Collecting

Ever since my house burned up The road's been long, it's been enough A good pair of shoes, a walkin' stick A change of clothes in a handkerchief I'll find a way, I'll carry on cause I'm the lovelorn vagabond Lyrics like these from indie folk artist Tony Halchak might not be so far from the truth. After several large life crisis, Tony never strayed far without pen and paper in hand. Writing several hundreds of songs on yellow legal pads and borrowed guitars, he crafted a series of three EP's in 2011. All of which are now being pressed into his first full length album entitled Collecting. Drawing inspiration from subjects like Henry Wadsworth Longfellow poems and his hometown city of Wilkes-Barre, Tony weaves through tunes as beautiful as they are heartbreaking. 'I sort of write for different reasons,' Tony said, 'sometimes for therapy, sometimes just to be clever, and sometimes because it's the only means of expression I have.' One would tend to believe Collecting showcases all of these outlets and more. 'Halchak writes songs with doses of reality and glimmers of hope,' said Patch.com. Tony started recording Collecting while recovering from his second, of three, back surgeries. Pulling a mic close to his bedside he began laying down guitar and vocals for several of the songs on the record. The song Happy remains as recorded during these sessions. Self-producing and engineering the rest of the tracks at Saturation Acres studio in Dupont, PA he then enlisted the help of friend and mentor Bret Alexander to finalize mixes and mastering. 'Bret adds color to some of the songs and is even more of a part of this because he has taught me so much about the art of the song that his influence remains branded in each track.' Tony has composed and written for film and tv, shared the stage with artists like Colorado folk great Gregory Alan Isakov, New England's Caravan of Thieves, and River James out of Nashville. With his former bands Tony has opened up for artists like Rascal Flatts and Brad Paisley, recorded with multi-grammy winning artist Matt Odmark from the band Jars of Clay, and played several hundreds of shows from MA down to Nashville. Several tracks he's written and co-written currently spin on radio stations in the Northeast. 'Fans of [Halchak's] previous bands might wonder why it took him so long to get behind the microphone. [His] singing voice - full, rich, smooth and alluring.' -Alan K. Stout, The Weekender '[Tony's] style presents a low and striking voice...hypnotic...' -Radio Crystal Blue 'For me, [Halchak's] vocal quality and range are really quite similar to Bruce Springsteen and Jack Johnson. For fans of Bruce, you may appreciate the rasp and semi-transparent melody line that accompanies this style. -Jim Munster, PA Music Scene 'His latest effort A Tale of Acadie has it's basis in a Henry Wadsworth Longfellow poem that he has masterfully put to music.' - Mike McKenna, PA Music Scene 'The quality of [A Tale of Acadie] is beautiful. I especially love [Halchak's] voice on 'Sister of Mercy'; so fragile. This is quite profound.' - Singer/songwriter Ed Randazzo.