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MP3 Josh Calhoun - Climb On
12 MP3 Songs
FOLK: Modern Folk, JAZZ: Jazz Vocals
Details:
Josh Calhoun is among one of the Midwest''s best young singer-songwriters. As one of the young performers of the next generation of contemporary acoustic folk music, he is influenced by a wide variety of musical styles and his songs reflect this diversity. His songs are filled with meaningful lyrics, accompanied by outstanding intricate guitar playing. His ability to connect with the audience and share stories between songs is as interesting and engaging as Josh''s ability to perform his songs.
Josh Calhoun was nominated as a finalist to the prestigious "New Folk" songwriting contest at the Kerrville Folk Festival in Kerrville Texas. Since then Josh has released two independently released cds, toured around the Midwest performing in different venues, and shared the stage with some of the industries most successful songwriters. His live shows are filled with humorous and meaningful writing, and excellent musicianship. Storytelling has become part of his live performances as he weaves a web of connection to wrap the audience in a mood of warm fellowship. He has shared the stage with such noted songwriters as John Gorka, Christine Lavine, Susan Werner, Vance Gilbert and John Smith. Josh would love to open up for David Wilcox someday.
Josh Calhoun grew up in central Wisconsin. As a boy he listened to records found in his mothers collection. A love of music was a large part of his household. Such artists as Greg Brown, Peter Paul and Mary, Taj Mahal, Ella Fitzgerald, Lyle Lovett and Emmy Lou Harris, all helped to shape his listening ears as a musician. Josh recalls early Greg Brown records as a large influence that helped to shape his early guitar playing. "I loved listening to Greg Brown play the guitar. He was one of the early influences that helped shape my finger style guitar playing. Another would be the alternate tunings that David Wilcox uses." These influences of both Greg Brown and David Wilcox can be heard in Calhoun''s music. The down home song "Kitchen Concerts" weaves a story and recalls the days of concerts in the kitchen of Tom and Louise Pease and their series, "Peaseblossom concerts." This song is clearly an influence of early Greg Brown songs. Another song from Calhoun''s latest release "The Calling of David" uses a DADGAD tuning to explore new voicings of the acoustic guitar, much like the music of David Wilcox. This song explores the Biblical account of David as a young boy, and within the song the phrase "Beauty from ashes" testifies that the Spirit can "make all things new."
Josh accounts his Mother for teaching him how to play the guitar. "My Mom had an old Goya classical guitar and when my brother Noah and I were younger, we thought it was cool to roll marbles down the strings till they crashed against the bridge. I take much better care of my three precious guitars now." Josh started out in the fingerpicking folk tradition as he learned the guitar. His mother began teaching him chords on a nylon stringed classical guitar at age 12. In High School he sang in a jazz choir, and accompanied many groups for concerts as the main guitarist. He fell in love with acoustic music because of the setting and the intimacy the artist creates during a solo show. Attending live, small intimate folk concerts was a monthly activity with his family as a teenager. It was this early love of live music that caused the spark within him to want to become a performer much like the ones he grew up hearing. "I remember hearing Greg Brown perform at a church in Stevens Point, and he was so funny, and his songs were so good, I knew after hearing and seeing him perform that someday I would do the same."
Josh pulls from many genres of music in which his songs are crafted. Jazz, blues, folk, gospel, and swing. From swinging flat picking on his Collings guitar, to alternate finger style tunings on his Irish made Lowden guitar, or with his band wailing out a guitar solo on his 1956 Gibson ES-135, Josh has a diverse sound that would be classified as "purely American" or "Americana" acoustic music.
His voice is very soulful, and at times somewhat explosive. From a soft whisper of a birds first flight, to a soaring falsetto note; Calhoun can sing softly as a calm sea, or wail it out like the swingin'' bellowing blues man Joe Williams. His writing spans as wide as his vocal range. "Climb On is a song of encouragement for when there is not a handhold left to cling to. The theme of endurance and perseverance through all that life has to throw at us can really encourage people. "This music is personal; it meets a need where someone is. These songs are deep and meaningful, and also my writing can be playful, light and topical."
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