Having made some hay in the Americana/folk/singer-songwriter medium, British-born Bobby Long opted, upon relocation to New York City a couple of years ago, to go full-bore on roots and country-inflected rock 'n' roll.

It is, on a much smaller scale, similar to Eric Clapton and the Rolling Stones -- and early Beatles and Zeppelin -- bringing American blues music back to America.

"There must be something to the idea of English bands bringing (something American) over and playing it back to you," Long joked.

"I still think I'm coming at it from the standpoint of this Englishman weirdo in America, in this strange country."

How else to explain Long's sounding like he grew up in the dusty Texas desert or the poetic eastern seaboard? Well, his father's love of folk music -- Pete Seeger, Arlo Guthrie, Peter Paul & Mary -- coupled with his mother's bent toward electric rock such as the Beatles and T. Rex, made for an interesting blend that led young Long to the music of the Grateful Dead, Tom Petty and the fountainhead of country rock, Gram Parsons.

"I don't know, I'm just into that kind of music," Long told The Beat.

Which in turn helps explain why Long always felt drawn to live in the States -- in NYC, specifically.

"I moved to London when I was 19. I had been playing for a few years, but I just wanted to be the guitar player, to hide behind somebody. I started singing when I realized I was a bit too selfish. I was writing my own songs, so I decided I'd better be the one to sing them.

"In London, I was playing four to five nights a weeks with a group of self-indulgent singer-songwriters who hate each other secretly," Long quipped.

"I knew, when I got the opportunity, I was going to end up in New York."

Two things spurred him on. First, his song Let Me Sign turned up on the soundtrack for the original Twilight film (sung by Robert Pattinson). He welcomed the attention but insisted that the song wasn't representative of what he was writing. Second, he "met a girl." The support of her family has helped Long transition from one side of the Atlantic to the other.

And, as noted earlier, he delved even deeper into American-roots forms. He changed again his modus operandi for his latest album, Wishbone.

"I always want to push myself. I tend to draw on anything emotional that is happening at the time, but I took that and tried to do something I'd never done before, which was to write in 3:50 rock songs. Focusing on riffs and harmonies, saying what I wanted to say and still being personal but doing it in a more concise way."

And, he acknowledged, "I wanted a chance to have the songs played on radio and be heard."

Meantime, the songs are being heard in clubs, as Long has embarked on a headline tour of North America in support of Wishbone.

"I'm really enjoying playing these songs. There's something exciting about having new music (Wishbone has been out about six weeks now) and playing songs for people and hoping that people are going to like it."

Reference

Austin, Texas, during the week of the South by Southwest music conference is one of the most grueling places for a musician to perform. There are bands playing everywhere downtown, at practically every hour, making it truly tough to stand out.

So Bobby Long did something pretty brave, or perhaps it was stupid: He performed in Austin during SXSW completely alone.

"Next time I would definitely do it with a band," said Long, 27. "But I have this weird confidence from playing on my own there now. Not too many people are playing on their own at South by Southwest, so it makes you stand out in this weird way."

The British-born Long will bring a full band with him when he performs Monday at Turner Hall Ballroom. It's for the best, but Long should again stand out, thanks to the sturdy, bluesy folk-rock tracks on his latest album, "Wishbone," released in February by ATO Records, the label co-founded by Dave Matthews and the home of Alabama Shakes.

"I don't think I've been concise before in my writing," Long said. "I always want to do six-minute songs. This time, I didn't want to tell a story with 15 verses. I wanted to tell a story with four."

Goal reached, but not without a lot of trimming, not just in terms of verses, but songs, too. Long originally wrote 45 songs for consideration for "Wishbone."

"I would write a lot literally between playing festivals and shows," Long said.

He wrote as many as three songs a day. From the initial 45, some never reached maturation; 22 were brought into the studio, and a final 12 were selected.

Of those 12, two stand out for Long. For "Yesterday Yesterday," he penned lyrics different from what he's accustomed to. "For the first time I was singing about what's going on around society and kind of where the world is," he said.

"Not Tonight, Not Today" was different for Long, too, "slightly poppier . . . more like Elliott Smith, and the Beatles, too."

"That was one where I (told my managers), 'This is happening (on the album),' " Long said. "I wasn't saying it because that was the kind of direction I wanted to go into next or that I wanted to explore my pop sensibilities. . . . But there are lots of layers and harmonies, too, that I was really, really happy with and excited to be doing."
IF YOU GO

Who: Bobby Long

When: 8 p.m. Monday

Where: Turner Hall Ballroom, 1040 N. 4th St.

Tickets: $10 at the door, the Pabst and Riverside Theater box offices, (414) 286-3663 and pabsttheater.org.

Reference
 

Bobby Long is a folk rock musician from England. Living in New York, he has begun to feel at home. Highly inspired by musicians like Neil Young with his ability to experiment and reinvent his sound, Long’s Wishbone reflects this Americana he has come to admire. “Devil Moon” is the first song on the album, and it notes this change in style. The musicians Long worked with on the album helped him create a heavier rock sound. This change of style can be heard on the previously mentioned “Devil Moon” and “Blood in The Orchard.” Wishbone itself was named after a lyric in the song “Yesterday Yesterday,” which also encompasses this change in direction. Long’s reputation to play the guitar shines on “In Your Way.” His solo near the end of the track displays his ability to pour emotion out of the instrument.

