Grayson Hugh The Moon Hawks Oddball Entertainment Presents: roots music series! soul, country, rock, gospel, jazzGrayson Hugh and the Moon Hawks May of 2010, after a long period of silence, Grayson Hugh released “An American Record”. This long-awaited recording heralds the return of this internationally acclaimed singer/songwriter and masterful pianist. This Connecticut-born artist released his 1988 RCA Debut “Blind To Reason”, that achieved widespread airplay throughout the States and in Europe. From this album came several global radio hits, including “Talk It Over”, “Bring It All Back” and “How Bout Us”, a duet with soul singer Betty Wright. The record went gold in the United States and Australia, and his music videos were in heavy rotation on VH1. Riding the success of this album, Hugh proceeded to wow audiences around the world with his passionate, high energy live performances. He toured for several years in support of this record in both the United States and Europe.Hugh’s follow-up record “Road To Freedom” (MCA 1992) was produced by the late Bernard Edwards. This album, arranged by Hugh, featured a more organic, band-based sound and combined elements of rock, country, blues and soul. It also brought Hugh’s Hammond B3 organ playing into the spotlight. “Road To Freedom” recieved rave reviews; Billboard Magazine called it one of 1992’s top-ten albums. The band that Hugh and Edwards assembled was an interesting blend of players. Rod Stewart’s long time band member Jeff Golub played all the guitars as well as mandolin and dobro; drummer Larry Aberman (who had been touring with Hugh) and bassist Al Berry had just recorded “Family Style” with Stevie Ray and Jimmie Vaughn. Upon hearing an advance pressing of “Road To Freedom”, director Ridley Scott personally requested two of Hugh’s songs from the record to be featured in his film “Thelma and Louise”. Yet another song from the record became the end-title song for hit 1991 film “Fried Green Tomatoes”.Grayson’s new band (The Moon Hawks) consists of Vini Miranda on guitar, Cindy Rickmond on bass and vocals, Jon Peckman on drums and Polly Messer on vocals. Playing with Vini and Cindy again is a bit like a family reunion; they toured with Grayson in the nineties and Cindy contributed vocals on his 1992 “Road To Freedom” album. They also performed in Grayson’s video “Soul Cat Girl”, which was filmed in 1992 in Los Angeles by director Sam Bayer. Vini Miranda has performed with Joe Cocker, Little Steven Van Zant, Freddie Jackson and Eminem. Cindy Rickmond has composed music for film and TV, and performed with Unknown Gender, Eric Mingus, Richard X. Heyman and Chris Rael’s Indo-pop group Church of Betty, among others. Jon Peckman has lent his unstoppable groove to such diverse artists as Danny Kortchmar, Jeff Pitchell and Texas Flood, and bands Eight To The Bar, Guitarness, Acoustica and Sweeter Than Wine. Singer Polly Messer, besides having harmonized with Grayson since the early 80′s, is a former member of Eight To The Bar and the rockabilly band Eugene Chrysler..youtube_sc iframe.yp{display:none;}The Adobe Flash Player is required for video playback. Get the latest Flash Player or Watch this video on YouTube.