Words and Music: Jeffrey Pepper Rodgers

Words and Music series in the Post-Standard

noreply@blogger.com (JPR) — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 13:08:00 +0000

I wanted to let you know that the Words and Music Songwriter Showcase is featured today (Friday, 9/5) in the Post-Standard, in an annual arts and culture section called The Mix. The author also put together a slideshow about the September 26 headliner, Donna Colton and the Troublemakers, that you can see here:

Donna Colton and the Troublemakers by Laura Massey

On September 20 I'm also taking the series for the first time to the Auburn Public Theater. That show features the dynamic duo of Dusty Pas'cal with Loren Barrigar. Check out the full schedule for the rest of 2008 below. I'm thrilled to be sharing the stage with so many great songwriters and musicians in this series.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Words and Music Songwriter Showcase
with Jeffrey Pepper Rodgers

Upcoming...
Saturday, September 20 at the Auburn Public Theater: Dusty Pas'cal with Loren Barrigar, plus Dick Ward, Rory O'Bannion, and Jeff Connor

Friday, September 26 at Jazz Central in Syracuse: Donna Colton and the Troublemakers, with Len Widdenkind, Laura Courtwright, and Mike Gibson

Thursday, October 23 at Jazz Central: Bob Halligan Jr. of Ceili Rain with Christopher Ames and Peterson and Dennihy

Friday, November 14: Jamie Notarthomas with Tom Stahl and Juliet Lloyd

Thursday, December 11: Joe Crookston and more

For reservations, email showcase@wordsandmusic.info

Stay tuned about upcoming shows! Click here to join the email list:

http://www.reverbnation.com/jeffreypepperrodgers?add_email=true

Words and Music Songwriter Showcase upcoming shows, Woodshed

noreply@blogger.com (JPR) — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 13:41:00 +0000

Lots of Words and Music news to share...

The series hits the road for a special show on Saturday, September 20, at the Auburn Public Theater featuring rising star Dusty Pas'cal with guitarist extraordinaire Loren Barrigar.

On Friday, September 26, the series will be back at its home base, Syracuse's Jazz Central, for a show featuring folk-rock powerhouse Donna Colton and the Troublemakers. (Details below.)

Also new in September is the Words and Music Songwriter Woodshed, a monthly musicians-only gathering where songwriters can share a work in progress and get feedback from their peers. The first Woodshed is scheduled for September 9 at Sparky Town, a new bistro in Syracuse. The moderator is the singer-songwriter Dana "Short Order" Cooke, whose showcase set in June was one of the highlights of the season. Details here.

The Words and Music concert series continues through 2008, with performances by Bob Halligan Jr. of Ceili Rain, Jamie Notarthomas, Joe Crookston, and more.

SEPTEMBER SHOW DETAILS

Dusty Pas'cal with Loren Barrigar, plus Dick Ward, Jeff Connor, Rory O'Bannion, and series host Jeffrey Pepper Rodgers
When: Saturday, September 20. Doors at 7, music at 7:30
Where: Auburn Public Theater, 108 Genesee Street, Auburn, (315) 253-6669
Tickets: $10 at the APT box office or www.auburnpublictheater.com. For reservations, email showcase@wordsandmusic.info
For more info: www.myspace.com/wordsandmusicshowcase

Donna Colton and the Troublemakers, with Len Widdekind, Mike Gibson, Laura Courtwright, and series host Jeffrey Pepper Rodgers
When: Friday, September 26. Doors at 7, music at 7:30
Where: Jazz Central, 441 E. Washington Street, Syracuse, (315) 479-5299
Tickets: $10. For reservations, email showcase@wordsandmusic.info
For more info: www.myspace.com/wordsandmusicshowcase

Bob Weir on singing Jerry Garcia's songs, 2008

noreply@blogger.com (JPR) — Sat, 14 Jun 2008 14:50:00 +0000

From my interview with Weir in the August issue of Acoustic Guitar, available here. (Photo by Anne Hamersky) He was so extraordinarily generous with his time and his insights into the guitar and songwriting. I was lucky enough to meet Jerry for a long interview with David Grisman in 1993, and it was so gratifying for me to have a chance to learn more about Weir's point of view. Here is his closing thought on singing Jerry's songs with RatDog these days...