Long’s lyrics on relationships can be best showcased on “She Won’t Leave.” Opposite of this, Long vows to be there for his love in “Help You Mend,” while remnants of his softer side can still be found on “My Parade.” The steel guitar is beautifully used in the background, as well as on “All My Brothers” and “Waiting For Dawn.” These songs focus on this new sound and continue on the upbeat “Not Tonight, Not Today.” Muting is used during the verses to build up to the honest chorus. “Making You Talk” features slow-paced instruments that allow the listener to focus on Long’s gritty vocals. The final song, “To The Light” encompasses the folk and rock sounds explored on the album. Filled with stylistic experimentation, Wishbone is a piece of art, allowing Long to express himself by transcending genres. It’ll be exciting to see what direction Long’s music goes in next.

In A Word: Refreshing

Reference
 

A world away from his start recording songs in his London bedroom by himself, Bobby Long now calls New York City home and sports a much bigger sound. Ever striving to further develop his music, the new record delivers in a big-bad way. Follow downward to listen to more performances by the folk emigrant.

Following the success of A Winter’s Tale, Bobby’s ATO debut, the musician within him wanted to continue to not only grow his writing technique but also the general musicality of what Bobby Long, The Artist, represents. Being a musical scholar at heart and authoring a thesis about the social impact of American folk music, its no surprise that Bobby approached this new project form the intellectual perspective. Spending significant time in his adopted home in NYC brought new light to tunes that he had formerly loved but never truly ‘understood.’ His fascination with the music of Big Star, The Jayhawks, The Mother Hips and Tom Petty took on entire new meanings as his experience with and appreciation of Americana expanded.

Known thus far as an introspective singer-songwriter, Long has done away with all those trappings, making an album that is a cohesive band record. It was through these new experiences Bobby was able to flourish upon his emotions as a songwriter and better incorporate them into a fuller musical sound and create something new… a complete departure. When the writing process was near completion and roughly 40 songs were in the can, Bobby jumped across the country to LA to further round out his process, while recording with acclaimed producer Ted Hutt and some very accomplished studio players such as Mark Stepro (Ben Kweller, Tim Easton) on drums, Chris Morrissey (Ben Kweller, Mason Jennings) on bass, and Rich Hinman (Rosanne Cash, Rhett Miller) on guitar. Developing a strong sense of community and camaraderie with this team he was able to take their time and strategically whittle the repitoire down to a robust 12 songs. Several of which have already found their way into Bobby's top tracks chart.

Relix Video of "Help You Mend" from the album "Wishbone"

 

UK singer songwriter Bobby Long wrote his college thesis on the impact of American folk music. While the prospect of an academic treatment of a subject matter born of a people and not an institution could feel cold, it’s really a piece of trivia that spotlights Long as a student of his influences. He’s a young guy, and he’s from a long ways away, and he still manages to own the bluesy folk-rock that pervades his sophomore album, Wishbone.

Part of what frames Long as an authentic creator of Americana-infused rock instead of keeping him on the edges of the genre as a mimic is his scratchy, older-than-his-age voice. Long can sell all the heartbreak and blues guitar because he actually sounds as if he’s weathered enough to be able to talk about it. On “All My Brothers”, he sings, “It’s a swift turning clock we travel on,” and it feels like a statement of experience.

Vocals aside, Long also conveys a certain air of drama and angst in his melodies. “Blood in the Orchard” is a good packaging of several of his most characterizing features. The song takes multiple shifts from harmonized guitar lines and chugging bass, to a hooky but sentimental chorus where Long assures a girl, “You’re not a duty of mine, you’re there to walk your own line.” In that vein Long can deliver a tender song like “Help You Mend”, complete with mournful pedal steel and words of encouragement, as well as a more aggressive, guitar-driven track like “Yesterday, Yesterday”.

Wishbone does suffer in the middle section because of a few similar mid-to-down tempo songs. Tracks like “Making You Talk” and “My Parade” clog the album’s forward movement. Still, the takeaway remains– Long’s beyond the classroom.

On A Winter Tale, Bobby Long's 2010 ATO debut, he employed the same basic sound he had utilized on his self-released offerings, in particular 2009's Dirty Pond Songs: namely, fingerpicked or strummed acoustic guitars and a simple lonesome harmonica added for texture to deeply introspective songs. Electric guitars appeared, but were used quite sparingly so as not to detract form the desired mood. Wishbone turns that formula on its head. Loud electric guitars, sharp, clipped drums, and stark electric basslines dominate the mix. Acoustic guitars are employed as elements to move a song's narrative along, and are almost never emphasized. Produced by the ever reliable Ted Hutt (Old Crow Medicine Show, Lucero, Gaslight Anthem), Long's 12-song set reveals Neil Young & Crazy Horse as a spiritual influence. Musically and lyrically, Long's songs are tighter than in the past; they don't ramble or drift. Check the taut, brooding rocker "Blood in the Orchard," which begins as a declaration of anger on a single riff, and finds more tender, open spaces in its chorus, while being unrelenting in its accusation. "Devil Moon"'s big drums and urgent guitar intro give way to an easier country-rock feel, and there's more grain in Long's delivery.

The poetry is just as rich, but its tauter lines offer less density imagistically; there's more first-person revelation by his protagonist. That's not to say the lilt is entirely removed on Wishbone. "My Parade" offers a balance of acoustic and electric guitars as Rich Hinman's pedal steel paints the backdrop in a slow, shuffling 4/4. "Help You Mend" is another ballad that borrows heavily from Young's Harvest album in feel. Those familiar with Long's back catalog may have to look at the sleeve twice when "Yesterday Yesterday" commences with its soulful female backing chorus and the strident guitar attack that announces his vocal. "Not Tonight, Not Today" is such a hooky rocker it could have been recorded by Greg Kihn or Matthew Sweet. Wishbone isn't perfect; there are some really clumsy rhymes here -- most glaringly heard in the verses of set closer "To the Light." That said, it is a bracing, refreshing next step, and easily his strongest offering to date. In terms of delivering on focus and creativity, Long succeeds in spades.

