Via Carnival Music
NASHVILLE, TENN. – Texas native and Nashville-based singer-songwriter Mando Saenz combines the acoustic pensiveness of 2005’s Watertown and the full-bodied bravado of 2008’s Bucket on his third release Studebaker, available June 4 on Carnival Recording Company.
Produced by Mark Nevers (Lambchop, Bobby Bare, Jr., Andrew Bird) at his studio, Beech House Recording in Nashville, Studebaker features co-writes with Kim Richey, Shelly Colvin, Ryan Beaver, Wade Bowen, and Justyna Kelly. The other seven songs are all Saenz.
“The only time I speak out is when I sing,” he confides. “I am more comfortable musically now, but in a lot of other ways, too. Maybe that comes through in the songs.”
As he snarls, “Where’s my Studebaker / I’m nobody’s pocket change” in new album track “Pocket Change,” it’s clear that Saenz is not only comfortable, he’s enjoying himself. “I’ve been playing ‘Pocket Change’ for a few years now,” he says. “One of the reasons I decided to call the album ‘Studebaker’ is people ask at shows, ‘Hey, what album is that “Studebaker” song on?’”
While he’s comfortably in the drivers seat on Studebaker, that wasn’t always so for Saenz. The song of an Army doctor, his family moved to North Carolina when he was two months old and eventually settled in Corpus Christi. His unconventional path to music began in San Antonio where he earned an MBA. “I was just kind of lost,” he recalls. But the call to create music was too strong to ignore. He moved to Houston and recorded his debut effort, Watertown. “His plaintive delivery and knack for sweet melodies are evident from the get-go.” -Paste Magazine
And followed with Bucket three years later. “He’s likely to get used to more attention with the release of Bucket, which builds beautifully on the world-weary blueprint set by Watertown. It’s a casual, confident record and offers a careful balance of quirky Americana fare and more mainstream rock strains.” – Houston Chronicle
In addition to touring heavily, Saenz spent the years between recording Bucket and Studebaker further developing his songwriting by writing with and for a variety of artists. He co-wrote every track save one on Stoney LaRue’s 2011 album, Velvet—which scored three No. 1 singles on the Texas Music Chart—along with all of the songs on Shelly Colvin’s recently released Up the Hickory, Down the Pine. And Kim Richey cut “Breakaway Speed” for her new album, Thorn in My Heart. Eli Young Band, Whiskey Myers, and more also joined Saenz’s growing list of collaborators, while others such as Lee Ann Womack have rediscovered and recorded his solo-written work.
Studebaker is available June 4th on Carnival Recording Company. Tour dates to be announced.
Tour and news updates available at: https://www.facebook.com/MandoSaenzMusic
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