With Album on the Way, Candace Campana Readies for 330 Day Concert and Beyond
YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – Candace Campana’s music career will reach new territory this year with the release of her album, “Goodie Two Shoes Girl.”
It won’t be her first album. The Youngstown-based artist’s debut, “Sweet,” came out in 2013.
But it will be the first album written entirely by Campana. Every song on her first release was written by others.
“This one is all me, 100%,” she says. “I am so nervous and excited just sitting on it.” To whet appetites, she’ll likely release a single before the album’s mid-summer release, and possibly a video.
The 10 songs on the new album will also announce the voice and style of the artist. Campana describes herself as country rock, but that’s more of a range than a precise place. She definitely goes to both extremes.
Take a listen to some of the singles she’s already released, such as “No Average Joe,” which is currently getting airplay on The Summit radio, 90.7 FM. With a wall of vocalization and a heavy backbeat, it’s a rock anthem.
“Joe” stands in contrast to the Carrie Underwood-esque title cut and should add to the album’s dynamism. Two other earlier singles will also make the album: “Every Time I See a Truck” and “Pink Ink.”
The rest are new and have either been laid down at Ampreon Recorder in Youngstown, or soon will be. “I only have four songs left to record,” Campana says.
Rounding out her band on the album are Jesse DiLorenzo, Ed Davis and Gabriel Davis.
The country side of Campana comes naturally. “I live on a farm, I have a horse, I muck the stalls,” she says. But her tastes also run toward hard-rock.
“I am a metalhead! I want to collaborate with [Korn lead singer] Jonathan Davis,” she says with a laugh – although you can tell she means it. “I love him.” For those who say that doesn’t make sense, Campana points to Davis’ alt-country version of his song “What It Is” that includes some slide guitar.
Her new songs reflect the dichotomy.
“A few of them are really edgy rock, pretty loud and in your face,” she says. “That’s how I love to perform. But some are softer, and have more of a twang, radio friendly.
“One song, ‘Hey, I’m a Hairbrush,’ is straight country.”
Her metal urges aside, Campana says her career role model is Carrie Underwood, and she easily fills that space: a sweet hometown girl with an edge.
With the new album on the horizon, Campana has booked several shows.
She’ll be performing at the Rialto Theatre in Akron on Friday on a bill that also includes Youngstown’s Barry Carroll.
She’ll do a full-band outdoor show in downtown Cuyahoga Falls on June 17, and a series of shows at a major Ohio amusement park this summer.
Campana – along with nine other Youngstown-based artists – will also perform Wednesday, March 30, at The Summit radio’s annual 330 Day concert at Stambaugh Auditorium.
The lineup also includes The Vindys, JD Eicher, The Labra Brothers, Demos Papadimas and his band, East 9th, Leanne Binder, Hayden Brooke, Rolling Boxcar International and Barry Carroll.
Tickets for the 7 p.m. concert are free and available in advance HERE and at the DeYor Performing Arts Center box office, downtown.
The Summit presents the concert every March 30, although it was canceled the last two years because of the pandemic. Past 330 Day concerts took place in Akron, Canton and Kent; this will be the first one in Youngstown, and – unlike past concerts – it will consist entirely of Youngstown bands.
Each artist will play acoustic or stripped-down versions of two of their songs.
“The focus of this year’s event was to really home in on our Youngstown and Mahoning Valley listening area,” says Ryan Humbert, Summit marketing chief and one of the architects of 330 Day.
Humbert and The Summit music director Brad Savage started with a list of Youngstown artists that the station plays and then narrowed it down to 10. Past 330 Day concerts had 33 artists.
“With only 10 slots this year, we wanted the list to offer a little something for everyone,” Humbert says. “We wanted to shine a light on artists our listeners already know and love, as well as some that we think they’re going to love… artists that might be newer to The Summit airwaves.”
His goal was for attendees to not just hear their “old favorites” but to discover a new one.
“It was hard to narrow it down but I believe we’re going to present a fantastic cross-section of the Youngstown music scene that hits on multiple genres within the greater Summit sound,” Humbert says.
Copyright 2024 The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.
