Hello, lovers of original, contemporary, genre-free songs performed by the songwriter in primarily acoustic arrangements! Here’s what’s on my mind today :)
1. What’s a Singer/Songwriter?
2. Ellis Paul (continued)
3. What’s New!
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1. What’s a Singer/Songwriter?
Speaking of that salutation/definition way back at the beginning of this newsletter, it took me a long time before I figured out how to describe the music I love most. I knew there was some commonality that linked Don McLean and Girlyman. Jim Croce with Anais Mitchell. Paul Simon and Teitur. I knew my favorite music crossed the genres that defined radio stations. I knew that the personality of the artist was stamped somehow on the songs themselves, not just the performance, with the clarity of a signature. It’s kind of wordy but that introductory greeting pretty much sums it up for me: Original, contemporary, genre-free songs performed by the songwriter in primarily acoustic arrangements
And then I stumbled onto the genre label singer/songwriter. That was a big deal. A revelation really. A lot of artists now prefer the term “performing songwriter”. But as a lover of language (oh yes, there are blogs that confirm this ~ “What’s in a Rhyme” and Limp Lyrics), I’m enamored of the sing-song alliteration of singer/songwriter. The Wikipedia article on singer/songwriters is pretty good if you want a more in-depth definition and a nice list of the most prominent singer/songwriters.
Woody Guthrie’s picture is used as the graphic for the Wikipedia article. I always forget that Woody Guthrie is considered one of the first American singer/songwriters. His songs are so much a part of the American folk culture that I forget that he wrote them. I added Arlo Guthrie’s new version of Pastures of Plenty to Acoustic Pie Radio recently. It is the second of only two songs in the rotation that are not sung by the original songwriter. Do you know the other?
2. Ellis Paul (continued)
When I last wrote to you, I was on a train going to hear Ellis Paul at Russ & Julie’s House Concert series in Oak Park, CA. Ellis Paul is the personification of the Boston school of urban, literate, individualistic singer/songwriters. The show was as wonderful as expected. A great introduction to Ellis Paul is his new live album recorded at Eddie’s Attic in Atlanta A Summer Night in Georgia. I just added several songs from it to the rotation on Acoustic Pie Radio including my favorite new Ellis Paul song “Hurricane Angel”. I listened to the song so much in my car that I now know all of the lyrics and sing a really, really bad harmony line in the chorus.
3. What’s New!
There’s a new photo gallery up on the website featuring local artists at Carol Branch’s house concert series in University City here in San Diego. Carol hosts shows almost monthly in her home. Just another passionate and tireless fan promoting the music and artists she loves. I love that!
The Top 20 Songs on Acoustic Pie Radio for December have been tallied and posted. Read all about it in the Jan. 3 blog. Don’t forget that you can vote for your favorite songs while you’re listening to The Pie by clicking the Thumbs Up button on your player.
Thanks for reading! As always, I love to hear from you!
~Kelley
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