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Hightide Blues

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Hometown	Atlanta, GA
Genres
Band Members	Paul McDonald: Lead Vocals, Guitar, Keys<br/>Jonathan ... » more
Achievements	» more
Upcoming Shows	None

Contact Information:	Artist / Band Member Paul McDonald htbpaulmcd@gmail.com 334-559-0134
# Years Experience Performing Live:	4
# Live Perfomances Past Six-months:	100
Market Draw:	Home Market: 451-500
Venue History:	Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival in Manchester, TN - Manchester, TN Hangout Music & Arts Festvial - Gulf Shores, AL Verizon Wireless BamaJam Music & Arts Festival - Enterprise, AL SXSW - Austin, TX Florida Music Festival - Orlando, FL City Stages - Birmingham, AL Workplay Theatre - Birmingham, AL Tipitina's - New Orleans , LA Georgia Theatre - Athens, GA 40 Watt Club - Athens, GA Crossroads Music Hall - Huntsville, AL George's Majestic Lounge - Fayetteville, AR Antones - Austin, TX Fly Me To The Moon Saloon - Telluride, CO The Walnut Room - Denver, CO The Soul Kitchen - Mobile, AL Sullivan Hall - New York, NY Harpers Ferry - Boston, MA The Square Room - Knoxville, TN Smith's Olde Bar - Atlanta, GA Shuba's - Chicago, IL
Opener Experience:	Zac Brown Band; Augustana; Tonic; Five For Fighting; Lynyrd Skynyrd; JJ Grey & Mofro; Sara Bareilles; Sister Hazel; Presidents of the United States of America; Rocco DeLuca & The Burden; Matt Costa; Donavon Frankenreiter; Jason Isbell & The 400 Unit; Drivin' & Cryin'; Three Days Grace; T-Pain; Umphrey's McGee; The Whigs; Dead Confederate; Delta Spirit; The Verve Pipe; Graham Colton; Civil Twilight; Matt Kearney
Similar Artists:	Ryan Adams, Rolling Stones, The Faces, Tom Petty
Performing Rights Society:	BMI
Discography:	Live at Tipitinas: New Orleans EP—2009; Love Come Easy EP—2008; Tired of Leavin' EP—2007

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About the Artist

Hightide Blues took the stage for the first time in 2006 and has been gracing hundreds of stages for thousands of fans ever since. Their sound is a throw back to southern rock with a modern twist and an original delivery that's in a category of it's...

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Music

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Achievements

Feature on OurStage Radio in Winamp

Reached 2nd in Best of Pop chart in 2011. In the top 20 for 12 weeks.

Top 10 in Pop, September 2010

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Press Coverage

Hightide Blues by SIX Degrees Magazine: Atlanta
Hightide Blues took the stage for the first time in 2006 and has been gracing hundreds of stages for thousands of fans across the Southeast ever since. Their sound is a throw back to southern rock with a modern twist and an original delivery that's in a category of its own. With their high-energy performances and huge fan base it's no surprise that Hightide Blues has shared the stage with national acts such as Sara Bareilles, Graham Colton, Jason Isbell, Karl Denson, Sister Hazel, The Whigs, and many more. Their delivery of acoustic and electric guitars with a hard-hitting rhythm section has lead to sold out shows in Birmingham, Auburn, and Tuscaloosa, Alabama and won't be stopping there. Hightide Blues is rocking festivals throughout the Southeast and expanding their touring, hitting the road once again in July for a summer tour with stops in Atlanta, Nashville, Athens, Tuscaloosa, Memphis, St. Louis, Chicago, Asheville, Indianapolis, Kansas City, and Birmingham, and moving up the East coast from Atlanta to New York City for another tour in the Fall. In January 2008, Hightide Blues signed up with Bowe O'Brien and Atlanta-based Bowe Inc for management. In February 2008 Hightide Blues recorded their second EP "Love Come Easy," with producer Richard McLaurin at House of David Studios in Nashville, where music legends Elvis, Neil Young, B.B. King, Joe Cocker, and Roy Orbison recorded some of the most influential albums in music history. The highly anticipated "Love Come Easy" is releasing on June 21st and is generating excitement from fans and major record labels alike. Being labeled the fastest up and coming band in the Southeast, Hightide Blues is following in the footsteps of the many music legends who graced the very same studio, and anything is possible for this band as they tour the country picking up momentum and fans along the way. - SIX Degrees Magazine: Atlanta, GA

