"HOLD ON"... IT'S MORE THAN WORTH IT!

When I first heard Jess Delgado's voice in a YouTube video posted by AJ Rafael, I was blown away by her soothingly smooth, breathy, pop/jazz tone and I fell in love with her voice immediately! 

Since we already had a session scheduled with Decca Label artist Nikki Yanofsky in May, I decided to invite Jess and her band to come down from Boston and record the second half of the day with us.

So, Jess, A.J, Julien and Kazumi took the bus from Boston to New York to come and meet us at our studio on the lower East Side of Manhattan. Upon arrival, we all immediately knew that this was going to be a great session. Seeing such young, devoted, talented and fun yet professional musicians come together to perform their own original material that most people have not had the chance to be exposed to, gets me and my team every time.  

Although, Jess and her band are still in the beginning stages of their careers, I could instantly feel that this group of musicians had come together with the goal to combine all their individual talents to create something much bigger than each one of them alone. I felt a very strong connection amongst each member of the group so it was to no surprise to hear that all of their songs were written collaboratively.

As you might remember, we released Jess Delgado's cover video of John Mayer's "Why Georgia" earlier this year via RAWsession's YouTube channel and all this time, we couldn't stop thinking how the best is yet to come. We are so proud to release Jess' original song "Hold On" as the level of musicianship and songwriting is impeccable. Listen to the emotionally loaded lyrics of this song and don't feel bad if you might drop a tear... 

Thank you Jess, A.J., Julien and Kazumi!

Musical Arrangement: Jess Delgado (lead vocals), A.J (acoustic bass), Julien (percussion & ukulele), Kazumi (guitar & background vox)

Ashley Rodriguez performs V.V. Brown's "Shark In The Water" @RAWsession

I first met Ashley Rodriguez back in Boston during my last 2 semesters at Berklee College of Music in Boston. We had mutual friends and saw each other around campus, but of course, I knew her better through musician gossip than through her personality.  It wasn't until Ashley moved out to LA in 2009 that I really got a glimpse of her person and her talent.

Ashley came to Los Angeles and had begun working towards a career as a singer. During her first months in Los Angeles building up her client base, developing her music and perfecting her sound, she became a member of the (in case you didn’t know) tight-knit, RAWsession family.

Her love of the craft aligned with ours and she began passionately helping us find and help develop dope, unrealized talent. It wasn’t until she revealed to me that she made it on American Idol that I realized how talented she was. I remember, the first thing I said was congratulations (I have a German accent and I’m pretty sure I mispronounced that word) and then I said, ‘Why didn’t you tell me you were still singing?” She said something about ‘not wanting any help etc...’ I was frustrated but proud and happy for her at the same time. I said, ‘When are we going to do a RAWsession?” She replied, “as soon as you’re ready.”

Eric - But really, we had to wait for American Idol to finish because those guys bake time into their contract.

Matt - Yeah, but it wasn’t that long a wait...and, I think it was worth it, she’s gotten to the next level now.

Nils - Chill out guys. And YES, it was more than we could’ve wished for. All I’m saying, and let me finish, is that it makes me happy that she was part of the team before doing a session with us. So anyway, finally, this summer, we brought her and Britten Newbill (on guitar) into King Size Labs near Silverlake, CA to record a session with her. All I can say is how impressed and excited I am by her performance.

Ashley chose to cover V.V. Brown's "Shark In The Water" as well as perform one of her original songs written by Britten Newbill called "Hanging By A Thread" coming soon. Look out for it on VEVO.

So, you saw it here first! Introducing Ashley Rodriguez, performing V.V. Brown's, "Shark In The Water."

TIFFANY ALVORD covers "What Hurts The Most" by Rascal Flatts Live @RAWsession

On a hot day in mid July we filmed a session with the young and talented Tiffany Alvord. Not just another YouTube sensation to come across our radar, Tiffany is also a very talented songwriter and cover song interpreter.

Three original videos are on the way and set to release over the next month or so.  If you can't wait, check out our DOWNLOADS section for a free mp3!

Check out the video below to see her performing "What Hurts The Most" by Rascal Flatts. This video is also the first to feature our new bumper graphics for YouTube....more on that soon though! Now to the music.

Launch of RAWsession.com

It has been 2 years since we uploaded our first video on YouTube.

Since then we have worked with and discovered artists such as Sublime w/ Rome, The Dirty Heads, Jeremih, Babyface, Nikki Yanofsky, Kristinia DeBarge, Doll & The Kicks, Leslie Mendelson, Matt Duke and many others.

We originally decided to use YouTube as our exclusive home to develop our brand, experiment, and build up views and brand recognition in the viral music video world, but are excited to announce our second home here on RAWsession.com.

Here you will find our best videos, ramblings about our most memorable sessions, exclusive downloads, session photos, and much more.

Please send us any feedback and/or comments on what you like or dislike about our site (info@rawsession.com). Enjoy!