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Conscious R&B and blues

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Contributed by: Doug Deutsch on 11/29/2006

Michael Campagna and the Average Johnsons perform live at the Capri Lounge, 1134 Pacific Ave., Glendale, Saturday, Dec. 2. Showtime is 9 p.m. each evening. No Cover Charge. For more information, call (818) 956-8738.

Campagna was nominated in the "Blues Artist Of the Year" category of the 2006 All Access Magazine Music Awards as well as in the "Songwriter of the Year" Category at the 2006 South Bay Music Awards in Hermosa Beach.

Campagna's new CD has been well-received by the media: "(This CD) is a hot mix of R&B and blues with a touch of classic rock, rolled into one nice-sounding CD!," writes NEW ARTIST RADIO. "Rich R&B music to the sweetest blues riffs you could ask for...Campagna's music has all-around depth to it's sound. Fun and very entertaining."

The fourteen-track disc features stellar songwriting by Campagna, who has written songs in his illustrious past for such well-known names as Chaka Khan, Maxine Nightingale, and Jennifer Holiday to name a few. Several of the tracks on MC&TAJ are co-written by longtime Campagna collaborator Gary Mallabar (drummer for Bonnie Raitt, Van Morrison) and Deborah Ash.

"U By U By U" kicks off this ultra-soulful disc with its catchy pop melody, featuring multiple harmonizing by Campagna and sweet-singing keyboardist-vocalist, Mauex Luv. "From The Inside" is more of the same tasteful AJ sound: Funky rhythm accompanied by multi-layered vocals and a short-but-sweet Campagna guitar solo. "Jump Up" is an up-tempo rock-n-soul tune exhorting people to get away from their everyday work drudge and let loose:

Everybody's doing something they don't wanna do,

Expired registration, parking tickets too,

Working for some dexter that don't care about you,

Now its time to pleasure down, unturn the screws

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Michael Campagna/Average Johnsons Page 2 of 2

"Oh Didn't They Tell You" slows the tempo done a tone or two, with Campagna and Luv expertly trading off vocals and instrumentals, and augmented by the solid Average Johnsons rhythm section (Chet West, bass; Brian Head, drums). "Get Up" is soul music/R&B at its best, with a most catchy lead vocal and chorus by Luv. The songs lyrics are as spiritually uplifting as the melody itself:

Every day's a new day,

The past is all gone,

The future's just a vacant dream,

Only have this moment to carry on,

I'm gonna get up...start my life again.

"That's What Love Can Do" is a tongue-in-chic' look at le' affairs of the heart, with Campagna's always-tasteful guitar interloping throughout; "Off To See The Wizard" - utilizing Campagna's guitar riff from all-time classic "The Wizard Of Oz" movie - extols the importance of having money in today's society and is funk/blues at its finest, perhaps the disc's most radio-friendly track; the equally-funky-esque "MONEY/Makes the Love Go 'Round" continues Campagna's acerbic-yet-accurate view of our cash-crazed society; "If I Were Made Of Stone" is a deep, soulful, groove, with West's thump-a-thump bass acting as a lead guitar on the track.

"Everybody's Cryin' Mercy" features Campagna and West trading guitar-and-bass licks, with the chorus, "Everybody's cryin' mercy...when it's time to pay." Notice a certain theme running throughout these $ong$??

"Eye Of The Storm" is a s-l-o-w-e-d down blues joint, Campagna leading via guitar and vocals; finally, "Time We Leave It Alone" is a jazzy interlude, with Luv's organ and Campagna's guitar playing off one another as only these two great talents can and capping off the multi-dimensional album in the finest of musical fashion. Visit www.averagejohnsons.com

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