Island Icon Gatewood Gets Personal with CD Put In Bay, Ohio (July 27, 2011) – For over 20 years, Bob Gatewood has built an iconic presence in the Lake Erie Island region performing other people’s songs and his own. Now, Gatewood is releasing his third album; a personal collection built on decades of connection with his audience. A year-round resident of Put In Bay, Gatewood’s presence has been much like an Ohio version of Jimmy Buffet, minus the steel drums. Generations of an estimated 1.3 million island visitors-per-year have seen his solo shows or his band “Calabash” performing at the Roundhouse Bar, The Beer Barrel, and The Fish Bowl. The release of Be Good to Yourself garnered much anticipation as Gatewood’s last recording brought home to the island Cleveland’s Scene Magazine Best of the Year Award as well as a nod from the Plain Dealer for his becoming a “local legend” in the Islands. “Connecting with a live audience for all these years teaches you a few things about the way music and lyrics affect people,” says Gatewood. “This album is very personal, and I can’t wait to perform it for the people who influenced its creation.” The songs are organic and inspired, with up-beat straight-ahead rock grooves that cover a wide spectrum of ideas. “Be Good to Yourself” is an uplifting anthem (“You know you are able to, make all your dreams come true, know what you have to do, be good to yourself.”). “It is What it is” is a reality check on the ups and downs of work, love, and life (“It is what it is, and it ain’t what it ain’t”).“No One Knows” shows Gatewood in a deeper, more reflective space (“No one knows if time is tellin’ the truth, or how our garden will grow”). Gatewood sang and played electric and acoustic guitars. Tom Bukovac (Rascal Flatts, Keith Urban) produced and played guitar on the CD. Plenty of the best talent in Nashville was recruited, including legendary drummer Joe Vitale (CSN, Joe Walsh, Peter Frampton, Dan Fogelberg), bassist David Santos (Billy Joel, Elton John, John Fogerty), and vocalist Sarah Buxton, who co-wrote one song with Gatewood on the album as well as several million-selling songs with Keith Urban. Bukovac, who is the reigning Academy of Country Music “Session Guitarist of the Year” (2008, 2010), was impressed with the 40 songs Gatewood originally presented, and whittling it down to the best 11 was certainly a challenge. “Tom and the crew worked far longer than they were expected to in order to help craft their performances in the studio,” says Gatewood. “They really felt it, and I am so humbled, that talent of this caliber would take such care with this record. This is a great way of giving back to the many who have lived their summers with me out on the bay.” The new collection is now available on iTunes cdbaby and as a CD at: www.bobgatewood.com.