Strangers In Their Own Land — Bernie Townsend – YouTube
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1965 – 1967 .. 17-year-old Bernie Townsend and a few musician friends formed their first band in their hometown of Oxford in 1965. Like many of their musical peers from the baby-boomer generation they were influenced by the widely differing sounds of Buddy Holly, Chuck Berry, Otis Redding and Bob Dylan and the historic Blues songs that were becoming available then on the old
Chess Records Label – those influences were certainly reflected in that first band as they started out on their journey to become the next Beatles or Rolling Stones.
Within a year that same band was residing in Paris and working as backup musicians for Chuck Berry, Eddie Lee Mattison and Mickey Baker and later opened for The Rolling Stones. This was the Paris of student unrest and social upheaval and it was on Montparnasse that Bernie and his fellow band members met with expatriate American writers and civil rights activists and young American servicemen bound for a place called Vietnam – it was a time that would form a lasting impression on Bernie Townsend and has provided more than one backdrop for his songs.
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1968 – 1970 .. Bernie Townsend was signed as a singer-songwriter to the then new independent label Zeus Records. This was the formative period of his career as a singer-songwriter and though full of promise and great support his output met with limited success and ran its course to a disappointing end to his first foray into the music industry as a solo artist.
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1971 – 1979 .. During the early 70’s Bernie had tuned in to the sounds of The Eagles and Jackson Browne and the Southern sounds of Lynyrd Skynyrd and the Allman Brothers and in doing so he started a voyage of discovery into the ‘Americana’ genre that was to provide him with a vehicle for his songs across the spectrum of Country, Blues, Southern Rock, Southern Soul and Tex Mex – from that point onward the catalogue of songs from Bernie Townsend became heavily influenced by those genres and still is today.
Throughout this decade Bernie Townsend gave his services as a vocalist to various touring Country-Rock and Blues bands while continuing to craft his art as a songwriter and it was during this period that he struck up what was to be a life-long friendship with American guitarist Glenn Coleman who was the inspiration for the storyline of Bernie’s recent US hit single “Just Won’t Touch Me Now” – Bernie and Glenn played in 70’s country-rock band ‘Stampede’ and Glenn is now a stable-mate guitarist and singer-songwriter at Gravel Road Records.
In 1977, Bernie was invited to form a band with Blues guitarist Robert Wakeley which featured a raft of songs from Bernie’s growing catalogue, and which caught the attention of Ralph Simon who signed him to a publishing contract with Zomba Music in 1979.
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1980 – 1984 .. Bernie Townsend was signed by Richard Vernon to the legendary Blue Horizon/CN Records label as a singer-songwriter and he recorded two singles, “Another Night” released in 1981 and featured on the late Alexis Korner’s BBC Radio 1 Playlist and “Little By Little” released in 1982 and featured on the BBC Radio Playlist of Bob Harris – this period saw Bernie tour and undertake radio promotion across the US for the first time as a recording artist in his own right.
On the back of the two singles an album was recorded which reflected a track roster of cutting edge songs written by Bernie and his co-writer Richard Sharpey that were inextricably linked to the sounds that were coming out of the southern states at that time. The album was ostensibly recorded for the US market and saw the songs “Hold On”, “If I Could Only” and “Every Bit Of My Heart” receive critical acclaim at the Midem Festival in Cannes and an offer of license from Bearsville Records, however for contractual reasons the product was shelved and remained untitled in a studio library for many years.
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1985 – 1995 .. The frustration felt by Bernie Townsend over this issue lead to the end of a particularly creative period at Blue Horizon/CN Records and saw him put down his pen for an inordinately long period, during which time he found solace in a return to the days of long haul tours and the after hours side of life on the road.
During these intervening years Bernie shared stages, including London’s Wembley Arena and BBC 2 TV, with such diverse artists as Conway Twitty, Steve Young and Desert Rose Band and performed to many thousands of US service personnel at military installations around the world. However, as the years rolled by he felt more and more distanced from the reasons that had inspired him to start his musical journey and so one day he just got off the bus and returned home to his roots as a singer-songwriter.
