"Hearts Are Gonna Roll" with Hal Ketchum

Media Contact:

Kristen Gleason
Director of Marketing
The Paramount Theater
215 East Main Street
Charlottesville, VA 22902
434.979.1922 ext. 103
kristen@theparamount.net

For Immediate Release

March 31, 2006

It will be an evening of country, down home and from the heart, when singer/songwriter Hal Ketchum makes a Paramount appearance Tuesday, April 18 at 8 pm. Called "the most effervescent voice in country music" (USA Today), Ketchum is also known for musical storytelling. Sharing down-to-earth tales of average people in an eloquent manner has also led to appellation as "the poet laureate of country music."

Hal Ketchum first made big noise in country circles with 1991's "Small Town Saturday Night" from his gold debut album, Past the Point of Rescue. His subsequent string of hits, including "I Know Where Love Lives," "Hearts Are Gonna Roll," "Stay Forever," "Five O'Clock World," "Sure Love," and "I Miss My Mary," have added up to fifteen songs in the top ten on the country charts -- and five of those in the top five. A member of the Grand Ole Opry since 1994, Ketchum has had his songs covered by artists as varied as Neil Diamond and Trisha Yearwood.

Ketchum came to country as a young upstate New Yorker. Raised in the Adirondack Mountains, he began playing drums at age fifteen. Before landing in Nashville, Ketchum moved to Florida and then Texas, honing his songwriting skills and playing the dance hall circuit along the way. The Lone Star State has had an obvious influence on Ketchum's singing and songwriting of original, honest compositions. At times a combination of country, soul, and pop, Ketchum's music is often singled out for its unique, smooth, and sincere vocal delivery. As stated by Billboard, Ketchum "has long had one of the most unique voices in the industry. He is a stylist in the best sense of the word, an artist able to infuse any lyric with a sense of drama and urgency."

Tickets for Hal Ketchum's April 18 performance at The Paramount are $32, $29, and $26. Tickets are available online or through The Paramount's Box Office at 434.979.1333. For more information about Hal Ketchum, please visit www.halketchum.com.