Tarrus Riley Preps New Album..... "Contagious" for August Release....

[Ras Blast]

Awarded Best Male Vocalist and Best Song at the 2008 International Reggae and World Music Awards, Tarrus Riley is the most promising of the second generation of Jamaica roots reggae singers. With an August 4, 2009 release of his much-anticipated third set CONTAGIOUS on Cannon Productions, distributed by VP Records, Tarrus Riley reaffirms that he is one of finest singer/songwriters of his generation, irrespective of musical genre. The son of Jimmy Riley – who has had a long career as a solo artist as well as being a former member of the Uniques and the Techniques. Riley’s songs retain ties to the Jamaican roots tradition while still managing to sound distinctly contemporary. In addition, his strong stage presence gives him crossover appeal and marks him as a coming force on the international reggae scene.

The album is grounded in a roots reggae tradition that is recast with a gleaming 21st century sheen courtesy of the album’s primary producer, venerable saxophonist Dean Fraser and created by Grafton and Tuff Gong studios sovereignty including Sly and Robbie on drum and bass, guitarists Mitchum “Khan” Chin and Cat Coore, keyboardist Robbie Lyn and Dean Fraser’s impassioned sax styling.Contagious remarkably shifts between smoothly crooned lover’s rock and artful Rastafarian declarations, provocative commentaries and dancehall’s combustible edge, its cohesion provided by Tarrus’s spectacularly emotive vocals and reliably inspiring words.

As its title indicates, this highly infectious collection of 19 songs is characterized by symptoms of melodiousness, rapturous roots rhythms and hard hitting lyrical realities that are transmitted through repeated spins, resulting in a high grade musical fever from which you will not want to recover. “The reason why I called it ‘Contagious’ is because I would love for everyone to catch it,” says Tarrus. “I don’t want my music to have boundaries of race, age, nationality or religion; I represent reggae, live music, and I want everyone to catch on to its positive, good vibes.”

Like his father, Tarrus has a sweet, nuanced tenor vocal style, he taught himself to play keyboards and several percussion instruments and began writing his own songs, many of which had strong Rastafarian and consciousness-leaning themes. His 2004 debut album Challenges was an impressive introduction to the Jamaican market deserving of a much wider audience. His sophomore effort Parables featured the most popular reggae song of 2007 “She’s Royal”, won critical praise throughout the Caribbean Diaspora and almost single handedly heralded a roots reggae renaissance.