Greg Brown

The Poet Game

    ^{Greg Brown — The Poet Game (October 20, 1994)}
≡»   American artist whose traditional folk songwriting is infused with a distinctive Midwestern sensibility.                     © GB performing on Mountain Stage radio, Photo By Greg Wood
Born: 1949 in Fairfield, IA
Location: Iowa
Album release: October 20, 1994
Record Label: Red House
Duration:     53:17
Tracks:
01. Brand New '64 Dodge      3:53
02. Boomtown      3:20
03. The Poet Game      5:33
04. Ballingall Hotel      5:42
05. One Wrong Turn      3:47
06. Jesus & Elvis      3:41
07. Sadness      5:52
08. Lately      4:26
09. Lord I Have Made You a Place in My Heart      4:17
10. My New Book      6:00
11. Driftless      3:03
12. Here in the Going Going Gone      3:46
Copyright © 1994 Brown–Feldman Publishing
CREDITS
♦  Robin Adnan Anders Percussion
♦  Rob Arthur Organ (Hammond)
♦  G. Brown Composer
♦  Greg Brown Composer, Guitar, Mixing, Producer, Vocals
♦  Bob Feldman Producer
♦  Chris Frymire Digital Sequencing
♦  Fred Harrington Assistant Engineer
♦  Steve Hayes Drums
♦  Gordon Johnson Bass, Guitar (Acoustic), Guitar (Electric)
♦  Prudence Johnson Vocals
♦  Bo Ramsey Guitar (Electric), Lap Steel Guitar, Mixing, Producer
♦  Tom Tucker Engineer, Mixing                                                      Bo Ramsey
AllMusic Review by Richard Meyer
≡»   Greg Brown's latest release is somber and streetwise with more political undertones than his previous CDs. The simple 1964 "Dodge" is a most powerful song about the impending destruction of faith in America after the Kennedy assassination; and it does not even mention the event. Production is simple and in a few cases one would have liked to hear a bit more thought given to the instrumental arrangement, but still this is a fine stripped–to–the–bone songwriter album by one of the premiere contemporary writers. ≡»   http://www.allmusic.com/Artist Biography by Mark Deming
≡»   Critic Josh Kun once described singer and songwriter Greg Brown as "a Midwestern existentialist hobo with a quick–draw mouth, a bloodied heart, and bourbon on his breath." One of the leading contemporary folk artists of the American Midwest, Brown's music reflects a poetic spirit while also sounding thoroughly down to Earth; his deep, craggy voice expresses quirky humor and the mysteries of life and love with equal skill, and over the course of a career that's spanned more than five decades, he's earned a passionate following for his heartfelt and uncompromising music.
≡»   Brown was born on July 2, 1949 in the Hacklebarney section of Southeastern Iowa. His mother was an English teacher who played guitar, and taught her son about both books and music; his father earned his living as an electrician and scrap metal dealer, but also preached in a Pentecostal church on Sundays. As his family traveled throughout the Midwest, Brown soaked up a broad range of musical influences: gospel, blues, country, bluegrass, classical, and rock & roll. At the age of six, he learned to play the pump organ, and soon picked up the guitar from his mother. After graduating from high school, Brown enrolled at the University of Iowa; he signed up for a talent competition and won first prize, an opening spot at a campus concert by singer/songwriter Eric Andersen. Andersen liked Brown's performance and told the teenager he should consider moving East and trying his hand at a career in music. ≡»   Brown needed no further encouragement, and soon quit school and headed to New York, where he found a steady gig at Gerde's Folk City, performing and running the weekly Hootenanny night. After a year in New York, Brown lit out for the West Coast, where he landed a job ghostwriting songs for Buck Ram, longtime manager of the Platters; while Brown said he learned a lot about writing on a deadline, he didn't enjoy life in Los Angeles and opted to return to Iowa.≡»   He continued to write and perform after coming home, and for a while he worked as a duo act with his friend Richard Pinney; in 1974, they released an album, Hacklebarney, recorded during a show in Rockford, Illinois. The album sold poorly, and Brown didn't record again until 1980, when he self–released his first solo effort, 44 & 66. His second album, 1981's The Iowa Waltz, became a regional favorite, and the 1983 release One Night captured the intimate feel of Brown's increasingly popular live shows. Later in 1983, he teamed up with Bob Feldman, a St. Paul, Minnesota schoolteacher and music fan, to launch their own record company, Red House Records, which would in time become one of the nation's most successful independent folk labels. 