FULFILLING HIS EMPOWERING BELIEF THAT “LIFE IS
A BLANK CANVASS AND WE ARE THE ARTISTS,”
SINGER/SONGWRITER JOE PAGANO
EXPLORES ‘TIME AND COLORS’ ON HIS NEW EP,
FOLLOW UP TO HIS SUCCESSFUL DEBUT
‘GRAVEYARD OF DREAMS’


Since making the key decision to start fulfilling some long set aside musical dreams, Joe Pagano has been an unstoppable force as an indie singer-songwriter, quickly following the critical raves and multiple market college and mainstream airplay success of his early 2015 debut EP Graveyard of Dreams with his new eclectic five track set Time and Colors. Perfectly in line with the lyrical concept of the edgy, provocative title track, the multi-talented artist fulfills his long held empowering belief that “life is a blank canvas and we are the artists deciding what to put on it.” The EP finds the artist resisting the temptation to repeat himself, instead expanding the diversity of styles that he loves to write and play, from American Roots and country to alternative and harder rock.

When he released Graveyard of Dreams, the focal story on Pagano was the fact that he had achieved varying degrees of success years ago in college and beyond, both live and on disc, with bands like Straight Shoot’r, N-Kuntrol and Profile – but he gave it up for the safer life of a software career. Inspired by Berklee College of Music Professor Pat Pattison and a musical workshop and the life changing encouragement by guitar legend Stanley Jordan, Pagano – as part of his online Berklee course – wrote “Graveyard of Dreams,” which gave rise to a full-fledged EP.

Just a few months down the road, the narrative has changed dramatically. The EP hit the Top 5 in radio play at the New Jersey college station WGLS and hit the Top 20 at stations in several markets, including Ft. Lauderdale, FL Galloway, NJ and Glassboro, NJ. Beyond these spins, the buzz from indie reviewers has been off the charts. Skope Mag said that Graveyard of Dreams “taps into the best of Americana,” while The Miews wrote that it “borrows from the vintage sounds of greats like The Beatles, Springsteen and even shows hints of Randy Travis (vocally).” Rockwired made note of Pagano’s powerful composing skills, calling the set “a heart-on-the-sleeve rock album that mixes storytelling with fine songcraft.” Cross Radar dubbed it a “set of imaginative songs to get you in the mood for the summer while we make our way through these winter months.”

The good news is, summer’s here, and on Time and Colors, Pagano keeps challenging himself and his newfound fans to find fresh adjectives to describe the way he blends his crisp, pointed songwriting skills with a freewheeling desire to transcend genre trappings. With its distinct American Roots vibe, “Life in a Bag” is a fascinating sociological observational study of a homeless guy at an NYC train station looking carefree while people swarm around him, looking worried and rushing on with their lives. The fiery country-rocker “16 Other Ways” takes a humorous look at a man’s inner debate about being friends or more than friends with a special girl.” By reworking his older tunes, the poignant “Candles Hope and Faith” (whose stripped down original version appeared on Graveyard of Dreams) and the comical blistering rocker “Mamma Don’t Call Me Home” (about kids playing “Ding Dong Ditch” on his block), Pagano shows that, in addition to “painting” songs on a canvas from scratch, he also enjoys adding different feelings and colors to already existing works of his.

In July 2015, he attended a songwriting seminar conducted by Tom Shapiro, a renowned Nashville based songwriter who has penned 26 #1 hits. Shapiro’s wisdom included the notion that what you leave out of a song is just as important as what you put in whereas songwriters sometimes put all the furniture in the song. Measuring the songs on Time and Colors against these pearls of wisdom from a master, Pagano is happy to note, “I have to say that I left the furniture out of some of these songs, leaving some things unresolved by design to further provoke the listener - so I hope I am on the right track!”