Dear Friends,   ***THE PROVIDERS NEED YOUR VOTE!! - April 22, 2009*** Once again the Providers have managed to get past the first round in the WDST Join the Jam contest. We would like to ask for your help in sending us to the finals. Please take a moment to go to this link, http://wdst.com/?page=join_the_jam_2009 and follow the instructions to vote us in to the final round. All votes will be counted by next Wednesday. This will only take a moment and we will appreciate it greatly. Thank you for your support.     ***Times Union, Albany NY - April 9, 2009*** Kinderhook blues-soul rockers the Providers, who snared what can only be described as a rave review in the current issue of Recording Magazine: “To say that we are impressed by ‘Lolinda’ would be the understatement of the year. Whatever gap that may have exisited between commercial and home-studio recordings may have just been officially closed. Mark (Calkins) and the fellows have done a brilliant job in every respect.” Greg Haymes     ***Recording Magazine March 2009 SPOTLIGHT Song "LOLINDA"*** Reviewed By Marty Peters: Recording: Man oh man, you gotta be kiddin’ me! To say that we are impressed by “Lolinda” would be the understatement of the year. Whatever gap that may have existed between “commercial” and home/project studios recordings may have just been officially closed. Mark and the fellows have done a brilliant job in every aspect here. The writing, arranging, tones and performances are as good as we have ever heard from any submission since taking over this column some twelve years ago. Adding to that is a superb mix, spacious and pristine, free from the squashed brittle sounds that accompany many of today’s recordings, whether they be home, indie or major label releases. We were pleasantly surprised to see that the majority of the gear that was used to produce this sonic goodness will be familiar to most of you. The drums were tracked using Shure and Sennheiser mics—a Shure Beta 52 on the kick, Shure SM57s and Sennheiser 421s on the toms—along with a pair of RØDE NT-1 mics placed about three feet back for overheads. The NT-1s were also used on the acoustic guitars as a spaced pair, approximately 12 inches out from the body. Mark’s stellar vocals were captured via an AKG C4000B and an ART Pro Channel mic pre. The ubiquitous Shure SM57 came into play once again when miking the electric guitar cabinets, while the rock steady bass was run direct through an Avalon M5 DI/preamp. All of this was tracked to a TASCAM MX2424 hard disk recorder and monitored through a TASCAM DM 24 digital console. The whole affair was then transferred to John’s Pro Tools HD rig for mixing/mastering, and the results as they say, speak for themselves. This month’s Spotlight sounds as if it could have been a long lost Dire Straits number. We love the clean “Stratty” tone on the lead guitar, and the conversational style lead vocal grabs our full attention with a whisper instead of a scream. The rhythm section and percussion tracks have an excellent spatial feel and tone, and the song builds dynamically up to a full bridge section that handles myriad sound sources without feeling cluttered or claustrophobic. What we have here is the culmination of some fifteen years of playing and recording by a band of friends, exemplifying all that can be accomplished with hard work, patience and the continual striving for improvement. If this doesn’t inspire you loyal readers out there to reach for the brass ring, then I don’t know what will. Summary: Once upon a time in the west indeed! Superb! The tracking was a collaborative effort at Elm Knoll, the band’s 400 square foot “band cave” studio. The mixing, mastering and organ overdubs were done literally down the street by John Holbrook at his home studio.     ***July 4, 2008*** You have to love a nation that celebrates its independence every July 4, not with a parade of guns, tanks, and soldiers who file by the White House in a show of strength and muscle, but with family picnics where kids throw Frisbees, the potato salad gets iffy, and the flies die from happiness. You may think you have overeaten, but it is patriotism. ~Erma Bombeck     ***May 2, 2008*** Thanks, to all of you that voted for the Providers in the WDST contest. Unfortunately, we were out voted in the second round of the competition. I guess we’ll have to put a hold on that new tour bus with the Jacuzzi. Grandma always said, “You never fail if you never quit”.     ***April 25, 2008*** As many of you know, on any given weekend you will find The Providers schlepping equipment, and working late hours, for little money and less recognition. Still, we are thankful that we can make music together, and that our fans are so much fun to spend time with. Here’s the good news. The Providers are one of the fifteen semi-finalists, chosen from one hundred entries, in a contest by WDST radio in Woodstock NY . The winner will get a slot performing at this year’s Mountain Jam Festival. To make it to the final round we need people to vote for us at www.wdst.com. Please take a moment to go to the site and click on “Join the Jam”. You will need to register as a V.I.P., submit your e-mail address, and vote for three performers. Three winners will be chosen by popular vote. These three bands will “battle” (not sure I like the violent overtones) at the Colony Café on May 2nd in Woodstock . If you have a chance to vote, I thank you. If you don’t, I understand. Votes must be in by April 30th. If you have suggestion as to how we can get the word out please contact us. I’ll let you know how we do. Don’t hesitate to pass this on to any friends or family that might have interest! Thank you for all your support.     ***March 25, 2008*** Hope everyone had a great holiday, we sure did! T'was Easter weekend and we enjoyed seeing you at La Puerta Azul and the Crooked Lake House. The week before we appeared at Cozzy's and would like to mention that it is under new ownership. Many thanks to Cozzy and best wishes to him in his new Poughkeepsie restaurant. We will continue to play at Cozzy's in Pine Plains once a month and want to extend our good wishes and luck to new owner Jeff. Thank y'all for coming out!! There has been significant progress with our latest CD. Visit the Music link below and take a listen to the 2 newly completed tracks which will appear on the next CD - Deliverin Me & One World. Let us know what you think by posting a Guestbook message, or shoot us an email. We appreciate your comments!! A special evening in Valatie is coming up on April 19th. This is a Fundraiser for the Valatie Community Theatre - a not-for-profit organization operating exclusively for charitable and educational purposes. We have a new room to play in Troy NY! Brown's Brewing Company on River Street is having us on May 16th. There are a couple of special events in July as well - 4th of July at Cleremont State Park and a Blues Festival at Crooked Lake on July 26th. Well - it's spring and we are excited about the upcoming events. Hope you make it out and be sure to step on up front and say hi!     ***January 27, 2008*** We sure had a blast this past weekend!! I would like to mention that we have been playing at LaPuerta Azul in Millbrook now for a year. The restaurant has been very good to us and we are there the last Friday of every month. This past Friday night photographer Lynda Loo Fernandez was at the bar armed with her camera. Wouldn't you know she couldn't help but start shooting. Luckily no one was hurt. She photographs musicians throughout the Hudson Valley. You can view her art at www.lyndaloosphotos.com. Saturday we rocked The Crooked Lake House - the dance floor got quite a workout. Bob wore a tie for this one - we don't see that often. It was too cold down in the Rathskellar, so we moved upstairs and a great time was had by all. We appreciate seeing so many of you returning regularly to these fine establishments. The friendly faces and crowd energy makes live music unique and every night special. In an effort to provide volume friendly performances, drummer Doug is now playing on an electronic kit. This new step enables us to play any size room, even with patrons sitting right in front having dinner. We are very excited and welcome comments, please hit our "Guestbook" link below and write us a little note. February will bring another full weekend - Cozzy's on the 22nd & Crooked Lake House on the 23rd. We can't wait!! Hope to see you then.     ***January 20, 2008*** Allow me to first thank those of you who were in attendance at the Peint of Gwrw Tafarn in Chatham last Friday night. We had a bunch of fun. To see women dancing on the bar at our age is a rare treat. Vince was so excited he broke two strings. It's nights like those that keep us loading up the van and heading out in the cold each weekend. This weekend we will be dishing out the free-range boogie on Friday night at La Puerta Azul in Millbrook, and also on Saturday at The Crooked Lake House in Averill Park . Both shows start at 8 PM (bar dancing is optional). For those of you that live in the Albany area let me take a moment to tell you about WEXT 97.7. This is a commercial free radio station that is listener supported and committed to playing the music of local artists. It is primarily an Adult Oriented Rock format but they are playing a lot of hip stuff that just can't be found on commercial air waves. They play one local artist each hour and have a local 518 show that airs twice a week. Isn't it refreshing that just when you think radio is dead, somebody figures out a way to keep new music alive. Check out their web site at www.exit977.org and support them if you can. Tell them you would like to hear some Providers. We also hear that another great station, WKZE 98.1, is starting to play some of our recordings. Please drop us a note if you hear anything. For those who have not been to our web site in a while www.theprovidersonline.com, we invite you to check out rough mixes of the songs we are recording at this time. Any feed-back is welcome. Just don't beat us up to bad. We are sensitive musician types. It appears that Grammy award winning producer John Holbrook may help us with the final mixes. We sure could use it. You can visit www.johnholbrook.net and see the impressive work that John has done. OK thats it for now. You still have plenty of time to get your taxes done so try to come out and see us soon. We always enjoy seeing each and every one of you.   Regards, Yeller

The Providers are honored to be a part of Neil Young's "Living With War Today" webpage. Our song One World is included on the Songs Of The Times page. Click and listen to what we and many other artists have to say.

WEXT (97.7 FM) broadcasts and highlights local music you can stream live from their website

We recommend Blackheart Amps!

98.1 KZE promises, and delivers, musical diversity you can stream live from their website   --The Providers CD-- Click here to see and hear our CD, to order online, and to hear our latest unreleased recordings.

"Music is important - everything else is just noise" - Frank Latorre 2008