So I’ve been working my way through a batch of CDs and think I have just about found enough good stuff for a 2 or 3 album review column. And then I put on Bobby Long’s Wishbone and I go, “Praise the gods of music, Rock Lives!”

Unbridled, unappologized for, unrelenting. I want to yell “Go, Go, Yes, Go” like Dean Moriarty/Neal Cassidy in On the Road confronted with great bop live.

I was discussing Bobby Long with my brother last week when he suddenly recalled that he, in fact, went to high school with a Bobby Long. A Bobby Long who not only played guitar but was good at playing guitar. It was enough for us to investigate the coincidence; our fascination, however, was short lived by the fact that we didn’t go to high school in England. Yes, Bobby Long, the musician on ATO Records, is British. The strangest part about it is that I had been listening to Long’s sophomore album, Wishbone, for about a solid week already at that point. Now it’s no secret that British accents do have a tendency to disappear when vocalized in songs. Yet with Long it was more than just the vocals; the music as a whole had an American rock/country/folk vibe to it. Actually, upon my first listens of Wishbone, I was reminded a lot of Cory Chisel, and, well, he’s from Wisconsin.

All origins and locations aside, Long logged countless hours into his follow-up to 2011’s A Winter Tale, and the time and workmanship can be heard on the new record. With that said, Wishbone is a surprisingly dense album. My most familiar Bobby Long song prior to Wishbone was the single “Who Have You Been Loving,” off of A Winter Tale. It’s a somber, yearning tune but with a catchy pop hook. And with Long’s latest album, I thought many of the songs would try to channel that same song format. However, Wishbone’s lead song, “Devil Moon,” quickly establishes a different direction for the record. “Devil Moon” is relatively fast-paced and full of guitar twang; something you can definitely stomp your foot to. And that is just the beginning of Wishbone’s diverse sounds.

“She Won’t Leave” is an thoughtful, melodic track but with a rousing chorus that recalls the beloved ballads of 90’s rock heroes Live and The Counting Crows. The provoking “All My Brothers” plays out like a fight-first country anthem. “Yesterday” dances with that same aggressive energy but takes it to the next level. The track’s uplifting chorus is borderline infectious. Long seems to explore a different side of himself on the menacing tune, and it results in a fresh sound.

Long’s guitar work is at its best on Wishbone ‘s “In Your Way.” The striking, yet soothing, hollow solo at the bridge of the track is absolutely perfect. I wish it carried on for longer or revived again at the end of the song, but nevertheless, it’s a gorgeous, talented segment of the album. Album closer “To The Light” is another standout. The stomping anthem is maybe the most uninhibited moment on Wishbone and it’s another facet I’d like to hear Long explore more of.

Wishbone is an album that will take a few listens to fully appreciate but that’s all just a testament to its makeup. It seems Long is still tinkering with his overall sound and Wishbone shows those signs of continued exploration. Yet with that, he’s unveiling an impressive amount of range and promise. I like the directions Long took on Wishbone and I’m excited to hear what steps he takes next.

Bobby Long
Official | Amazon


Rating: 7.1/10

Reference
 

 

British ex-pat Bobby Long wowed critics with his debut album, the gritty, guitar-heavy A Winter Tale. For his followup, Wishbone, the 27-year-old singer-songwriter went back to the well. We asked Long about his approach to songwriting, his favorite lyric on Wishbone and more.

You moved to New York City about four years ago. What do you like about living there, and living in the States?

I really love it. America is so vast and young which is kind of the opposite of Britain so it is a nice change. New York is more inspiring than any place I have ever been to so living there is great for a songwriter like me.

Your thesis at University in London was on the social impact of American folk music. Tell us a bit about it. Was it fun to write and research, or hard?

It was interesting, especially seeing how music tied in with social change like the civil rights movement. The hard element was me being on tour at the same time which made it slightly difficult but it was fun researching it.

You put out a book of poetry. How do you differentiate poetry and lyrics?

I don’t really, but when I was writing the book I didn’t want to think about laying words with music. It gave me a fresh head for when I went back to the music. Essentially they are just different projects but they obviously have vast similarities.

When you’re playing just for fun and no one’s around to listen, what sort of songs do you play?

I play a lot of Sam Cooke and try to play along with Wes Montgomery which I fail at. I just tinker around really with whatever I have heard that morning.

Who are your songwriting heroes?

The Beatles, Randy Newman, Bob Dylan, Leonard Cohen, Neil Young, Elliott Smith and Ryan Adams.

What was the first song you ever wrote? Tell us about it.

It was obviously a song that wasn’t particularly great. I think it was about a school teacher or something. It would of been an Elliott smith tip of too.

What’s a song on Wishbone you’re particularly proud of and why?

It’s a song called “Not Tonight, Not Today.” It’s a song that is a little different from my other stuff and a direction I want to pursue. We really went hard at writing specific parts and harmonies and push it into another direction.

What’s a lyric or verse from Wishbone you’re a fan of?

“Guns firing on a ridge down onto a quiet town, wind bellows up smoke to the breakdown in the firing dawn.” It’s from a murder ballad called “Waiting for Dawn”.

Is it easier, or harder to write songs, the more you write?

