Quitting a stable and lucrative nine-to-five to pursue a career in the uncertain and challenging world of music is scary to say the least. But for singer/songwriter Jeff Campbell, it just felt like coming home. Embarking on his life-long passion full time for the first time, Campbell knew he was finally doing what he always wanted, and thankfully for the young artist, he was quickly encouraged in his efforts when he beat out over 13,000 other musicians to win Guitar Center’s National Singer/Songwriter Competition.
Now with an EP — 2013’s In Spite Of Everything— and some impressive touring experience as support for Counting Crows, John Mayer and Train under his belt, Campbell is about to hit another career milestone; on Friday, Campbell will release his first full length album, The Kitchen Sink.
Campbell’s debut LP, which is now exclusively streaming on Elmore a week before its official October 2nd release date, is laced with an emotional honestly and poetic lyricism that makes it easy to see how he stood out amongst such a large crowd. Influences of Train and other singer/songwriters who bridge the gap between rock and folk such as Dave Matthews immediately become apparent with Campbell’s sensual vocal chops shining through from the first note to the last. “Everything but the kitchen sink” may be an apt turn of phrase for Campbell’s encompassing blend of music styles, as he proves himself capable of channeling a dynamic mixture of genres while still maintaining a cohesive flow, from the gentle harmonies and folksy sweetness of “No One Keeping Score” to “Finger Pictures,” a darker foray into alt-rock, with distorted electric guitar and slamming drums.
Of the project, Campbell says, “This album is important to my band and I because it’s a self-produced follow up to the EP I did with John Shanks and an amazing team of rock industry legends, and was my chance to take what I learned from that experience and apply it to a new project. It was made possible by our PledgeMusic pledgers, so we wanted to give them something good! We tried to keep the songs as raw and true to their live versions as possible as well, which was challenging at times but super fun to stick to.”
Stream The Kitchen Sink below, and grab your own copy when it comes out on October 2nd!
[…] “…(with) an encompassing blend of music styles, he proves himself capable of channeling a dynamic mixture of genres while still maintaining a cohesive flow. ‘The Kitchen Sink’ is laced with an emotional honestly and poetic lyricism that makes it easy to see how he stood out amongst such a large crowd. ” –Elmore Magazine […]