Winston Apple
Independence, Missouri, United States | Established. Jan 01, 2000 | SELF
Music
The best kept secret in music
Press
To Apple's credit, he gives these 26 Dylan songs a vigorous workout and presents them as a collection to absorb song-by-song and as a whole. He’s no doppelganger and isn't trying to imitate Dylan. Rather, imagine Apple as a Zimmerman, or an Everyman with the talent and chutzpah to tackle some of the most famous landmarks in the American songbook.
While there is some faint semblance to Dylan’s master blueprint on a few tracks, Apple and his band take liberties and playfully apply a touch of reggae and ska, a soupçon of blues, country, exuberant classic rock, and piano bar gusto to their interpretations and bold arrangements. - Present Magazine - Pete Dulin (May 15, 2010)
The album features full-band performances of 26 early Dylan songs. Many of the tracks are unique arrangements, the most notable is a Watchtower that incorporates some lyrics from Sad-Eyed Lady of the Lowlands. I can't describe it any better than the description of the album on his website: "features Dylan classics (and less well-known tunes) from the mid-sixties, re-arranged, re-interpreted, and re-imagined, filtered through Winston's unique production style: wall of sound rock, with a variety of influences: country, blues, reggae, ska, and folk."
Highly recommended. - The Never Ending Pool (April 01, 2010)
The vocalist also handles keyboards, guitar and percussion on this self-composed set of uptempo pop tunes. Apple is backed by a 10 member band which features flute, pedal steel and violin in addition to the customary rock LP backup. The songs display catchy melodic hooks which should generate radio interest. Best cuts: "Shoot 'em Up, Cowboy," "Right Where She Wants Me," "Holdin' Onto Love." - Billboard Magazine (May 28, 1978) (Editor's pick)
Monument is moving into the pop field and Apple may be the artist to lead the way. After paying his dues for years in the Kansas City area, Apple has come up with a golden delicious label debut filled with crisp pop-rock tunes and tasty lyrics. While every track is strong, "Shoot 'em Up, Cowboy," a rocking call for gun control, and "Holdin' Onto Love," which melds a ballad with some stirring instrumentals, stand out. A special new album. - Cash Box (May 28, 1978) (Editor's pick)
It's about time Kansas City turned out a good album like this one. Apple, 26, has been playing for ten years around town with groups like Speakeasy and Appletree. This LP, recorded at Cavern Sound in Independence and mixed by Wally Heider's in L.A., is being distributed on a local basis right now, mostly in independent record stores. With a little luck one of the big labels will pick up on it, because it is certainly superior to a lot of the stuff on the market right now.
Apple sings, performs on the piano and guitar and has surrounded himself with fine local talent. The result is a thoroughly professional album and at least two or three cuts that ought to get radio play.
The music is basically light rock, but it delves into several styles. There is, for example, a great blues cut, "Sinner from the Sky," featuring great bottleneck guitar and harp work by Allen Blasco, "Back on My Feet," a solid country rocker featuring Billy Spears on fiddle and "Toadstool Madonna," a heavy rocker featuring some imaginative synthesizer work by Steve Rice.
There's "Dream," a funny, slightly naughty and over-dramatic song about a young man intimidated by his dream girl that offers a fine, funky sax solo by Steve Hauser.
Another winner is "If You've Got Money, Honey," a honky tonk piano piece that offers this view of sexual equality:
I truly believe,
Diamonds are a boy's best friend, too,
I feel no shame,
In layin' back and living off you.
Apple wrote or co-wrote all the songs, sings with gusto and a real sense of humor and manages to keep up the pace without letting down. If "Toadstool Madonnas" was just an album independently produced by a local artist it would be of limited interest. Thing is, it's a genuinely good LP that grows on you a little more each time you hear it.
Try it out. You'll be doing more than patronizing a local artist. You'll be doing yourself a favor.
