THE TIME IS NOW FOR KEATON SIMON

THE TIME IS NOW FOR KEATON SIMONS:

“CAN YOU HEAR ME” DEBUT ALBUM

IS AVAILABLE ON CBS RECORDS AND

U.S. TOUR LAUNCHES JULY 23

July 18, 2008 -- It’s been years in the making, but the time to share his music on his terms has finally arrived for singer/guitarist/songwriter KEATON SIMONS. His debut album, CAN YOU HEAR ME, was released June 10 on CBS Records.

Produced by Dave Bianco (Mick Jagger, Zach De La Rocha, The Black Crowes), the album mines the classic singer/songwriter traditions spawned by greats like Van Morrison, Rod Stewart, John Hiatt and other artists known for their soulful sway. The album’s first single, “Good Things Get Better,” is racking up spins on radio stations nationwide and he’s set to perform the track on the “Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson” on Monday, July 21.

Thanks to the label’s familial relationship with CBS Television, songs from CAN YOU HEAR ME (“Mama’s Song” and “Unstoppable”) have already appeared on various CBS programs, including “NCIS” and “Numb3rs.” Keaton’s music will be featured in future episodes of these and other shows throughout the new Fall TV season.

In touring news, Keaton is getting ready to launch a U.S. tour with Ernie Halter, and he’ll be doing a slew of dates with Curtis Peoples and Todd Carey in August. In the midst of all these shows, he’ll be making a special in-store acoustic performance/signing appearance at Borders in Cincinnati, OH on Sunday, August 31. Keaton will also be participating in Koffeehouse Music Productions’ “An Evening of Independence,” a benefit concert on Sunday, August 10 at the Ford Amphitheatre in Los Angeles, CA. The show will also feature performances by A Fine Frenzy, Tyrone Wells and Matt Scannell (Vertical Horizon), among many others, and is supporting the Guitar Center Music Foundation. Tickets are currently available at www.koffeehouse.com.

Throughout CAN YOU HEAR ME, Keaton’s tasteful Rock/Blues fretwork, masterful songwriting and searing vocals bring an honesty and integrity that’s instantly embracing, a warm emotional center core that reaches from the tangled vulnerability of opening track “Without Your Skin” and the lean, sensual drift of “To Me” to the spry suggestion of the title track and the playful intrigue of “Misfits.” “Nobody Knows” proves instantly infectious, its sinewy rhythms wrapping around an irresistible refrain, while “Good Things Get Better” touts an optimistic view of the bonds that develop and strengthen through the inevitable ups and downs of relationships.

“I wanted to get back to honest, straight-forward expression; a purity and dynamic that relied on the strength of the songs and not the added embellishment of the arrangements,” Keaton insists. “I think this album represents who I am as an artist and captures the sound of my live performances authentically.”

In a recent Sunday “Calendar” feature story, Scott Gold of the Los Angeles Times praised the album as: “…a deft effort at capturing Simons' unusual and versatile sound. The songs include delicate, jazzy ballads and powerful blues numbers, peppered with elements of Elvis Costello, Eagle-Eye Cherry and Lenny Kravitz.”

While Susan Frances of Hybridmagazine.com raved: “…the album shows Simons' valid attachment to what affects regular people's lives, the way blue-collar rock artists like Bruce Springsteen and The Allman Brothers have done in the past. Like these guys, Simons' album takes music from the bar-room to the world stage and never loses its credibility to connect with regular people's lives along the way.”

Music seems to be in Keaton’s genes. He was singing from the time he started talking…even before his first birthday. By the time he was two, he was entertaining his classmates in day care. At age twelve he was already adept on guitar, and by fourteen he had decided to make music his career. That obsession carried over to college, earning him a degree in Ethnomusicology--the study of World Music--at The Evergreen State College in Washington State. Absorbing a varied array of classic influences--Hendrix, Dylan, The Beatles, Joni Mitchell, Muddy Waters, B.B. King and Robert Johnson among them--he immersed himself in all forms of music, from Rock to Jazz, Blues to Bluegrass and melded them into a mix that’s timely and timeless.

In 2004, he signed a deal with Maverick Records, which led to a critically acclaimed debut EP called CURRENTLY. The title track garnered massive airplay at several radio stations around the country, including L.A.’s leading tastemaker station KCRW. It also achieved Top 5 rotation on MTVU, MTV’s specially formatted college outlet, sharing top spins with Green Day and Eminem.

Around the time of the EP’s release, he was featured in the hit TV shows “Malcolm in the Middle” and “American Dreams.” He also appeared in the movie “Hollywood Dreams” (from noted independent director Henry Jaglom) and continued to tour, gaining exposure before increasingly larger audiences and sharing the stage with such notable names as Coldplay, Chris Isaak, Gnarls Barkley, Five For Fighting and Josh Kelley, with whom he co-wrote three songs for Kelley’s upcoming album. Keaton capped his accomplishments at that time with a second place win in the prestigious John Lennon Songwriting Competition.

Check out Keaton Simons at any of the following stops:

DATE CITY VENUE

*Tue 7/23 San Diego, CA Lestat’s Coffeehouse

*Thu 7/25 Logan, UT Why

*Fri 7/26 Denver, CO The Walnut Room

*Thu 7/31 Nashville, TN 3rd & Lindsley Bar & Grill

Sun 8/10 Los Angeles, CA Ford Amp

** Thu 8/21 Allston, MA Great Scott

**Fri 8/22 New York, NY The Bitter End

** Sat 8/23 Rockaway, NJ Acoustic Café

** Sun 8/24 Vienna, VA Jammin Java

** Mon 8/25 Chapel Hill, NC The Cave

** Tue 8/26 Charlotte, NC The Evening Muse

** Wed 8/27 Atlanta, GA Eddie’s Attic

** Thu 8/28 Nashville, TN 3rd & Lindsley

** Fri 8/29 Chicago, IL Beat Kitchen

** Sat 8/30 Richmond, IN Earlham College

Sun 8/31 Cincinnati, OH Borders in-store

** Mon 9/1 Indianapolis, IN Birdy’s Bar & Grill

** Tue 9/2 Grand Rapids, MI The Intersection

* Indicates dates with Ernie Halter

** Indicates dates with Curtis Peoples & Todd Carey