Will Hoge Rocks The ‘Nati

Could YOU say no to this face?

With music changing so much in the last 20 years, rock n roll has pretty much taken a back seat to alternative bands and rappers and overproduced pop artists. That being said, I want to let you know that if you ever want to let your hair hang down and rock it out a little bit, there are quite a few great rock bands out there that really deserve your attention! And there is one in particular that I saw this evening that I thought I should tell you about…

I love music and it’s time for me to step up and represent one guy who I’ve seen maybe 4 or 5 times now and every time the dude delivers. His name is Will Hoge and the guy just has it. For the record, I had never heard of Will until about 2 years ago. A friend of my wife (who is also my friend but I met her through Stephanie so I have to give her credit) was the first to fill me in on the Will Hoge experience. She LOVES this guy. Seriously, she probably owns every album of his and has double copies if ya wanna borrow one. Anyway, Jen made me go see Will in concert at a local dive on Short Vine here in Cincinnati a couple of years ago and I was impressed. The acoustics sucked, but the guy has a stage presence that you can’t deny.

So I went to see him again at a different venue. Much better acoustics and he sounded great and he just freakin’ rocks! He writes, he plays guitar and he has a unique, raspy voice that fills the entire bar (think Tom Petty by way of Bruce Springsteen). Last night, he sang without a mic and you could still hear him in the back of the bar! He’s just an awesome live performer! And that’s the catch. As good as his lyrics are (mostly about heartbreak and relationships), his albums are only so-so for me. He’s one of those unique performers who does better under the lights. He doesn’t use stage props and he doesn’t pretend to be anyone other than himself…and that’s good enough.

Will Hoge is a performer who puts it on the line every night of the week. He travels his ass off and works his way from one end of the country to the other (and sometimes even overseas…which is where he just returned from). The road for him is never ending and he certainly appears to love what he does. I know I certainly appreciate the work he is putting in and I hope he continues to gather a fan base here and in other parts of the world. I’m not the president of the Will Hoge fan club, but I do own my own special secret agent Will Hoge badge. So consider this to be my part on letting you know about this guy and if he’s ever in your town and you want a great rock-n-roll show, go check him out! You won’t be disappointed!

My picks off ITunes would be “Better Off Now (That Your Gone)”, “Pocket Full Fo Change” and “Sex, Lies & Money”. Go check em out!