Musician voices self through original tunes
By Holly Sulak Willis

The words in Jacey Coy's new album may captivate listeners, but it's the music that will keep the CD lodged in their players.

The former El Campo man, whose small, loyal fan base continues to grow with each performance, has released his third compact disc called One.Long. Continuous.Song.

He categorizes it as "poprock acoustic," making the album one to carefully enjoy for its creativity, and then later to play again and again.

The album takes listeners through a set of songs, whose titles read as a full sentence.

Most listeners will relate to Coy's feelings about the ups and downs of the relationship he sings about.

"It's all about the art and putting the excitement back into the music, start to finish, along with the lyrics," Coy said.He says he can't help but create a theme when writing songs, laughing that he's "walking the walk" as a college communications instructor.

"There always has to be a theme," he said. "I'm into projects and create an 'intro' and an 'outro,' and have to weave it all together. If I can't put it all together, then it won't happen."

Family

Even though Coy isn't using his family's surname onstage, his work has "Saucedo" written all over it. There's even a bit of "Vallejo" thrown in for good measure.

Coy's brother, local photographer and JBrew Coffee Bar & Studio owner, Jay Saucedo was the executive producer of the album.

Both brothers say that what Coy creates, Jay keeps focused.

"I keep it on track and keep the overall feeling continuous," Saucedo said.

"I started playing guitar at 13, because I wanted to play the songs on the radio," Coy added. "I've always written poetry and it just came naturally to sing the words."

The brothers grew up here and attended St. Philip School, but opted for home schooling to finish high school.

Coy holds a masters degree and teaches at Texas State University in San Marcos.

He hopes one day to finish a Ph.D. in relational communication.

Both give credit for their creative streaks to their parents, Jackie and Janie Saucedo.

"That's the good thing about our parents," Saucedo said. "Instead of trying to steer us away from art, they've always said it's okay and they tell everybody about it, too."

The young men cut most of the album at the "The Salt Room" recording studio, which was built several years ago in between their parents and grandparents' homes.

"Society in general tells you not to pursue art because the chances for success are very slim, but with us it was different," Saucedo said. "We were allowed to be creative."

Their grandfather, the late Joe Vallejo, had a long career in bringing music to El Campo at the Pan American Ballroom, and during his time on the air at KULP radio spinning Latin sounds.

Their cousins have found touring success with their Latin rock band "Vallejo."

Live Performances

While the music and words may flow naturally for Coy, getting up on stage has been more challenging.

"It's that thing where you think, 'I don't want to get up there,'" he said. "And then you go on and there's adrenaline rush and then that's exactly where you want to be."

Coy has developed an interesting way of getting club-goer's attention by pairing lyrics from popular songs, even Rap songs, with acoustic sounds.

He then interlaces the wellknow works with his own original songs.

"I love to be out in the audience and just watch people going, 'what … hey, I know that," Saucedo said. "I'm probably his biggest fan and I'm telling people all the time about him and his music."

The CD

The brothers hope to build Coy's fan base by offering the new disc for $5 on www. JaceyMusic.com.

They've also recently developed a second version of One. Long.Continuous.Song.

The original "Black Label" is a full band version, while a bonus seven-song "White Label" is strictly acoustic.

"I do this for the love of it," Coy said. "Hopefully, if I can make money off of it, then I can keep on doing it."

And with the latest trend of people listening to music just one download at a time, Coy could have hit upon a new trend in creating CDs with his full themed, long-play album.

"As a whole, not many artists are trying to do this, it's very rarely seen," Coy said. "With CD sales going down, we're trying to put the value into a disc." JACEY (SAUCEDO)

COY