For Grammy award winning musician and producer Eric Krasno, vocals have never been the forte of his musical brilliance. With over 20 years invested in the art, Krasno has finally taken the microphone and broken new ground with his newest solo record, “Blood From A Stone.”
“I had never learned or taken a lesson or done any official singing,” said Krasno. “I have done it for fun and written a ton of songs but I had never been a lead singer in a band.”
In preparation for this new feat, Krasno enlisted the help of the Rustic Overtones’ Dave Gutter for a storytelling arc that managed to balance the darker and lighter fringes of musicianship. “I had kind of had been putting concepts together and I kind of had an idea of what the record would be but when he [Gutter] and I got together, is where that concept took shape.”
“It’s kind of a journey,” added Krasno.
Each lyrical composition is complimented with R&B-influenced hooks and melodies that emphasize the bluesy upbringing of Krasno. “Jezebel” and “Please Ya” evoke passion through the means of lost love and desperation while “Unconditional Love” and “Natalie” harken a past that fills Krasno with the soul to provide his music with a tenacious backbone.
Krasno even enlisted the help of Tedeschi Trucks Band guitar virtuoso Derek Trucks on “Curse Lifter,” which dances with the spirit of blues as Trucks blisters his way through the tune. Blues seems to be a recurring theme for Krasno in “Blood From A Stone” as he attempts to bring his prime musician influence back to the forefront.
“I always came up listening to psychedelic blues rock and all that stuff and it always kind of seeped into my other projects,” said Krasno. “But with this album, I really wanted to show those roots.”
This exploration of roots led Krasno heading down to New Orleans with his crew and a couple of drones to film the music video for “Waiting on Your Love,” which blends the scenic atmosphere of the rustic Big Easy with psychedelic tinges that play with the visual senses of the viewer.
“It was a cool exploration in taking color and matching it to music while getting super psychedelic all the while” said Krasno.
This journey will be taken on the road in the Northeast until July 15 to showcase Krasno’s newest effort while blending in a variety of material that spans his whole career. Krasno chose the Northeast because of his roots in New England, born in Connecticut and residing in New York City.
“There’s a lot of different places to play and musicians that are close enough and like in one weekend, you can play Vermont, Boston, Albany, Connecticut and New York City,” said Krasno about playing in the Northeast. “You can get around easy as a touring musician whereas the West Coast, you got to make huge, huge drives to make it city to city.”
After the summer sun fades away and his touring ventures with both his solo band and Soulive come to a close, Krasno will head back into the studio to resume producing records for various artists such as Son Little, The Motet and Allen Stone, a career that has earned him two Grammy wins. Krasno has previously produced records for prominent musicians such as Dave Matthews Band, Norah Jones and even Justin Timberlake.
“Well, I now start to plan out my time so that in the winter, I can try to go somewhere warm to produce a record and during the summer, I like to tour because it’s the festival season and all of that going on,” said Krasno.
Krasno also plans to pursue a new Soulive album, which is aimed to release some time in 2017.
This sort of chaotic balancing act has been a focus for Krasno as he attempts to establish himself and budding musicians in order to preserve the legacy of music that has been left to him. Krasno even toys with the notion of getting into music education.
“I go through different waves of excitement. Right now, I’m really excited about music. There are a lot of new artists that I really love,” said Krasno. “The hard part is navigating to find the good stuff.”