Prentiss Findlay
Fogelberg has new CD
Dan Fogelberg is touring in support of a new live album that at times offers a sharp contrast to the gentle tunes that made him famous.
On the new disk, he offers up rollicking versions of Muddy Water's "Blow Wind Blow" and Blind Willie McTell's "Statesboro Blues."
Fogelberg said that although the album isn't his standard hit repertoire, it is an accurate reflection of who he is as a musician.
"Unfortunately you get stereotyped in our culture by radio. That's kind of been one of the gnawing frustrations of my life," he said with a laugh.
"People don't realize that you can do other things. They think it's just 'Longer,' 'Leader of the Band' and 'Old Lang Syne.' I love those songs, but I've been playing blues and rock before I started the singer-songwriter role."
During the '70s and early '80s, Fogelberg became a mainstay on FM rock stations, sharing air time with artists like the Eagles, Linda Ronstadt, Jimmy Buffett and Jackson Browne. His big hits were thoughtful, mellow tunes such as "Same Old Lang Syne," "Leader of the Band" and "Longer."
The new disk is "Dan Fogelberg Live, Something Old, Something New, Something Borrowed and Some Blues." On the intro to "Looking For a Lady," he jokes that some of his songs are old enough to drink. In a way, he said the songs are like his kids.
"I do often think of these songs as children. Some of them like 'Longer' are wonderful children because they just keep going on and on, and they keep sending these lovely checks back to Dad," he said with a laugh.
The inspiration for the new live album happened about a year ago when Fogelberg came across show recordings from 1992 through 1995 while he was working on a Christmas record.
"I never really planned to release anything like this. I found these tracks quite by accident. This was really just obscurities and rarities for my hardcore fans more than anything," he said.
This is Fogelberg's second live album. He released a double live CD in 1991, "Greetings From The West," and an accompanying VHS video. A DVD version of the video is being released this month.
His new live album includes "The Innocent Age," "As The Raven Flies," "Make Love Stay," "Changing Horses" and "Looking For A Lady."
There's cover versions of Jesse Colin Young's "Songbird," Poco's "You Better Think Twice" and George Harrison's "Here Comes The Sun." The quality of "Songbird," which he stumbled across, started Fogelberg wondering if there were more show songs that might make a new album.
"I wasn't just putting this out there to make a buck. I was doing this because I thought this was a valid representation of music that I thought was really good that is nowhere else available," he said.
Fogelberg plays a solo acoustic show Friday at North Charleston Performing Arts Center. He performs on piano and guitar. He plays about 30 shows a year, which he says enables him to keep each show fresh and exciting. More shows than that, he's found, doesn't work for him.
"After a certain amount of repetition and the general wear and tear of traveling, I think you start to lose interest and you start becoming automatic. And I don't want to do that for my audiences. I want to keep it fresh and important if I can every night." Articles And Interviews |
