Jason Kardong '95

Spring 2008

The Way I Feel Tonight

For a lot of musicians, recording a second CD is typically a tough proposition. Do you take your music in a new direction, or do you maintain some aspects of the first CD that garnered attention and fans? Jennifer Lynn ’03 manages to do both on her sophomore effort, The Way I Feel Tonight.

From the opening track, “Waitin’ On A Pretty Girl,” you know you’re in for a change in this CD. The subtle acoustic-guitar intro quickly gives way to a boot-stomping country rocker, full of blazing country chicken-pickin’ guitar and feisty vocals. Shifting between the blues-inspired “You Got Me Where I Want Me” … » More …

Fall 2008

Where the Fins Meet the Frets

If life imitates art, then for Ray Troll, so does music. More specifically, his music imitates his art. The debut CD from Ray Troll and the Ratfish Wranglers titled Where The Fins Meet The Frets contains 16 original songs that one could say leap directly from Ray’s artwork, which is playful, humorous, and dripping with double entendre.

Ray Troll and his Ratfish Wranglers hail from Ketchikan, Alaska, a population of roughly 14,000 hard-working folks, mostly in the fishing industry. To say that Ray’s songs are influenced by this town and its people would be an understatement. Almost every track is fully drenched with Alaska wilderness … » More …

Spring 2008

FensePost (fensepost.com)

When we were growing up, my best friend, Byron, and I would regularly head down to our local record store and browse through the new releases. Typically I’d pick out the ones that had the most interesting covers, and then read about the band. Byron would invariably find his band du jour, and explain why they were so great. Most of the time he was right (although his love of the band Flipper still confuses me). At some point we’d get to discussing what bands we liked and didn’t, and, eventually, why they were inferior to Judas Priest in some way. Point being, music for … » More …

Summer 2006

Destinations Unknown

Broken hearts, barrooms, rodeos, and crying in your beer—the new CD, Destinations Unknown, from Chris Guenther ’04 has all the ingredients of a traditional country from the heart of country music, Nashville. Chris separates himself from his crooner colleagues, though, with minimal instrumentation and a vocal delivery that harks back to the early days of country music. Destinations Unknown is the second full-length CD from the southwest Washington native. Chris penned all 10 songs, sings lead vocals, and plays six of the nine recorded instruments, including lead guitar, mandolin, fiddle, and piano. (Bassist James Gillette is a 2003 graduate in management information systems.) He … » More …