Our two new albums> were featured in Apple Music!
The Bands
Background Jazz to Party Dance Swing Music, Motown, Classic Rock and Hip Hop
Events that just need a great variety cover band for dinner and dancing.
A Musical Mashup of the legendary music of the 1920s through today
Fun energetic to classic rhythms, we’ll get the groove groovin’.
Elegant and Classic Dance Music from Every Era.
Playing swing dances, elegant big band events or classic music events.
The Buzz
Gwen truly loves what she does – MUSIC – and it shows. Gwen is flexible, resourceful, budget-conscious and very giving.
Ms. Hughes great knowledge of American standards and willingness to work with Mr. Viklicky on some Czech Moravian folk tunes improvisations was astonishing!
I consider myself lucky to have been introduced to Gwen years ago and to still have opportunities to work with her…
I am a GWEN fan.
She has a feline sense of assurance onstage and a voice full of humor.
She swings lightly from come-hither cabaret diva to serious pop interpreter to playful entertainer, indulging in liberating vocalese.
Gwen is one of those ‘chanteuses.’ That means she can really sing and attracts the best players in town to back her up.
Imagine if Tina Turner and Cassandra Wilson somehow combined genetic material… Gwen Hughes is an exciting talent.
Not only does Gwen Hughes have an exceptional voice by anybody’s standards, but she surpasses that magnificent gift with the manner in which she makes her terrific songs communicate.
Lively originals sit alongside cool covers, showcasing the expressive, emotive voice that has made Hughes a fan favorite all these years.
Our seven year old daughter walks around the house singing Gwen’s songs with her iPod. She does not have the amazing range and energy that Gwen brings to her music, but it shows that kids really dig the Warbler.
Reader’s Pick, Best Jazz Artist, multiple years.
A slick sophisticated sound aimed squarely at grownups.
Gwen is a true find, intelligent, sexy, sad, sultry, and she smiles all the way through it.
Whether she’s mimicking a trombone player with her scat singing or belting out blues or pop, Hughes’s music pours out of her voice and body, sometimes in such contortions that she looks and sounds like a possessed Janis Joplin. But there’s no way to pigeonhole her style, as she clearly is influenced by a disparate group of rock, soul, gospel and jazz musicians.
By opening her heart, we hear the melody of a radiant and inspired soul.
Gwen and her orchestra were fabulous last night at Putting on The Ritz at the Chattanooga Read House New Year’s Eve party. Fabulous dance music and always a joy to hear Gwen sing. What a great way to kick off 2019! Thank you Gwen and thank you Read House for bringing Gwen to Chattanooga. I hope more Chattanooga venues bring Gwen back here again….soon!
This is a wonderful album of 11 extremely well written, composed and performed songs that have left a deep impression on me.
Gwen does it again. She touches the soul while you’re tappin’ your toes…
To say that Gwen Hughes has a powerful voice is putting it mildly.
Gwen is an outstanding vocalist who truly makes any song her own.
Gwen is reminiscent of a young, big-throated Shelia Jordan.
Upright bass, hep-cat kind of stuff…a great make-out CD.
Seated at a side table with a crowd of rockers, I’m tickled to see that everyone’s watching with slack-jawed attention, the whole performance is genuinely breathing.
On & Off Camera Actor
In addition to being a musician, Gwen also has appeared on television, most recently on Donald Glover’s “Atlanta,” as well as appearances on “Stan Against Evil” (IFC) and “Murder Comes to Town” and “Dead Silent” (both on Investigation ID). She also toured for three (3) years with a production of Stephen King and John Mellencamp’s “Ghost Brothers of Darkland County,” with music production by T-Bone Burnette.
Original Music
Songwriter
At the risk of sounding like a vinyl curmudgeon, there was once a time you’d buy an actual record album in an actual walk-in store.
It was an event. Then you’d go home, unwrap it, put it on the turntable, and while it played, you’d read the liner notes and lyrics to all the songs. It’s an interesting fact that vinyl album sales are currently outpacing CDs and digital downloads. That means there are lots of other people who want music to be more special, even now, than just a faceless stream across smartphone speakers.
My nephew loves Kendrick Lamar. I do too. We were talking about “Damn!” and I asked him how he could hear the words, learn them, when they were coming out so fast. He said he goes online and learns them. You can too, right here .
I am not a Grammy nominee like Kendrick Lamar (though the Grammys do know who I am and I serve on their Atlanta Board of Governors). But I still have some good lyrics that deserve to be understood in context of the song. I have initially posted three tunes that are extremely personal to me: “It’s Really (Finally) Christmas Now” (the tree really lights up when you have someone to share it with); “Fragile Faith” (written while I was on tour in Europe and missing my then-fiance, now my husband); “Grace Rain Down” (my endless musing on what faith is as a day-to-day existence…and I wrote it after visiting my sweet Grandfather in Greenville, SC).
So, that’s why lyric videos. I envision hearing them on the big screen some day.
Thanks for watching them!