Both, I think. When you first start writing, everything hits you in the face. When you have been writing for a while, you have to search a bit deeper but yet you have more experience and are better at it. Saying that, I think the more you write the better you become.

Are there any words you love or hate?

I generally really love all words. I hate the word “snog” and I particularly love the word “macabre.”

The most annoying thing about songwriting is…

When you are so close to finishing a song yet you have lost all enthusiasm and all the intensity you need to finish it. You just have to leave it alone and do something else until your fresh again.

What’s a song of yours that’s really touched people?

That’s tough. It’s hard to talk about your own songs. I would probably say a song called “Two Years Old”. It’s about being a soldier at war. Even though I have no idea what it’s like to be a soldier, people seem to relate to it. It’s really nice when that happens.

If you could co-write with anyone living or dead, who would it be?

Probably John Lennon.

Who do you consider an underrated songwriter?

I think most people are underrated but I would probably go with The Mother Hips. I am so in love with their songs. Their songs always surprise you and are heavy but playful and melodic.

What do you consider to be the perfect song (written by somebody else), and why?

I think that “Feels Like Home” by Randy Newman is pretty perfect.

Reference

 

After his Show in Vienna Bobby was on Austrian TV ORF. They did an interview with him an filmed parts of the show at Haus der Musik. Click on the picture below to view the video!

BOBBY LONG’S “DEVIL MOON” NEW SINGLE FROM SOPHOMORE ALBUM WISHBONE OUT FEBRUARY 19TH ON ATO RECORDS


 

ATO and Bobby Long are excited to unveil “Devil Moon,” the latest song from his sophomore album Wishbone, out February 19th. The British born artist who calls New York City home is currently on tour in Europe playing to sold-out crowds, but will return to North America this spring for tour dates and performances at SXSW 2013. Fans can pre-order Wishbone at BobbyLong.info to qualify for a free download of the “Bedroom EP” featuring 5 unreleased songs, and a chance at winning a premium bundle of Bobby Long swag.

Stream/Download “Devil Moon” via The Onion AV Club

Listen on SoundCloud

Wishbone Album Pre-Order at bobbylong.info
 

Recorded in Los Angeles with producer Ted Hutt (Gaslight Anthem, Lucero, Old Crow Medicine Show), the well crafted songs on Wishbone live up to the expectations put upon a young man the Wall Street Journal touted as a “promising talent” with “much more to say,” after the release of his Liam Watson produced debut album A Winter Tale. That album won Long praise for his “sturdy but graceful,” tunes in the Los Angeles Times, while Entertainment Weekly wrote that “his old-before-his-time romanticism and strong rasp are real draws.” Throughout Wishbone Long displays his deft control of melody and tone, well practiced over many years of prolific songwriting.

 

Watch the latest Album Trailer for Wishbone


 

 

Long has come a good way from his early days playing open mic nights in London while finishing his University thesis on the social impact of American Folk Music. He now finds himself stepping into the pantheon of that grand musical history he so reveres, gigging at major festivals like Bonnaroo, impacting popular culture with performances on the CBS Early Show and Jay Leno, and presented with the humbling opportunity to record Wishbone with Elliott Smith’s guitar, graciously lent by studio neighbor Rob Schnapf. Yet with all these significant accomplishments, Long is far from content, and looks forward to bringing Wishbone and a blistering live show to the world in 2013.



www.bobbylong.info



Upcoming Tour Dates:



JANUARY

18 – Vienna, Austria – Haus der Musik

19 – Berlin, Germany – Wabe

20 – Stuttgart, Germany – Club Zentral

21 – Graz, Austria – Scherbe

22 – Munich, Germany – Backstage Club

23 – Weilburg, Germany – Café Ententeich

24 – Amsterdam, Netherlands – Paradiso

25 – Hildesheim, Germany – Bischofsmuhle

26 – Frankfurt, Germany – Elfer Music Club

27 – Cologne, Germany – Arkadas Theatre

30 – London, UK – The Barfly



MARCH

12-16 – SXSW 2013 Shows TBA

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BOBBY LONG ANNOUNCES NEW ALBUM WISHBONE
OUT VIA ATO RECORDS ON FEBRUARY 19, 2013

 

      Bobby Long

ATO Records and Bobby Long proudly present Wishbone, the sophomore album from the British born artist who calls New York City home. Recorded in Los Angeles with producer Ted Hutt (Gaslight Anthem, Lucero, Old Crow Medicine Show), the well crafted songs on Wishbone live up to the expectations put upon a young man the Wall Street Journal touted as a "promising talent" with "much more to say," after the release of his Liam Watson-produced debut album A Winter Tale. Listen to the first single, "In Your Way", below.

On Wishbone, Long taps into a broader pallete of emotions than he has on past releases, eschewing melancholy and eloquently channeling anger and frustration into gritty, hard driving guitar (Long played a majority of the guitar heard on the album) parts that compliment his rough-hewn vocals. Steel guitar provides an apt counter balance, adding a hint of twang and drawn out expanse to the urgency put forth in the lyrics. Throughout the album Long displays his deft control of melody and tone, well practiced over many years of prolific songwriting.


 

Steve Winwood

The show: Legendary Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Grammy-winning musician Steve Winwood at Majestic Theatre on Tuesday singing and jamming on songs he made famous with the Spencer Davis Group, Traffic and Blind Faith and as a solo artist. Bobby Long opened.

