Rees Shad & The Conversations/Ferdinand the Bull

When Rees Shad began his musical journey three decades ago with the 1994 debut release, Anderson, Ohio, critics called him a “wordsmith to watch.”

It’s a reputation the remarkably prolific and eclectic singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and storyteller has proudly cultivated. Shad now boasts some 30 albums, each of which reflect an unyielding combination of emotion and expression that has become the hallmark of Shad’s catalog.

With every successive outing, he has been committed to raising the bar, and his latest release The Galahad Blues signals a significant uptick as it may well be his most ambitious effort yet. As Shad explains in the liner notes, the songs were spawned from a musical he has been crafting for several years.
An essential element in articulating Shad’s musical vision, The Conversations are drummer Bobby Kay, bassist Jeff Link, and percussionist Carlos Valdez. Bobby has recorded with jazz pianist Cole Broderick and toured with the like of R&B singer Ellen Macilwaine, Kay began his musical tête-à-tête with Shad twenty-five years ago recording and touring half a dozen of Shad’s unique Americana accented albums. Kay’s life in rhythm began when as a child he’d entertain his family playing along to drum breaks on old 45’s using pencils as sticks on his first drum kit—a “hideous” lime green Naugahyde ottoman. A former Berklee faculty member, Jeff Link joined the discourse three years ago after spending two decades honing his musical fluency as a pit musician on Broadway and touring with rock luminaries such as Robben Ford and Albert Cummings. Link’s first concert performance was at 8 years old, and music has been (and always will be) his animating muse. Whenever the opportunity arises, Shad, Kay, and Link are joined by Afro-Cuban percussionist Carlos Valdez, whose wide-ranging experience includes touring with various musical groups, work both on and off Broadway, composition for tv and film, as well as recording and live performance with his own band, Mambo Kikongo, and many others.