GRAMMY®-winning Quarto Valley Records latest signing, David Starr, releases his first full length Blues album, Must Be Blue. The project is a mixture of classic blues covers and brand new originals written by Starr featuring background vocals from Rock & Roll Hall of Famer, John Oates, on select tracks, and a stacked band of GRAMMY®, CMA, and ACM winning musicians. His signature “Bluesicana” sound is on full display, melding traditional Blues arrangements with soulful vocals, gritty electric guitars, and Americana acoustic elements such as mandolin and acoustic guitar. The result is an energetic record with a fresh take on the genre, primed for the charts. Must Be Blue is available in digital and CD formats via Quarto Valley Records on all platforms: davidstarr.lnk.to/mustbeblue
The focus track, “My Favorite Color,” is a moody slow-burning original that captures the heart of the album. The song immediately intrigues the listener with an ascending lick on acoustic guitar and mandolin before electrics and the rest of the band enter on the first verse. It is the lyric behind the album title, “I think you know by now…my favorite color must be blue,” which depicts a narrator who is a sucker for pain. Jeff King (Art Garfunkel, Reba McEntire, Johnny Cash and Dave Matthews) shines on the guitar solo, trading off with Starr and Erik Stucky on mandolin on the outro of the song for a unique exchange.
Must Be Blue is his first full length album in the genre after the overwhelming success of blues singles from previous records. “Blues music has always made me feel at home somehow. Perhaps because it was some of the first music I heard as a young musician looking for his muse in gritty little clubs in Northwest Arkansas. Maybe it has to do with the timeless themes of love and loss, struggle and strife, the loud electrics, the way people can't help but tap their feet when they hear it,” Starr shares. “Whatever the reason, playing blues-influenced songs always centers me in a way that no other music does. When I moved to the mountains of Colorado, my influences expanded to Americana and roots, and acoustic guitar became a muse of its own. This album is my version of a blues record, what you might call ‘Bluesicana’ - the grooves and electrics are there, but so is a mandolin. Call it coming home, full circle.”
Starr is on tour in the UK with dates in Edinburgh, Southport, Rhossili, Treuddyn, Sandhills, Nairn, and more. Must Be Blue is currently impacting Blues radio.
For more information on David Starr, please visit www.DavidStarrMusic.com
ABOUT DAVID STARR
David Starr is a Colorado-based Blues and Americana singer/songwriter with over 11 albums to his credit. The Arkansas native has honed his decades-long career touring internationally, sharing the stage and collaborating with esteemed artists such as John Oates (Hall & Oates), John McEuen, Steve Cropper, Jim Lauderdale, and Wild Ponies as well as opening for acts like America, Karla Bonoff, Jim Messina, Survivor, and more. He has been a showcasing artist at Folk Alliance International, Americana Fest, and Southwest Regional Folk Alliance. In 2024 he melded his blues background of growing up playing electric guitar in Southern Arkansas clubs with his time spent in Nashville exploring Americana and Folk. What he arrived at was his own brand of “Bluesicana” - a melding of the two genres for his highly anticipated project Must Be Blue. After receiving rave reviews and recognition on previous singles from editorial playlists on Spotify such as “Got Blues”, it was clear he was striking a nerve. GRAMMY®- winning label Quarto Valley Records agreed and signed Starr to a record deal for the album, releasing in 2025. He is a member of the Blues Foundation, The Colorado Blues Society, and the Pikes Peak Blues Society, and was inducted into the inaugural class of the Northwest Arkansas Musicians Hall of Fame in 2024. Starr’s prestige extends beyond the stage, having launched Starr’s Guitars in Little Rock, before relocating to Cedaredge, CO in 2001, where it is now a beloved institution. Starr is also a founding member of the board for the Grand Mesa Arts & Events Center in Cedaredge, an intimate event space aimed at attracting musicians and visual artists to Colorado’s Western Slope. In 2024, he produced the sold-out inaugural Grand Mesa Songwriter Festival, which brought 15 songwriters to Cedaredge to perform over 50 shows across five venues. For information on new music and upcoming tour dates, please visit www.DavidStarrMusic.com.
ABOUT QUARTO VALLEY RECORDS
Founded by tech entrepreneur Bruce Quarto, the California-based independent label, Quarto Valley Records, represents Rock, Blues, Jazz and Americana genres with an impressive artist roster featuring legacy musicians Paul Rodgers, GRAMMY® award-winning Edgar Winter, Savoy Brown as well as the legendary talent that comprises The Immediate Family, GRAMMY® award-winning producer and renowned drummer and songwriter Tom Hambridge, GRAMMY® award-winning producer and percussionist Narada Michael Walden, blues-rock artist Sean Chambers, British blues sensation Bonham-Bullick, Wings member Denny Seiwell, acclaimed Americana singer-songwriter Al Staehely, singer-songwriter, guitarist, producer Steve Postell of The Immediate Family, esteemed Americana-Blues singer-songwriter David Starr, the soulful Richard T. Bear, pianist and songwriter John McAndrew and emerging artist Dominic Quarto. For more information, please visit: www.quartovalleyrecords.com
