ISAAC RUSSELL - HE'S REAL Y'ALL

The above video is a performance by Isaac Russell. I have written about him below and was originally going to provide a link to his site. But then I found this video and thought that I had to share it with you. WAAAY down at the bottom of this post is one of my own songs and I hope you will take to the time to listen to both Isaac and myself. It's kind of like a little concert...so go make some popcorn and get comfy...who needs t.v.?


A few weeks ago I had the pleasure of watching Isaac Russell play a set at 12th and Porter in Nashville. He was playing solo and opening for a few other bands. Isaac is a slightly awkward 18 year old with a big, bluesy, man’s voice. He’s got all these inward-facing features when he plays..his body hunched over the guitar, his head bowed in reverence and his feet slightly pigeon-toed, pointing toward one another. All of that suggests a contemplative, soulful, introverted singer-songwriter that you could hear just about anywhere in the world. But you couldn’t because when he starts to sing he booms out with this incredibly lovely, old voice. This is someone singing with authority. This guy has something to say and he’s very good at saying it. Pardon the lingo but this is a kid who’s been through some shit and he knows how to transport you through it with him while he remembers the stench of it. Some other acts played that night with full bands but Isaac Russell is what I remember from the show. For me, and I don’t know if it’s simply because I am drawn to this kind of music or if he really was that good, he stole the show.

He sat on a chair and played songs for a room full of people and it was awesome. These were real songs. Not the kind of song that so many people in Nashville are trying to write. I don’t believe Isaac has ever given a thought to writing a ‘hook’ or really considered the structure of a song much. He learned how to write songs by listening to the music he loves, which evidently includes Ray Charles because he awesomely covered one of his songs. Isaac Russell reminds me of what I love about music and that is this: If you have a great voice and a great song, all you really need to sell it is an audience.

Among the crowd of people that consider themselves musicians there seems to be an understood theory that all music falls into two categories. The first category is Pop Music which includes some very awesome Real Music (which is the second category) and also some very, very Crap Music which is a sub-category of the first category. Most of the Crap Music involves slightly to quite talented people who are above average looking or at least unique looking in a not bad way. The thing about Crap Music is that it’s not really that crap to listen to. A lot of Crap Music is well written and pretty enjoyable which is why so many people buy it. However it’s still Crap Music because it’s a formulaic copy of something that someone interesting created and the only thing awesome about it is the amount of money that has been spent on getting it onto the radio all over the world.

Now I know that different people like different kinds of music for different reasons. I also know that certain kinds of music fits certain kinds of events and I’ll admit that if you want to get up and dance Isaac Russell isn’t going to be your first choice…or really any of your choices. If you want to dance you have no problem because there is all kinds of Crap Music out there that will do just fine. But Isaac makes Real Music and damn good Real Music at that. It’s as unique as Isaac himself and he has the chops and vox to perform it convincingly. I caught myself wrapped up in the story of his songs and quite frankly feeling a bit sorry for the life this guy has had. I caught myself feeling real emotions because of what this kid was doing on stage. And that’s what I love about music and if it doesn’t do that for me then I think it’s Crap.

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The song posted in the player above is, "Cry Cry Cry". I've spent a lot of hours in my home studio recording this. It doesn't sound like a radio song because it's not supposed to. It is as unique as the person who created it. I like it and I hope you will too. But if you don't I'm not going to change it...and that's what I love about my music...I can play it the way I like it.

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I Think, Therefore I Think. I Am Alive, Therefore I Am Alive.

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Steve Murray is a friend of mine. We used to play open mics together at Zack’s in Durban, South Africa. I met Steve through another friend of mine, Esjay who now lives in San Diego and who is the soul’s core of the band Stealing Love Jones. Before I moved to Nashville I got together with Steve to practice one afternoon and on a whim decided to record the proceedings. In the song you’ll hear Steve and I communicating and since this was a practice there’s a couple of rough bits. I always liked Steve’s style of playing and I miss having chats with him about Seinfeld and beers and music.

picture courtesy of: http://www.motorcycleridesnow.com/roadtrip

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There’s a million and three thoughts going through my brain about life, music, God, girls, babies. I need it to slow down so I can pick a few things out and take a bit of time looking over them. I’d like to reach in and find the ‘off’ switch sometimes but I know there’s not one there so all I can hope for is that things will slow down in there a bit.

You keep moving and doing what you have to do. You don’t focus on the stuff that seems impossible to understand. As soon as you focus on that you lose your mind completely because it all seems ridiculously complicated. But if you keep on keeping on; if you just keep doing your daily things your brain keeps working and these thoughts pop into your head in the middle of doing something else:

I spoke to a woman outside RuSan’s the other night. I was on a smoke break and so was she. She was digging through her purse with a cigarette dangling from her mouth and I offered her a light just as she found hers. So we started talking about the weather and which Hooter's was the best and she ended up telling me about a trip she’d taken on a motorcycle. “We kept to the back roads and only stopped to eat where the locals eat. We figured that the place with the most pick-up trucks outside was the local hang out and we usually got the best food and lowest prices at those places.” After a few minutes I realized that this woman was really cool.

I talked to my co-worker and buddy, Ron about it a little later and said to him that I was really glad I’d talked to her because she was with a party of people whom I’d served and my impression of them was terrible. If I hadn’t offered the lighter and hadn’t had the conversation I would have left that night with a totally wrong impression of her by association with her party.

People get crazy when they eat in restaurants. I know this because I work in one. Even though I know this I still fall into the trap of misjudging people. When it comes to food and restaurants all social normality and politeness falls away. People who keep their own kitchens as tidy as a surgery room will leave trash and bits of food and gum and toothpicks strewn about for their waiters to clean up (seriously people...I don't want your toothpicks..throw them away your own self). So you can’t always judge a person by the way they eat in restaurants (maybe first dates should remember that). But I still do judge people and it’s a shame that I do. I might be missing a lot of opportunities to hear great stories about motorcycle trips.

That’s what I mean though about things coming to you in the middle of doing something else. You get these flashes of comprehension all because you bothered to talk to a middle aged woman for two minutes about essentially nothing at all. I don’t think I could have mined that little life lesson from all the millions of thoughts in my head if I’d been sitting and thinking about it. Maybe you have to be doing life to understand life. Maybe you can’t sit and think everything to its logical conclusion. Instead the conclusions jump out at you when you’re out walking your dog, or ringing up a customer at the till (cash register) or plonking a plate of sushi in front of their nose. Maybe….