News Releases; NEWS RELEASE   FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE             For additional information contact: Steve McBride SoundGate Productions 816.835.9125 steve@soundgateproductions.com   SoundGate Productions Signs Blues Artists to Record Label   Guitarist and songwriter Steve Gerard and singer Dave "Elmo" Bailey join Kansas City's indie company, SoundGate Records.   March 29,  2007:   Kansas City, MO  -  SoundGate Productions (www.soundgateproductions.com) is pleased to announce the signing of blues guitarist and songwriter Steve Gerard and singer Dave "Elmo" Bailey to a recording contract on the SoundGate Records label.   The pair tour in the band Steve Gerard & The National Debonaires, featuring Dave "Elmo" Bailey (www.nationaldebonaires.com).       SoundGate, owned and operated by Steve McBride, is recognized in the region as one of the top independent labels with such well-known acts on its label as Kansas City's own "Trampled Under Foot" and "The Ron Teamer Band".    "SoundGate is building a stable of artists who are committed to expressing themselves in the multi-faceted blues idiom.  Steve Gerard and Dave "Elmo" Bailey have a unique combination of passion, maturity and gut-felt talent.  Elmo breathes life into Steve's songs in a way that reminds me of what it must have been like in Kansas City in the 1930s and 1940s," said McBride. "Steve and Elmo were born to write and perform together."         The National Debonaires, recorded their first CD for SoundGate in early March in Kansas City.   The CD, entitled New Sounds from Kansas City, features originals by Steve and two by drummer Andy Graffiti, who hails from British Columbia Canada.    New Sounds from Kansas City will be released in May.  In addition, internationally recognized blues artist, Lee McBee contributed greatly to the session by playing harmonica on three tracks.       Bassist Patrick Recob and Mike "Shinetop Jr." Sedovic, piano and organ, played key roles in the recording sessions.   Recob is renowned in Kansas City for his fine work with Lee McBee.   Shinetop Jr. performs regularly in and around Kansas City as a solo act.     "Meeting Mo Bailey has been one of the great joys of my musical life. He takes hold of my songs and just embraces the stories, making them his as well as mine," said Gerard. "The first time I heard him sing, I said to him 'Where have you been all my life?'."