- Robert W. Butler - The Kansas City Star (March 30, 1975)
Discography
Winston's first album, A Musical Tribute to the Last of the Great Toadstool Madonnas, was released only in the Kansas City area, but received airplay on KC area radio stations, got good reviews, and sold well.
Apple's second album The First One's Free, was released on Monument Records in May of 1978. Several songs on the album received extensive air play, particularly Shoot 'Em Up, Cowboy, which spent nine weeks on Record World's singles chart.
The basic tracks for Sessions were recorded in 1980 and in 1981 for Mad Dog Records, but the label went bankrupt before the recordings were completed and the project was shelved until 2000 when Winston added new vocals and keyboard tracks and
A new album (Hopeless Romanatic) was released, along with Sessions that summer.
In 2003, Speakeasy Productions issued an anthology (The Toadstool Madonna Is Free).
Lessons in the Art of Loving was recorded from April through September, 2004. It includes fifteen songs written by Apple and three "cover" songs - a reggae version of "Imagine." A ska version of "When A Man Loves A Woman." And a Jamaican-flavored R&B version of "Louie, Louie."
Hearts On The Line and Hot Little Love Monkey/Masters of Terror were recorded simultaneously, with the bulk of the recording done during 2007.
The lyrics to the songs that make up the Masters of Terror section of Hot Little Love Monkeys/Masters of Terror form a conceptual mini-album within the larger CD, dealing with issues related to the War on Terror and the war in Iraq.
The Hot Little Love Monkeys section of the album is also somewhat conceptual. Most of the songs include characters who could be described, with some degree of accuracy, as Hot Little Love Monkeys.
All of the songs on Hearts On The Line deal with love, and with love gone wrong. The variety (which as you may know, is the spice of life) is provided by a very eclectic range of musical styles, including ballads, rock, blues, alt country, and even a bit of ragtime.
Winston's first eight albums featured a total of three songs written by other people. With the release of Alias Zimmerman! (Apple sings Dylan) in April of 2010, Winston added 26 songs to that total with a double album of songs written by Bob Dylan.
Alias: Zimmerman! (Apple Sings Dylan) features Dylan classics (and a few less well-known tunes), filtered through Winston's unique production style: wall of sound rock, with a variety of influences: country, blues, reggae, ska, and folk.
Winston's next project ("A" Is For Apple) was another departure from his previous efforts - a children's album, with songs written by Winston, along with a few re-worked nursery rhymes, and unique versions of "The Oompa Loompa Songs".
Between February and August of 2011, Winston composed sixteen new songs, nine of which are overtly political and speak directly to events unfolding in our country and around the world. Despite the serious nature of the subject matter, Winston's trademark sense of humor is evident in enough places to make the album (Amusing Ourselves To Death) entertaining as well as thought-provoking. Most of the tracks are also extremely danceable, with strong grooves.
The Cover Song Collection (Fall 2012) is just what the title implies - a collection of cover songs recorded during 2012 and released that fall.
Radio Bay USA (released in August of 2013) is another collection of cover songs, re-arranged, in this case, with a pronounced reggae/ska influence. Several of Apple's original songs from earlier albums were also recorded as part of this project, but a burst of song-writing activity on Winston's part led to the original songs being included in a separate album (The Two Tones).
The Two Tones is both an album title and the name of Winston's new backing group. While Winston has always recorded using session musicians, the bonding that took place between Winston and the musicians performing on Radio Bay USA created a "group" mentality that led to a desire to keep the group together beyond the recording of the two albums. There are reggae and ska arrangements of six of Winston's songs from earlier albums and nine brand new songs on The Two Tones.
Photos
Feeling a bit camera shy
Bio
I am a singer-songwriter, musician, and producer (both audio and video). I have done 14 albums (11 featuring songs I wrote and 3 featuring unique arrangements of cover songs. One of my songs ("Shoot 'em Up, Cowboy") spent 9 weeks on Record World's singles chart.
Band Members
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