About Paul

What a Sweetie

During CMA Festival week, Atlanta-based Guitar Artist Paul Heller had the opportunity to meet the charming RaeLynn Woodward at Miranda Lambert’s fan club party. RaeLynn was coached by Blake Shelton and received a great deal of additional mentoring and encouragement from his wife, Miranda Lambert. I found RaeLynn very friendly and sincere in our conversation. Enjoy the photograph of her playing the “Air” Guitar Art.

RaeLynn is from Baytown, Texas (population 73,000) and grew up on a farm. She graduated from high school two years early to enable her to move to Los Angles to pursue her life dream of becoming a professional singer. She was inspired by Miranda Lambert at age eleven with her first album ever being bought by her mother after hearing “Me And Charlie Talking”.

Since meeting RaeLynn I have followed her on Twitter. I find her tweets personable and sensitive in sharp contrast to her coach and mentor Blake Shelton’s style of outrageously funny tweets (a main topic of a recent Jay Leno interview):

RaeLynn:

Sometimes you forgive people because you still want them to be in your life.

I like any food that I don’t have to cook” said by my father.

Too many people choose to be offended these days, takes the fun out of the good stuff …. Some people don’t understand our humor. Laugh a little.

Blake Shelton

I walked into the airport, pulled down my pants and shouted this is my only carry-on, but I could use a hand.

I walked into McDonalds, pulled down my pants and shouted can I get this super-sized?

A Strong Finish and Lucky “Third Place” Finish Paralleling Miranda Lambert’s Nashville Star Finish?

RaeLynn finished strong being among the top twelve overall performers and third on Team Blake in the second season of The Voice. After being eliminated RaeLynn was extremely positive stating “It’s awesome to have Miranda backing me. She’s a great person. She (Miranda) finished third [on Nashville Star] and she bigger than the person that won. You don’t have to finish first to win ultimately. You just do your best and that’s what’s going to help you win. I take that to heart and I finished third on Blake’s team and that means a lot to me.”

The Voice Season 2 Format

The format of the popular reality show The Voice consists of the following selection and elimination process:

• Successful audition candidates perform for the four judges (Blake Shelton, Christine Aguilera, Cee Lo Green and Adam Levine) without the judges visually seeing them. Once a judge decides to vie for a candidate they are able to spin around and see the performer. If more than one judge vies for the same performer, the performer gets to choose which judge’s team they want to be on. Each judge forms a team of 12 performers.
• The next round is a “battle” round which I find bias and distasteful. The judges match up two performers and they battle each other by singing only one song where they have separate and common parts. Based on only one song each judge is forced to slice their twelve person team in half from twelve to six. For these performers to get that far and half of them eliminated over one song and no public voting is unfair.
• The remaining weeks the now 24 performers sing and are eliminated off by a combination of viewer ship voting and judge decisions.

Exquisite Custom Guitar Art based out of Atlanta has completed its newest guitar, a beautiful Hollow Body style guitar that includes a brass Bigsby vibrator bar. With light-box technology the beautiful color tones of red, brown, yellow and white are beautifully illuminated on this stained glass and mosaic guitar. The light-box technology involves creating a cavity behind the main face/sound board of the guitar and applying an intense light source. This intriguing Guitar Art is produced by founder and creative designer, Paul Heller, for applications in commercial developments, museums, offices and personal residences.

Illuminated Guitar Art Creates Incredibly Intriguing Effects

The beautiful stained glass coloration changes dramatically between states of  illumination or no illumination. A programmable timer circuit allows the coloration to change gradually or as quickly as desired. It is amazing how much more additional attention art attracts when lighting is varied. Whereas most art is observed by viewers for a couple seconds; this dynamic Guitar Art can lure attention for minutes at a time.

The Evolution of Hollow Body Guitars Which Began in the 1930s

Hollow Body guitars, also referred to as semi-acoustic, date back to the 1930s and contain both the sound box and at least one electric pickup. In 1936 Gibson manufactured the first semi-acoustic guitar in attempt to increase the sound volume produced in comparison to other band and orchestra instruments that were naturally much louder. These guitars became very popular especially with Jazz musicians as well as others.

These early Hollow Body guitars were ultimately the first step towards the evolution of the full electric guitars that were first made in 1940 with a totally solid face avoiding any type of sound box. The decorative holes that function as the sound box are simply called “f holes” as they resemble this alphabetic letter in shape. Vibrators are a common addition to many Hollow Body guitars with Bigsby being a leading manufacturer.

Hollow Body guitars are actively used by famous musicians/groups including John Lennon, the Zac Brown Band, Dave Matthews and Chet Atkins. When actor Jake Gyllenhaal was dating Taylor Swift as a birthday gift he gave her a Hollow Body guitar signed by Chet Atkins.  Today’s popular versions include Gibson’s ES-335 and ES-175 in addition to Rickenbacker’s 330JG.

Exquisite Custom Guitar Art can easily be contacted by accessing their website at Exquisite-Guitars.com.