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1998 – 2011 .. After taking a time-out from the music industry, Bernie renewed his songwriting partnership with long time co-writer Richard Sharpey resulting in a wealth of new songs that saw Rob Gripper the CEO of Fat Cat Records and BBC Presenter Bob Harris become instrumental in getting the career of Bernie Townsend back on course – he became a member of Country-Rock band ‘The Rescue’ and was their singer and songwriter, (with co-writer Richard Sharpey), on their first album, the eponymously titled “The Rescue” and their later album “Forever Young” – The Rescue, which was met with critical acclaim in both the US and the UK and saw The Rescue signed to Nashville record label ARG in 2008.
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2012 .. Bernie Townsend was persuaded, for the first time since the end of his career at Blue Horizon/CN Records, to embark on a solo career and he signed to Gravel Road Records as a singer-songwriter. In turn the Rights were acquired to the previously unreleased album as Gravel Road Records believed that the release of that Work was long overdue, and, in deference to the location of the legendary and long since gone Chipping Norton Recording Studio, Bernie decided to title his first solo album “Made on New Street”.
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2014 .. During September there began a series of events that launched the career of singer-songwriter Bernie Townsend to the wider mainstream audiences within the United States of America. This was kick-started by the release on YouTube of the acclaimed video of the song “Just Won’t Touch Me Now” featured on the album “Made on New Street” – this song was inspired by the experience of a close friend of Bernie’s on his return from the Vietnam War.
The video of “Just Won’t Touch Me Now” – Bernie Townsend (youtube.com) has since been the subject of many thousands of views on YouTube and posts and comments on the Vietnam Veterans of America Facebook Page and has been adopted by VVA Chapters across the United States. In the light of the background to the song and the source of its inspiration, Bernie Townsend donated his share of royalties to the Vietnam Veterans of America in perpetuity.
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2015 .. In April the single “Just Won’t Touch Me Now” was released to US radio and in June 2015, the song peaked at #17 on the Adult Contemporary Top 40 US Radio Chart and at #34 on the AC Hot 100 US Radio Chart and #7 on the AC Western Region US Radio Chart.
In the light of the success of the single “Just Won’t Touch Me Now” on US national radio and the outreach to both the Vietnam Veterans and mainstream America, Bernie Townsend had a 4th September 2015 worldwide release for his four song EP “The Day Before You” on Gravel Road Records.
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2016 .. Bernie Townsend was nominated in the category of “Adult Contemporary Breakthrough Artist of the Year” at the ‘New Music Weekly’ US Radio Awards for his hit song “Just Won’t Touch Me Now”.
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2017 .. Bernie Townsend and Jacob Corr produced the US Adult Contemporary Top 10 Hit singles “Tin Soldiers”, (2017), and “Damaged”, (2018), for singer-songwriter Abigail Scott (http://www.abigailscott.net).
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2018 .. Bernie Townsend released his new EP No Good Will Come – Bernie Townsend (youtube.com) on Gravel Road Records together with a new video of the track on YouTube.
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2019 .. In early January No Good Will Come – Bernie Townsend (youtube.com) was released to American radio nationwide and by 30th April the track had peaked at #6 on the ‘US Adult Contemporary Top 40 Radio Chart’ and #13 on the ‘US Adult Contemporary National Radio Hits Top 40 Chart’ and #28 on the ‘American NMW Main Country Top 50 Radio Chart’ which saw Bernie have his second major American chart success – The track also charted at #5 on the ‘US Indie Top 30’ and at #4 on the ‘AC Western US Region Top 20’ and #30 on the ‘US AC Hot 100’.
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2019 .. On the back of the US radio chart success of the single ‘No Good Will Come’ Gravel Road Records & Music have released a new album also titled NO GOOD WILL COME by Bernie Townsend and comprising an eclectic mix of 14 songs steeped in the ‘Americana’ genre and featuring his US radio Top 40 chart Hits ‘No Good Will Come’ and ‘Just Won’t Touch Me Now’.
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2020 .. Bernie Townsend has been commissioned to record the audio track for the upcoming video for ‘Angel Families of America/P-A-I-N’ – The song is titled No Other Side – Bernie Townsend (youtube.com) and was composed and recorded by Bernie with lyrics written by Angel Mom, Virginia Krieger. The track was recorded and mastered during lockdown in the UK and the video-shoot is now in process in the US with a release scheduled for Summer 2022 – The song ‘No Other Side’ by Bernie Townsend will be released separately as a Single in the US in Spring 2022.
