“Singer-songwriter” is used to define popular music artists who write and perform their own material, which is often self-accompanied generally on acoustic guitar or piano. Such an artist performs the roles of composer, lyricist, vocalist, sometimes instrumentalist, and often self-manager. According to AllMusic, singer-songwriters’ lyrics are often personal but veiled by elaborate metaphors and vague imagery, and their creative concern is to place emphasis on the song rather than their performance of it. Most records by such artists have a similarly straightforward and spare sound that placed emphasis on the song itself.
The term has also been used to describe songwriters in the rock, folk, country, and pop music genres including Henry Russell, Aristide Bruant, Hank Williams, and Buddy Holly. It came into popular usage in the 1960s onwards to describe songwriters who followed particular stylistic and thematic conventions, particularly lyrical introspection, confessional songwriting, mild musical arrangements, and an understated performing style. According to writer Larry David Smith, because it merged the roles of composer, writer, and singer, the popularity of the singer-songwriter reintroduced the Medieval troubadour tradition of “songs with public personalities” after the Tin Pan Alley era in American popular music.
What to write about? I am a singer-songwriter. I play solo, with an acoustic trio or a five-piece electric band called The Key Collective. My compositions cover everything from political, thought-provoking folk (the Bob Dylan’s of the 2000s) to what has been coined “LA Grunge,” an electric alternative sound. In the last few years, I have been working at getting “back to the garden,” to creativity. I am a writer, an artist, and musician; my Expressive Therapy side.
I talk to so many people who feel that they are powerless; that their actions do not impact society. While I can understand their feelings, I know that this is not true. I have seen so many instances of how small actions can have a major impact. As I pondered this, a series of songs emerged that offer a sense of hope and power. These songs became the CD Light One Candle.
I’m on a break from my usual hip hop producing/rapping, and I’ve recently dug up my Folk/Bluegrass roots. When I am not recording music on my tape recorder, I build the first composite houses made from 100% recycled plastic in my hometown of Clare, Nova Scotia.
This is an account of ‘Pink Mirror’, the second album by UK singer-songwriter Jeremy Tuplin, by myself, Jeremy Tuplin. I don’t intend to provide any absolute or dictatorial interpretation of the songs on the album, or the record as a whole, as I would never want to do that, but I’m happy to shed some light on the thought processes and ideas that led to them, and it, having kindly been asked to by mySoundposter.
by Jason Buice
I get asked several times a day what I do for work, and this is while I’m on the job. I make most of my money as a rideshare driver, but I consider myself a singer-songwriter and musician. So when the question comes up, “Is this your full-time job?” I happily reply part-time and ask if they would like to hear my music. I’ve made some great connections this way, and it really helped me prepare for the release of my new ep “Both Sides.”
“Waiting For” was written alongside producer/writer Abraham Hovey. I had been wanting to release a single for a while, and let something sit on its own… this finally felt like the track that could do just that.
by Maylin Lei
Credits to ilyaimy.com for providing the cover picture
My EP, When Pigs Fly, is the first body of music I’ve ever released. I purchased my first guitar little over a year and a half ago and only began writing songs after a year of learning to play guitar. However, when I found out how enjoyable it was to write songs, I knew that I was onto something.
The song ‘Warsaw Ghosts’ from The Family Grave’s album Everybody Is Flawed is a tribute to the Polish capital, soaked in history and emotion. Here, its writer explains.
“And the ghosts are laughing, because this is Warsaw.
The vodka is cold but our hands are warm.”
by Greg Connors & Catherine Swan
Photo by Gretchen Pellaton
“Greg Connors is back with the release of is his new EP Holographic Static Proportion; it’s rough around the edges, jarring at times, (occasionally even skull-rattling). This album has all the earmarks Connors has become known for, brutally capricious lyrics and a quick dark wit. As a writer, he continues to mine the rubble of human relationships for nuggets of understanding and tenderness amongst the fury and confusion. A versatile storyteller, Connors will draw you in, hit you hard where it hurts and probably give you a good laugh as well.
Where were you when that tree fell in the forest? Check out Holographic Static Proportion and see what you hear…”
-Catherine Swan
For me making music has always been about finding hidden lumps of pain, lighting fire to them and watching them disperse into the ether…
WEIGHTLESS/SINKING is the sonic representation of one of the most confusing periods of my life: I was simultaneously getting to grips with how much I had suffered from / attempted to forget the fact that one of my parents is a double cancer survivor, helping my family move out of my childhood home and trying to find my place in the mind-boggling metropolis that is London. I thought that the paradox of feeling like I was weightless yet at the same time sinking perfectly described the emotional soup I was in.
(I’m) a sparrow’s feather
on a lake: weightless/sinking