1983's In the Dark with You became his first release for Red House; it earned enthusiastic reviews and sold well in the folk market, in part thanks to Brown's frequent appearances on the radio show A Prairie Home Companion. Brown's next release, 1986's Songs of Innocence and Experience, was an ambitious effort to set the poems of William Blake to music, and received enthusiastic reviews, as did his next effort, 1988's One More Goodnight Kiss. 1989's One Big Town earned Brown an Indie Award from the National Association of Independent Record Distributors for Best Adult Contemporary Album, and in 1993, he cut a duet album with Bill Morrissey, Friend of Mine, which earned them a Grammy nomination. 1994's The Poet Game brought Brown another Indie Award, and he released a second concert recording, The Live One, in 1995. After two more successful albums for Red House, Further In (1996) and Slant Six Mind (1997), Brown released 1999's Solid Heart, which was the first of several discs he's issued as fundraisers for various charitable organizations. 2000's Over and Under was a stripped–down project Brown opted to release through a smaller independent outfit, Trailer Records, rather than Red House; a second album for Trailer, Honey in the Lion's Head, appeared in 2004. Red House Records went through a change in ownership after the death of Bob Feldman in 2006; Brown released his album The Evening Call through Red House later that year, but for his next studio album, 2011's Freak Flag, he struck a deal with Yep Roc Records.
≡»   In his personal life, Brown has been married three times. He has three daughters from his first marriage, Constance Brown, Zoe Brown, and Pieta Brown; all three are musicians (Pieta has released several albums, with her father making guest appearances on two), and they performed Greg's song "Ella Mae" as a trio on the benefit compilation Going Driftless: An Artist's Tribute to Greg Brown. In 2002, Brown wed his third wife, fellow singer and songwriter Iris DeMent; he later covered her song "Let the Mystery Be" on his album Freak Flag.                                           © Photo credit: McCabes
Greg Brown Discography
≡»   Hacklebarney   (1974) (with Dick Pinney)
≡»   44 & 66   (1980)
≡»   Iowa Waltz   (1981)
≡»   One Night...   (1983)
≡»   In the Dark with You   (1985)
≡»   Songs of Innocence and of Experience   (1986)
≡»   One More Goodnight Kiss   (1988)
≡»   One Big Town   (1989)
≡»   Down in There   (1990)
≡»   Dream Café   (1992)
≡»   Friend of Mine   (1993) (with Bill Morrissey)
≡»   Bathtub Blues   (1993)
≡»   The Poet Game   (1994)
≡»   The Live One   (1995)
≡»   Further In   (1996)
≡»   Slant Six Mind   (1997)
≡»   Solid Heart   (1999) (benefit CD)
≡»   Covenant   (2000)
≡»   Over and Under   (2000)
≡»   Down in the Valley: Barn Aid Benefit Concert   (2001)
≡»   Milk of the Moon   (2002)
≡»   Live at the Black Sheep   (2003)
≡»   If I Had Known: Essential Recordings, 1980–1996   (2003)
≡»   Honey in the Lion's Head   (2004)
≡»   In the Hills of California: Live from the Kate Wolf Music Festival 1997–2003   (2004)
≡»   The Evening Call   (2006)
≡»   Yellow Dog   (2007)
≡»   Live from the Big Top   (2007)
≡»   Dream City: Essential Recordings Vol. 2, 1997–2006 (2009)
≡»   Freak Flag   (2011)
≡»   Hymns to What Is Left   (2012)
Lyrics
"Brand New '64 Dodge"
1. Money comes out of Dad's billfold.
Hankies come out of Mom's purse.
The engine hardly makes a sound
even when you put it in reverse.
It's got a push–button transmission,hardtop convertible, 4–door.
It's November of '63
and the brand new Dodge is a '64.
2. And we're rolling slow down Main Street –
the asphalt and gravel crunch.
Church is finally over
and we're going to have our Sunday lunch.
And then I will play football
with my buddies down in park.
Later I'll dream about my girlfriend
as I lie alone in the dark.
3. She's got short red hair and blue eyes
and her swimsuit's also blue
and her little brother is retarded,
but Jesus loves him, too.
And Jesus loves our president,
even though he is a Catholic.
There's a lot for a boy to think about
as he walks along the railroad tracks.
4. And my sister won't get carsick
'cause we're going only half a mile
and the car still has that new car smell
and dad looks like he might smile
and the world is big and full of Autumn
and I'm hungry as can be
and we're in our brand new '64 Dodge
November of '63
Website: http://www.gregbrown.org/_____________________________________________________________

Greg Brown

The Poet Game

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