Radio DJ drops his own tracks

ACTORS AREN'T the only breed of performer with a hidden music agenda. Many's the radio personality (and OK, music writer, too) who'sdreamed of cutting an album.

This month, Philly local Michael Tearson is living out that fantasy at the tender age of 63, delivering "Stuff That Works," his self-published album of Americana-flavored story songs "by songwriters well-known and obscure." Tearson makes them his own with keening tenor tones and a bit of dramatic character imbuing, too.

Please to note the Southern and Midwestern accents he's thrown in on the charming, wide-eyed encounters of "St. Louis County Fair" and the emotion-tugging "This Beggar's Heart" that Tearson rescued from relatively obscure songwriters Paul Metsa and Darrell Scott. (He also takes on Bob Dylan, John Mellencamp and Neil Diamond.)

"The CD is an endangered species and so am I, so this was a now-or-never situation," joked Tearson, a relic from the "progressive rock radio" era of a once free- form WDAS-FM and WMMR-FM. M.T. still shares his love and knowledge of music on Sirius/XM channels (Deep Tracks, Bluesville and Classic Vinyl), with his "Saturday Morning '60s" show on WMGK-FM and with his online creations at radiothatdoesntsuck.com.

A would-be club performer during his teen years in Baltimore, Tearson got his comeuppance one night at the 15 Below coffeehouse when "a newcomer named Emmylou [Harris] went on before me and so mesmerized the audience, they didn't hear a thing I said or sang. That's when I knew I needed to find another career path." He started on-air as an undergrad on the University of Pennsylvania's WQHS-AM and WXPN-FM.

Tearson's always sung along with the music he's spun, and he's never been shy when invited to "come on up" and do a song or two at a club.

"Stuff That Works" was sparked by his participation in a Robert Hazard tribute concert, when he and musician/producer Tom Hampton worked up an interesting, slow-tempo version of Bob Dylan's "I Want You" that Tearson had earlier suggested Hazard should pursue.

"Later, we cut it as a rough demo, and Tom was so pleased how it came out, he insisted we keep at it," Tearson said.

Another seasoned pro, Andy Kravitz, volunteered his New Jersey home studio to record the material, and longtime Tearson friends like Rob Hyman and Fran Smith Jr. (of the Hooters) and Lauren Hart volunteered their assistance.

Ever the good self-promoter, Tearson is now supporting the CD release with a surprisingly full agenda of concert appearances, including "several opening for people I've long admired." He performs with Hampton on Sept. 1 at World Cafe Live at the Queen in Wilmington, Del.; on Sept. 15, he opens for Iain Matthews at The Record Collector in Bordentown, N.J.; and the next night he joins forces again with Hampton and the Working Stuffs at the Steel City Coffeehouse in Phoenixville. Tearson's album is available in CD or download form from www.CDBaby.com and is "coming soon" to iTunes.