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“His songs — intelligent, cagey, capable of the restrained but still venomous bile of the romantically injured, the earnest pathos of an open spirit and the ironic wink of an on looking owl — are clearly not those of a novice, yet, almost paradoxically, they contain the forced enthusiasm and energy of a beginner. He brings a lot of special stuff to the table.”
— Gary Alexander, The Woodstock Times
Blood and Love
2020

Order directly from Charles. $14.00 covers the CD and shipping & handing.

Send order and check to:
Charles Lyonhart
P.O. Box 203
Phoenicia, NY 12464.

Buy CD or Downloads at Amazon.com

I am happy to say that my latest and new CD "Blood and Love", is finally available, released August 2020. Due to the Covid crisis there will be no CD release party at this time. The CD will be available in streaming, digital downloads and physical CDs.
Download CD Booklet Apple was the first to release it. It will be available on all musical platforms in the next few weeks including Amazon, Spotify, etc.

Produced by Lincoln Schleifer the band is Larry Campbell, Joel Diamond, Denny McDermott, Teresa Williams, Lucy Kaplansky and Lincoln with some special guests.

Here is the first video, "On The Way To Heaven", from the record. I hope that you enjoy it. I want to thank everybody that helped make this a great and different sounding CD for me. Give a listen.

Outside Looking In
2010

Charles Lyonhart's return to music after his life saving Liver Transplant in 2005.

“Lyonhart's years building his craft are very apparent here, and he couldn't have assembled a better bunch of musicians with an uncanny chemistry for this cinematic journey.”

— David Malachowski,
The Kingston Freeman

“Charles Lyonhart is well acquainted with hard times and knows how to turn pain into art. On this record he explores the dark places visited confronting his own mortality, ...but also celebrates finding love...”

— Kay Cordtz,
Elmore Magazine

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Autographed Copies available at: The Golden Notebook, 29 Tinker St. Woodstock NY

Watch the video of "Outside Looking In"

This CD Package includes a 24 page full color booklet with photos, lyrics and special notes by Charles Lyonhart. The book was created by the artist Eeo Stubblefield.

The Junkyard Angels are comprised of the seasoned musicians Chris Zaloom, Dennis Cotton, George Quinn, and Larry Packer. The guest artists on this CD are Larry Campbell, Amy Helm, Teresa Williams, Pete Levin, and Lincoln Schleifer. The CD was produced by Julie Last, Coldbrook Productions Studio, located in Bearsville, NY, home of all the great Woodstock Musicians.

The CD has 14 new Charles Lyonhart songs that show that Mr. Lyonhart is still very much in the game. His voice sounds stronger then ever. Charles wrote all the songs with the exceptions of "I Came Back" written especially for Charles, after his life saving surgery by his dear friend Lincoln Schleifer. The Royal Ball written for Charles by guitarist and multi player extraordinaire Chris Zaloom. There are three co-writes, two of them Orphan In A Storm and It Was Nice While It Lasted were written with Marty Kupersmith the founding member of Jay and The Americans. Ramble In The Pale Moonlight written with the Mighty George Quinn is dedicated to Levon Helm and his Midnight Ramble.

BONUS Newly Remixed Lost Track
March 2012 — "A Friend"
Free Download
Down to the Hard Line
2002

Featuring an all star band made up of Larry Campbell, Lincoln Schleifer, Denny McDermott, Danny Louis, Will Barrow with Teresa Williams & Maura McCabe backing vocals. Guest stars appearing on the album include Warren Haynes and Michael Ruff.

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Featuring:
  • New Moon
  • The Sad Sad Romance Of The Road
  • Just Like You
  • The Medicine Man And The Fool
  • Baby Don't Go
  • Down To The Hard Line
  • Any Price For Sleep
  • Sweet Release
  • Days Gone By
  • Gone To Meet His Maker
  • Hands Of Time

Read the review

This record was going to be a new way of recording for me as well as Lincoln Schleifer who was producing. Up until now ¼ tape was the format. Recording with computers was just beginning to be the way to go. Lincoln had just rebuilt his studio, "The Log Cabin" in the Bronx and had just installed Digital Performer, the program that we used.

We wanted to make a live record and yet with the new computer tools Lincoln would be able to have more freedom and a ton of effects and tools to create what he heard in his head. We rehearsed for a few days as a band and this was going to be more of a" band record". The bands for the basic tracks were Larry Campbell, Lincoln Schleifer, Denny McDermott and yours truly. We later on brought in Danny Louis, Will Barrow, Warren Haynes and Michael Ruff. Teresa Williams and Maura McCabe were also called on to sing backing vocals. Most of the songs were written by me or by Lincoln and me. Larry and Lincoln wrote The Sad Sad Romance of the Road, the song that kicks off the record. Lincoln wrote the title song Down to the Hard-Line and Larry wrote Sweet Release and co-wrote Just Like You with me. We all worked on this record as team and it seemed like it took forever to finish it. I was anxious to get the record completed since it was during the recordings that I started to feel my health failing. Little did I know that when the record was finally mixed, mastered and pressed I was diagnosed with liver cancer and told that I needed a liver transplant. With a slew of gigs lined up to promote the record I wasn't able to perform the majority of shows planned. We had a CD Release party with the whole band and I continued to perform for as long as I could stand on my feet and sing. Going into seclusion Down To the Hard Line would have to wait until many years later, almost ten, until I came back. But that is another tale that is told on "Outside Looking In" which would be my next CD. Down to the Hard-Line still stands up and has been called "richly orchestrated melodies and piercing lyrics that haunt that special place in the soul that few singer/songwriters enter."

