Join us at eTown Hall for an intimate evening of music with Richard
Shindell! Unlike eTown's Live Radio Show Tapings, our 'Homevibe &
eTown present' series are uninterrupted full concerts that take place
in eTown's solar-powered home in Boulder, CO, eTown Hall. Doors at
6:00pm Show at 7:00pm Richard Shindell Originally from New York, now
dividing his time between Buenos Aires, Argentina and New York's
Hudson Valley, Richard Shindell is a writer whose songs paint
pictures, tell stories, juxtapose ideas and images, inhabit
characters, vividly evoking entire worlds along the way and expanding
our sense of just what it is a song may be. From his first
record, Sparrow's Point (1992) to his current
release, Careless (September 2016), Shindell has explored the
possibilities offered by this most elastic and variable of cultural
confections: the song. The path that led him to songwriting was both
circuitous and direct. Taking up the guitar at the age of eight, he
spent his formative years learning the instrument - first acoustic,
then electric. And he listened: Beatles, Dylan, Joni Mitchell, Motown,
Bowie, Hunter-Garcia, King-Goffin, Paul Simon, Bill Monroe, Rogers &
Hammerstein. Their songs gave the impression of having always been
there, so solid and self-evident were their melodies, hooks, grooves,
and lyrics. Listening to WNEW or WLIR in 1970s NY felt like a kind of
anamnesis. So it seemed completely out of the question to imagine that
a song could be written - by anyone, anywhere, anytime, about
absolutely anything. If he sang, it was just to sing along, or
harmonise to the hymns in church.On the other hand, a good song seemed
like such a simple little thing. A voice in the back of his head kept
whispering that surely it must be possible to write one. He would make
his first attempts at it during college, where he studied Philosophy.
According to him, these early songs were "abysmal: pointless,
self-indulgent drivel. It's a wonder I ever allowed myself to try
again."After college and a nine month stint in a Zen Buddhist
community in Upstate New York, he headed to Europe with his guitar,
finding something not approaching a livelihood performing in the Paris
Metro, where his repertoire consisted of Fahey-tinged fingerpicking,
Blakian flatpicking and "endless droning along in open tunings."
Evincing an early inclination toward self-imposed commercial exile, he
sought out the less-travelled corners of the Metro. "I loved the
acoustics in those tunnels, but only when they were empty."Upon
running out of money, and despite being an atheist, he applied to and
was accepted by Union Theological Seminary (NY), beginning his studies
in 1986. Three years in an M.Div. program did nothing to cure him of
his atheism, however it did provide him (thanks to a friendly
sexton) with late-night access to the neo-gothic expanses of Union's
St. James Chapel, whose celestial acoustics inspired his first
"keeper": On a Sea of Fleur de Lis. Ostensibly a paean to the Virgin
Mary, the song marked his rupture from the church and the beginning of
his creative life. Its underlying themes - immanence and
transcendence, human love and divine love, the particular and the
general - have continued to resonate through subsequent work, right up
to the present. In many ways, his new album Careless, though in no
way a concept record, represents a further exploration of those ideas.
More songs followed. He began frequenting a well-known songwriters
circle on Houston Street in New York City. Hosted by the late Jack
Hardy, every Thursday night writers would gather to debut new songs,
give and receive constructive criticism, take the songs back to the
drawing board to try again the next week. It was a tough crowd, but
also a supportive one. And beyond the concrete benefit to one's craft,
those gatherings offered the fledgling writer a sense of community,
and thus identity. He began to think of himself as a songwriter,
abandoning his theological studies.It was right about then that
Shanachie Records called with an offer for a three record deal. That
deal resulted in Sparrows Point (1992), Blue Divide (1994),
and Reunion Hill (1997). The latter, produced by
multi-instrumentalist Larry Campbell (credits too numerous to mention
here), won the AFIM (NAIRD) award for "Best Contemporary Folk Album"
in 1998. Its title track was covered (along with two other of
Shindell's songs) by Joan Baez on her 1997 release, Gone From Danger.
In 1998, Shindell joined forces with his friends Dar Williams and Lucy
Kaplansky to make CryCryCry (Razor and Tie), a collection of covers
by writers such as Robert Earl Keen, Michael Stipe, Ron Sexsmith, Greg
Brown, Julie Miller, and James Keelaghan. Over the course of two
years, the group toured in support of this highly acclaimed (and
eponymously titled) album, leaving audiences spellbound by their
gorgeous three-part harmonies.By then Shindell was beginning to
stretch out as a harmony singer, guitarist and performer. With each
successive record he toured relentlessly, building a solid following
of loyal fans. He also became an adept bandleader, as reflected in
his 1999 release, Courier (Signature Sounds), a live album, recorded
and mixed by Ben Wisch, and featuring long-time cohorts Lincoln
Schleifer, John Putnam, Dennis McDermott, as well as Lucy Kaplansky
and Larry Campbell.The year 2000 brought the release of a new
collection of originals, one of Shindell’s most popular
albums, Somewhere Near Paterson (Signature Sounds), produced by
Campbell. That year also saw a major life-change: with his Argentine
wife and their two small children, Shindell moved to Buenos Aires,
Argentina. Taking a few years to get acclimated and learn the
language, in 2004 he followed up with Vuelta (Koch Records), joining
with Puente Celeste, an eclectic and much beloved group of virtuoso
Argentine musicians. The decade's next was release was a collection of
covers, South of Delia (2007), Shindell's first foray into
production. More than simply a cover record, the song-selections and
performances of South of Delia were that of an expatriate looking
back at the country and culture he moved away from, and featured guest
appearances by artists such as Viktor Krauss, Richard Thompson, Tony
Trischka, and Eliza Gilkyson. His next collection of original
songs, Not Far Now, was released by Signature Sounds in 2009. For 13
Songs You May or May Not Have Heard Before, which The Telegraph (UK)
called “a stunningly good record”, Shindell revisited some of his
earlier material, giving fresh interpretations to old favourites.In
2015 he joined forces again with Lucy Kaplansky to record another
collection of covers, Tomorrow You’re Going (Signature Sounds),
also produced by Larry Campbell. Consisting mostly of love songs, or
love lost songs, it provided Shindell and Kaplansky an occasion to
revel in their distinctive, two-part harmony with the backing of a
top-notch band (Byron Isaacs, Dennis McDermott, Bill Payne, and
Campbell) - all thanks to the participation of a committed community
of fans who financed the project via the crowdfunding platform
Kickstarter. The campaign more than doubled its funding goal in less
than 48 hours.Shindell continues to tour nationally in the United
States, with the occasional forays into Canada, the UK, and Europe.
Although known primarily as songwriter, Shindell takes a more holistic
view of his career. Producer, writer, singer, guitarist, interpreter:
it all adds up to a life in music. Facebook Twitter
YouTube www.richardshindell.com ---
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24/10/2019 Last update