YouTubers' Heaven

Tonight I'm talking about a cover.  It's recorded by two acts that have found their way into the music industry through their YouTube presence.  Like having some favorite buskers at the MBTA stations in Boston, there are some YouTube musicians that I follow.  Given that some of those online musicians are still at the stage where they're peddling CD's, tee's, and cover requests through their websites, it's inspiring to hear how Boyce Avenue and Megan Nicole have gotten some deep traction in the industry.

The song that I heard Boyce Avenue (three brothers from Sarasota) performing with Megan Nicole.  I've always enjoyed the music of Bran Adams, even when it was sometimes too mellow for my peers.  "Heaven" was a song that he released in 1985.  Co-written with James Vallance, the song is about the state of emotional ecstasy you reach when you're in love.  Like the "Summer of '69", this has the singer looking back at his younger days at the beginning (but "Heaven" seems to be missing the recurring double entendre).  Suffice to say, I grew up living to a good deal of Bryan Adams on the radio, and over the years other people would cover "Heaven." Such as DJ Sammy with Yanou and Do.   The Manzano brothers (Alexandro, Fabian, and Daniel) and Megan Nicole add so much warmth to the song with their string instruments and vocal harmonies.  The original recording featured an electric guitar and a keyboard.  Adams later dilemma it down to an acoustic version that still had a variety of musicians excelling to full strength as the song ascends and then tapers off (nothing wrong with that).  But in the Boyce Avenue version, the instruments were so much more streamlined.  A smaller range of instruments, and while the components were stripped down some, there was so much depth.  This may not be the same for everyone, but I have a deep love for the natural sensation that can be heard in acoustic instruments.  I compare it to a day that I was walking over to Marshall Hall at SUNY ESF (I was collaborating with a student newspaper at this neighboring university).  I was walking through a snow flurry in Syracuse, and when I stepped into Marshall Hall, I could feel the heat in the building and smell all the wooden furnishings.  When I can hear voices harmonizing with sound that plays along the inside of a guitar, I feel the audio equivalent to that Marshall Hall feeling.  ... I guess it helps that one night at Marshall, I heard a great Celtic folk group play at an open mic night.

I leave you suggesting that you check out both Megan Nicole and Boyce Avenue.  Of the sampling that I've heard,  her music seems to have a mixture of high energy songs and some slower ballads.  Boyce Avenue has many covers floating around the internet in addition to their albums.  It's with those albums that you get a feel for the music that they've personally written and composed.  This may just be my sense of nostalgia, but listening to a live performances, reminds me of some of those bands of the mid to late 90's that would straddle the divide between alternative and top 40.  In my book, that's a great thing.  They have a great mix of acoustic and electric.  I saw that they're coming to the local House of Blues next month in their tour.  I think that's a show that I'll be checking out.