Locals Deliver High Energy Album by Corner Magazine: Auburn, AL
Local rock band Hightide Blues has been a staple on the Auburn music scene for a while now and are sure to pick up more speed with their latest EP. The band’s last recording showed a more laid back side of the band, but their new EP, “Love Come Easy,” has some high energy tracks that positively smoke. “Katie Can You Hear Me” is a loud, rockin’ song in the style of Widespread Panic with a strong groove and bluesy lead guitar. The most noticeable difference with this album is the use of keys to add more depth to the tracks. The song “Dancing With the Angels” is such a song, with warm acoustic guitar, clean piano and an almost Cat Stevens meets Goo Goo Dolls delivery. “Let it Roll” is a soulful, gospel-tinged number that is quite infectious. The organ lines keep it in a jam-band feel, but the arrangement itself is almost reminiscent of Ray Charles. Hightide Blues covers a wide spectrum of feelings and textures, switching from rock and soul to gentle ballads. “Love Come Easy” has captured the group’s evolution from playing crowd-pleasing covers to writing more of their own songs, and they have done it well. With strong vocals, good grooves and lots of soul, “Love Come Easy” could be a great success. The EP will be released later this month. The guys said to look for them to perform in Auburn soon. For more information on the band, visit their MySpace page at myspace.com/hightideblues.

Hightide Blues Playing at Bonnaroo by Creative Loafing: Atlanta, GA
Dave FM names Search-a-Roo winner Saturday June 6th, 2008 by Erin Everhart in Music news As if Auburn and UGA needed another rivalry. Auburn alums Hightide Blues and University of Georgia grads The Reeds will compete in the ultimate battle of the bands Saturday for their chance to share a stage with the likes of Pearl Jam, Metallic, Widespread Panic and Jack Johnson. “I share my room with these bands,” said Josh Reid, leader singer of The Reeds. “They’re on my walls as posters. I can’t even imagine playing with them.” The Third Annual 92.9 Dave FM Search-a-Roo contest scoured the city for the best local band to send to Rolling Stone magazine’s “Best Festival,” Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival in Manchester, Tenn. The winner will be chosen after the bands perform live at the 2008 Virginia-Highlands Summerfest. “It’s crazy. We’re just normal guys, not hardcore rockers or anything,” said Paul McDonald, lead singer of Hightide Blues. “We’re just college kids. And now we’re getting a shot at Bonnaroo; there are just no words to describe it.” 92.9 Dave FM is the only radio station that runs a contest specifically for local bands, said Zac Altheimer, marketing director for Music Allies, the radio marketing agency that handles promotions for Bonnaroo. So why Atlanta? Dave FM has partnered with Bonnaroo since the beginning, and Atlanta is a top-notch market for heavy ticket sales and incredible talent, Altheimer said. This year, more than 300 musicians entered, said Will Davis, marketing director for Dave FM. Longtime Bonnaroo lovers, Hightide Blues band mates were already planning to trek to Tennessee as fans of the festival when they heard about the contest through drummer Scott Rollins’ girlfriend. With only the mastered copy of their new CD, Love Come Easy, Manager Bowe O’Brien dropped off a raw, unofficial copy to Dave FM studios. Reviewing three songs from each band, the Dave FM staff narrowed the number to 25 based on song style, quality of sound and performance ability, Davis said. Music Allies then chose the final four, looking for “simply good music,” Altheimer said. What made Southern rockers Hightide Blues and jazz artists The Reeds stick out from other submissions? Both bands have a unique sound that brings something different to the festival, he said. They’ve got strong fan bases, and they’ll keep going after Bonnaroo.” Bonnaroo is its own genre,” he said. “It’s not a jam band festival; it’s not a southern rock festival. It’s its own thing. So we wanted a really fun band that will make you dance and have a really good time.” The rest was up to the fans. The bands swarmed Facebook, MySpace and listservs with desperate pleas for votes to score a 30-minute slot at Summerfest, beating out other Atlanta locals Ocha la Rocha and Groovestain. Together since 2006, Hightide Blues stacks quite the resume, having shared the stage with Sister Hazel, Graham Colton and Sara Bareilles, played more than 150 shows in 2007 and will tour with Benjy Davis Project this summer. Saturday will be The Reed’s first live performance after months of recording their new CD, Bleed Lust. Reid and violinist Ben Austin have been a duo since high school, but the full band wasn’t added until December 2007. Both bands will use Saturday’s slot to test out their up-and-coming records. “I was shocked,” Reid said when he heard The Reeds were chosen. “We usually don’t win contests. We never even make the top 3 at Eddie’s Attic [Songwriter’s Open Mic], so we never thought we’d get this.”

