Billy Rogan is a well-versed guitarist know mostly for his instrumental acoustic work, whose influences include the styles and techniques of artists such as Michael Hedges, Leo Kottke, Keller Williams and Kaki King. His original compositions reflect a unique combination of classical and modern fingerstlye with hints of new age sounds that blend forms with these intricate details of inspiration. Rogan's skilled touch brings stories to the strings in wordless tales of heartfelt bits and pieces, shifting rhythms and tempos - all with a soulful, fiery feel.
Over his short career thus far, Billy Rogan has been exploring many exciting new avenues of solo instrumentation with his acoustic guitar. By no means has Rogan invented this two handed, keyboard/drum approach to the guitar, but he has been having a blast creating and finding his voice within the challenging style. "It's quite demanding." says Rogan. All the songs you hear on the disc are one track with no overdubs, no effects, no loops or anything of the sort. In other words-what you hear and see is what you get and the same goes for a live performance.
Being raised in Northeast Pennsylvania by a single mom who taught piano, composed and even wrote her own musical, Billy dove heart first into the world of music that surrounded him. His first instrument was the alto saxophone. Rogan played the sax from grades three through nine and attended Valley Forge Military Academy during summer months to continue his musical education. Finding limitation with the instrument, he turned to his tenth grade Christmas gift- an acoustic guitar, which has been with him ever since. Rogan was at such an early age able to connect with the music that was influencing his life at the time and all throughout his high school years that's all he did. "I was a pretty centered, yet wild kid and all the while during high school I just wanted to practice, learn more, play and jam with others. Those years have a very large impact on my soloing, writing, improv techniques and how I view the importance of listening and connecting with music. The style I am focusing on now is a whole new, exciting world for me which relies solely on writing music through the discipline of persistence and some form of internal connection. In the last 18 months or so, I've been teaching myself a lot of interesting, crazy techniques and I've never devoted so much attention to just the acoustic. Ever. "
This journey of living life through his love for music has taken him from coast to coast. From Lake Worth, Florida to Lake Tahoe, California and places North from Burlington, Vermont and Boston, Mass. and South to Palm Beach, Florida. As well as the Bay Area in Berkeley, San Francisco and Oakland, California and his travels as far as Trinidad. The end result of
this past years labor has been Rogan's first all instrumental solo release
titled, "A Loss for Words". Songs on the album vary from long compositions, relaxing melodies and even a little bit of rock. The album was recorded and
mixed in late December of 2006 in Boston, Mass. at Melville Park Studio by
sound engineer Steve Friedman who introduced himself to Billy Rogan after hearing and recording his performance at famous Club Passim. The Billy Rogan solo debut album "A Loss for Words" CD was released January 27, 2007 with a Live performance by the solo guitarist at The Northeast Theatre in Scranton, Pennsylvania. Sara Moore, a protege of the esteemed Jim Fitts has been photodocumenting Rogan's career up to this point. She highlights Billy Rogan's compositions on her website saramoorestudios.com as well as his album cover. His homebase in Clarks Summit is an area tucked away in the hillsides of Northeastern Pennsylvania where he
teaches guitar and composes music in his homestudio. To arrange for an interview, bookings, or for detailed information regarding the artist, please contact
[email protected] or
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