Exception to the Rule
1998

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Featuring:
  • Senorita Dance
  • Do We Belong?
  • Henry's Song
  • Don't Tell Me How To Feel
  • Crossing The Line
  • Arms Of Sweet Helena
  • Blackbird
  • No Heroes
  • Matters Of The Heart
  • Exception To The Rule
  • Janey
  • Sweet Compromise
  • Shades Of Black
  • Motherless Child
  • Love Go Round
Exception to the Rule started out as a collection of live recordings from the shows that Steve Raleigh and I were performing at the time. During this period I was writing all the time and I wanted to have some kind of recording that represented the shows. Steve and I decided to use the two track cassette tape recordings that we had of the live shows and transfer them to A-Dat, the recording format used at that time. Steve is a jazz guitarist by trade and his type of guitar playing and backing vocals blended well with what I was doing. Songs like Senorita Dance, which was originally produced by Ritchie Cordell, had a different power when we sung it live with an audience. The title song, Exception to the Rule, was co-written with Marty Kupersmith who I work with on a regular basis. After we picked out the best live tracks we decided to add some new studio recording to round the record out. New songs like Janey, Do We Belong?, Crossing the Line and Matters of the Heart were recorded live with a band. I brought in Dennis Cotton who I had been working with for years, and is now a member of The Junkyard Angels, to play drums and percussion while Steve played bass, guitars, backing vocals as well as engineering and mastering the record. This was a work of love and we were a little sad when the project was completed.

The cover photo for the CD was taken by Carol Fonde' on a hill in upstate New York. It really had nothing to do with the songs but it always looked like a painting to me.

Leap of Faith
1997

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Featuring:
  • When Do We Begin?
  • Leap Of Faith
  • Better Off Alone
  • Sometimes
  • Shades Of Black Shades Of Blue
  • Another Dream Gone Wrong
  • Janey
  • Senorita Dance
  • No Heroes
  • Thinkin' About Myself Again
  • Sweet Compromise
  • Slip Away
  • Henry's Song
  • Tony's Gumbo
  • Long Way Home
  • Leap Of Faith (Reprise)
Gary Alexander called Leap of Faith "a tale of three producers" in his review in the Woodstock Times in 1994. The CD was a compilation of tracks that I had recorded with Larry Campbell and Lincoln Schleifer, Joel Diamond and Steve Raleigh producing. I had been regularly recording with Lincoln Schleifer and Larry Campbell until Larry left the production team and moved on to other projects. Lincoln and I continued to record many tracks including the title track, Leap of Faith. I had a bunch of track that were left over from the Another Dream Gone Wrong sessions and just began working with Steve Raleigh as a duo performing all over the tri state area. I needed a CD since I was working on a steady basis and I had all of these songs. I listened to all of the sessions and picked what I thought were the songs that would hold together well as a record and tell a story.

Although the songs were from three different production teams they were still all songs that I had written so a common theme was soon established. The songs ranged from Celtic Folk to African Rock with Dominic Kanza playing guitar on "Sometimes" who had just finished working with Paul Simon on Graceland. The problem was to make the record sound homogenous. Steve Raleigh who was the executive producer of the record had an idea to bring the record to Peter Moshay at A-Pawling Studios in Pawling, New York to master. Peter had produced many of the Hall and Oates records and according to Raleigh was the person who could pull this all together. After spending an eighteen hour day with Peter we came out with a record that held together quite well. With John Herald writing my liner notes I felt confident that this was truly a solid piece of work. John wrote, "This album is 100 proof, 22 carat stuff. I say to those that haven't heard Charles to give this record a good listen". That's good enough for me.

Another Dream Gone Wrong
1995

Recorded in 1995, "Another Dream Gone Wrong" includes previously unreleased works with Joel Diamond, Tony Garnier, Charlie Brown, Richard Crooks, and more.

BUY directly from Lyonhart Records. Send orders to:
P.O. Box 203
Phoenicia, NY 12464
$12.00 includes shipping.

