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Alabama Music Office.com goes to Huntsville, Alabama to attend StartleFest at the Flying Monkey Theatre in Lowe Mill. This was the first annual StartleFest.

Startlingly Fresh Records producer Jim Cavender breaks down Huntsville label's six upcoming releases By Matt Wake
HUNTSVILLE, Alabama -- Roots musician Jim Cavender has so many albums coming out, it makes Lil Wayne (who at one point seemed to appear on a new rap single, mixtape or LP every 10 to 14 days) look like Dr. Dre (who's been working approximately 4,272 days thus far on his "Detox" album with no release date in sight).

Cavender is co-owner of Startlingly Fresh Records.

The Huntsville label is dropping new releases from at least six local acts at their June 8 StartleFest concert, and Cavender appears on every one of the following records as a producer, musician or both. I asked him to break down each release.

Dawn Osborne Band "Dawn Osborne Band"
"This is mainstream pop/rock/R&B that still manages to be unique, Cavender says. "With Dawn's incredible voice leading the way, they aim for the heart, brain and booty all at once, and never miss. Dawn cut the early scratch vocal tracks when she had a cold, and I still hesitated on recutting her singing because it sounded so good."

Ivy Joe Milan "Hey Baby (It Won't Be Wrong)/America!" CD single
"Ivy Joe is a local legend and a very cool guy. We're in the midst of a full CD project on him, but for now this preview single will have to do. He wrote both numbers, sings and plays congas and assorted percussion."

Rolling Jazz Revue "rjr"
"We cut this in two sessions at Southwood Presbyterian Church in Jones Valley, with James Parker co-producing. He did a dynamite job on the technical end, but also provided some much-needed perspective. We thought the second session was a disaster until he gave us rough mixes of the best takes. This is our fifth CD, but the first with the current lineup."

PleasPlease "I Dream Of Jonny"
"This is a band whose sound changes from song to song - requested songs are rearranged to 'surprise' the requester. The brainstorming sessions for coming up with arrangements give me an idea of what it must've been like to work on old Warner Brothers cartoons. It's hard to stop laughing long enough to get any work done."

Trio El Camino "Trio El Camino"
"Newt Johnson, Mike Dendy and I have had this band for several years now, and this CD is divided between tunes we've perfected on live gigs and songs I sprung on them during the recording process. I love the balance between live energy and studio experimentation. And I love our cover of 'Louie Louie' we threw together overnight for Brad Posey's 'Invisible City' show on WLRH."

Jim Cavender and Josh Couts "The Odd Couple" and "Fridays At Noon"
"Josh is an incredible guitarist and he suggested doing these duets, a kind of playing with which I have little experience. It turned out to be a lot of fun, and the song list includes a few numbers no one would consider likely jazz tunes until now."
Source: http://www.al.com/entertainment/index.ssf/2013/06/startlingly_fresh_records_prod.html