Choirboy expands his vocal horizons
By Cathalena E. Burch
cburch@azstarnet.com
Tucson, Arizona | Published: 03.27.2008
Conner Cecil wears his sideburns just below his earlobes, cocks a cowboy hat just low enough to shade his eyebrows and strikes the perfect country music pose.
Which might seem out of whack to some: Isn't this the pure-voiced, classically trained young man in the dapper suit who sang Bach and Mozart for three years with the University of Arizona Symphonic Choir?
"To be honest, the music is really different, but the attention you have to pay to the really, really small things going on in acoustic music are the exact same things you have in classical music. It's just as intricate," says the 22-year-old former choir boy and recent UA dropout. He left school — he was a business major — a year ago to pursue his music full time.
On Saturday night at Club Congress, the Globe native and classically trained pianist will make his Tucson debut as a solo artist. His show will be a mix of original tunes and cover songs. But don't expect to hear his interpretation of the latest Keith Urban hit. Cecil leans more to country's earthy sound from artists like the Louvin Brothers, Gram Parsons, Emmylou Harris, George Jones, Mark Chesnutt and Hank Williams Sr.
"When I first started I got really big into the honky-tonk style of music, but I was finding that I was having a really hard time singing it, making it convincing." he explained. "I found that older style of country and I tried to see if I could find a way to freshen it up a little bit."
Cecil has spent the past year writing songs that he hopes will be part of his debut album. He said he'll record it at Tucson's Mattlind Recording Studio, with Greg "G.G." Gonaway, a former drummer for Mariah Carey, producing.
Thomas Cassidy, who runs the Tucson talent booking firm America's Music Agency, sees big things in store for Cecil.
"I've been in the music business for 41 years. This young man has more potential and more going for him than anyone I've ever met," said Cassidy, whose clients over the years have included Woody Herman, Maynard Ferguson and Lionel Hampton.
Cecil, who has performed a couple songs at The Maverick King of Clubs and at another East Side bar, said he wouldn't have been able to pursue his dream without the support of his parents. When he told them he was dropping out of college, they told him to go for it.
"It was not the answer I expected from them," he confessed. "They've been so supportive through this whole process. They've made it easy."
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