 

Side View With Gold and Metallic Spiraling Highlights

The CMA Festival is an annual pilgrimage that my wife Diane and I immensely look forward to each year. In addition to the amazing CMA sponsored music at LP Field,  Riverfront stage and other stages; we have found that fan club parties are lots of fun. The fan club parties provide an intimate venue to see your favorite artists perform up close, take great pictures, hear the artists chat informally, and meet them for a quick conversation and pose for a picture with them. Depending on how hot the weather is, it’s also a way to mix things up and enjoy “indoor” music avoiding being exposed to the prolonged, punishing heat common during the daytime at the Riverfront stage.

Rodney Atkins Fan Club Party

His fan club party was at a very fun venue, the Loveless Barn. His performance was outstanding followed by a gracious meet and greet where people had plenty of time and space to gather with Rodney. With Rodney’s unique guitar with the pick guard detail artistically extending out to cover most of the sound board; it would be a fun Guitar Art piece to make.

We always enjoy and appreciate Rodney’s music a bit more as we have seen the extremely talented songwriter Dave Berg play in Nashville numerous times. Dave’s songs that Rodney has recorded include two number one hits: “These are my people” and “If You’re Going Through Hell”.

 Lee Brice and Jerrod Niemann Fan Club Party

These guys are both really cool and rising in county music stardom big time this year. Some fan club party formats allow you to hear artists sing their songs with a simple acoustical guitar versus the full band sound. The beauty of the music and lyrics behind many mellower songs seems much more apparent with an acoustical version which we truly enjoy. Hearing acoustical versions of such songs as “Lover, Lover”; “One More Drinkin’ Song”, “A Woman Like You” and “Hard to Love” was incredible.

During the meet and greet Lee and Jerrod really enjoyed the Guitar Art. Jerrod proclaimed that Miranda was going to need to see my Pink Guitar Art piece even before I explained that I had designed it after hers. Lee was really excited about my purple and yellow light-up Guitar yet scorned the colors being those of LSU. I am currently looking into finding purple and orange glass to hopefully arrange making a Guitar Art piece for Lee. Lee is performing in Atlanta July 13th as part of Miranda Lambert’s “Four The Record” tour at the Lakewood Amphitheater. I hope to meet briefly with him to show him some stained glass options.

 

BMI’s 17th Annual Key West Songwriter’s Festival  May 2-6 was a terrific event with not only an opportunity to hear great music but to socialize with attendees, performers and music executives. The well chosen venues were conveniently located along, or near Duval Street; and allowed attendees to be very close to the performers. Paul Heller and his wife Diane attended this Key West event for the first time having frequented numerous Nashville songwriter’s performances including the premier annual event, Tin Pan South that occurs each year in late March. The festival exposed numerous people to Paul’s intriguing and unique Guitar Art which received rave reviews.

At most events in Nashville, the songwriters are available typically for a few minutes after their performance while they pack up to head home or wherever. At this festival songwriters hang out prior and after their performances often listening to other acts and mingling with whomever. This uniquely allows attendees to interact with songwriters to a greater extent. One of those hanging out plenty was extremely approachable Storme Warren, host of a leading Great American Country television show.

Performances That Share A Song’s True Meaning

Listening to the “inspiration” behind the songs as well as a song’s “journey” create the many highlights that motivates the Hellers to attend these songwriter festivals. Examples included:

• Phillip Coleman explaining that his moving song” Cost of Living” was based on his true story of being unemployed the result of not having had a song of his cut for over ten years. Coleman further explained that it took over twelve years since initially writing the song for Ronnie Dunn to select, slightly modify and release this chart-topping single.
• Jeffrey Steele’s explanation  that the Rascal Flatts’ mega-hit “Everyday” was a collaboration of both hearing a piano riff of Alissa Moreno at a Colorado songwriter bootcamp and hearing Sarah Buxton previously comment that her roommate “saves her life everyday”.

Another exciting event was going down to the Southernmost Beach Café venue early Sunday morning to hear Granville Automatic. To my initial dismay I thought they were singing cover songs when I first heard a Sugarland mega-hit. Then I realized that Vanessa Olivarez was the third original Sugarland singer. In checking her background not only was she an integral part of Sugarland but she also a top twelve member of season two  American Idol.

Guitar Art Enjoyed By LoCash Cowboys

At our favorite venue, the Smokin’ Tuna Saloon, Preston Brust of the LoCash Cowboys broke out Paul’s “Electrifying Blue” Guitar Art and played as if he was a champion air guitarist. See Photo. Visit www.Guitars-4-Stars.com for additional information on Exquisite Custom Guitar Art.

Atlanta-based Exquisite Custom Guitar Art has created an artistic interpretation of Miranda Lambert’s trademark pink guitar. The main face area features attractive white and pink stained glass along with black/white tile, mirror and silver-metallic pieces providing decorative elements. Photoshop technology was used to preserve the exact dimensions of her silver pick guard in conjunction with selecting a silver-colored stained glass that has an tantalizing texture. Wavy brown glass with foil inserts are used to create the identical fingerboard and inlay design that consists of two diagonal parallelograms on four frets.