Featuring:
  • Another Dream Gone Wrong
  • Jazz Jam (Helena Prelude)
  • Arms Of Sweet Helena/String Sweet La Morte'
  • Leap Of Faith
  • Ain't Waitin' Anymore
  • Feel A Whole Lot Better
  • Henry's Song
  • Don't Tell Me How To Feel
  • Senorita Dance
  • Love Go Round
  • Shades Of Black Shades Of Blue
  • Sometimes
  • Interview From Nova Express
  • No Heroes
  • Tony'sGumbo (Rock Dreams)
  • Long Way Home
When Joel Diamond was hired by a new label, Acuestic Records I was the first artist that he brought in to record a record with. Joel and I rehearsed the songs for over three months and this was going to be a new genre that he was developing. Beat Rock we called it. Combining the vibe of the beat poets like Allen Ginsberg, Jack Kerouac and William Burroughs with Folk Rock were the ingredients for this new form of music. We had a modest budget however at the time it wasn't too bad. Joel was responsible for hiring the musicians for the record and was very careful to bring in players that would understand his vision. We brought in Richard Crooks on drums and percussion, Charlie Brown on guitar and Tony Garnier on bass who only had a few days in-between his job as musical director and bass player for Bob Dylan's never ending tour. We recorded the tracks in three days at Studio 900 in New York City with Joe Johnson engineering. All of the songs were cut live with very few overdubs. Joel played piano as well as the snare drum on "Long Way Home". This was a huge departure for me from the way I had been making records in the past. In the middle of me recording my vocal tracks one day the head of the record label walked in while I was singing and handed me a revised contract giving the label 100% of all of the publishing and basically owning me as well as Joel. We all believed so strongly in the record that Joel wound up buying the masters from the studio and we both walked. Acuestic continued to court me offering me all kinds of deals without Joel involved. Little did they know that Joel and have known each other since we were kids and as Tommy Kaye would say "we shit in the crib together". This is one of my favorite records and it will be released in 2011 on Lyonhart records.
New Music from Woodstock New York
1994

An anthology of Woodstock Musicians

Copies of "New York Music From Woodstock" are now very limited and this CD is fast becoming a collector's item.

Featuring:
  • How Come Everybody's Got A Gun - Go Van Go
  • Ain't Waitin' Anymore - Charles Lyonhart
  • Lonely Hotel - Will Hoppy
  • Incognito - Lunchmeat
  • Lean Skinned Mammal - Peacebomb
  • The Tool - Perfect Thyroid
  • Together - Perfect Thyroid
  • Moment Of Truth - Peacebomb
  • Boot Camp - Lunchmeat
  • Bus Of Love - Go Van Go
  • Lover's Lament - Will Hoppy
  • Arms Of Sweet Helena - Charles Lyonhart
I was signed to Continuum Records in 1994. The deal was that two of my songs were going to be on the compilation. A two record deal would follow. Ain't Waitin' Anymore and Arms of Sweet Helena were the two tracks that we chose. At first the label promoted all of the artists on the CD and we were traveling around the country doing radio interviews and there was lots of press. The label decided to sign Ronnie Wood of the Rolling Stones and Roger Daltrey of the Who. In an attempt to make money for the label Continuum invested all of their money into a live Roger Daltrey album that was recorded in New York City. By putting all of their eggs in one basket the label went bust and the artists were paid off in merchandise. I remember getting about 20 Ronnie Wood cigarette lighters and a bunch of assorted CD's as payment at the time. The CD, "New Music From Woodstock, New York" went on to sell quite well although none of the artists on the label were actually from Woodstock. The CD did gain me some notoriety and lead me to play the 25th anniversary concert for The Woodstock Music Festival at the same site of the original festival in 1969. I followed Leslie West and Mountain to a crowd of over 30,000 people in the mud.
The DK Sessions
1993

With Lincoln Schleifer, Larry Campbell, Denny McDermott, John Putnam, Joel Diamond, Mindy Jostyn, Bob Telson, Larry Cohen; backing vocals by Maura McCabe, Teresa Williams, Catherine Russel, Mindy Jostyn, and Elise Morris

BUY directly from Lyonhart Records. Send orders to:
P.O. Box 203
Phoenicia, NY 12464
$12.00 includes shipping.

Featuring:
  • Ain't Waitin' Anymore
  • Hands Of Time
  • No Heroes
  • Red Ron's Music Machine
  • Love Go Round
  • Long Way Home
  • Arms Of Sweet Helena
These tracks were recorded in New York City at Daiichi Kosho Studios in the David Letterman building. The tracks were produced by Larry Campbell and Lincoln Schleifer with a band of all star musicians. The band included Larry Campbell on guitars, steel, fiddle, and an assortment of stringed instruments with Lincoln Schleifer on bass, Denny McDermott on drums and percussion, Joel Diamond on piano and Hammond B-3, John Putnam on electric guitars, Mindy Jostyn on piano, fiddle, acoustic guitar and harmonica, Roger Squitero on percussion and Bob Telson on concertina. The woman who made up the choir were Mindy Jostyn, Teresa Williams, Elise Morris, Catherine Russel and Maura McCabe. We recorded all of the songs except "Arms of Sweet Helena" which was recorded a few months later in three days with Scott Noll engineering all seven songs. The tracks were recorded on 48 track tape using a Neve console which was the most sophisticated equipment at the time. When they were first released they were put out on caste and the tape was called the red tape. The songs and music on this CD have held up during all of these years and many of the musicians are still good friends who I work with.
News

We are sad to report that Charles passed away in the summer of 2021. I am his website developer and will post more news as I receive it.

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