Posted January 7, 2018
Ditty TV recently reposted a video done in their studios in Memphis of Bobby performing "Kill Someone". We hope your enjoy as much as we do.
Bobby Long Home for the Holdays Concert
Posted November 24, 2017
Saturday, December 16 at 4:00pm EST, Bobby Long will be performing an online in your house concert for the holidays. This has been a great way for Bobby to bring in some holiday cheer with performing his third annual Christmas concert. Bobby does plan on taking requests from his fans which is always a great treat. Join Bobby on Concert Window which is a pay per view concert.
Bobby Long on his Forthcoming Album
By Darren Paltrowitz
Posted October 23, 2017
Initially famous for having a song featured in the blockbuster movie Twilight while still attending college, Bobby Long recorded his first album — 2009’s Dirty Pond Songs — in his London bedroom. That self-released, full-length debut album charted high on iTunes and led to a record deal with ATO Records. Long spent the next few years touring the world, playing top festivals, and even making it onto The Tonight Show. The British singer/songwriter opted to move to the United States during this period.
After touring behind a second full-length for ATO, 2013’s Wishbone, Long went the independent route and began working with PledgeMusic in 2014. The following year brought the release of Long’s fan-funded Ode to Thinking, as released by the Nashville label Compass Records. Long has since conducted another PledgeMusic campaign for his forthcoming album, also to be distributed via Compass. Two new songs, “Serpentine” and “Nautical,” were performed and premiered online via Paste performance sessions. Also of note for Long is that he recently put out his second book of poetry, Losing My Misery, and there is a possibility of a third one being put together.
I had the pleasure of conducting Q&A with Mr. Long for the Inquisitr, in the process getting some insight of what is ahead for him. For more on Bobby Long, point your web browser towards www.bobbylong.info.
Beyond your music, you have released a pair of poetry books. Do you view yourself as a musician that also does poetry? A musician and a poet? Just an artist?
Bobby Long: I guess I would call myself firstly a musician. I’m just trying to explore and be as creative as possible. I would never call myself a poet. I don’t think there is a humanly way of doing so without sounding a bit pretentious.
Did you start off as a lyricist? Or were you always both a musician and a lyricist?
Bobby Long: I guess lyrics come slightly before. Once I started playing an instrument, they became tandem. I enjoy writing both, one as much as the other.
When you’re writing words, how do you know whether something is poetry versus something meant for a song?
Bobby Long: Because I sit down with one in mind. Occasionally, you are left in a state of confusion as to which your writing will end up as, but you just lend it to whatever you are working on.
If I recall correctly, you were one of the first artists to really benefit from using MySpace. Aside from using it to promote your music, were you a big social media user back then?
Bobby Long: No, not at all. Even now I have to remind myself to use it. MySpace actually was pretty cool when it first came out. You could really explore and follow and interact with people. Now it all seems pretty corporate, especially Facebook. You have to pay to fully promote and reach all of your followers, which really sucks. Feels like you are being held over a hot fire as there is no other way to promote.
Read full interview here...
Close to the Bone : Bobby Long
By William Belcher
Posted September 28, 2017
On Saturday, September 30, Bobby Long will play Caffe Lena for the first time. Long, a singer-songwriter who cut his teeth in the London folk music scene, has earned a reputation as a gutsy, captivating performer with a blues-infused voice and a poet’s sensibility. His vivid song lyrics and distinct guitar work grab the audience by the shirt collar, and his raw, honest, and skillfully vulnerable performance style pulls them close.
It just may be that Caffe Lena is the perfect place to see Long on stage. In addition to launching careers and keeping the music alive, Saratoga’s legendary coffeehouse has remained steadfastly committed to storytelling in all forms. And Long is a storyteller. He’s a wordsmith whose lyrics will linger in your head for days. The imagery he embeds in the songs is a throwback of sorts to poet-songwriters like Bob Dylan, Leonard Cohen, or Tom Waits, but his unique voice cuts through the lines and strumming. As much as his musical influences seep in, the songs feel entirely his own.