"I love singing and playing them mostly because they're great songs. I also feel something of a duty to keep them alive and growing. I was there when they were born, watched them grow, and had a hand in their development. I think I know where they live. Every time we play one, it grows, evolves a bit—shows us a new facet. Needless to say, that can be pretty rewarding.

"The music we played was of an intimacy that perhaps can only occur in a long, heavily improvisational relationship. We learned to intuit where each was headed, and then tried to be there with some kind of meaningful counterpoint. That required a lot of careful listening and feeling. After Jerry checked out, he didn't exactly leave: when I'm playing, I can still feel him—" Nah, nah, don't go there… yeah, there, go there." I can still hear the harmonics of what he's up to and react as I always would. I can still feel his sense of character development as the song tells its story. Maybe I should be telling someone this in a quiet room while lying on a couch, but it's real for me."

Lineup for Taste of Syracuse festival

noreply@blogger.com (JPR) — Wed, 28 May 2008 17:00:00 +0000

The Post-Standard's website has a rundown of the artists (including yours truly) performing at the Emerging Artists stage on June 6--check it out here.

I'm looking forward to playing this great downtown festival and checking out many area bands...

RIP Utah Phillips

noreply@blogger.com (JPR) — Sun, 25 May 2008 14:50:00 +0000

Just received the sad word that this great folksinger, storyteller, and rabble rouser left us over the weekend. Back in 1997, I had a memorable conversation with Phillips and Ani DiFranco about music and politics--the full story is included in my book Rock Troubadours. Phillips had just received a lifetime achievement award from Folk Alliance, and I loved this little fable he told onstage when accepting the honor. Later he retold it to me on the phone, as follows...

"The only problem with being made top folkie is the young ones--they come looking for you.

"I walked through the swinging doors of my local music store, my 1935 Gibson slung low on my hip. And there he was in the street, waiting for me: the kid. He plugged his Ovation guitar into his effects box, leveled it at me, and sprayed me with a burst of highly autobiographical, metaphorical verbiage. I flinched. Slowly I raised my 1935 Gibson and plugged him with the first two verses of 'Red River Valley.' He fell to the ground, stunned by the simplicity of an authorless folk song. I looked at him, lying there in a widening pool of angst. I slowly lowered my 1935 Gibson guitar and muttered under my breath, 'OK, who’s next?' as I turned and stalked into the postmodern deconstructionist night."

Utah, you will be missed.

Humming My Way Back Home now at Amazon MP3 shop

noreply@blogger.com (JPR) — Mon, 19 May 2008 19:27:00 +0000

Downloads of the new solo record have landed at Amazon.

CDs and downloads are also available direct from me, and from CD Baby, iTunes, and other online stores.

KT Tunstall on discovering the loop pedal and writing "Black Horse and the Cherry Tree," 2007

noreply@blogger.com (JPR) — Sat, 17 May 2008 13:03:00 +0000

From my interview with KT Tunstall, just published in Acoustic Guitar (read it here). This is the second in a run of three cover stories I've just done for the magazine (last month was Keller Williams, next up Bob Weir).

"It was after the first record was made. A few months before [the record was due out in the UK in 2004], I was going on a solo tour of coffee shops in Scotland. I'd just made this album and it sounded like a band, and I couldn’t face just going out with a guitar and being that girl in the coffee shop who sings about being dumped. I wanted to do something different. I'd seen this brilliant guy called Son of Dave, who beatboxes or uses a shaker or harmonica and then sings crazy old blues music. It was just brilliant what he did using this loop pedal. And then I saw Jim White, the American singer-songwriter, using it--sometimes with his voice and sometimes with his guitar but never together. My friend helped me work out how to put both of them through the same pedal, just by mixing them in a remote desk.

"I wrote 'Black Horse' while I was trying to learn how to use the pedal. Tom Waits was an early inspiration for me, and I used to listen to a lot of James Brown. I was really envious that these songs were over a constant groove, and singer-songwriter stuff was always reliant on constant chord movement. I really wanted to write a song over a groove that didn't change, and the pedal was obviously perfect for that."

New video: the Grateful Dead's "New Speedway Boogie"

noreply@blogger.com (JPR) — Fri, 02 May 2008 20:58:00 +0000

Just sat down today and knocked this out. Can't seem to get enough of this song lately...

