Eviction into the "Promised Land"

Würzburg. Amazing things occur when you put Markus Rill's CD The Price Of Sin into the CD player. You think you might be listening to a close relative of Bruce Springsteen, John Cougar Mellencamp oder Ryan Adams. You hear a voice that's at once soft and rugged as if treated with fine desert sand. You hear a melancholic pedal steel guitar draping itself over the songs like a veil, beautiful as fallen leaves drifting along in the twirling autumn wind. A lush and sturdy upright bass. No drum machines.

And, most importantly: Twelve songs, each one a high-carat, intelligent composition. Delicately arranged, predominantly acoustic, no flashy stuff. Songs that make the listener feel: This is right. This is true. This is how it is.

Rill is a real storyteller, talking about a lot of his own experiences. There are some characters that seem to come straight out of a Raymond Carver story. Repeatedly, Rill deals with the darker side of life as it shows up in everyday life. There is sickness, death, betrayal and deceit. The title song depicts the commitment of adultery. Sin asks for a high price: Disillusionment and the eviction from the paradise of the protagonist's childhood dreams.

Accolades from Tom Waits

With his sixth album The Price Of Sin, Rill keeps working on the realization of his dream. The former student of American literature has managed to get to where he wanted to go all his life: The United States of America. He is a specimen of that extremely rare species of continental Europeans who have found recognition in the American singer-songwriter scene. He has lived in Texas capital Austin and has not only learned his craft but also made an excellent name for himself there.

He has shared the stage with the great, legendary songwriter Townes van Zandt and made it into the finals of the International Songwriting Competition with a few thousand competitors. The jury and jury member Tom Waits were excited enough about Rill's songs to award him with an "honorable mention".

Recording in Nashville

In October 2005, Rill rented a studio in the capital of country music, Nashvillie, Tn., and used some of the finest local musicians to record his new album. It was released by the prestigious Blue Rose label which has been instrumental in bringing American roots music to Europe for ten years. The fact that Rill is the only artist signed to Blue Rose who is not an Americamn citizen makes ghis story all the more fascinating.

On May 25, Markus Rill and pianist Andi Obieglo will perform at the Alte Schießstätte in Neustad and on May 24 he will share the stage of the Alte Mälzerei in Regensburg with local act b.o.s.s.
It is safe to assume that amazing things will occur when Markus Rill enters the stage.