The Lyrical Miracle

Whoops. Looks like I showed up a little late to this week’s party. Please forgive me. I attribute this week’s tardiness, and last week’s lone posting, to a 3-day excursion to Baltimore, followed by an impromptu 1.5-day excursion to Philly. Lots of fun, lots of laughs, but not nearly enough music. I was actually fairly deprived these past 5-6 days. I have to admit, the lack of music, as well as the severe lack of sleep, made me quite crabby. Luckily, a combined 7 hours of driving gave me a small window of opportunity to get some good listening in.

So what was on the menu this time around? Plenty of randomness… some metal, some funk, some jazz, some old Dave Matthews (very unusual for me), some Hall & Oates (I heard “Private Eyes” in CVS the other night and couldn’t resist busting out that CD… laugh if you must), and surprisingly very little RHCP or Incubus. But the tracks that were repeated with the greatest frequency were by a guy that I doubt any of you have ever heard of.

I first heard of Don McCloskey while interning at Sony. You may remember me referring to my boss Josh in a previous post, as he was usually my source for new Sony music. Right next to Josh was my other “boss” (he didn’t like me calling him that) Patrick. Patrick always had music playing too, but usually at a much lower volume, allowing Josh’s stuff to dominate. This wasn’t a huge problem though, because I spent a ton of time in Patrick’s office asking dumb questions, thereby giving myself a chance to hear what he had on. There was lots of heavy stuff (which I enjoyed), the occasional old school rap block (which he played on days when we needed a pick-me-up) and a fair amount of folk-type stuff, which I normally don’t really care for all that much.



One of these folk performers, however, Patrick made a specific point to have me listen to. It was this guy Don McCloskey, who was either a friend of Patrick’s, or a friend of a friend, or something like that… I forget. Either way, Patrick knew the guy, went to his shows pretty regularly, owned his albums, and played his stuff at work quite a bit. He seemed really into it, and was really excited to share it with me. At first I was skeptical, since I knew that traditional folk music didn’t do very much for me, but as it turned out this guy was far from traditional.

I’ll never forget when I first heard McCloskey's music in Patrick’s office. I really had no idea what to make of him. A folk singer? Yea, I guess… there were banjos, and guitars, and whatnot… but then also this guy with a nasal-sounding voice, rapping about “G’s” and “hoes”… And the craziest thing was that it was actually really good! I mean, I have to admit, the guy sounded like he was white as snow, but you couldn’t help but sit there and say “wow, that was a pretty good rhyme right there.” And if you weren’t immediately impressed by his musical prowess, you at least had to laugh. It was pretty clear that this guy was going for a comical and satirical sound just as much as he was pure folk. So we sat there and listened. We remarked on how impressive his rhyme schemes were at some points… we laughed at the incredibly lewd lyrics he used in certain songs… we credited him for his ability to retain true folk elements in songs that sounded more hip-hop than anything else… and I walked away with one more new artist to check out… which I did.

You’re probably sick of hearing this, but man do those iTunes gift cards come in handy. A few months ago I had a few bucks left over on one of them, so I decided to buy some Don McCloskey tracks, and give them a more thorough listen than the few occasional moments listening in, or outside of, Pat’s office. I would liken him to… I don’t really know. There are elements of G. Love, Sublime, Phish… literally tons of different musicians, as well as different musical styles. The main elements in McCloskey’s music are folk and country, mixed in with hip-hop and funk. Not to be left out are blues, jazz, rock, soul, ska, and plenty of others. It doesn’t seem like it would mix particularly well, but it does. And that has to be attributed to the man behind the microphone.

McCloskey can sing. As I mentioned earlier, he has a nasal-y voice, but he also has a significant vocal range that allows him to not only hit a wide array of notes, but also bend them, thereby giving him the ability to sing in a blues-ier manner. Additionally, he is able to provide the “twang” that is traditional in folk music (look no further than Bob Dylan), on those songs that are intended to convey a more folk-sounding style.

But in reality, his traditional singing is not the real draw. It’s the rapping. Would anyone mistake this guy for Jay-Z? No. But he’s still pretty good. And the reason I say that, is because he’s not actually trying to be a rapper. He’s being what he is: a folk singer who incorporates rapping into his folk music, and does it in a fun, almost self-deprecating way. His phrasing is solid. His lyrics are clever, and humorous. And perhaps most importantly, he can “rap” by actually singing his rhymes in a generally monotone voice that will fluctuate between the various notes that make up the blues scale. It makes the rapping sound melodic, and brings it back into the realm of that bluesy, country-sounding folk music, just with the obvious undertones of hip-hop.

I’m afraid I might have ranted too much about genre crossovers here, so let me take a step back for everyone’s sake. Don McCloskey is good. He’s a lot of fun to listen to. You may like folk music, and hate rap music. You may hate country, and love jazz. You may like protest songs, and despise songs that appeal to sophomoric humor. This guy does all of it, and he does it in a way that seems to me to be very appealing across the board. It’s the kind of stuff that I would gladly put on at a backyard barbeque, and listen to all the way through while we all just sat in the sun and drank a few beers. As it was, this music proved to be the victor of my weekend playlist. I had to go from New York to Baltimore, Baltimore to Philly, and then Philly back to New York. Lots of music was played in the car, but Don McCloskey by far got the most pressing of the rewind button. Sure it’s really random, and sure it’s not someone that you’ve heard of… but so what? One of the best things about music is all the secrets it has. Check this guy out. Who knows? He might not be a secret forever.

Song(s) For The Week: “Return of the Freak Emcee” from Northern Liberties; “Live From the Other Side” from Bombs Over Bristol; and “This Just In” from Northern Liberties. “Return of the Freak Emcee” is my favorite McCloskey song. It is the perfect song to illustrate his style, capturing all of the elements I mentioned above. His satire starts right away as he dedicates the song to all those “fake-ass folk singers” who talk about how “phat and large they’re living.” Then as his monologue builds to a head, the band kicks in with this funky bassline, and jazz-style keyboard harmony in the chorus. To keep the folk sound, an acoustic guitar is laid over the top of the bass, creating that jam-band sound. McCloskey shows us his humorous but impressive rapping style, while also demonstrating his prowess as a singer as well. Really, it’s just a fun song. He bends notes like a blues singer, reaches for high notes like a soul singer, raps about goofy stuff like a comedian, and sings about his plight like a true folk singer. All over the place and I like it. “Live From the Other Side” is a little less heavy on the hip-hop elements, but is fairly similar to “Freak Emcee”. The use of blues-tuned guitars creates a very mellow feel, and McCloskey himself softens his voice, to create a looser sounding rap style. Of note is his second verse, where he plays both himself and his muse in an argument. Also, I can’t help but be struck by the random rock riff in the solo section. Just more organized chaos I guess. Lastly is “This Just In.” This is McCloskey’s traditional folk. Country blues guitars, bass, and drums… McCloskey putting the folk twang on his voice… lyrics that attack Bush, the handling of Katrina, American healthcare, etc… I like this song a lot. It’s far away from the other two suggestions on this list, but it shows McCloskey as a true folk singer, ranting about social awareness. And his lyrics here are actually quite good… I love the line about the doctor telling the patient “you’re too poor to get sick.” Hope you guys give these a try, and if you do I hope you enjoy. Many thanks to Pat for introducing me.