Some of you folks are new to me and my music, so I’m just going to give you a little insight into where I’m coming from, who my influences are. I listen to a very wide range of music. As noted in my bio, I majored in music, specializing in vocal performance, i.e. opera and art songs. I love singing that music, both from an artistic level: getting inside music of the great composers with their sublime and universal expressions of what it means to be human, and from a purely visceral level: the sheer physicality required to sing at the edge of my technique. So yeah, I dig opera and all other genres of so-called “classical” music.

Since I was 12, though, rock and roll has been huge in my life. My first rock album: Frampton Comes Alive, then Aerosmith’s eponymous and Kiss Alive. Pretty typical fare for an adolescent in 1976. 1979, however, was the year I discovered Todd Rundgren. I read an article about him in High Fidelity and thought “This guy sounds cool, I gotta check out his music!” He is and remains my biggest musical influence, following his own path, not afraid to completely change direction album to album. Even to the point of losing fans. The classic example of this is his 1973 album A Wizard, A True Star : the follow up to Something/Anything. They are both great albums, but very different. Go ahead and listen! And just for fun, check out Todd Rundgren’s Utopia too.

So, I have been told (unsolicited) that there is a Rundgren influence in my songs, especially those written for piano. I am also consciously influenced by Warren Zevon and Bruce Cockburn; both are difficult to classify (as I have been told I am) and both exhibit a wealth of musical and lyrical imagery as well as a political edge that I have always aspired to. There is also Jane Siberry, X, David Bowie, Laura Nyro, Minutemen and a whole bunch of others that may or may not have influenced the music that I actually write. This does not take into account the myriad of other groups, composers, writers, players that inspire me in a general sense. They will all likely show up at some point within this blog. So there it is. Just a little insight into my musical background, for what it’s worth. Have a great week, everyone.

Steve