Keller Williams on songwriting, 2008

noreply@blogger.com (JPR) — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 12:26:00 +0000

"I’ve always tried to put myself in the place of an audience member, mainly because I was an audience member for so long. I can totally relate to the songwriters who’ve had pain and are going through hard times, and I can totally relate to how that comes out in their music. But as an audience member, I didn’t want to hear about people’s problems. When I went out I wanted to be entertained, I wanted to be taken away from my problems. So I always try to stay on the lighter side of things.

"I’ve been extremely lucky in my life and my career. A lot of good things have happened to me and have made me extremely happy. So I haven’t really 'lived the blues.' I’ve definitely lived in a bunch of cars and rest areas and truck stops and campgrounds and cheap hotels, but I’ve enjoyed that. What I planned on doing was playing music no matter what the cost. I guess the lightheartedness of my lyrics is just a representation of me and my life."

From a cover story in Acoustic Guitar, June 2008. I met up with Keller in Nashville this winter for the interview. Read the story, and see my video footage of him playing excerpts from songs, at the AG site.

New York Times songwriting blog

noreply@blogger.com (JPR) — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 13:49:00 +0000

Some interesting thoughts here on the music life from Rosanne Cash, Suzanne Vega, Andrew Bird, and Darrell Brown...

http://measureformeasure.blogs.nytimes.com/

Humming CD review on GoodSound

noreply@blogger.com (JPR) — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 14:39:00 +0000

From David Cantor's review of the new CD, Humming My Way Back Home, on GoodSound (SoundStage Network)...

"Humming's 14 songs, all by Rodgers, are original, varied, and engaging. Rodgers' singing and guitar playing are both up to speed, and he uses his well-honed songwriting skills to comment on many experiences. The title song is at once substantive and catchy; 'My Life Doesn’t Rhyme,' about writing songs, is interesting enough to avoid the pitfall of triteness; and 'American Dream' goes beyond mere atmosphere in capturing the late-night ambiance of a highway truck stop."

Peter Mulvey on the CD Humming My Way Back Home

noreply@blogger.com (JPR) — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 17:46:00 +0000

This just in: some thoughts from stellar singer-songwriter Peter Mulvey about the new CD.

"Jeffrey Pepper Rodgers balances solemnity with an almost-hidden playfulness in this music. The melodies are spare and direct, and three strings are seldom used when only one is called for. Give him a listen. Also, check out the video for 'Humming My Way Back Home'--unsung lives deserve singing."

Said video can be seen here:

For a limited time, listen to all the tracks online for free.

CDs and downloads available direct from JPR, and from CD Baby, iTunes, and other online stores.

John Sebastian on meeting Lightnin' Hopkins and John Hurt, 2007

noreply@blogger.com (JPR) — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 13:46:00 +0000

The May issue of Acoustic Guitar includes my interview with John Sebastian of Lovin' Spoonful fame, who recently released a nice duo set with David Grisman. The story is posted online. Here Sebastian talks about growing up in the thick of the Greenwich Village folk revival of the early '60s...

"Within maybe two years of this first contact between David [Grisman] and me, at 18, there were two really important things. One was my father did a television show that included Lightnin’ Hopkins. It also included Joan Baez, who was unheard of at the time. I sat under a camera and watched Lightnin’ Hopkins as far away as I’m sitting to you right now, and that knocked my block off. My dad said, 'I saw you leave home that day'--he told me that 20 years later. Lightnin’ needed someone to carry his guitar around and talk to the club owners and just be a New York guy for a Texas guy, so that’s what I did for a year or so.

"John Hurt was also coming to the Gaslight Café about once every six or eight weeks, and I became his occasional guitar carrier and harmonica accompanist. What I really wanted to know about was the guitar. The harmonica had been with me since I was five, and I was getting fluent on the little diatonic. But the guitar was a whole other mountain, and John Hurt was at the top of the mountain. So eventually I began to make friends, and he was a very receptive teacher. He was very different than Lightnin’, whose background had been street singing--you don’t teach somebody a song that’s going to come at you across the street from where you’re trying to make your living. John played guitar at parties and on back porches; his world was more of an agricultural world that had recreation on the weekends. Lightnin’s world was recreation. I learned a lot from both men--it wasn’t all about the fretboard."

Collaboration with Dana "Short Order" Cooke

noreply@blogger.com (JPR) — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 14:27:00 +0000

Dana "Short Order" Cooke is a witty songwriter who performed around Central New York for years until--according to his website--"suddenly, and without explanation, the music virtually stopped."