Attendance: About 1,900

First take: Winwood, accompanied by his small band (a guitarist, saxophonist, percussionist and drummer), delivered a stellar performance as notable for its restraint as for its musical prowess. When behind his Hammond B-3 organ, Winwood played bass lines with his left foot on the church organ's pedals and fingered complex chords and swirling solos with his hands, all while singing lead. He opened with “I'm a Man,” but it was Blind Faith's spiritual and intricate “Can't Find My Way Home” and the mysterious, jazz-influenced Traffic track “The Low Spark of High Heeled Boys” that drew the loudest cheers. Winwood, in fine voice, impressed, whether playing organ, electric guitar or mandolin.

'Ello, Bobby Long: It's rare that an opening act receives a partial standing ovation, much less the time of day. But the strong-voiced British singer-songwriter managed to get both with a personable, humorous and emotional solo folk presentation. At times, Long recalled singers such as Jakob Dylan, Cat Stevens, Alex Chilton and Rob Thomas (all, in a good way) on moving numbers “I Will Help You Mend” and “She Won't Leave.” He is a frighteningly good artist.

I grew up listening to folk music and murder ballads, thanks to my parents. While other kids were glued to Casey Kasem on Sunday afternoons, I nodded along to The Kingston Trio or Joan Baez in the backseat of the car. I probably wasn’t old enough to appreciate Little Boxes, and that’s why I take the time to really listen to the stories told in folk music now that I’ve got some life experience under my belt. It’s this appreciation that pushes me toward Bobby Long’s music. The songs are timeless, first calling to mind yesterday’s war-torn England and then tomorrow’s broken heart. The words are honest, whether ardent in affection or dripping with disdain. This is the music I grew up with, even if I only heard the first tune almost four years ago.

As you might imagine, Long names several of the world’s most respected singers and songwriters as his influences. “I learn by listening and watching. I’ve never had a teacher. You have to be a sponge; you have to be watching. I remember I was really into Jeff Buckley when I was younger. I still love him now, actually. There’s a video of him doing The Way Young Lovers Do in New York…a Van Morrison cover. I just watched his hands and picked up these weird chords, and these chords opened up, like, thirty hours of absolute fun for me.” If ever there were a direct quote to show Long’s dedication to learning, evolving, and working hard, all while giving the respect due to greats of past and present, this would be it.



While he’s been labeled a singer-songwriter, the moniker isn’t necessarily accurate. He’s often seen in shows with nothing but his guitar and voice, but his musical stories extend far beyond the usual singer-songwriter fare. “I don’t just want to write songs about personal experience…or sad songs. I want to develop. I want to keep moving. I think of Neil Young. You can never really hold him down to one genre. You can never say ‘oh, he’s singer-songwriter/folk or country.’ He does a bit of everything, and he does what he wants to do. And that’s what I want to do. Not just finger-picking, singing about death or the war.”

He needn’t worry he’ll be pinned down to one genre for the rest of his career. Long has already shown immense versatility, first singing the murder ballad The River Is Long and then the rock tune Devil Moon. He finds it hard to sum up his work in a few words, giving instead a timeline of sound. “I guess the first stuff I did was folk, and then it was slightly alternative, but it had Americana and roots stuff. And now it’s heading more down to rock and roll stuff. Somewhere in the middle of all that.” The evolution is easy to hear when listening from Point A to Point B, but it’s impossible to pull a single song down and call it the definitive turning point. The transition is seamless, with no bumps or awkward choices pushing his sound in a new direction.



Whatever he chooses to sing, the storytelling and honesty must remain. This is evident in his album A Winter Tale, which pulls some of the very best country music influences and rearranges them into something distinctly Bobby. “These great Hank Williams songs, he’s singing from the heart about his feelings. That’s what it’s about.” He takes a moment to name Johnny Cash as another musical influence, if for no other reason than Cash’s ability to change his sound without losing himself. “He did a country album, he did a rock album, he did a folk album. He seemed to wind his own path, and it was always him. It always sounded like him. Nobody sounds like Johnny Cash.”

And nobody sounds like Bobby Long, either.

To learn more, you can visit Bobby Long’s website, where he shares tour dates and a new song every week. To purchase his albums, you can find him on Amazon and iTunes. If you visit his Facebook page, you can hear some of his latest songs before you buy.

Reference
 

Short Takes: Of Poetry and Mortality and Angel Pirates


OK, OK, I know this first take isn’t really short but Long deserves some attention:

Losing My Brotherhood: A collection of poems by Bobby Long (Music Publishing LTD)




I don’t know singer-songwriter Bobby Long’s music so I come to his poetry fresh. Fresh like the poetry itself in Losing My Brotherhood, crisp as fall mornings, snapping like a brisk breeze in the trees.

The images range from the stark from “On a Bad Day“:

“I’m a lone diner, a friend without friends . . .”

To the softly romantic as in “On a Good Day“:

“A flowered dress can never lead to unhappiness. . .”

Still, perhaps one should first ask the question as to whether there can be poetry at all in the age of witless tweets and e-mail catch phrases and abbreviations. OMG, we all know them by heart by now so I won’t list more of them here. Do we have time and tolerance for carefully crafted images?

Pray that we do. Long gives us some hope. At least he knows how to break a contemporary rule or two. Consider also from “On a Good Day“:

“Coffee and cigarettes lead me to happiness. . .”

Can you still write that? Isn’t cigarette smoking effectively illegal in New York (Long’s a transplanted Londoner) along with big sodas? Won’t coffee soon be a banned substance along with the white sugar some still use in it?

Oh the horror. Oh the humanity. Oh well, as Long notes later:

“Manhattan and Berlin are both slowly falling.”

Humanity, humanness is the essence of Long’s poetry. With poetry, it always should be.