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2022 .. The song No Good Will Come – Album by Bernie Townsend – Apple Music ‘NO OTHER SIDE’ by Bernie Townsend was written and composed by bereaved mother Virginia Krieger and Bernie Townsend – ‘No Other Side’ highlights the struggles of bereaved families left behind as a result of the illicit fentanyl crisis. Revenue from the Video and EP is donated to ‘LOST VOICES OF FENTANYL’ and ‘PARENTS AGAINST ILLICIT NARCOTICS’.
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2023- The re-arrangement and recording of Still in Saigon Bernie Townsend (youtube.com) and longtime friend, Vietnam veteran and guitarist/songwriter Glenn Coleman is a timely project in light of the fact we are at the 50th year since the end of US combat operations in Vietnam.
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2023 .. Bernie Townsend sings out loud and clear to the heartland of America as they carry the working load to the next paycheck while events around them and beyond conspire to block any light there may be at the end of the tunnel.
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 Bernie Townsend :: Home If you’re still voting for the Democrats, it might be time to rethink your choice. Creepy that they would vote against this Anne Wilson – Stand (Official Performance Lyric Video) (youtube.com) |
2024 .. ‘Strangers In Their Own Land’ – Bernie Townsend – Released in Single format prior to inclusion on the album of the same name scheduled for release in 2025. Bernie Townsend sings out loud to the heartland of America, with his songs told through the eyes of the marginalized and forgotten as they carry the working load to the next paycheck while events around them and beyond conspire to block any light at the end of the tunnel – ‘Strangers In Their Own Land’ is a song of the here and now. 2 Chronicles 7:14 If my people, who are called by thy name, shall humble themselves and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from Heaven, and forgive their sin, and will heal their land.
Under Kamala Harris: • Rape is up 42%. • Robbery is up 63%. • Assault is up 34%. • Violent crime (excluding simple assault) is up 55%. • Domestic violence is up 32%. • Stranger violence is up 61%. • Violent crime (with a weapon) is up 56%. • Motor vehicle theft is up 42%.
WE FIGHT AS ONE / WE HEAL AS ONE (youtube.com)
TRUMP – Fight Fight Fight, In God We Trust (song) 🇺🇸 The Star Spangled Banner 🇺🇸 (mashup song: Donald J Trump speech and the US national anthem “the Star-Spangled Banner”, along with some visually famous US landmarks at the end) Enjoy! 👊 00:00 Trump Speech 02:02 visually famous US landmarks.
“Years from Now Some of them may look back And ask themselves Whether they’ve made the right choice Whether they’ve made The most of the opportunities they’ve been given Together We have the same mission. Over the course of your life You will find that things are not always fair,
You will find that things happen to you That you do not deserve and that are not always warranted But you have to put your head down and FIGHT FIGHT, FIGHT Never ever, ever give up Don’t give in Don’t back down And never stop doing What you know is right. Nothing worth doing Ever ever ever Came easy And the more righteous your fight The more opposition that you will face.
In your hearts are inscribed the values of service, sacrifice and devotion. Now you must go forth into the world And turn your hopes and dreams into action. America has always been the land of dreams Because America is a nation of true believers. When the pilgrims landed at Plymouth, they pray When the founders wrote the declaration of independence, They invoked our creator four times.
Because in America we don’t worship government. We worship God. It is why our currency proudly declares IN GOD WE TRUST And it’s why we proudly proclaim That we are one nation under God. The story of America Is the story of an adventure That began with deep faith Big dreams and humble beginnings.”
🇺🇸 – RIP – Corey Comparatore – RIP – 🇺🇸
BORN: Birth16 Jun 1974
Natrona Heights, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, USA
Death: 13 Jul 2024 (aged 50)
Butler, Butler County, Pennsylvania, USA
🇺🇸 Today, we honor the memory of Corey Comperatore, 🇺🇸 a true hero and dedicated former firefighter who tragically lost his life while shielding his family at a Trump rally in Butler. Corey’s bravery and selflessness are a testament to his character, and he will always be remembered for his unwavering commitment to protecting others. Our hearts go out to his family during this difficult time. Rest in peace, Corey. Your courage will never be forgotten. 🇺🇸 Corey Dean Comperatore (1974-2024) – Find a Grave Memorial 🇺🇸