Tag Archives: singer/songwriter
Remembering Richie Havens
Today we celebrate the birthday of Richie Havens who was born on January 21, 1941. Havens is one of my favorite singer/songwriter’s of all time: his growling vocals were immediately recognizable, his unique open-tuning guitar style emphasized the rhythmic expression of his right hand, and Havens is one of the only artists who consistently made [...]
Forever Ornette
My first instrument was the saxophone. That instrument introduced me to performing music and if I hadn’t started playing my horn at the age of 11 I probably would have never started writing my own songs. I still love my saxophone. Even though my singer/songwriter output is balanced on my lyrics, playing the saxophone offers [...]
Leonard Cohen’s Early Years
Bob Dylan brought poetry to rock ‘n’ roll, but Leonard Cohen brought rock ‘n’ roll to poetry, recording a remarkable string of records — beginning with his 1967 debut, Songs of Leonard Cohen — which married the studio sounds of the day to his already-established voice as a nationally celebrated poet in his native country [...]
The Riddle of Robert Johnson
Here at Insomnia, we love the strange crossroads of hardscrabble blues and high weirdness that come together in the life of legendary singer/songwriter/guitarist Robert Johnson. The story of the blues pioneer finds the gifted musician rejected by his family, living the reckless, itinerant life of a musician, drinking heavily, womanizing, dying mysteriously and infamously associating [...]
