Bogle Public Relations
Contact: Charles Bogle
310 473 2511  boglePR@yahoo.com

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
AFTER 27 ALBUMS AND 46 YEARS. . .
THE PERSUASIONS LIVE!

                                                                                                                                                     Valerie Ford-Ramos

            The Persuasions, the most acclaimed a cappella group in American history, have released their first-ever live-in-concert nightclub album, “The Persuasions Live at McCabe’s Guitar Shop.”

            Recorded over two nights in 1998 at the famed Santa Monica artist-friendly venue---“this was home for us on the west coast,” as lead singer/arranger Jerry Lawson put it---“The Persuasions Live at McCabe’s” features nineteen songs and over 70 minutes of music and banter.

            Eclectic as always, The Persuasions cover Sam Cooke, Kurt Weill, Frank Zappa, The Mills Brothers, Elvis, Bobby Bare, Jay Livingston and Ray Evans, The Oak Ridge Boys, Nat King Cole, even The Partridge Family (!) and many more artists.

            From gospel to houserocking R&B to country-western, the songs include: “Chain Gang,” Zappa’s “The Meek Shall Inherit Nothing,” “When Jesus Comes,” Bobby Bare’s classic “500 Miles From Home,” “I Have But One Desire,” Weill’s “Oh Heavenly Salvation,” Cole’s “Ramblin’ Rose,” The Five Royales’ “Come on and Save Me,” the Oak Ridge Boys’ “Elvira,” and Elvis’s “Return To Sender.”

            Five of the numbers have never appeared on a Persuasions release before, including their glib, doo-woppy rendition of Livingston and Evans’ “Mona Lisa,” and the hymn, “Peace in the Valley.”

           The album will likely be the last new release from the original members of the group: Jerry Lawson, Jimmy Hayes, “Sweet Joe” Russell, and Jayotis Washington.  Lawson left The Persuasions in 2003 and pursues independent projects while working as a specialist in health care for disabled adults. Augmenting the original line-up on the recording are newer members B.J. Jones and Raymond X. Sanders, who both joined in the early ‘90’s.

            “I didn’t know I would be leaving the group in a few years after this recording,” said Lawson, adding “So I guess that makes it all the more historic. It was a good night for us. We came out smokin’!”

            Since starting on the basketball courts and stoops of Bedford-Stuyvesant in New York in 1962, The Persuasions have toured or recorded with (partial list): Joni Mitchell, Liza Minelli, John Hiatt, Van Morrison, Stevie Wonder, the Neville Brothers, Paul Simon, Country Joe McDonald, Lou Reed, Leon Redbone, Patti LaBelle. Their 1977 album, “Chirpin’” was acclaimed by Rolling Stone as one of the top 100 albums of the decade. Greil Marcus called them a “perfect marriage of passion and intelligence.” Contemporary a cappella groups such as Rockapella and Take Six routinely cite The Persuasions as a primary inspiration.

            The remaining Persuasions continue to tour and perform with various lead singers filling Lawson’s spot.

            “The Persuasions Live at McCabe’s” was produced by Rip Rense and Marc Doten (Stew, Carlos Guitarlos) for Rensart Records. It may be purchased only through www.thepersuasionslive.com .

             The Persuasions are available for interviews. Contact: boglePR@yahoo.com.

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