This summer 2008 has been busy with new songs, new fans, and  new venues. For the past 3 months I have been playing  live at the Oak Room in the Algonquin Hotel with a group of Broadway and Cabaret singers and songwriters-sharing my muisic and garnering new fans. Starting in October we'll still be at the Algonquin with the show moving into the lobby. This is a GREAT musical revue of NYC talent. Stay posted for showtimes in October. 
 I am  also working on my new cd with my Alt-Country/Southern Rock/Gospel/Soul band, Red Hook Junction. The first single I released "Love Divine" went to #1 on the SongVault Christian music charts for 6 weeks. I'm still in the top 40. go to:

www.songvault.fm/artists/roger_anthony_mapes.htm

I am proud to be working with pedal steel / guitar / dobro / mandolin player and producer Gerald Menke...www.myspace.com/geraldmenke 
The band is: Roger Anthony Mapes- vocals/songwriter/acoustic guitar, Gerald Menke- electric guitar/ dobro/ mandolin/ bass/ producer/ engineer, Dan Menke- drums, Genevieve Menke- backing vocals.

BIG NEWS! My music is prominently featured in the new documentary film by flimmaker Russell Dreher called "Slingbacks and Syrup". In fact my music is all over this wonderfully funny film about the "girls of Beaver Pond, and the boys who play them".  In Burlington Vermont , there is a little cadre of drag queens who are shaking up the Northeast with their crazy world they call "Beaver Pond" and "the HOT DAMN TRAILER PARK". I love these guys/gals and their wacky sense of humor. Go to: www.houseoflemay.com   for more info...stay tuned for info on how to purchase the soundtrack.

My Bio .................

Roger Anthony (Tony) Mapes; singer songwriter, painter, and performance artist was born and raised in Muscle Shoals, Alabama - "The Hit Recording Capital of the World" and the birthplaces of Helen Keller and W.C. Handy. The Muscle Shoals area was populated by an abundance of musicians and visual artists/painters. He began studying music, painting and drawing at a young age with local artists and was encouraged to develop his own unique vision. Roger is influenced by pop, rock, blues, gospel, country, and folk, but doesn’t self-consciously follow any one tradition...combining them all into some hybrid of his own.

The POP and JAZZ tracks by Roger are performed by his alter ego YOLANDA and are from his first cd "Welcome To YOLANDA WORLD".

From 1997-2005, Roger Anthony Mapes performed as YOLANDA singer/songwriter/gender warrior with his/her band "Yolanda and the Plastic Family". Roger created the character "Yolanda", wrote the music, created the costumes, toured and recorded with his/her band and was the opening act for Rufus Wainwright and Martha Wash. In 2005, Roger as YOLANDA was featured on The Dave Chapelle Show.
YOLANDA's NYC venues included CBGB's, The Cutting Room, The knitting Factory,Webster Hall, and The Limelight nightclubs. From 1997-1999: Roger's music was favorably reviewed in Billboard Magazine 5 times. Larry Flick called him the "...best unsigned artist of 1999".
For more information on YOLANDA go to: www.yolanda.net