Before his mysterious disappearance, I played guitar and sang with Dana on a beautiful song called "Wishing I Could Fly." Thanks to the preservation efforts of the Short Order Heritage Society, that track is now posted on this page as a free download.

CD Baby five-star review of Humming My Way Back Home

noreply@blogger.com (JPR) — Sat, 15 Mar 2008 15:29:00 +0000

Posted on CD Baby about the new CD:

Jeffrey Pepper Rodgers' CD is by far the best collection of original songs I've heard in a long time. I've played it for two weeks straight back and forth to work and find myself humming many of the songs throughout the day. His lyrics are poetic and accessible stories of real life, pure and uncontrived. The melodies and rhythms are engaging and seem to have appeal to all ages. As an RN and bereavement counselor, I am particularly moved by the very beautiful song "Sister". This is a gift to anyone who has ever lost a child and is struggling for ways to find peace and healing; it is a song for families which offers a tender way of living beyond the loss while carrying the existence of one's infant child or sibling in one's heart. Those whom I have shared it with have found it to be comforting and uplifting. I very highly recommend the entire CD!

Humming CD spotlight on Whole Wheat Radio

noreply@blogger.com (JPR) — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 12:56:00 +0000

Quick addendum to my recent post about the new CD, Humming My Way Back Home, on Whole Wheat Radio. Today the CD is being spotlighted, so head over there to listen, rate, or request songs. And, of course, you can still hear the whole CD at my site.

CDs and downloads available direct from me, and from CD Baby, iTunes, and other online stores.

Depressing news from No Depression

noreply@blogger.com (JPR) — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 14:12:00 +0000

No Depression, a good little music magazine covering the beat of alt-country/roots/Americana/indie rock, will cease publishing its print edition after its May/June issue--though plans are afoot to keep it going online. This letter from the editors outlines the reasons and says much about the tectonic shifts in the music and publishing businesses, and it's well worth a read. As the founding editor of another niche magazine, Acoustic Guitar (thankfully alive and well in its 18th year), I can well relate to both the pride and the sense of loss. The music world needs writers and editors who truly care about the music.

Humming My Way Back Home on Whole Wheat Radio

noreply@blogger.com (JPR) — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 14:19:00 +0000

The new CD is now posted on this enterprising Internet station operating out of--you guessed it--Talkeetna, Alaska. You can request songs, rate songs, and post feedback right here.

"Humming My Way Back Home" lesson in Acoustic Guitar

noreply@blogger.com (JPR) — Sat, 16 Feb 2008 13:54:00 +0000

The April issue of Acoustic Guitar magazine includes my lesson on spicing up guitar accompaniment parts by playing reduced and simplified chord voicings. I show a number of chord examples and then share a guitar-only version of my song "Humming My Way Back Home," the title track of the new CD.

You can access the whole lesson online--text, tab, and audio too--at the AG site. And you can still hear the final CD version of "Humming" right here.

Google books preview of Rock Troubadours

noreply@blogger.com (JPR) — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 14:19:00 +0000

My book Rock Troubadours, a collection of conversations about songwriting and the music life with Paul Simon, Joni Mitchell, Dave Matthews, Ani DiFranco, and more, can now be previewed on Google at this link.

As I write this, it's strange to think that two of the musicians in this book, Jerry Garcia and Chris Whitley, are no longer with us. Both are on the wall in front of me now, in photos taken when we met for these interviews, and are very much present in my own music.

Guitarist Billy McLaughlin comes back from focal dystonia

noreply@blogger.com (JPR) — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 16:07:00 +0000

The new issue of Acoustic Guitar (March 2008) includes my interview with guitarist Billy McLaughlin, who's making a mind-boggling recovery from a neurological disorder called focal dystonia by learning to play the guitar left handed. Just a remarkable story. Read it here, and find out more about McLaughlin and his music at his own site.

Words and Music Songwriter Showcase opening night

noreply@blogger.com (JPR) — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 21:21:00 +0000

The first show in this new monthly concert series was a blast--big crowd, very diverse music, and great songs. Here's a review from today's Syracuse New Times (also posted online):

Something for Everyone

The Jan. 25 Words and Music Songwriter Showcase, a WAER-FM 88.3-sponsored event at Jazz Central, 441 E. Washington St., featured a veritable smorgasbord for all music fans, from smoky blues to light and sentimental country and upbeat folk songs.