New Bands Find Wider Audiences at Bonnaroo by Daily Nebraskan
Portable toilets are a staple of the Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival. Fans at the festival are known to carry their own rolls of toilet paper - just in case - and hold their noses when the sewage trucks roll by on the campgrounds. And as gross as they are, a porta-potty led me to the up-and-coming, high-energy band Hightide Blues. Over the weekend in Manchester, Tenn., I bumped into Paul McDonald, 23, a musician in the Atlanta-based band. We were both headed toward the press tent, but we were blocked off from the area by a forklift moving a porta-potty. Paul joked that the precariously perched toilet would probably fall off the forklift when we walked by, which was a funny joke, until the toilet actually tipped over. It was like something out of a movie. The toilet was going to flatten us, I saw my life flash before my eyes, we bolted, you get the picture. It was crazy. I thought we were about to get dump all over us," Paul joked. After we narrowly escaped a horrible fate, Paul and I sat down and chatted about his band, which made its first appearance at Bonnaroo this year. McDonald, who passed on medical school to pursue a future with his band, is the lead vocalist and plays acoustic guitar for Hightide Blues. Jonathan Pears plays electric guitar, djembe, lap steel and the harmonica. Scotty Rollins plays drums, and Cragon Sims plays bass for the band. The band has been together since 2006, and its influences include Ryan Adams, Ben Harper and The Black Crowes. Hightide Blues made it to the Sonic Stage at Bonnaroo after beating out 300 Atlanta-area bands in a radio station contest. McDonald, who has been to Bonnaroo each year of its existence as a fan, said it's a whole different experience being at the festival as an artist. Some of the best perks of being an artist at the festival, he said, are having backstage access and getting free beer. This is awesome, man," he said. Hightide Blues took the stage shortly ahead of schedule Saturday and squeezed an extra couple of songs into their set. Many members of the small audience at the beginning of the set were longtime fans who stood back from the stage and observed, singing along with the tunes. But the band garnered new followers as the crowd grew during Hightide Blues' performance. The band's upbeat songs and commanding stage presence pulled people in close to the stage despite heavy rain, and after the show, the audience flocked over to a tent nearby for the band's meet and greet and signing. Hightide Blues is currently touring in support of their new EP "Love Come Easy," out June 21. natasharichardson@dailynebraskan.com

Auburn Grads Shoot For Stars With New Album by The Crimson White
Imagine Ryan Adams playing high-octane Southern rock with the Allman Brothers Band, raising his voice to the skies with somber conviction, but still being able to sit down on the front porch and tell his life to the world. This may be a fantasy, but the Hightide Blues come close with "Love Come Easy. Hightide Blues, which is composed of Auburn University alumni, was formed in 2006 when singer Paul McDonald and guitarist Jonathan Pears first began writing songs together and performing around town. Soon after, Scott Rollins was tapped as the band's drummer and Bagby Hall the bassist. The full band recorded an EP, "Tired of Leavin,'" in 2007. After graduating college, the band hit the road in full force, sharing the stage with artists such as Sara Bareilles, Karl Denson Trio, Jason Isbell and Sister Hazel. When Hall left the band in 2007, the band enlisted Phillip Gayle to fill in. The band then recorded "Love Come Easy" at the House of David in Nashville, Tenn., where the likes of Elvis and Joe Cocker recorded some of their music. From the first listen, "Love Come Easy," hits you like a whirlwind of passionate rock, only to leave you soothed by the twang and rootsy melodies of alternative folk. Drawing from influences as varied as The Black Crowes, Ryan Adams (as well as his old band, Whiskeytown) and Ray Lamontagne, "Love Come Easy" echoes those influences as well as introduces the listener to the band's own sound, which rolls through twangy folk to greasy Southern rock to mellow country with effortless precision. With the album's opening track, "Katie, Can You Hear Me," Hightide Blues wastes no time in pulling you in; they push you into their meshed sound. Everything in this album, while not going over-the-top, emphasizes the band's deep roots in Southern music. One song, which has become quite a head-turner live, is "Let It Roll," featuring McDonald and company echoing the heyday of The Black Crowes, noticeably during their "The Southern Harmony and Musical Companion" days. However, like any true musicians, Hightide Blues knew they couldn't win over the masses with high-octane rock alone. The band spread its sound a little further, and this is where we find the real pearls of this album. With "Dreamin' Alone," the band delves into the loneliness we all face. This song is by far the most mature on the record and would be an excellent choice for a single. McDonald, who was the principal songwriter for the record, made the album reflect his life playing in front of thousands of people the last couple of years, including a stint at Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival this year. Who would have thought that something this good could come from Auburn? All joking aside, the fact that this album is even in my hands right now enforces the idea that there is still good music being made out there, whether it be from late night jams, missing the big Friday night party to write that "next big song," or a group of people who care about music so much that they put this much work into their craft. For a band that has only been in existence for a short time, there is a real genuine, aged sound to the album, and McDonald has a knack for tremendously powerful lyrics. There are no gimmicks; this band plays every song with the same conviction as the one before. It is available for preorder on their Web site at www.hightideblues.com, as well as from iTunes. The official release is June 21.

