.. CDBABY LINK for LARRY MURANTE: Water's Edge --**********************************************************
****************.. CDBABY LINK for LARRY MURANTE: Kiss Me One More Time --**********************************************************
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..Larry is one of the most highly-regarded singer-songwriters in the Northwest, with a growing following across the country. He brings an intense craftsmanship to his songs, giving us powerful experiences through the simple narratives about, and statements from, people he has met, known-or just known of.
---Bill Fisher-Victory Review---***************************************************
******************************Murante's lyrics and catchy folk/rock approach set him a few notches above most performers.
---Dirty Linen Aug---******************************************************
*****************************2002 Tumbleweed Festival Songwriting Contest/Richland, WA, Winner--
**2002 Billboard Song Contest/ Honorable Mention--
**2000 Samie Awards (Seattle Area Musical Innovation and excellence awards)
Nominated: Best Male vocalist, Album of the year,
Best performing Songwriter album--
**1999 Wildflower Songwriting Contest/ Richardson, Texas, Winner--
**1999 Falcon Ridge Festival Showcase Finalist/ Hillsdale, NY,--
**1999 Tumbleweed Festival Songwriting Contest/Richland, WA, 2nd place--
**1998 Tumbleweed Festival Songwriting Contest/Richland, WA, Winner--
**1998 Lakefolkfest Songwriting Contest/ Lakewood, WA, Top five winner--
**1998 Unisong International Song Contest Finalist--
**1991 Puget Sound Songwriting Contest/ Seattle, WA, winner--****************************************************
*****************************It's no surprise that Seattle-based Larry Murante is gaining a reputation as one of the finest contemporary singer songwriters to emerge from the Northwest in recent years.Larrys two CD releases, Kiss Me One More Time (1994) and Waters Edge (2000) have garnered critical acclaim from all over the country and parts of Europe. In the past few years hes racked up a string of national and regional songwriting awards and honors including first place winner of the 1999 Wildflower Songwriting Contest in Richardson, Texas, a showcase finalist at the 1999 Falcon Ridge Festival in Hillsdale, NY, as well as first place in the 2002 and 1998 Tumbleweed Festival Songwriting Contest in Richland, WA (Larry took second place in 99) and a top five winner at Lakewood, WAs 1998 Lakefolkfest Songwriting Contest.Larry grew up in the small rural town of Nazareth, Pennsylvania (also the home of Martin Guitars). In high school, Larry began singing in working bands of every kind. In my late teens I was singing in a wedding band that performed a variety of styles including jazz, pop, swing, R&B and top-40, he recalls. In those early years I was also singing in rock cover bands and playing in top 40 groups in town on the weekends. And when I wasnt doing that, I was listening to and playing acoustic folkrock music. My biggest influence from that period (and even today) were the early 70s singer/songwriters like Joni Mitchell, James Taylor, CSNY, the Eagles and Jackson Browne.Larrys voice today is a testament not only to good pipes but to years of training which hes done, logging over a decade of study with opera, jazz, and musical theater stylists among which was Metropolitan Opera veteran baritone, Frank Guarerra (Larry continues to lead a double life as a jazz/rock/R&B singer in his ten piece variety band, Second Wind, which has been together for over 15 years).His songs are full of the sense of how lucky and fragile our lives are (most of us): to have music, companionship, family, a roof overhead, a semblance of mental health, food on the table and the opportunity to grow these are gifts that in Larrys songs seem tenuous, revokable, and tender.Though his songs are cleanly structured, he rarely writes himself into a tight formal box, and you can feel his narrators eye moving across the landscape like a great, kindhearted novelist who stops to probe gently into each of his characters and their desires (sometimes his own) before moving on to the next scene.Larry tours nationally, performing a mix of folk concerts, festivals, radio interviews and house concerts and has shared the stage with such artists as Peter Mulvey, Greg Greenway, Pierce Pettis, David Broza, Cosy Sheridan, Laura Love, Michael McNevin, TR Ritchie, Joanne Rand, Jane Gillman, Darcie Deaville, Jim Page, Orville Johnson, Lisa Koch, David Maloney, Annie Gallup, Johnathan Kingham, Caren Armstrong and I once shared an elevator with Pete Seeger. He looked right at me and said, Hi.
