said he wants Highway Ghosts to follow the model of local bands like the Swinging Steaks and Scituate’s Girls, Guns & Glory – both of which achieved regional success through an excellent product, relentless touring and strong word of mouth. “Right after (GGG) won the WBCN Rumble, I was in Weymouth and I picked up a copy of The Ledger, actually, with an article about the band’s rising success. They reminded me a lot of the Swinging Steaks and I’m good friends with those guys, so I decided to seek (GGG lead singer) Ward (Hayden) out,” DeLuca said. “Swinging Steaks and Girls Guns & Glory are the two bands that most affect us locally, and we’re now proud to call them friends, too.” Fittingly, members of both bands join Highway Ghosts on the album: Hayden sings harmony vocals on several tracks and Steaks keyboards mainstay Jim Gambino kicks in on organ. “After All This Time” was recorded at DeLuca’s home. He has a professional audio background – he studied sound design in his UMass-Amherst days and was for some time the fill-in live soundman at the old Sea Note in Hull. A ProTools setup DeLuca had in-house was enough to get the songs recorded and sent off for mixing and mastering. “The first piece of advice I heard from everybody was you have to have a CD – you have to have a product to sell to start to generate attention,” said DeLuca, who now lives in Canton and, by day, works in sales for Hewlett-Packard. DeLuca and his bandmates are all local: Cody also hails from Weymouth and now lives in Rhode Island; Barry is Whitman-born and now a Rockland dweller; and Slowick grew up in Mansfield, but now lives in Arlington. “We’re ready to bust out next year,” DeLuca said. “We’ve reached the point where there’s a strong interest out there and we think the material is there, and we’re going to start breaking into some of the original singer/songwriter, folk and roots clubs in the area. We’re ready.”

"..an auspicious debut.." by Boston Globe
On 'After All This Time,' Highway Ghosts masterfully blend roots-rocking guitars, ragged-but-right vocals set to rustic melodies, and other good stuff that never goes out of style when it's done right. Echoing the late-night/early morning feel of alt-country progenitors such as the BoDeans and the Jayhawks, this is an auspicious debut that brims with equal parts heartache, swagger, and a dose of hard-won wisdom." -- Jonathan Perry, Boston Globe

"well written songs..solid production" by Beat Surrender
Final one of the day is from the Highway Ghosts a Boston MA based rock outfit.The band were born out of an old-fashioned jam session between Dennis Barry (Bass / Vocals), Matt Slowick (Drums / Vocals) ,Dan Cody (Guitar / Vocals) and David DeLuca (Guitar / Vocals), taking inspiration from each other the band have released a CD entitled After This Time, assisted by Ward Hayden on vocals and Jim Gambino on keyboards. The album is a set of twelve original roots rock tracks which walk the familiar ground of heartache, loss and yearning, my picks from the album are Troubled Shoes and Talk About It Later , this album breaks no new ground, but the band have put the essential parts together - well written songs, sound musicianship and solid production, and the end result is a more than solid debut showcasing the bands talents.

Getting to know... by Boston Music Spotlight
Every week we let a local band tell us about themselves. Today, we get to know Highway Ghosts. You catch them perform at Olivers Nightclub on Friday, November 13 as part of a showcase co-sponsored by Boston Music Spotlight and DefHog.com. Band Name: Highway Ghosts Members: David DeLuca: Vocals, Guitar (Canton, MA) Dennis Barry: Vocals, Bass, Guitar (Rockland, MA) Dan Cody: Guitar, Bass, Vocals (Cumberland, RI) Matt Slowick: Drums, Vocals (Arlington, MA) Releases: After All This Time Website: www.highwayghosts.com www.myspace.com/highwayghosts

Featured in podcast by Americana Roots
Click on the link below to hear the podcast: http://americanarockmix.com/2009/10/21/episode-52-running-the-gamut/

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Highway Ghosts

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