High Time for Hightide: Debut Album Honors Friend by The Huntsville Times
Debut album honors a friend Thursday, June 19, 2008 CHRIS.WELCH@htimes.com There was no way Paul McDonald could ever miss Meg Ingram when his Southern rock band, Hightide Blues, played in Tuscaloosa. That's because Ingram, a Huntsville High School grad and University of Alabama cheerleader, was always on the front row of the Hightide Blues shows, cheering on her friend who grew up in the same neighborhood and attended high school with her. Ingram was a special friend and fan, so McDonald was saddened when he got the call in February from Meg's mother telling him her daughter had passed away after a courageous battle with cancer. Meg's mother, H.J. - well, actually Meg - had a request. Would McDonald play at her funeral? Her mom called me as soon as she passed and Meg had wanted me to play a song at her funeral," McDonald said during a recent visit to Huntsville. The group also played at the Bonnaroo music festival in Manchester, Tenn., last week. We had just got done with a weeklong stint on the road traveling through the Southeast and we were on our way up to Nashville to hit the studio the next day. Anyways, I got dropped off in Huntsville the day before the funeral and went to her visitation. McDonald, 23, said he planned to play a song from an old record, but after the visitation he was touched by Ingram's memory. Meg had always joked on me for not writing her a song, so that night I went home and stayed up until about 5 in the morning writing a song for Meg," McDonald said. "The next day I played it at the funeral and immediately after drove straight to Nashville to get to the studio. McDonald played "Dancing with the Angels (Meg's Song)" at the funeral and felt like he'd written something special for somebody special. When he got back to the studio, although surely exhausted, he showed it to his producer and the band agreed it should be on the next record. In fact, McDonald and Hightide Blues were so focused and tuned into the song that the very first take was the final cut. The new album is called "Love Comes Easy" and is being released Monday, and some proceeds will go to the Meg Ingram Memorial Scholarship Fund. To pre-order the CD you can go to hightideblues.com or Meg's Fund at megingram.org. As for Hightide Blues, the group is developing a fan base after being together just two years. They've shared the stage with national acts such as Sara Bareilles, Graham Colton, Jason Isbell, Karl Denson, Sister Hazel, The Whigs and others. In January, the group signed with Atlanta-based Bowe Inc. for management.

Bonnaroo: Hightide Blues, Ben Folds, B.B. King by NYC's "The Village Voice"
Bonnaroo Day Three June 14, 2008 High Tide Blues, Mason Jennings, Abigail Washburn and the Sparrow Quartet, featuring Bela Fleck, B.B. King, Ben Folds, Chromeo all photos by Mark C. Austin It’s Sunday morning here in the Tennessee sun, and after a torrential downpour on Friday night and into Saturday morning, folks are starting to a) reek or b) shell out $7 for a shower. I’ve chosen to go the former route and have vowed not to bathe until I get home on Monday morning. You know, solidarity with the masses and all that, or maybe I’m just cheap. Some of my colleagues in the press tent are judging me silently for this choice, I suspect, even though I’m careful not to stand too close to anyone. One of the best things about Bonnaroo is that there are so many bands playing that you’re bound to stumble upon groups that you’ve never heard of before. Whenever there’s down time here, I tend to wander towards the tiny Sonic Stage, which often features smaller bands. Yesterday afternoon I caught the end of a set from an Atlanta-based band called High Tide Blues, who play a rollicking, jangly, southern brand of rock n’ roll. The band came to Bonnaroo after winning first prize in a radio contest, and they were like kids in a candy shop, jumping around stage and grinning from ear to ear. At one point the lead singer/guitarist said, “I’ve been to Bonnaroo every year for the past seven years and it’s basically a dream come true to play here.” This sort of enthusiasm is refreshing after seeing a bunch of shows from more established artists, and can be powerful stuff. Best of luck to them.