Vertical strips of textured mirror separated by pink grout comprise the sides that add elegance but the simplicity results in not competing with the more complex face design. Instead of traditional stained glass leading, mosaic grouting techniques are used throughout that adds artistic qualities and contrast.

Guitar Wall Art Gains Impressive Feedback From Miranda Lambert’s Professional Circle

The guitar has been seen by people in Miranda’s professional circle and they have been impressed. These people include Natalie Hemby, songwriter responsible for co-writing such hits with Miranda’s as “White Liar” and “Only Prettier”; and Angaleena Presley, Pistol Annies’ member. Founder and creative designer, Paul Heller, has been ecstatic about the feedback this guitar piece as well as others has been getting during his recent visit to Nashville from the head curator at the Country Music Hall of Fame, interior design professionals at leading architectural firms, the director of art at the Vanderbilt University Medical Center, and authorities coordinating the public art at the upcoming Music City Convention Center project.

Miranda should see this Guitar Art shortly during her annual Fan Club Party on June 7^th during Country Music Festival week at Fontanel Mansion. Formerly owned by Barbara Mandrell, this unique venue features a huge, 27,000 sqft home on 136 acres. .

The Miranda Lambert pink guitar is part of the Exquisite Custom Guitar Art collection that has application in residential, office and commercial settings.

Sound Emporium Recording Studios is now the home of an exquisite Guitar Art piece provided by Paul Heller’s Atlanta based Guitars-4-Stars.com glass studio. The unique Guitar Art is a combination of stained glass and mosaics and occupies an entrance wall in the comfortable Sound Emporium lobby. Paul Heller, creative artist, explains that Studio General Manager, Juanita Copeland and Grammy winning Chief Engineer, Matt Andrews, “both immediately fell in love with the Red Guitar as the coloration was perfect for their attractive lobby design. Most often I custom design the guitars to enhance the existing design where color compatibility is the main criteria. However in this situation the coloration of this existing Red Guitar Art was ideal; everyone was so excited.”

Impressive History of Sound Emporium Recording Studio

Nashville’s oldest commercial recording facility, Sound Emporium Studios,  was established in 1969 and has had an incredible history of recording including Johnny Cash, Kenny Rogers, Willie Nelson, John Denver, REM, Trisha Yearwood, Don Williams, Kenny Chesney, Taylor Swift, Robert Plant & Alison Krauss, Elvis Costello, EmmyLou Harris, Alan Jackson, Will Hoge and many others. Also home to the OBrother Where Art Thou, Walk the Line and Cold Mountain soundtracks. Juanita Copeland shares her perspective, “Sound Emporium boasts Nashville’s ‘best vibe’ for a studio and the Guitar Art piece provided by Paul Heller just adds to that great vibe as you walk in the door!”

Guitar Wall Art A Big Hit In Nashville

Guitars-4-Stars.com designs and constructs custom Guitar Art that magnificently showcases exquisite stained glass that is accentuated with tiles from mosaic, metal and other sources. Paul’s recent trip to Nashville in April, 2012 has resulted in great interest from: major recording studios, interior design/architecture professionals, hotels, conference centers and major medical centers. The head curator at the Country Music Hall of Fame has submitted Paul’s work for review by the Exhibitor Committee for inclusion in the museum. Paul was ecstatic from the comments/adjectives he received from a multitude of art, interior design, hotel and convention center professionals seeing his Guitar Art: “fantastic, so unique, magnificent, you have found and untapped niche, wowwww”. What was so fulfilling for Paul was to receive such compliments from professionals that have been involved with public art for decades and currently in very prestigious positions.

 

Guitar Wall Art Has Different “Lives” With Light-Box Application

The most extraordinary images from viewing stained glass usually results from a significqnt light source enhancing the vibrant coloration. Intricate and exotic stained glass usually looks entirely different with and without a significant light source from behind the glass. It is like the glass has two entirely “different lives”.

Guitars-4-Stars has developed state-of-the-art light-box technology to effectively create amazing Guitar Art that can truly inspire and “light-up” a special place residentially or commercially. Artwork that is lit-up draws an incredible amount of attention. Additional changes in appearance, as well as generating even more attention, can be achieved by varying the light source. A combination of a timer and sequencer can be used to both alternate the two different “lives” (completely on or off) or be phased in gradually.

 

Once the hallowed out plywood template is completed a plexi-glass outer perimeter face area is cut and mounted on top. To keep the fingerboard/head at the same consistent height as the light-box, a ¼ inch piece of plywood is cut and glued on top of the fingerboard/head that continues up to where the plexi-glass face starts.

Electric Guitar Art Becomes Electrifying Through “Purple Haze”

Electrical lighting is mounted on plywood that occupies the cavity formed underneath the plexi-glass to generate a significant light source. Appropriate voltage is selected to create significant light but avoid creating heat that would become problematic within an enclosed cavity without requiring ventilation.

The first generation of light-box guitars are being constructed including “Purple Haze” which will be included in an upcoming post and a likely addition for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (located in Cleveland, Ohio).