duggup

Today I discovered that I’ve been listening to a song by Marc Cohn for some time now under the mistaken belief that it was Bruce Hornsby. Since I’m not a big Hornsby fan I thought it was a bit odd. Now I know why.

When Thatch first sent me the link to the Marc Cohn website figuring I would like the material, little did we realise that it would solve this long standing puzzle. The website only had poor ringtone quality samples available when this post was first drafted – since then a complete Quicktime version of “Listening to Levon” has been added. Even though after a bit of a rummage I found the videos of his songs – the post is still classified as a Saturday Sample.

Marc Cohn was born July 5, 1959, the youngest of four boys. He grew up in Cleveland, where he began playing guitar in grade school. Through the local rock radio stations, Marc was introduced to the music of Van Morrison, Joni Mitchell, and Jackson Browne, all of whom remain among his most enduring influences.

“I remember buying Neil Young’s After the Gold Rush in 1970,” said Cohn. “It had a lyric sheet that you could fold out in Neil’s own writing, with stuff crossed out or words put back in. It was at that moment that I first realized: This is his living. Somebody works at this.

“Right then, the idea of being a songwriter became appealing, even obsessive, I loved those Neil Young songs so much that I counted the number of words in ‘Tell Me Why.’ I’d write that number on the top of the page, by the title, and then try to write a song with that many words, thinking that this was some kind of portal into brilliance.”

I include a video version of his 1991 released and subsequent Grammy winning “Walking In Memphis” to begin this post.

Now Marc Cohen is a fine self taught pianist and he has a really great American soul voice, and his songwriting hits all the high points of rock, pop, jazz, gospel and more. His current album comes many years after his debut release owing to among other things, writers block and being shot in the head during a failed car jacking. His own near tragedy and the tragedy of the people of New Orleans after Katrina helped him break through his own levee and begin to write again.

From his website www.marccohn.net

The music leads us on: Indeed, its deep grooves, layered textures, and soulful singing make this journey a sensual pleasure. Marc and album co-producer Charlie Sexton (Bob Dylan, Lucinda Williams) have enlisted an exceptional supporting cast that includes members of Cohn’s road band (guitarist Shane Fontayne, drummer Jay Bellerose), top session players (drummers Jim Keltner and Charley Drayton, guitarist Danny Kortchmar), and such bold-face “name” guests as Tom Petty keyboard ace Benmont Tench and vocalists Shelby Lynne, N’Dea Davenport, and the Holmes Brothers. Join the Parade was recorded at studios in Los Angeles, Austin, and New York with chief engineer Jim Scott, and was mixed by Joe Blaney in New York.

This is a live version recorded from tv of the opening track for the album “Join the Parade”, the track is called “Listening to Levon” which he attributes to Levon Helm.

His voice is not as pure now but the passion is still there. The recordings on the new album are raw but what is captured is a sound the is real and live. The album is a departure from his previous work but if Cohn is to be believed – these new songs wanted to get written. Finally the last video from the new album is called Live Out the String, this song written after his close shave with death, this time from the Ellen DeGeneres Show.