1. Pioche, Nevada
About an hour past “Area 51″ is an old lawless wild west mining town called Pioche. It’s said 17 people died there before the first person died of a natural death. A hundred years ago, it was the County Seat. The brick building in the center of the picture is the Million Dollar Courthouse. The usual reasons – government scandals.
2. The View
The courthouse was built on high ground – here’s a view of the area – population 1800. There’s more people living on my block than in this town!
3. The Hanging Yard
The grassy knoll to the left is where they hung the bad guys. The gallows are still there – behind the iron gate.
4. The Million Dollar Courthouse
Here’s a frontal view. The building on the left was the town hotel. Herbert Hoover stayed there
5. Smoke Break
It’s now a museum, and I was told we were the only tourists in over a month. In a state where nothing is against the law, you can’t smoke in the courthouse, so I stepped outside to have a cig… and my son snapped this pic.
6. PhotoShop
When it came time for a CD cover shoot, I wanted to do it in Pioche – but the logistics of transporting a crew to Pioche and staying overnight was prohibitive. So one of my favorite graphics artists – Jen Goode – “fixed” the smoking picture.
7. This Time CD
We decided an album has to have a cowboy hat, so we decided to re-do the picture one more time – and it became the cover art for the “This Time” CD release.
Only 5 Days left to Be in Billy Kay’s Music Video When You Hold Me Tight
It was two years ago this week that I released my first song and became – on April 8, 2010 – the most downloaded person in Las Vegas! What a humbling experience! In that time I’ve been played on radio stations all over the world. I got to play The Las Vegas Hilton. I reached #3 in Denmark! My idols are following my Tweets! And we’ve raised lots of money for various charities. I’ve been floating on air the whole time.
You don’t have to be a songwriter to feel the thrill when I discovered there were people all over the world making videos of themselves dancing to my songs! This is one of my favorites – the Kenyalang Line Dancers two-stepping to me, in of all places, a parking garage somewhere in Asia! C’mon! In my wildest dreams I never saw THAT happening!
Last year I organized Country for a Cause, a CD with my favorite indie Country Artists, with ALL proceeds going to The Shade Tree Shelter for battered women. I logged into Tunecore yesterday, and even 6 months after it was released it’s still raising funds – it was $54.63 last month! There’s a link on the right of this page if you want to hear any of the tracks.
The latest project has been a labor of love. We’ve been cutting the track since December! It’s being mixed down now for it’s scheduled April 15 release date. As I mentioned in a previous post, there are many people who have inspired me and helped me along the way – and I get to use all of those folks on this track!
My producer Gene, who takes what I hear in my head and magically pulls it out of me – and all the artists involved. Besides arranging, he’s doing all the male backup vocals and bass guitar.
I’ve used Enrique on guitar since day one. No matter how vague I am when I say “Can you play yada-yada-yada on guitar one, and then answer it on guitar two”… he instinctively knows what to do! He plays eight guitars on this track!
When we got Tommy to add the pedal steel guitar, I was blown away. Being a New Yorker, the pedal steel is alien to me, yet Tommy added just the right amount of color to the track.
I’ve been a fan of Volary ever since I discovered her on Butterflies Radio. I asked her to do backup vocals and she graciously accepted. She was without peer! Her vocals make the song!
My day job is affiliate marketing. Been doing it for over a decade. I’ve met some wonderful and talented people in the industry over the years. And… yep… I get to use them on this project also. Two of my dear friends in the industry, Missy and Debbie, are part of the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer, so that deserving charity was chosen to get a part of all proceeds until the Walk Event ends in November.
And the person who I credit with starting my music career, my friend Brian, is playing piano on this track. His parts were recorded in Chicago, and are being mixed here in Las Vegas. That’s my view on Brian (in the Cowboy hat) from my laptop – as I attended the session via skype. I uploaded the clip to my IndieGOGO page as “Update 9″ so you can give it a listen.
Another friend – Jim K – told me about CrowdFunding – which we’re using to finance the video. I’m old school – you buy the song AFTER the artist releases it! But the newer generation lives by this – people pre-purchase a CD, and the artist uses those funds to pay the people involved in its production.
Brian Records Piano for When You Hold Me Tight This is a special update to “When You Hold Me Tight”. If you’ve been reading between the lines, there have been many people who have inspired me or helped me in my music career, and I’m getting to use a lot of them on this project. [...]
Today is one of my favorite’s birthday – Roger Hodgson So here’s me playing Long Way Home live on piano and… what the hec… my brother Chris and I playing our all time favorite – Give a Little Bit – on his boat in Zach’s Bay, Long Island: Thank you Roger – and Happy Birthday! [...]
The Original Demo for When You Hold Me Tight by Billy Kay The Original Demo for When You Hold Me Tight by Billy Kay Before I head to the recording studio, I make a demo on my Tascam recorder so my producer can hear the sound I’m going for. I don’t usually share these – [...]
Avon Walk for Breast Cancer Chosen as Charity Recipient for Billy Kay’s Next Song! Billy Kay has given proceeds from all his projects to registered charities. We’re proud to announce that Avon Walk for Breast Cancer will be receiving half of all the proceeds from “When You Hold Me Tight”. All money raised by the [...]
My Pageant Place to do Makeup for Billy Kay’s Next Music Video! We’re proud to announce that Liz Fogg from My Pageant Place will be doing makeup for the “When You Hold Me Tight” music video. Liz usually provides quality makeup services to those in the beauty pageant industry. With a number of years experience, [...]
Be in Billy Kay’s Next Music Video: Hugging Pictures Thanks to everyone who has been submitting photos of themselves hugging. We’re going thru them as diligently as we can and will upload them here. Here’s two that we’ll be using in the video. Carol and Mark and Carolyn and Jeff If you want to be [...]
And the person who I credit with starting my music career, my friend Brian, is playing piano on this track. His parts were recorded in Chicago, and are being mixed here in Las Vegas. That’s my view on Brian (in the Cowboy hat) from my laptop – as I attended the session via skype. I uploaded the clip to my IndieGOGO page as 
