Vance Gilbert burst onto the singer/songwriter
scene in the early ‘90s when the buzz started spreading in the folk clubs of
Boston about an ex-multicultural arts teacher and jazz singer who was
knocking them dead at open mikes. Word spread of this Philadelphia-area born
and raised performer to New York; Shawn Colvin invited Vance to be a special
guest on her Fat City tour. Gilbert took audiences across the country by
storm. (“With the voice of an angel, the wit of a devil and the guitar
playing of a god, it was enough to earn him that rarity: an encore for an
opener,” wrote the Fort Worth Star-Telegram in its review of a show
from that tour.)
Gilbert’s latest
release, Up On Rockfield, finds our man exploring, and unabashedly celebrating, the influence of various songwriters and performers on
his writing. Each song is penned by Gilbert as if he were co-writing with
some of his musical heroes. Who else but Vance could pull off such a concept
project?
The opening title track is a soulful call-to-arms of a small community,
reminiscent of mid-70s Van Morrison. Then comes the rollicking country rock
of “Welcome to Lovetown,” joyously sounding like John Hiatt enlisting a hand
from Prince. And then there’s the innocent and wise “Goodbye Pluto,”
written, says Gilbert, “as if Shawn Colvin and Raffi were to write
together.”
Gilbert’s three albums
for the Rounder/Philo label — Edgewise (1994), Fugitives
(1995), and the celebrated, arrestingly sparse Shaking Off Gravity
(1998) — are essential additions to the American singer-songwriter
collection. With guests as varied as Tuck and Patti, Jonatha Brooke, Patty
Larkin, Vinx and Jane Siberry, all three albums found significant niches on
New Adult Contemporary and Adult Album Alternative radio.
These discs were followed by the self-released Somerville Live
(2000), his live recording lionized by the Boston Globe as the disc
"young songwriters should study the way law students cram for bar exams,"
and One Thru Fourteen (2002), a stylistically varied offering that
New York's Town and Village called "lively, eclectic, electrifying and
transcending."
Follow that with Side of the Road (2003), a duo album with Ellis
Paul, lauded as "haunting, artful, and lovely" by Boston Magazine and
nominated for a 2004 Boston Music Award. Unfamiliar Moon (2005)
follows as a most impressive continuation to this mostly original
composition discography. “The songwriter’s most compelling work; literate,
heartfelt, rippling, emotionally resonant songs” said the Boston Globe,
placing the album in its’ Top 10 CDs of the year.
Read Diana
Nollen's Gazette review of Vance's new CD
here.