From “A Man for the People‘:

“Maybe I need my father and the whim of a pretty girl’s hair

as it’s all misty and bitter today,

out in the world”

A pretty girl’s hair and other lyricism aside, Long is certainly dark enough for modern times but his mostly free verse isn’t above some occasional internal rhyming and pleasing rhythm. He is a song writer and a singer after all.

From “You’re No Anne Boleyn“:

“the subdued enclosure of your famous disclosure

has me covering up the bits that you forgot

the fanatical reprieve of all the people you deceive

the rumor’s hit the road

the rumor’s hit the road”

Long’s poems are mostly short. Crisp, as I said at the start. A couple of images, fleeting moments quickly over, quirky considerations.

“When the time is right I’ll write for him

Like Salieri did for Mozart

Without the trek of deceit and jealousy”


That’s from “If I Saw Leonard Cohen.“ I like that poem very much. Lou Reed appears in another poem. Bobby has good taste in music.

By the way, there are some drawings by Ben Edge interspersed throughout the book that kind of depress me although they are very good. They’re a lot like drawings in kids’ books that I read long ago. They depressed me too. But Long’s poetry doesn’t.


I haven’t yet read all the poems in Losing My Brotherhood. I’m glad about that. Not just because I like Long’s work and I’m not anxious to be done with it. Also, as with short stories, one wants each of them to stand on its own and not be amalgamated with all the rest.

There’s a bit of Brautigan in Long’s work, succinct, right to the heart of the matter. Does anyone remember Richard any more.? In my youth, he was for a time all the rage. Then again, sorry DK, so was Shelley once. I haven’t seen a young girl with a book of Shelley’s poems in her hand for a long time. Pity.

Reference
 

Bobby Long is one of the most dynamic singer-songwriters of the last five years, and as his world gets bigger, so does his music. He puts everything he has into each song, giving very personal experiences in veiled, metaphorical phrases. Hearing his lyrics or reading his poetry is like having a conversation with the man, and he’s so prolific at such a young age that it may seem he’s already said everything that can be said. That didn’t stop me from talking to him when I had the chance, and I learned Long has a lot more to share.

The leap from songwriter to poet doesn’t seem a large one, yet only a handful have ventured to publish collections in book form. Long didn’t set out at first to publish his poetry, but once he began the journey, he grew very serious about it. “It was actually quite a spur of the moment thing… I was on the road and writing, and I wanted to do something else other than write songs. I was looking at other creative things to do. I’d always written a little bit and was really interested in poetry. A lot of my favorite artists—people like Leonard Cohen, who I really love—had done one [poetry collection].”

When he was ready to make the move, he didn’t slow down. “I put my mind to it and was like, you know, I’m going to do this. And it was a really nice experience. It took my mind away from songs, which is good sometimes. I try and write every day and sometimes get a bit hard on myself.” His desire was to tackle something different from songwriting, which he says he’s constantly doing on the road. A poetry collection had been at the back of his mind for several years, but the poems in the book are all new, written specifically for Losing My Brotherhood. “It was a quick thing, but I guess it was a few years in the making in terms of…I always kind of wanted to do it, and all of a sudden, I put my mind to it and was like ‘let’s go; let’s do it.’ Some people I work with were very supportive and really happy to help out.”

However strong the correlation between lyrics and poetry may seem, Long says he approaches each in very different ways. “When I write new songs, I tend to be a little wild, in terms of what I’m doing at the time. I don’t prepare; I just stumble out of bed and get stuck in. There’s not any kind of structure to what I’m doing.” He wanted there to be something different about the way he approached his poetry. “I gave myself a structured time, like a nine to five job almost with it. I set my day up around it.” It makes sense that he’d want to keep things separate so as not to blur the lines between the two. To him, the book was also something of a vacation from music. “By the time I came back to writing songs, it was almost like I’d been away from it.”

The structure he imposed upon his days isn’t evident in the writing, he says. “There’s a lot more freedom to it… You’d imagine it would be the other way around…” And I did assume the opposite would be true, since so much more in involved with songwriting. He claims he approaches his music in a freefall, and yet his chord structures, rhythm, and rhyme are always tight and neat. Long explains that it wasn’t his approach to the material that was so structured, but rather the time and attention he gave it. “The difference in the two isn’t that it’s there from the technical side. It’s more of the process than anything. Just giving me the separation so that I didn’t end up just writing songs for three months. I wanted there to be a different part of my brain opened up to a new way of writing.”

The finished product is, of course, a solid work that plumbs the depths of his emotion and history. He claims to be a very “in the moment” writer, whether he’s working on songs or poems. “If I don’t get it straightaway, I start over. I like the experience to come from one sitting. It’s either there, or it’s not.” Long wonders if this might be a lack of discipline—if perhaps he’ll some day be able to keep his focus on one particular work longer. “As of right now, I just kind of like the spontaneity. If I’m going to write a song, I’m going to do it right now.”

His progression as a musician and wordsmith is impressive, and any future work is already greatly anticipated. Long claims he never stops learning, never stops seeking out people from whom to learn, and the self-education is evident in his work. To have his formidable talent shared in various forms is quite a treat. You can find his book, Losing My Brotherhood, on Amazon or through his website. He also tweets updates regularly, including a recent announcement about a new writing project. If you’re interested in keeping up with him, these are the places to find him.

Part two of the interview will focus on his musical influences, his fascination with murder ballads, and his forthcoming album, so be sure to stay tuned.

