Praise for Get Up and Try from Roger Steffens*:
"It's a lovely package filled with rootical sounds, just the way I like 'em."

April 2010

Huntington Herald Dispatch: 18th annual Tree Huggers' Ball to get Earth Day party started

WSAZ: Tree Huggers Have A Ball

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January 2010

We are WV Music Scene's Band of the Month

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December 2009

Dave Lavender: Top West Virginia CD releases for 2009 include Shayar's "Get Up and Try"

He may be from Jamaica, but Lenval "Shayar" Jarrett is truly Mountain made.

The multi-instrumentalist and songwriter who moved to Beckley back in 1997, shows off that Mountaineer spirit on his latest CD of 10 originals, "Get Up and Try," on which he plays everything but a Turnpike toll booth.

For the record, Shayar, who toured internationally with Burning Spear for many years, grooves on everything from percussion and keyboards to guitar, harmonica and mandolin, making an excellent new batch of homegrown Mountain State reggae.

Cut with Beckley-based Dan Bailey and with Beckley's own Lady D singing backup, Shayar's new CD, like most other regionally-made CDs, is available locally at Now Hear This. Go online at www.rasshayar.com to see his latest video, "Trust in You," which has a great slideshow of photos with Shayar in the New River Gorge.

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Ocotober 2009

From Jamaica to New York to Beckley, WV: Shayar Releases Latest CD

Jamaican-born singer-songwriter Shayar leads the reggae band Krooshal Force. Shayar's band Ozone played the Ocho Rios, Jamaica hotel circuit in the 1980s. Shayar toured the Caribbean with Gregory Isaacs. As a rhythm guitarist, he toured the U.S. and Europe with Burning Spear and Anthony B. He’s toured the US with the Itals. His original compositions drive Krooshal Force, which he founded in the 80s and which has toured the U.S. and Italy.

Shayar settled in New York City in 1984. In 1997, he moved to West Virginia, where the mountains remind him of home. It was in the Mountain State that Shayar first took up a mandolin. West Virginia mountain music has influenced his latest studio album, Get Up and Try, released in October 2009. On the new CD, Shayar sings his original songs and plays mandolin, guitar, keyboards and harmonica.

Shayar’s adopted hometown of Beckley is well represented in Get Up and Try. Well known Beckley diva Lady D sings backup vocals. The CD is engineered and mastered by Beckley-based Dan Bailey, who plays guitar and bass on the track “Living Loving.”

Get Up and Try is Shayar’s fifth CD.

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The Roanoke Times: Q & A with Shayar of Krooshall Force