The Real Story
BY: MARK DOYLE
- Conan's path to country music was a circuitous one. During grade school,
his first instrument was a recorder, but he soon graduated to trumpet. He
worshipped at the altar of Chuck Mangione and other noted jazz musicians,
developing both a prodigious talent and a somewhat elitist attitude toward
any other music but jazz. As fate would have it, he was dragged "kicking and
screaming" to the premiere of "The Buddy Holly Story" in 1978 and became an
overnight, die-hard rock fan. He purchased a bass guitar ("I bought it on
time from our paperboy for $120; each week when he came to collect, he also
collected my allowance until it was paid for!"), joined his first band and
wore out six copies of the live Journey album, Captured. The trumpet was a
thing of the past. His first foray into songwriting was called "Hold You Close,"
for which he wrote the lyrics.
- Conan continued on bass until 1990, when he got a wireless headset and guitar
and began fronting his bands, combining the elements of early rock and roll
with the new country music that was beginning to influence him. A desire to
understand the music business from the inside out prompted him to work several
jobs over the next few years.
- He ran lights and sound for local bands, hauled equipment, worked security
for concerts at the New York State Fair—– anything to work in and around music.
He would go on to spend the next 12 years as Production Manager for Polydor
and Curb recording artist, Benny Mardones ("Into the Night"), also serving
as lead singer for Benny's band, The Hurricanes, during rehearsals.
- He also began making trips to Nashville to check out the music scene and
keep in contact with friends who had moved there to try their hand at making
it in the music business. It was those trips, in part, that inspired Conan’s
1999 debut album, From NY to TN, issued on indie label, J-Bird Records. The
album garnered praise in the Central New York region for singing, songwriting,
arranging and guitar playing. Conan was subsequently nominated for a 2002
SAMMY Award, “Best Country Vocalist.” He continued to play out occasionally,
focusing mostly on writing and recording his next CD. In 2004 Conan won “Honorable
Mention” for his song, “Worth A Dime,” in the 4th Annual CMT/Nashville Songwriter’s
Association Songwriting Contest.
- Concerts at Bridge Street Music Hall in November 2003 and Bleachers in January
2004, where Conan tested out new personnel and new material, were well received
by fans and critics earning Conan a Syracuse New Times “Pick of the Week”
spot. Conan played Memorial Day 2004 weekend at the Sterling Stage Kampitheater
in Sterling, New York, and was asked by WSCP to be one of a few bands to perform
at CountryFest 2004, an annual event headlined this year by Marty Stuart,
John Anderson and Lee Greenwood. The band has also played recent club dates
at Club Tundra.
- Possessing a voice that can be honey-sweet in its mid-register and then
soar to a belting tenor, Conan uses it to convey the honest emotion of his
heartfelt songs. "My first album contained material compiled through a lifetime
of relationships, all of which touched me emotionally yet left me standing
alone, the person I am today," says Conan, with a wisdom belying his 30-odd
years. Beginning with the opening cut, "In Your Eyes," the songs used the
conceptual tool of following a long-distance relationship from its inception
to eventual dissolution. Along the way, we encountered some extraordinary
songs, based around Conan's acoustic and rhythm guitar and driven home by
his fine band.
- “My first record was kind of a concept thing, telling a story from start
to finish. The new record is really a "sequel" to that one, but it’s about
how I've moved on and put the past behind me,” Conan said. From the tongue-in-cheek
swipe at the South, “Hooked On Southern Love”, to "Worth A Dime" which uses
a joyful two-beat rhythm to propel it into a song of freeing oneself from
a bad relationship and moving on, as Conan sings,
"So save your prayers for someone else
it's all a waste of time
lookin' down this lonely road
I can tell that I'll be fine
cuz I'm takin' back my heart
a call from you ain't worth a dime."
to the “hold on to your dreams” message of “Til The Road Runs Out of Bricks,” the new record takes Conan to another level of songwriting and singing. As “Back Home” moves from its great opening line (“All my heroes died in plane wrecks”) through its uplifting key change and acapella break, we’ll quote the song’s chorus and leave Conan with the last word:“I spent my last days missing Tennessee and I found my way back home.”