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Doing it his way: Greco makes ‘No Apologies’
By GUY D’ASTOLFO
Even if he never becomes a rock star, Kenny Greco is satisfied. That’s because after putting his music career on hold for close to a decade, he finally has released the album that he always wanted to do.
Greco, of Youngstown, played in local bands in the late ’90s and early 2000s, including Raul. Then he started having kids and shifted his attention to them. His music was put on the backburner.
Recessionary hard times prompted him to do some soul-searching in 2009.
“It was doom and gloom every day,” he said. “Then it hit me: I never did what I wanted. That is a very lonely and scary thought. So, I went to my wife, and I’m sure I scared the you-know-what out of her and said that I not only want to start playing out again, I want to record the full album I always wanted to do. The right way. And the right way ain’t gonna be cheap.
“Being the woman she is, she gave me full support, and I was off.”
In the second half of 2009, Greco recorded the album at Ampreon Recorder, the Youngstown studio run by Pete Drivere.
“I knew I had the songs, but I needed the players, and in my opinion, I had the best players in this area on this project,” he continued. In addition to producing the songs, Drivere played some lead guitars, with Chris Leonardi on bass, piano and Hammond organ; Leanne Binder on background vocals; and Chris George on drums.
For the final step in the record-making process, he turned to one of the best in the business.
“Most, if not all of the bands around here usually get the mastering done locally or semi-local,” said Greco. “I knew I had to go to the best to sound the best. So the CD was mastered by Adam Ayan, who has done albums for Tim McGraw, Keith Urban, Santana and Phish.”
The album, “No Apologies,” is now available on iTunes, Amazon.com and at kennygreco.com.
A video of his song “All the Words I Can Say” — directed by local filmmaker Chris Rutushin — can be seen on YouTube.
Greco has been playing out to support the release and will be at The Cellar in Struthers on Saturday.
He also has a deal with a marketing company to try to promote his music to radio stations. But Greco, 37, won’t be disappointed if his sales don’t take off.
“I know in my heart I already won because I did it,” he said. “And although there were 10 reasons why I shouldn’t have done this, there was one reason I did it. Because I had to. And the one thing I hope people get out of this besides liking the music is that no matter who you are or what you do, do not let anyone tell you that you can’t do something. You can. You are the only one stopping you. And if you don’t follow what’s in your gut, it will haunt you the rest of your life.”