TESLA Guitarist To Play 'Gypsy Highway' CD-Release Show

TESLA guitarist Frank Hannon will celebrate the release of his new solo album, "Gypsy Highway", with a special performance tonight (Saturday, September 4) at the El Dorado Saloon in El Dorado Hills, California. The all-ages acoustic part of the show will take place between 8 p.m. and 10 p.m. and will be followed by the 21-and-over party from 10 p.m. until 2 a.m.

Advance ticket holders will receive a free copy of "Gypsy Highway" CD at the show merch table for purchasing the ticket.

Seating in front of the stage will be very limited and will be made available on a first-come-first-served basis.

Hannon recently described "Gypsy Highway" as "an acoustic collection of songs that are very close to my heart… sort of like autobiographical stories that I wrote and sang completely on my own with acoustic guitar. The title track, 'Gypsy Highway', is my story of leaving on the road and flying out of Tulsa, Oklahoma from Rocklahoma. I mention Willie Nelson in the song because it seems that 'On the road again…' always echos through my head when I leave home.

"As a kid, I loved some of the artist my mom was into like Kris Kristofferson, Willie Nelson, Bob Dylan and Johnny Cash was my first concert ever. The 'storytelling' style of songwriting has always been fascinating to me, like the song 'Me And Bobby McGee', for example. Singing is a whole another world for me and it took me a long time to find my voice as a lead singer and feel comfortable exposing my soul that way.

"On 'Gypsy Highway', I wrote, sang and played all the instruments and it is definitely an 'acoustic'-type album that shares a lot of my roots and life experiences from the heart.

"On this new album I play acoustic and electric guitars dobro slide, banjo, fretless bass, jembe drums, drums and percussion, flute, cello, piano and organ, lead vocals and background harmonies. I engineered the album while playing as well which could get real tricky at times pushing the 'record' button.

"At a young age, I learned to overdub music on a four- track cassette deck, and so composing all the instruments together on an album actually wasn't too hard. It's like putting together puzzle pieces and make it fit to sound as good as you can. Robbie Furiosi also played some guest drums on three of the songs. So, after six months of this work, 'Gypsy Highway' is now DONE!!!

"Here are a few of the songtitles and descriptions:

"'The Hills Of California' is a song/story about the impact of the Sierra mountains on my childhood, going camping and learning to swim in the river. It has a tribal feel to it with the jembe drum and a flute solo. This song also has a nylon classical guitar solo.

"'After the Rain' is a song about how life and relationships have many storms, but we get through them and everything is always better after the rain.

"'Watch Me Fall Again' is a song that tells of how I know I'm damn sure ain't perfect, but I try hard to do the right things in this life. It's tough sometimes…

"'Sweet Southern Sound' is a song I wrote about my love of LYNYRD SKYNYRD and southern music. Originally I wrote it in MOON DOG MANE, but I remade it much better here after several of you guys told you like the song.

"These are just a few, but there are 14 songs on the album; yes, 14!! And I love them all.

"I hope you guys like it, but honestly I can't worry about that because it's as real as I can get. I wanted to make this album 100% real from my heart."