Glenn French

Bio:

Glenn French is an accomplished guitarist and singer/songwriter from Ct.His music is folk based with a country flavor.His lyrics are based on middle class values and are heart driven.His large collection of vinyl records from the 60's and 70's of mostly blues,folk,and rock are his heroes."I started collecting records when I was 13.I'd cut a neighbor's lawn and go buy another record.These were my heroes.At a younger age Superman was my idol.When I was 15 it was the year of Woodstock,1969.The folk/rock group Crosby,Stills,and Nash totally blew me away.I had to learn the guitar.My father gave me an old Garrard turntable which he rewired for stereo.It was incredible because I could hear the vocals out of one speaker and the instruments out of the other.I painfully started teaching myself guitar with an out of tune Spanish acoustic.I swear the strings were an inch off the neck and I was struggling.Working at a local supermarket and odd jobs eventually bought me a better instrument to work with.I grew up near a lake and the best sound was the still water late at night with an acoustic guitar.Fishing and guitar seemed to be the 2 main vents in my life at that point".At the time Glenn was about 25 he started working with a local blues band called the T.K.O'Day Band.Glenn was hired to play lead guitar."I love the sound of a Fender Stratocaster through a Marshall amp.I love the sound of tubes.I loved playing the blues and still do.We played the local Ct. bar scene with other players like Michael Bolton and his band called "Michael Bolton and Black Jack".We all had day jobs and getting home at 4am after a gig and then getting up for work was rough.We loved the excitement though and we were well received".Glenn started writing his own songs in 1998.They were heartfelt acoustic tunes based on his life with his 7 year old son."I never thought I could write music at first but the ideas just started to transpire".Glenn recorded his first album at Trod Nossel Studios in Ct.The cd consists of 18 songs and Glenn performed the vocals,bass guitar,mandolin,and slide and acoustic guitars."My son Mike was 10 at the time and he had just started drum lessons.His drum teacher Jay Bond was helping me on a couple tunes that needed some light drumming.Jay also played xylophone bells on a song written about my son at an early age called "Young Boy's Eyes".My son Mike was sitting in the studio on the couch with his feet dangling off the floor.I did manage to get a recording of my son playing drums with me on a song.I still have that recording tucked away for nostalgia".The cd was simply called "Glenn French".This debut album was released in 2002 and is available on CD Baby.In 2003 Glenn was contacted by Wild Oats Records to record 4 of his songs on a singer/songwriter series cd.Producer Steve Haggard emailed Glenn and told him his songs deserved to be published."I was scared at first but Steve calmed me down.I flew down to Nashville with my guitar and 4 songs Steve found to be the best choices.The studio housed some of the best musicians in the business.We had a blast in the studio and we finshed the 4 tunes in 7 days.The productions were top notch and I returned to Ct with the best recordings I've ever heard of my music.The players were Glenn on vocals and acoustic guitar,Steve Haggard on backing vocals,John Kearns on acoustic guitar,electric guitar,and Dobro,David Russell on fiddle and mandolin,and Chris James ..boards.The recording engineer was Randall Merryman.Randall made things look easy." In 2006 Glenn decided to write some new tunes and he contacted Steve Haggard to begin the Productions of the "Timeless" album."This time I decided to bring my now 16 year old son Mike with me to Nashville.We finished the album in the Spring and Mike 's drumming can be heard on 2 tracks,"Memories" and "The Picket Line" .In 2007 Glenn continued writing new songs and once again brought his new work to Nashville to be recorded.The new writings included a mixture of folk,blues,and country music.This new cd will be released in the fall of 2009 and the title is going to be Snowblind.The recordings were completed in April 2008 and some of the new songs are found on Glenn's myspace page. .. ..

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Member Since:

October 27, 2007

Members:

Glenn French: songwriter, vocals, guitar, bass John Kearns: guitars, dobro David Russell: fiddle, mandolin Steve Haggard: producer, backing vocals Michael French: drums, percussion Chris James: keyboards John Heinrich: recorder, saxes, flute

Influences:

vinyl records,analog equipment,Al Jolson,and various blues,rock,and folk artists from the 60's and 70's

Sounds Like:

John Mayer,Dave Mason,Neil Young,James Taylor,Jim Croce,Gordon Lightfoot,John Denver,Josh Rubin,Dave Mathews

Record Label:

Wild Oats Records