Long grew up in Wiltshire, England, but he’s lived in New York for the last seven years. In the fall of 2009, I saw him perform at The Bitter End in Greenwich Village. The crowd was enthralled – they hung on his every word. Even though he was a bit uncomfortable with the spotlight, or perhaps because he was uncomfortable, he charmed the room. In today’s crazy, hyperactive, often overproduced music scene, it’s easy to forget the power of that lone performer on stage, armed only with a guitar, a mic, and lyrics. A few years ago, Branford Marsalis noted that “superficiality is in and, you know, depth and quality are kind of out” – Long proves that’s not always the case, especially when he’s on stage.
I admit that when A Winter Tale, his first studio album, was released, I found myself scrolling back to older versions of songs on the self-released Dirty Pond Songs and Live at Arlene’s Grocery. I wanted to recall that live experience, but that’s only because the live show was such an experience. A few years later, I caught Long at The Linda in Albany. Coming off of the release of The Backing Singer (EP), his stage act was more practiced and he was more confident as a performer, but the concert was just as open, heartfelt, and moving as the set at The Bitter End. I felt then, as I do now, that he was a musician to keep an eye on.
Over the phone, with his five-month old son in the background, Long and I talk about how his music has evolved since The Bitter End in 2009, and what he makes of it all.
“I’ve become a bit more interested in writing music that’s slightly larger and grander,” Long says. “But I still love playing on my own. I haven’t played with a band for a year or so, at least for a proper show. My sound has developed and changed quite a lot, but it’s still always rooted around me and an acoustic guitar.”
Long’s latest album, Ode to Thinking, was released by Compass Records in 2015, and it features a return to his roots. Looking back, Long mentions that his first record had an old school country influence. Then, after The Backing Singer, his next studio record (Wishbone) was rock-based. “I felt like I hadn’t really done that singer-songwriter album,” he says. “So it was worth a revisit.” The result was Long’s strongest outing yet. The 11 tracks on Ode to Thinking are varied in their subjects and approach, but they all showcase Long’s vocals, guitar, and songwriting skills. When compared to his earlier work, they also suggest someone who is older, more mature, road-tested.
Long’s music sometimes feels like a freight train beating down the tracks. (This is especially true in the country-influenced A Winter Tale.) Other times, his songs are patient, whisky-sipping, and contemplative. Through it all, the one constant is his lyrical styling. Each song is colorful, surprising, and haunting. For example, lines like “my wounded eyes will see again” in “The Bounty of Mary Jane” stick with you. Newer songs like “Kill Someone” and “I’m Not Going Out Tonight” are character-driven vignettes.
Bobby Long at Caffe Lena
Bobby Long will performing a showcase hosted by WEXT Radio on Saturday, September 30th in Saratoga Springs, NY. Bobby will be supported by opening act Brian Dunne. Tickets can be purchased by clicking on the photo below. Those that are not local to NY will also be able to view the concert live. Caffe Lena will be broadcasting through the Pay Per View service Concert Window.
Impromptu Concert Window At Home Concert
Please join Bobby Long this Sunday, August 21, 2017 for an in house concert through Concert Window. This is a pay per view event, which we recommend to sign up early. If you do not have a Concert Window account, please sign up before the night of the event. Join Bobby in your time zone. 4PM EDT, 3PM CDT, 1PM PDT. For Bobby's European fans, in London join Bobby at 9pm and in Germany 10:00pm. Please click on the photo below to take you to the site.
Bobby Long Sets Live Show While Reading New Album
Posted August 21, 2017
British singer-songwriter Bobby Long has scheduled a series of shows that will take him through to the end of the year as he plans for the release of what will be his fourth album. He is nearing completion on the recording of the album in New York, with the process interrupted by periodic U.S. shows and a lengthy tour of Europe. The 19-city "Renegade" European tour in early summer took him to cities all over Germany plus Austria, the Netherlands and the Czech Republic along with his friend and fellow musician Sam Bradley as support.
