Hi, I'm Teddy.
From Detroit to Naples via the Rock and Roll Capital
Teddy Wallingford is a Naples-FL based songwriter and musician who has performed everywhere from Nashville on Broadway stages to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame party stage. Today, he creates his special brand of rustic rock music that some have called "campfire prog" and "experimental folk".
The product of a Motor City upbringing, Teddy began his musical studies at the age of six taking piano lessons on his grandmother's old console piano - which he still has in his dining room at home. By the time he came out of high school, he was devouring music by bands like King's X and Living Colour while finding success behind the drum s in his own band called Eden Rock, which he co-founded with Rob Gross, Mike Gusway and Nick Klaver. Eden Rock played many of the same stages as contemporaries like Sponge, Eminem, and Kid Rock in the vibrant Detroit scene.
After his children were born, Teddy moved his young family to the rock capital of the world - Cleveland, Ohio - where he worked in supporting roles performing with artists like Jay Guererro, Dan Robertson. and the country act North of Texas.
As Teddy adopted the acoustic guitar as a primary writing tool, he focused on funk-pop music at a time when contemporaries like the Red Hot Chili Peppers and the Spindoctors were proving that the mainstream still had a hunger for funky, upbeat, danceable music.
The result of those changes in focus was an introduction to Cleveland-based singer and writing partner Michelle Romary, who together with Teddy founded the funk-pop band Pout to great success. Two studio albums were produced and the band played all over Ohio, Michigan, and Pennsylvania for about five years, sometimes as often as 20 shows in a month.
From Festival Funk to Black Knight Satellite
Pout's self-titled LP was co-produced by multi-platinum studiomaster Michael Seifert (who engineered sessions for Tori Amos, Bone Thugs 'n Harmony, and Lifehouse, among others). Three singles from this album (Moving On, Secret, and Wake Up) achieved significant mainstream FM radio airplay.
Teddy executive-produced two LP compilation albums for his Rock City Project, a charity whose mission was to provide free music education for at-risk teens. To advance this mission, Teddy created and produced the Rock City Festival, an annual multi-stage music festival that entertained a legion of audience members while uniting them around the mission of one-on-one music mentorship for youth in need. Notable performers who shared Teddy's festival stages included Emily Keener ("The Voice") and Michael Stanley among others.
After establishing a studio in Naples, FL, Teddy began formulating the musical material that would eventually become his concept-heavy album Black Knight Satellite. This record is a raw exploration of loss, faith, and determination, stitched together by a thru-line of acoustic rock guitar and freethinking lyrics. The album pulls no punches, blatantly addressing suicide, addiction, and redemption.
Guest performers on Black Knight Satellite include longtime friend and drummer Efrain Hernandez, grammy-winner Jason "Slim" Gambill of Lady A on guitars, Naples-based rapper 32MDDX, aforementioned lifelong friend and bandmate Mike Gusway on bass, as well as legendary Florida bluesmaster JP Soars on guitar. Naples harmonica master Griff Griffin rounds out the session lineup.
Primarily recorded at Everglades Sound in Naples, FL with special sessions recorded at The Fort Studios in Ft. Myers, FL, the album beckons listeners to an intimate emotional space while staying firmly "around the campfire" as Teddy intended. What genre is Black Knight Satellite? You decide.