From Coast To Coast, a New Musical Partnership Takes Off

Story by Brad Balfour

With his Irish roots firmly in place, music creator Delon Scott Williamson [pictured above] is probably the last person one might imagine making hot dance music. A proud member of the Irish diaspora — both sides of his family hail from the Emerald Isle — he has another identity which takes him far away from the cliches.

Though he knows of his Irish lineage from grandma and grandpa, he’s never been to Ireland, nor has his Irish American dad, a computer programmer who grew up in the USA. But, this former Tallahassee, Florida, native believes he has what is an Irish work ethic and a readiness to make his dreams of music business success come true.

So when he’s pushing out the music he makes, he goes by the moniker Dub Shine. As Dub Shine, he’s becoming a a new voice on the scene. As such, he’s forging a brilliant example of an intriguing new trend in music — the blend of the house and deep tribal/tech genres into a cool new sound that’s chill and hot simultaneously. He currently produces mix shows for East Coast Energy Radio, USA Dance Radio, and mix93fm. Said Williamson, “I grew up knowing that strong Irish work ethic in my dad, and it seems I inherited it. I did get interested in technology and computers, so electronic music was a natural fit for me. I discovered early on that music is my passion. Then I got into deejaying since I was always fascinated by electro, house and hip hop music.”

As for me, I got turned on to this producer thanks to occasional IEUSA contributor Mike Greenly, a former corporate exec who just happens to be a lyricist. Weirdly enough, he’s become a song collaborator with Dub Shine.

That in and of itself might not warrant any special story other than as a footnote, but their work together has become a perfect example of the state of music creation today: the two are doing all their production remotely. They’ve never met in person, pressed the flesh or jammed in the same room. Dub is now based in Los Angeles; Mike is here in the heart of Manhattan.

Explained Greenly, “I was introduced to Scott by Curtis Urbina, a friend and business exec now heading the Quark Music Group. He connected us in the belief that we might discover synergy, which is exactly what happened. I’ve now written lyrics to three “Dub Shine” tracks.”

Williamson takes up his part of the tale. “I would create original dance tracks early on with my little setup. I began collaborating with longtime musical friends and partners on a variety of projects. Eventually, I put out my first 12” record with Pacific Time Entertainment, headed by Curtis Urbina — a legend in the dance music world in his own right. This record was called ‘I Want Luv’ and was produced by myself and Tony Fernandez, a DJ/producer. We called ourselves ‘Deep South’ since we were producing Deep House music tracks.

“I also collaborated with another longtime friend of mine, Scott Baily, on an electronic music project we called ‘Electrosonix.’ We released a few tracks independently and with IceMedia, plus a few remix projects for other labels in South Florida.”

Later on Urbina relaunched his classic house label, Quark Records. Quark released dozens of dance tracks over the years. Williamson continued, “Through this venture I met many great artists and songwriters. I have also recruited the production skills of Judd Skinner (AKA Dappa Don), who is a great musician, song writer and sound engineer in Vancouver Canada. He has worked with many huge stars in Hip Hop and R&B like TLC and other big names.”

Out of that came “You’re The One”, the team’s first collaboration to get released. The international music label, Bentley Records, put it out on November 4th, 2020. Headed by award-winning R&B recording artist, singer and songwriter Luca Dayz, this company has the kind of support system which lends the song a possibility of major success.

Once Williamson and Greenly started working together, they came up with tracks which begged for a good vocalist, so they sought her out online. Again, in this age of COVID, that work was done remotely. As Mike explained, he had co-written the song with Scott and Audrey Martells, an artist and songwriter who had worked with Celine Dion, Mary J. Blige, Jewel and others. Since she was already committed to other projects, Mike created a video of her initial demo recording with his words and posted with a private link on YouTube declaring that they needed a singer who could commit time and effort to develop the demo further.

Rochester-based Deborah Magone saw the post and quickly responded. She fell in love with the song and, in fact, is now a partner with Scott and Mike on other songs in development. The multi-hyphenate Magone recalled, “I was actually rushing to get off the computer for an appointment. But I saw a notification pop up on Facebook from our private Grammy group page and it looked interesting. In a rush, without even thinking, I expressed interest and asked if they could please send me the song so I could give it a listen. Then I ran out the door without giving it another thought.

“I’ve been a professional singer, songwriter, guitarist, instructor for a long time trying to go the usual route in the business. For me as a woman, the barriers can still be great and disappointing, especially in the blues rock genre I was in. So in the past few years, I’ve shifted my focus. I decided I only wanted to work with people who are doing good, positive things globally with their music.”

That decision led to her being invited to play on the soundtrack for “One Little Finger”, a multi award-winning independent film by Rupam Sarma, scored by Quincy Jones and Julian Lennon among a long list of many other talented creatives. Then came an invitation to perform in a weekend concert sponsored by the United Nations Center for Peace.

She noted, “When I heard ‘You’re The One’ I was inspired by the hook, and the positive, empowering energy of the music. I saw in my mind the song’s potential for inspiring others and the overall good feeling the song generated. I contacted them and it was, ‘Game On.’ As I learn more about these amazing two, I discover that we have similar goals and values. I’m looking forward to a positive, productive collaboration that will have a global impact.”

Added Dub Shine, “I really feel that our project is a winner. It reflects top notch talent and love of the music for sure.”

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