Chris DeMay first arrived on the scene with his alt.country band West of Rome. During his time with that band, he also launched a solo career, encouraged by the late Jay Bennett (ex-Wilco), who had produced West of Rome. In 2008, DeMay joined the fine Juniper Tar.
But now he's back with another solo record. "Bigger Than Small" (Bear Rifle Records) features six tracks recorded with Call Me Lightning's Shane Hochstetler at the latter's Bay View recording studio, Howl Street Recording, just about a year ago now.
On these rootsy tunes, DeMay welcomes a cast of friends, including -- among others -- Pezzettino, who plays accordion on "The Man in Me," Joe Kirschling who drums on four tracks and Quinn Scharber who is on three songs.
You can hear the tunes -- and likely songs from DeMay's 2007 solo debut "It Won't Be Me" -- when he hosts a CD release party for "Bigger Than Small" at Linneman's Riverwest Inn, on Friday, Jan. 29 at 9 p.m.
At 5 p.m. on Friday, DeMay is interviewed and plays in the studio as part of 88Nine's "414" show.
Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., where he lived until he was 17, Bobby received his BA-Mass Communications from UWM in 1989 and has lived in Walker's Point, Bay View, Enderis Park, South Milwaukee and on the East Side.
He has published three non-fiction books in Italy – including one about an event in Milwaukee history, which was published in the U.S. in autumn 2010. Four more books, all about Milwaukee, have been published by The History Press.
With his most recent band, The Yell Leaders, Bobby released four LPs and had a songs featured in episodes of TV's "Party of Five" and "Dawson's Creek," and films in Japan, South America and the U.S. The Yell Leaders were named the best unsigned band in their region by VH-1 as part of its Rock Across America 1998 Tour. Most recently, the band contributed tracks to a UK vinyl/CD tribute to the Redskins and collaborated on a track with Italian novelist Enrico Remmert.
He's produced three installments of the "OMCD" series of local music compilations for OnMilwaukee.com and in 2007 produced a CD of Italian music and poetry.
In 2005, he was awarded the City of Asti's (Italy) Journalism Prize for his work focusing on that area. He has also won awards from the Milwaukee Press Club.
He has be heard on 88Nine Radio Milwaukee talking about his "Urban Spelunking" series of stories, in that station's most popular podcast.