LOSING MY BROTHERHOOD is British singer-songwriter Bobby Long’s first collection of poems. He released the book in May of 2012, complete with several drawings by artist Ben Edge. Long has said himself that the book is meant to be a farewell to a particular era in his life, when friendship was all he and his mates had to get by, but in truth, this collection is so much more.

Those familiar with Bobby Long’s music are aware of his deep regard for history, specifically industrial England and the wars his country has suffered. While he didn’t live these things, he certainly relates to them, and this fascination translates beautifully into poems about his life. His dreams of today are superimposed over the bleak backdrop of these eras. Understanding turns even the simplest poem into a ballad fit for any time, where we hear the voice of the battled soldier or the downtrodden factory worker.

As with his music, Long’s fascination with death is woven between words of romance, friendship, and deepest regret. In some, the dying man is a hero; in others, he gets his just reward. He doesn’t glorify or vilify, but instead gives careful respect to the power of death, a hint of fear with a larger dose of awe. There is no hope to the message, but rather an acceptance of what is and what will be.

Life is breathed into the settings, even if the picture painted isn’t a pretty one—the plastic of Hollywood, the dirt of Manhattan, the damp of his childhood home, and the enormity of his new country. With a few short words, Long brings us into his world, if only for a moment, and shows us exactly what he sees. We can’t deny the truth in his words and must accept that he sees the beauty, the need for these places, underneath the tarnished exterior.

Bobby Long shares the deepest parts of himself in this quiet, careful collection of words. Where he could be highbrow, he is genuine. Where flowery might work, he gives us grit. Never once does he back away from a subject, even when he is that subject. He owns up to his heartbreak and the heartbreak he’s caused in others. He makes no apologies for missteps in his past and present—doesn’t even try to teach some kind of lesson with the words he shares. He gives us love, pain, hope, frustration, disdain, life, and death. Some of the poems are simple in their execution, while others require a deeper look into the meaning and the message. All are stunning in their honesty.

You can find this collection on Amazon or on Bobby Long’s website.

Reference
 

British Gothic-folk guitarist Bobby Long is justifiably excited these days. He co-composed “Let Me Sign,” which his actor friend Robert Pattinson sang on the “Twilight” soundtrack. More recently, he moved to New York City, and issued two recordings, “A Winter Tale” and “The Backing Singer EP,” on ATO. He also just wrapped a new fall-slated disc with producer Ted Hutt, featuring bluesy originals such as “Devil Moon,” “Waiting for Dawn” and “Blood in the Orchard.” “It’s a lot heavier — I’m playing electric guitar on every track,” he says. He has another ace up his sleeve: “Losing My Brotherhood,” his first book of poetry, was just published.

How did a poetry project occur to you? About a year ago, I was on tour for six months straight with my last album, and I wasn’t quite ready to write the new one. I found it really hard writing things on the road, but I wanted to do some kind of writing, so I just decided to go into it. So then I worked out what I wanted to do — if I could write 120 poems I was happy with, I could push forward with it, really.

You’ve got some great skeletal stuff in there, like “Them Dogs,” “River Death” and “On the Junk.” Did you grow up with poetry in England? No more than anybody else. When I was younger, I was more into the likes of Leonard Cohen and that Bob Dylan book “Tarantula.” I just thought that this was what musicians really do. And I was always writing humorous poems about my friends in French class or math in the back of my schoolbooks.

Do you take notebooks with you now? I always have one. If I’m going to do some writing, I’ll go to a coffee house and take a notebook with me. But now with technology, I find that writing on my laptop is even better. You can actually read your own writing, and you’re not worried about losing it. I’ve lost sooo many notebooks on the road.

Have you developed a writing routine in New York? Yeah. I watched a Randy Newman YouTube clip, and he was describing himself as the laziest person in the world. For him to really write, he needs to do it like a job, from 9 to 5. So I did that for the book, then later for the songs, too, and it really helped. I left the house at 10 a.m., I wouldn’t come home until 5. I’d go to my favorite little cafe, where I know the owner, and they’d just let me sit in the back and do my thing.

Reference

Bobby Long is giddy with excitement when he talks about his first published collection of poetry. The slim volume called Losing My Brotherhood represents a year of work, not only in the actual writing but in the selection, sequencing and editing, and he’s thrilled to be able to hold it in his hands. The affable Brit, who makes his home in New York City, is also looking forward to the October release of his second album for ATO Records, but he is quick to point out that the poetry is a totally separate form of writing from the powerful, deeply personal songs that first brought him critical attention back in 2009.

Now 26, Bobby Long began his odyssey into poetry when he realized the cache of songs he was stockpiling for his new album would be limited in seeing daylight to the 10 or 12 that would make the final cut onto an album. So he decided to try out another art form to satisfy his creativity. “I’ve always been writing stuff—words on a page—and I wanted to challenge myself,” he explains. “I was on the road in the back of a van for four months last year (in support of his recording debut, A Winter Tale), and I got sick of playing with my phone and my laptop, and I decided to go fully into writing poetry.” For Long, it was more than an exercise. “I’m not very good when I don’t have things to do. I become a maniac, so it makes me healthy to be busy. It helps me sleep.”

Losing My Brotherhood is an unexpected collection of 62 poems—whittled down from a much large number—that delves into notions of love, desire, heartbreak and melancholy. The sometimes sad, sometimes colorful, sometimes acerbic word pictures offer glimpses of everyday life, growing up in England and snapshots of Long’s new existence a world away from home.

