'Tabloid News' is the debut solo album by San Antonio born and based singer and songwriter Harvey McLaughlin. The album represents something of a throwback to the 1970's piano based long players by the likes of greats such as Warren Zevon, Randy Newman and Tom Waits with nods to New Orleans R&B and Chicano Soul while maintaining the urgency of the young roots rock bands bands that Harvey has honed his craft and musicianship with over the last dozen years. He only half-jokingly admits "I want to play the piano the way Link Wray plays the guitar."

Thematically the album draws on McLaughlin's fascination with pulp magazines and urban legends as seen through the eyes of a young but weary romantic. McLaughlin says “I’ve made a career out of writing about dragons, ghost trains, dodo birds, banshee queens, chupacabras, and other such quasi-cryptic conundrums that seem to populate the fringes of our collective news consciousness...Back when everything you read in the newspaper was just as vibrant and believable as the word of mouth passed on the street, in a barber shop, or around a camp fire - when tall tales were the best kind of story formed currency.”

[Programming descriptions are generated by participants and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of SXSW.]