Award-winning Houston Texas-based Americana/folk singer-songwriter Brian Kalinec’s new CD, The Fence, released in May, is the follow-up to Last Man Standing, his 2007 Berkalin Records debut. The Fence is a collection of stories in song that relate to the value of work and/or effort in one way or another. – from building a fence to cutting stone, from choosing a career over a relationship to losing a job, from homelessness to home repairs, from Teddy Roosevelt’s star-crossed river adventure in the jungles of South America to a woman whose life is forever affected by her boyfriend’s poor choices.

In his descriptive and poignant, yet musically accessible songs that were penned over the last several years, effort is sometimes rewarded and sometimes ignored, and taking the easy way out usually leads to disaster. And sometimes the less fortunate are just simply ignored.

The album’s title track, a song celebrating our spirit of self-reliance, took second place in the 2008 Woody Guthrie Song Contest. “Demons Falling Down,” another song on the album, captured first place in the Songwriter Serenade.The CD also includes a cover of “A Song I Heard,” written by guitarist Maury Muehleisen, who died with Jim Croce in a plane crash before he could focus on his own career.

Produced by Kalinec and veteran producer/engineer Michael Mikulka at Mikulka’s Lucky Run Studios, The Fence also features Merel Bregante (Loggins & Messina, Nitty Gritty Dirt Band) on drums and percussion; Patterson Barrett (Jerry Jeff Walker, Buddy Miller, Nanci Griffith) on dobro, steel and mandolin; Rankin Peters on bass; Berkalin recording artist Matt Harlan, a rising star in the Americana and folk world and winner of the 2011 Telluride Song Competition; Mims, a prolific songwriter and former member of the group Wheatfield; Cathy -Anne McClintock, a Canadian-born multi-award-winning folk and Americana artist; Kerrville New Folk Finalist B. Sterling Archer on cello and trumpet on several tracks; Allisong Smith on backing vocals; Jeff Duncan on fiddle; Jeff Chambers on vocals; Carolyn Wallace on vocals; Jim Kam on Chapman Stick; Sandy Buller on bowed bass; and Bill Ward, Andi and Ren Renfree of the Texas Music Award-winning group Two-Bit Palomino contributing piano and vocals.

Copies of The Fence may be purchased online through www.mytexasmusic.com, www.amazon.com, and www.bestbuy.com. For more information and to hear a couple of the album’s songs, visit www.briankalinec.com.

Music: http://briankalinec.squarespace.com/sto ... ter_01.mp3