Thursday, 6 June 2002
Bob Hillman!
I'd like to recommend a musician to all my readers... I mentioned him a
while back, but it's time to mention him again. His name is
Bob Hillman. He's a clever poet and songwriter and guitarist who is alternately funny, engaging and affecting on stage with his raw, honest voice and his direct, catchy songs. Listen to the
sample MP3 of "Communists" (linked near the bottom of the page) to get a sense of him while I elaborate...
I mention him because there are a couple of recent recordings with songs by him (which I'll get to) and because he's performing in the DC area twice in the coming days:
- Sunday, June 9: At Celebrate Fairfax! at 3:15pm on the Acoustic Stage; I presume for about a 30-45 minute set (the next act is at 4:15pm). It's $10 to get into the fair; expect to spend extra time parking if you go.
- Tuesday, June 11: Opening for Suzanne Vega at the Birchmere. This is probably sold out, but in case it's not...
Or if you're not in the Capitol area you can look at the rest of his
tour schedule, accessible from his
handy web site.
I have his album
Welcome to My Century and I love it (particularly "Greenland", "Tolstoy", "Bolted Down" and "Games"). And the fascinating lyrical structure of "Valentine's Day" (ABCD-DEFG-GHIJ...) is unique in my experience, though maybe I just haven't heard the right other artists. The MP3 links there are to sample portions of the songs.
I don't have his first album
Playing God, but unlike for
WtMC the
MP3 links on his site from that album are to the first few tracks
in their entirety (free music!). Of those, I particularly like "Little Things" and
"Spitting Nails".
(His recorded stuff reminds me in a funny way of
Moxy Früvous' first album, in that I didn't really love their recorded songs until I heard them live and got to know their personalities. So if Hillman's recordings don't particularly please you, I still recommend trying to see him because his live show is something else entirely. And
then see how you like the recordings...)
In addition to his own albums, there are a couple of
recent compilation CDs with his work on them. I don't own either yet, but I plan to buy them eventually:
- Vigil : NY Songs since 9/11 -- a benefit CD containing work from New York artists that focuses on the terrorist attacks and their aftermath. Includes work from Hillman, Suzanne Vega, Christine Lavin, and many others. They provide MP3 clips of the first half or so of each song, so you can get a good sense of it.
I first heard Hillman's "Communists" (only available on this CD so far, I think) when we saw him open for Suzanne Vega last year, and I'm glad I can buy it now. It's a great song with an interesting reminder at the heart of it: wasn't communism the big threat not so long ago?
Communists are no longer dangerous
They're not even close to the top of the list...
The other song on the CD by Hillman ("World Trade Center") sounds mighty good too.
- Songs Inspired By Literature, Chapter One (see sibl.org for more information about the project) contains Hillman's song "Tolstoy" (which is also on his second album, so I already have it as well as the Vega song). The other songs on it look very promising, though; Springsteen, Aimee Mann, Grace Slick... it's a nice concept for an album, and apparently could even be educational if you wanted it to.
I eagerly await his third album. There's a song he did last time called "The Year of Celebrating Nothing" that I'm dying to hear again (and isn't on any recording I've found).
...and just to empty out my list of Bob Hillman links, here's a page linking to a
video stream of him performing at the Millennium Stage at the Kennedy Center in August 2000. (Skip to about halfway through to find him).
Anyhow, that's my plug for him. And I'm not related to him or benefiting from his success, I just enjoy his stuff immensely and truly think more people should know about him. If you try him, let me know what you think.
