Family,
Anonymous folksingers,
Martin Carthy,
Leonard Cohen,
Joseph Conrad,
Bessie Jones,
Shinobu Sato,
Mississippi John Hurt,
Bob Dylan.
Erin McKeown,
Johnny Cash,
John Prine,
Edna St Vincent Millay,
Ewan MacColl,
Jean Redpath,
Claude Monet,
Jonathan Green,
Michael McNevin,
Dave Carter and Tracy Grammer,
Mary Oliver
Sounds Like
something out of a pierce kane novel.
of course, there is so such author. as far as i know.
Was born in New Haven, CT, 1957. My mother sang to me, "I Gave My Love a Cherry," "I Ride An Old Paint," and yes, "The Cruel Mother." Got my first song in my head first at age 12, somber lines, beautiful and cruel. I wrote them down. Have kept on since, faithful to the lightning.
When I was young I would do shows of almost all my own songs, plus usually a Scots song in dialect. These days it matters less to me whether I wrote the songs I sing. For the last three years I've been researching African-American spirituals and secular folk songs, acquiring many rare and out of print books. This has resulted in the Bound to Go CD, and Campground, the band. Summer 2009 I did lots of busking at farmer's markets, and in Evanston with my daughter Casey. We're working on a CD.
A protracted bout of tendinitis (the cure: Active Tissue Release, acupuncture, the Graston Technique, weights) a few years ago got me into memorizing poems, and I love to perform those as well, to introduce people to Mary Oliver and pair "Fern Hill" by Dylan Thomas with "Mr. Tambourine Man". Also Scottish Ballads, which I translate out of dialect. For several years I played a couple instrumental gigs a week, at places like the Blind Faith Cafe in Evanston and the Third Coast in Chicago. For these I performed Bach, Scarlatti, Renaissance and Baroque guitar pieces, some blues, UK and American fiddle tunes, mostly finger-picked. At that time I studied guitar with Shinobu Sato in Skokie, IL, a great musician and teacher. When I was 40, I wrote the basic structure of triad chords down on a page in rows and figured out what I had been working with all those years without knowing it, and mapped out more options for harmonizing. And now 10 years later, I'm working with reducing options for harmony to the notes of the melody. I try to leave out the note I'm singing so that there will be interplay with voice and instrument. Messing with augmented chords and suchlike. I don't write songs unless they're given to me. My method is, mostly, to get out of the way of the energy flow, to be calm in the presence of whatever is coming through. In editing, reworking, the principle is to trust the image.
What else. I always sing a Dave Carter song. I play clubs, festivals, colleges, radio shows, nursing homes, bars, but mostly house concerts and those are the gigs I love most.
"Calhoun is a master at story songs, finely crafted works that swiftly and economically capture a moment or express an emotion. Like the best novelists, he is able to assume different personas and see the world through other people's eyes." - June Sawyers, Chicago Tribune
"Andrew Calhoun tells the truth. To my knowledge, there is no better songwriter alive."
- Dave Carter
Watch some of Andrew's live performances
Several of Andrew's live performances can be played on the youtube video player below. First pause the audio player above, then click the play button on this video player. As you mouse over it, you can see the controls for playing your choice of the videos available through the player:
Hi Andrew: Got my two best hugs in the Waterbug room, from Karen & from you... Thanks so much for making me feel so welcome at Folk Alliance. blessings, Laurie
Hey Andrew, Remember me, a friend of David the bartender's out in Dundee, met you about, well we don't need to age ourselves, but I was about 24, and my son is now 29. You sound really great, and I sure hope to catch you at Bills Blues. I wanted to talk to you about a project I am working on using what I call "Freedom songs", they are very old spirituals, that had codes to the underground railroad.. really interesting stuff.... stay warm, see you around soon I hope, peace, Kim
Andrew, I really enjoyed the show in Ann Arbor. I felt like I was in school, but in a really cool class in a subject I enjoyed. Which is my way of saying you were educational and entertaining.
Thanks for adding me! I just put up some new songs so come listen, let me know what you think. www. myspace. com/timturnermusic Thanks! Tell your friends too!
"Some People see the universe/God as a benificient teacher, refining us through some karmic kindergarten of suffering. Still, the question lingers - if we're all chinks of the divine, why the sadistic hazing process? Maybe whatever created this whacked out world of woes is just as screwed up as we are. And if the Teacher doesn't have the answer, perhaps the search has a real purpose." -Andrew Calhoun (from "Shadow of a Wing" liner notes)
This is the most simple and concise yet illuminating pieces of philosophical (theo-LOGICAL) writing i've ever seen!
Online Now!
