I have two performing ensembles. The Tree People is composed of myself on guitar and voice; Jeff Stier on recorders, flute, hand drums, percussion and orchestra bells; and Rich Hinrichsen on double bass.
Stephen and the Talk Talk Band uses a revolving roster of guest artists from a variety of musical neighborhoods, including myself on guitar and voice, Ritt Henn on stand-up bass, Jeremy Cohen on electric bass, Bill Chamberlain on mandolin, and Joel A. Martin on piano; along with audience volunteers playing sculptural percussion made from wood, metal, found and recycled materials under my direction.
Influences
Influences include so many of the musicians and artists I have known or heard or performed with over my lifetime from folk, jazz, classical and eclectic disciplines, but the big influence is daily life in this world.
Sounds Like
Review, Stephen and the Talk Talk Band:
Technically speaking, "Outsider Art" is art produced by the unschooled and or insane. Technically speaking, Stephen Cohen is neither. The apparently sane Portland-based performing artist, composer, visual artist and songwriter uses acoustic guitar, voice, original sculptural percussion instruments made from metals, woods, recycled and found materials to create records of quiet beauty. Cohen officially studied trombone and holds a Bachelor's Degree in Art from the University of Oregon. Still, the formal definition of Outsider Art is often stretched to include such as Stephen, and there is no doubt that his music shares many of the intriguing traits of the genre: a child-like aura, a hand-made quality, and unfiltered directness.
"It's My Story" begins with a spoken voice introducing a, well, story, over a haunting acoustic guitar figure. Cohen's own voice comes in over the storyteller's, singing, "It's my story, it's my story, you can take it, please don't leave it." Mandolin, bouzouki, drums, and lap steel are added; different voices enter telling fragments of other stories with Stephen singing the refrain over them. The total effect is one of the most emotionally affecting recordings I have experienced in a long time. Cohen's singing voice recalls Randy Newman and John Martyn without sounding quite like either. His guitar playing channels the simpler elements of Ry Cooder and Cooder-influences Lightnin' Hopkins and Joseph Spence. Taken together in a tune like "It's My Story," it adds up to a definitive depiction of the desperate human need to communicate. It is art devoid of pretension.
More sound sculptures than songs, the tunes on this CD share qualities with Cohen's actual sculptures of percussion instruments and guitars, to wit: warmth, whimsy, and an unexpected depth. A narrator talks about surviving a slide down a mountain in an avalanche and it evolves into--what else--a slide guitar piece. Other pieces revolve around talk, war, politics, love, and children. Stephen has done weekly music groups with severely disturbed children, and the combination of love, patience, and deep caring that must be required for such an undertaking infuses his music.
We live in an age where everyone can make a CD, and nearly everyone does. Just when I despair about the landfill this produces, I discover a CD like Stephen & The Talk Talk Band. This work likely wouldn't have been produced in an era of record company gatekeepers. And in the pre-internet/website days, I probably wouldn't have found it even if it had appeared somewhere on vinyl. I have done my best to describe it but you need to experience it. You will either "get it" or you won't. If you do, you will be the richer for it.
-Michael Ross, Puremusic.com (from http://www.puremusic.com/60cohen.html )
I am a performing and recording artist, composer, guitarist, vocalist, visual artist and award-winning songwriter. Please go to the blog entries above to read more and link to my other web sites.
My 2006 CD, "Here Comes the Band", is a children's album, suitable for adults, and vice versa. It includes a 20 page illustrated booklet with paintings and drawings by Portland, Oregon Blackfish Gallery artist Christopher Shotola-Hardt. You can hear 'Mr. Knickerbocker", "Rain, Rain, Rain" and "The Elephant Walk", three songs from "Here Comes the Band" on this myspace site.
In my 2004 CD, "Stephen and the Talk Talk Band", I asked all the guest musicians to tell a story before they left the studio, and I layered some of the stories they told in some of the music. You can hear a clip from "It's My Story", the opening song on "Stephen and the Talk Talk Band" on this myspace site.
My first album, on vinyl, "The Tree People", recorded in a studio in the woods near Eugene, Oregon in 1979 with my acoustic group of the same name and originally released in vinyl, has been rediscovered around the world and reissued as a CD in 2006 by Tiliqua Records of Tokyo, Japan, and as a vinyl record by Guerssen Records of Spain in 2008. The Tree People have signed with Guerssen Records, who has reissued a second Tree People album from 1984, "Human Voices" in June of 2009, and will release a third, new Tree People album in 2010. And my solo guitar piece from "The Tree People", "No More School", is included in a collection of acoustic guitar music, "Wayfaring Strangers: Guitar Soli", released in January, 2008 by The Numero Group of Chicago, of which KVCU radio in Colorado said, "Wayfaring Strangers is a precious release in that it brings to life fourteen lost, forgotten and obscure recordings from some of the finest acoustic guitar innovators in American history." The Tree People are performing live at concerts and festivals. You can hear "Thomas," which remains a band and audience favorite, from the second Tree People album, "Human Voices" (the photo shows the original 2" track tapes for that album), as well as "More Than Yoko" and "Legends of the Tree People" from our yet to be released 3rd Tree People album, and "Sliding", from the first Tree People album, "The Tree People" on this myspace site.
Thanks so much Stephen! That warms my heart. I miss being there but my freedom is indescribably liberating. Finally writing again and hoping to record this fall. I hope you, too, are well!
Hi Stephen, Thanks for adding me. Excuse Me President is a great tune! Good to see you on the LWW site. Peace from Canada, Avard #53 & #60 on LWW www.neilyoung.com
Hello Steven,
Thank you for the add request,
It's a pleasure to meet your acquaintance and listen to your amazing tunes!
All the best to you and your musical endeavors in 07,
We're honored to be your friend,
Hi-ya Stephen,
I've been enjoying your different records for a number of months now and "It's My Story" ranks amongst my favourite songs of the past couple of years!!!
Majestic music!
WE WANT MORE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
All the best,
-jaak-
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