The Tide Is In by Metromix-Atlanta
The tide is in By Nick Margiasso Special to Metromix September 23, 2008 When you live in the South — even in the South’s main city — music listeners are exposed to a sea of Southern rock revivalists, copycats and originals. There are a ton of them out there, so when an artist excels in the genre it takes something special in the tunes and on the stage to rise against the tide. In this case, ironically, that band is Hightide Blues. With the release of its second record, this time an eight-song EP called "Love Come Easy," Auburn-based Hightide Blues is truly on to something. On "Love Come Easy," the band does not blaze any new musical ground and therein lies its very strength. Hightide Blues has wrapped up everything great about southern rock ’n’ roll — soaring riffs, vocal immediacy and a musical earnestness bleary-eyed from the bottle — and packaged it with all the rattle and roll that is worth a good shake to. It makes for an album that sounds like a greatest hits of those favorite rock classics you’ve probably never even heard. And if that’s the case, you can start with "Love Come Easy. Seconds into the record’s first spin, southern sonic thunder barrels out of the speakers and into your bones. The opener, “Katie, Can You hear Me?” is a badge of Black Crowes-style soul stomping from the hearty percussion to the meaningful moans and groans of lead singer Paul McDonald’s patented vocal belt. Hell, they even have a tune called Black Crows on the EP. The band weaves and pivots throughout all the southern style trappings the rest of the way, pairing two bouts of near perfect balladry back-to-back in “Far From Home” and “Dreamin’ Alone” before tearing back onto that righteous rock path with the get-down of “Let It Roll” and the jammy “Merle’s Last Stand.” By closing time of this EP, you’ll be myspacing these boys to see when you can shake and sweat with the show live onstage. This band’s sound is big and accessible — plain and simple. The Bama boys’ sound is everything you ever liked about The Crowes, Ryan Adams, Lynard Skynard et al, with an alarming immediacy of youth and young manhood. The fact that it’s not a bigger radio and music biz presence is what’s wrong with the industry itself these days. Still, that can’t stop Hightide Blues from burning a sound ripping through an ocean of musical monotony.

Southern Rock Kings to Play Midtown by Chattanooga Times Free Press
When it comes to their goals, young bands can either be realists who just want to sell off the boxes of CDs in their parents' living room or idealists with visions of groupies and platinum albums dancing in their heads. For 2-year-old Atlanta-based Southern rock quartet Hightide Blues, however, even the out-of-reach seems possible. With their second year still green on the vine, Paul McDonald (lead vocals), Jonathan Pears (guitar/harmonica), Scotty Rollins (drums) and Cragon Sims (bass) have already played at the Bonnaroo Music Festival and have now set their sights on their next dream: a band Ferrari. While a rearing pony may be a few years away yet, still fresh is their Bonnaroo performance, which was the culmination of beating out 300 groups in a battle of the bands hosted by Atlanta radio station Dave FM. We just really love Bonnaroo and the whole spirit of what it is and the music," Pears said. "To be part of it was really cool," he said, adding that he and McDonald have gone every year since the festival started. Having passed one of their milestones, however, the band is still pushing forward like a football team during preseason. Their blues-injected blend of raw, throwback Southern rock fronted by McDonald's soulful voice was a big hit down on the farm in Manchester, Tenn., and they're putting in two-a-day practices to keep it honed. Playing a festival like that, you really have to step up and be at your best," Rollins said. "Ever since then, it's really been helping us out. Bonnaroo's a big thing, a big deal, and it's been opening doors for us. Hightide is in the midst of a furious touring schedule. Earlier this summer, they played a new city every night for three weeks straight, and no gig is too small, as long as it gets them in front of people, McDonald said. We're going to play as many dates as we can for whoever will let us in," he said. "We'd rather be playing somewhere on the road than hanging out at home. So whether they make it on "Late Night With Conan O'Brien" (their next major goal) or not, they're inching toward that Ferrari, one frat party at a time.

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