Rising eclectic pop singer-songwriter ZZ Ward has blown us away with her bluesy take on R&B and hip-hop, and the LA-based, Oregon-raised artist wows us again as she shows off what she refers to as "Dirty Shine" in the music video for her swampy "Put The Gun Down," a boot-stomping rocker off her full-length debut album, "Til the Casket Drops," which she said "is about going to war for someone that you love. You have to fight for great love sometimes. I feel like I really just embraced who I was, even if it's different, on this record."
The gender-blending artist is one whose artistry spins on a luminous axis of voice and soul, is truly unlike anyone else working in music today. Her fierce stage presence and no holds barred approach to storytelling has set her apart from her peers. Born in Pennsylvania and raised in Roseburg, Oregon, Ward's musical influences from her father who wrote songs and played harmonica in blues bands, but it was old school masters from her parent's vinyl collection that first intrigued Ward. "It was the authenticity," she recalls, "the soulfulness."
Paired with her subsequent connection to the Eugene, Oregon, a hip-hop community, to write and perform hooks at high-energy, rap shows. This rhythmic journey, combined with her bluesy upbringing, would become essential in laying the foundation for her signature "dirty blues and beats" sound. While Ward is now at home on stage in reverential Los Angeles listening rooms, she was schooled in smokey dive bars and juke joints across the Pacific Northwest - anywhere she could sing.
Driving fog-shrouded logging roads to gigs, hauling gear and setting up the sound system before playing three hours a night, Ward is battle-tested. "I'm proud of the fact that I've done a lot," she says. "I've paid dues and I'm still paying dues. I put albums together and sold them in parking lots. It was hard to go up to strangers and talk about music, but it made me tough." The new video for "Put the Gun Down" was directed by Alex Bulkley, and it shows off Ward's hard hitting zeal closely reminiscent of Adele and Christina Aguilera and performing "Put The Gun Down" with her four-piece backing band.
The gender-blending artist is one whose artistry spins on a luminous axis of voice and soul, is truly unlike anyone else working in music today. Her fierce stage presence and no holds barred approach to storytelling has set her apart from her peers. Born in Pennsylvania and raised in Roseburg, Oregon, Ward's musical influences from her father who wrote songs and played harmonica in blues bands, but it was old school masters from her parent's vinyl collection that first intrigued Ward. "It was the authenticity," she recalls, "the soulfulness."
Paired with her subsequent connection to the Eugene, Oregon, a hip-hop community, to write and perform hooks at high-energy, rap shows. This rhythmic journey, combined with her bluesy upbringing, would become essential in laying the foundation for her signature "dirty blues and beats" sound. While Ward is now at home on stage in reverential Los Angeles listening rooms, she was schooled in smokey dive bars and juke joints across the Pacific Northwest - anywhere she could sing.
Driving fog-shrouded logging roads to gigs, hauling gear and setting up the sound system before playing three hours a night, Ward is battle-tested. "I'm proud of the fact that I've done a lot," she says. "I've paid dues and I'm still paying dues. I put albums together and sold them in parking lots. It was hard to go up to strangers and talk about music, but it made me tough." The new video for "Put the Gun Down" was directed by Alex Bulkley, and it shows off Ward's hard hitting zeal closely reminiscent of Adele and Christina Aguilera and performing "Put The Gun Down" with her four-piece backing band.
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