Joe Firstman bought an $18 cross-country Greyhound ticket from his home in North Carolina to Los Angeles, arriving with a beat-up guitar and head full of songs. He quickly found the big stage. It all happened quickly: first came the big Hollywood gigs, then the industry buzz, then the big deal with Atlantic Records and national tours with big rock stars like Sheryl Crow, Jewel, and Willie Nelson. There was ego and excess and beautiful ladies and music, music, music. Firstman wrote it all down and sang his songs like his life depended on it.

When the world stopped spinning, he’d landed a regular gig as the bandleader on the “Last Call with Carson Daly” show. For four years, this was his university – playing and writing songs in whatever style the show’s musical guests played and learning how to engage a studio audience, day in and day out. That gig ended in early 2009.

Firstman is currently touring with his new set of songs, and he’s finding an expanding audience. Some of the fans who first knew him as a young pop star have stayed along for the ride, but a wider and more loyal following has accrued.

“El Porto” is a culmination and a beginning. Firstman once travelled with Willie Nelson and his family band and had a glimpse of a way of living in music that was sustainable, built for the long haul, a life lived for the sake of the song. Now, he sees that road opening up before him. And he is ready to roll.

“I have no other choice but to start writing better songs,” Firstman said. “It’s the only game. Nothing works in my proverbial plan unless the songs continue to get better. And I feel at the very least that has happened with ‘El Porto.’ I think there were moments and glimpses over the past, over all my records, including Atlantic. I lump them all in together; it was one fluid flow of mania. But now, I think it all got better.

Executive Producer Dean Devlin agrees. “For his work on the Leverage series Joe’s composition truly embodies and reflects what makes this show so enjoyable; it’s energetic, it’s hip, but mostly it’s fun.”

If you would like to win a copy of this new CD, just answer this easy question: Joe Firstman’s journey began beside Big Daddy’s deathbed. He was 19 and leaving his native North Carolina for the first time, heading to California to become a musician. But, who exactly was his “Big Daddy”?!

Send us your answers and if you're correct you'll be in the running to win one of these new CDs! Just send us an e:mail here before March 1st with your answer and the subject title CONTEST: JOE FIRSTMAN CDs to: exclusivemagazine@flash.net

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