Stan Farrell Releasing New Music October 2024
The One Man Stan Band
A Maine Native, Stan Farrell has been tossing out songs since 2018 through his band, Wizbe, but this is his first time releasing songs under his own name. His new album, The One Man Stan Band, will be available October 12, 2024.
When you listen to the 12 acoustic songs on the album, expect a roller coaster ride of emotions. When the album starts, you never know the direction the songs will go. Will it be a political debate about the government or a song about taking a moment to breathe? The album starts with a sparse 1 guitar, 1 voice production asking the simple question, “What Would Jerry Garcia Play?”. This song, along with a bouncy tune “Hiking Just for Fun” look at one of his favorite pastimes of being in the Maine outdoors. For those of you with a bit of hiking and camping experience, you may understand the humor when he says “I do this for fun, I really do.but I can’t be this numb to be hiking just for fun.”, but of course, Stan is back out in the woods of New England the next chance he gets.
Other songs in the album settle in with a sadness that has rarely surfaced in his Wizbe albums. The song “She is a Character” talks about watching your child grow up, and begin her own life. And then there’s “We Move On” about not winning and not being the greatest that we envision in our own minds, and possibly reaching the conclusion that yes, it is okay not to be number one, maybe.
Other songs bubble with happiness at being where we are in our life. “This is Our Home” is a shout out for being happy with this great life we’re giving. “Going Buddha” is about how we react.
And then there’s the goofiness of “Lost My Wife in the Farmers’ Market”, which is a bit self explanatory. But even this song has more to it. Along with the humor, this song is also a celebration of the small town local markets. Stan has called these small markets “one of the best defenses against the greed of the large corporations.”
Stan Farrell spent much of his career as an engineer doing research and development in the textile industry, but rarely went a day without the guitar in his hands and a recording studio in his home. What started as a thing to do to relax his mind after work grew until Stan became a little obsessive and passionate about the music. As he’s grown older, the music has begun to take over his life in unexpected but happy ways. He has been releasing songs and albums under his “band” WIzbe with rock songs ranging from the bar scene favorite “You Sexy Beast” and the coffee shop favorite, :”Old Boat”. He’s also become quite a regular at the music venues around Central Maine and Coastal areas.
The idea for The One Man Stan Band began when Stan was playing live shows using a cajon, snare drum, tambourine, harmonica, and acoustic guitar, to join himself when he sang his tunes. It became a regular shout out from the audience, “Here comes the One Man Stan Band”..
And the album is all Stan Farrell including the songwriting, playing, recording, mixing, and mastering.The songs were performed live first, revised, played again, and then, recorded. Stan says “I wanted an album that I could perform and make the songs part of my show. I feel that music is moving towards being more alive as much as possible and I wanted the recordings to express that live feeling.’
When asked what’s next, Stan is quick with a smile. “Live music is best”. Stan will continue to write music with a big emphasis on playing it live. He’s thinking it might be time to pick up that electric guitar again. And while still doing performances where he can, Stan says he’s working on a full show using his music and hoping to move towards a larger tour.