Literature, it would appear, has always unwittingly surrounded him, so it is not surprising that the act of writing has become synonymous with breathing. Born near Manchester in Wigan, the town of George Orwell fame, Long moved with his family at age four to rural Wiltshire where he grew up in the idyllic English countryside that inspired one of England’s greatest writers, Thomas Hardy. “I’ve been writing down thoughts since about the age of 12, but with no discipline to it, without something specific in mind,” he says. “I never kept a journal or a diary; it was just lines. It was more of an expressive thing. I never told anyone at school that I wrote because I would have been beaten up. Now, I try to write something every day.”

A struggling student, his purview was upended when a caring teacher recognized his difficulties and introduced him to the joys of reading. “She gave me a Dylan Thomas book,” and he was hooked. He acknowledges her contribution in the book. “I actually write more in the book about the time before I went to school. I just didn’t know how to do school,” Long confesses. “I didn’t know how to get an A or even how to write a paper. It’s kind of a blur now. People always had me wrong. They thought I was smart and not trying very hard, but the truth is that I was a dreamer, and I would get lost in my own imagination. Reading was something very intimidating.” He has since become a voracious reader, devouring classics like Dickens, Hemingway, Fitzgerald and Alexandre Dumas. He also likes John Cooper Clarke, the English punk poet and performance artist who he mentions in his poem “Sleepers Creepers,” and many other poets, among them Pablo Neruda, Federico Garcia Lorca, Jorge Luis Borges and Leonard Cohen, to whom he has sometimes been compared. Cohen, it should be noted, published his ground-breaking The Spice Box of the Earth at age 26.

Losing My Brotherhood includes many tender reflections on Long’s childhood. “I wrote five different poems about my childhood on a day I was at the Byron Bay Blues Festival in Australia. It was beautiful there,” he recalls, “but I didn’t like being there on my own, alone. Sometimes it’s hard to get away from your surroundings. I often write from the passenger seat, looking in. I went far deeper in the poems than I have in my songs because there was no guitar to hide behind.”

Upon this ridge that the moss is growing from
upon this ridge where it all fell silent.
curated by the night sky and let in by the wall of fog,
someone stood tall amongst the trees that you gave me.
This is your land my father
why don’t you take it back,
and stay behind.

My grandfathers planted these trees on the ridge that we stand upon,
with my father in the pram and my mother in his heart.
So clear the moss and reveal the etchings,
reveal something you didn’t know about me,
my grandmother cut her hand on this rock,
scrubbing my clothes.

Since then the river has dried up and grandma has passed,
the stone is like marble with the cutaway finish.
The trees have grown tall and have blocked out half the sky,
the birds have nested and moved on,
I still come back here to remind myself,
that upon this ridge where the moss grows,
the moss is still growing.

“Trouble on the Ridge” © 2012 Bobby Long
from Losing My Brotherhood
 

The title, Losing My Brotherhood, rises out of that sense of isolation and alienation Bobby felt when he abruptly abandoned London to pursue his music career in America. He left behind the three close friends with whom he shared an apartment and most everything else and has never looked back, but there are still times he misses the camaraderie and the shared assets that kept them in beer and sustenance. “I just went and didn’t really say good-bye to anyone,” he explains. “‘Losing my brotherhood’ refers to a specific group of friends who I don’t get a chance to see any more. Steve is a drummer, Luke is a graphic designer and Ben is a painter and musician, and we all lived together for four years. We were like brothers, and I realized that I hadn’t seen any of them since I moved to New York The title is signifying that time is over—living in London, sharing cigarettes, buying beer. It’s a tribute really.”

Bobby had come to London to attend university where he studied sound and media for film. By that time, he had honed his skills as a guitarist and was finding his own voice. London’s mushrooming open mic circuit for new acoustic music became the perfect environment to expose the songs he had begun to write, and it was there he found his brotherhood. Luke Edge took some of the early photos of Long as a performer, and his brother, Ben Edge, contributed the 15 gritty line drawings that illustrate Losing My Brotherhood.

Sharp observations of his new life in New York permeate Losing My Brotherhood. The grouping of the poems “Essex Street Crawl,” “Horror on Clinton Street,” “Just Like Hollywood,” “Man-Hattan” and particularly poignant “Looking Out” capture moments not found on a postcard rack—a suicidal jumper with a hushed audience holding its collective breath, the late-night streets pulsating with movement at a snail’s pace, the bleak view of The Dakota (“Lennon’s shot dead there every day”) from a Central Park vantage point—all seared in a kind of stark realism. Long doesn’t do pretty, even if he tries.

Bobby Long characterizes himself as a bit of a loner. “It’s a conundrum in that I love being on stage, yet I’m really shy. I keep putting stuff out there for judging, and I question what I’m doing to myself. I have to express myself and be creative, but it runs the gauntlet.”

In addition to upcoming live shows this summer, he will once again challenge his comfort zone with a couple of poetry-oriented events, one of them at the glitzy Barnes & Noble store at The Grove shopping center in Los Angeles on July 23. While he will perform a few songs as well, he won’t have the guitar to hide behind when he reads from his book, but don’t expect him to meld the two art forms when he tours on behalf of the new record. “I don’t know how I could incorporate the poetry without it seeming pretentious,” he says. “I don’t want to pretend I know what I’m doing when it comes to poetry so I want to keep the music and the poetry separate. The book is a very personal thing.”

I see the fifteen trees in the garden and see every branch
as a stage in a man’s life.
Long at the bottom and growing shorter as it grows up,
and although the lengths are shorter
they hold more flowers and fruit.

….excerpt from “On a Good Day”

Losing My Brotherhood is available from amazon and other retail outlets. Visit www.bobbylong.info for more information.