Jeffrey Pepper Rodgers, National Public Radio music reporter and writer-turned-songwriter, started the night with the title track of his new, independent CD Humming My Way Back Home. That tune had a soft and airy quality akin to a lullaby. Watching Rodgers’ live rendition grabbed a few chuckles due to a small instrument he called a strumstick, which looks like a broom handle with strings.

Following Rodgers was Leo Crandall of the local group Gonstermachers. His bluesy, sometimes hellish “The Night That Sam Cooke Died” cleared away the dreamy atmosphere left by Rodgers and replaced it with an overcast of darkness. His haunting moans and low growls channeled Muddy Waters’ deep Mississippi blues.

Loving someone so much that it hurts seemed to be the central theme of Dusty Pas’cal’s music. The Skaneateles-based performer’s “If I Can’t Find You” was sentimental, delicate and bittersweet. The slight southern accent that Pas’cal injects into his songs gives them a country edge, which makes his music straddle between country and folk.

Timothy Daniel featured a pop-influenced style, yet Daniel has a way of tackling complex issues through innovative lyrics. No simple love songs exist in Daniel’s catalog. “Desert Island” revealed a philosophy that proclaims no one is born with the skills of leadership. And “Happy Now,” a melancholy song about that guy friend that a girl always runs and cries to regarding her jerky boyfriend, was the type of song that spoke about ineffable, romantic matters.

Rodgers returned with his musical manifesto, “My Life Doesn’t Rhyme,” about how Rodgers “pays {his} dues for artistic license.” That song is quite possibly the only song in the world to have the word “spelunking” as a part of its lyrics. Rodgers then rounded out the first set with the rhythmic “American Dream,” for which he insisted on audience participation in the form of drumming on the auditorium’s pull-down desks.

The second half of the showcase was devoted to Lisa Gentile, a local songbird and 2007 Syracuse New Times Syracuse Area Music Award (Sammy) winner. Gentile started off by sharing a story with the audience about how her parents’ work at Motown Records has influenced her music. After a duet with Rodgers entitled “Fly,” Gentile let the audience really hear her voice soar in “Carolina Sky.”

Gentile talked to the audience in a way that made you feel as if she were a friend chatting with you over coffee between songs that yielded the same type of intimacy. In “Guys Like You,” Gentile sang about the pressure to sleep your way to the top of the music business with an attitude and spunk that let the audience know that she stands her ground.

In the similarly soulful “Tell Him How You Like It,” Gentile told women to speak their minds to get what they want from their men. With lyrics like “ Tell him when it hurts/ tell him when it works” it’s no wonder why she calls this piece her “dirty song.” Yet the track also has an empowering quality that would make it a perfect candidate as an anthem for independent women.

—Nichole Nichols

The next showcase, on 2/21, features Gary Frenay and Arty Lenin with Dick Ward, Linda Stout, and Ed Zacholl. Details at the series home page.

Free downloads on MySpace and ReverbNation

noreply@blogger.com (JPR) — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 15:21:00 +0000

Several songs from the new CD, Humming My Way Back Home, are available now for free downloading at MySpace at ReverbNation--look for the download link.

And you can still hear the whole shebang online at my site.

Humming CD on the radio and in print

noreply@blogger.com (JPR) — Mon, 21 Jan 2008 20:31:00 +0000

Yesterday was eventful for the new CD. I was a guest on two great radio shows--Common Threads on WAER and Soundcheck on TK99--to spin some tracks and also to talk about the Words and Music Songwriter Showcase, which opens this Friday. And the Post-Standard ran a feature review ("'Humming' offers songs that fill the senses"). You can still listen to the entire CD on my site.

Humming My Way Back Home CD review

noreply@blogger.com (JPR) — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 14:28:00 +0000

This just in from Andy Ellis, longtime music journalist for Guitar Player, Frets, Guitar World Acoustic, and others:

"Folk music with a serrated edge... Humming My Way Back Home is a magical blend of storytelling and driving flattop guitar. Earthy percussion, swampy electric bass, and superb guest vocalists and soloists enhance the album's rootsy vibe without obscuring its unvarnished urgency."

The CD is now available direct from JPR, and from CD Baby, iTunes, and other online stores.

Read more about the CD, and watch a video of the title track.