Long's new album is being funded by his second successful PledgeMusic campaign. Collaborating with New York-based musician Jack Dawson, with whom he worked on his 2011 EP, THE BACKING SINGER, the new album promises to comprise a diverse collection of styles and songs. "I think it is a lot more psychedelic than my previous records and influenced by The Beach Boys, The Beatles and ELO," he explains. "We've been working on it bit by bit because of people's schedules, but that allows us to breathe in between sessions and come back to it fresh each time. The producer, sound engineer and I have let it naturally take shape." Attendees at his recent shows in the U.S. and Europe have been receiving a taste of some of the new songs.
Long, whose catalogue includes three full CDs and an EP, has recently published his second collection of poetry called Losing My Misery, which follows Losing My Brotherhood, published in 2012. Known for his hauntingly poetic lyrics, writing poetry is a natural sidebar to his songwriting. Losing My Misery, infused with candor, raw emotion and his signature wry humor, is at once brash, funny and heartbreaking, exposing the writer's foibles as well as his poignant insights into the human condition.
When it comes to writing, he makes it clear that he needs to work at songwriting and poetry as separate crafts. "Writing poetry is a creative outlet for me and offers some creative time away from songwriting that really improves my songwriting," he explains. "In general, I'm pretty organized and disciplined so that I can be free and unorganized when I write."
Please read the entire article here...
Singer Coming to the Roxbury
Posted August 18, 2017
British-born singer and songwriter Bobby Long is scheduled to perform at 7:30 p.m. Saturday at the Roxbury Arts Center, at 5025 Vega Mountain Road in Roxbury. Advance sale tickets for this event are $19 for adults and $17 for student and seniors. All tickets on the day of the performance are $24.
Long’s influences ranging from country greats like Hank Williams and Ernest Tubb to folk singers Woody Guthrie and Ramblin’ Jack Elliott, and modern day performers like Jeff Buckley and Elliott Smith, according to a media release.
For more information, visit roxburyartsgroup.org or call 326-7908.
Bobby Long Fall Concerts
Bobby Long has several upcoming concerts this fall, with more to be announced. Please see the list below on where Bobby is coming up next.
Updated July 18, 2017
Roxbury Art Center - August 26 7:30pm
Photo City Improv - September 28 8:00pm
McCabes Guitar Shop - November 4 8:00pm New Show Added!
More shows to be added soon.
Bobby Long -He Has A Way With Words
Times Daily
By Monica Collier
Posted April 27, 2017
By Monica Collier
Posted April 27, 2017
New York-based British singer/songwriter and poet Bobby Long is a wordsmith. His second collection of poetry, “Losing My Mysery,” published in January, and he’s currently touring to support his latest album, “Ode to Thinking”
Long, known for being a versatile talent and engaging folk performer, will be at 116 E. Mobile on Friday night. Tickets are $10, $8 for students, and are available at 116mobile.com or available the night of the show unless it sells out. Doors open at 7:30 p.m. with the show beginning at 8 p.m.
Long recently took time to answer a few questions by phone.
TimesDaily: Have you been writing poetry since you were 11 years old?
Long: Yes. It was nothing too serious, but as a kid, I was really into this one writer and poet. He’s actually a comedic writer. He used to write these funny little kid’s poems. His name is Spike Milligan. I can’t remember any of them off the top of my head, but they’re all funny. I had that poetry book as a kid so I liked writing those. I was always kind of interested in that, I guess — quietly.
TimesDaily: Did writing come naturally for you even as a young boy?
Long: I wouldn’t say naturally. I just liked the way words look on a page. I like rhyming and everything else.
TmesDaily: Did you also discover music as a young boy?
Long: Yeah, I did. I come from a musical family. My mom forced me to play cello as a kid. I really didn’t want to play it, but she said that it would be a good idea. She would drag me along to her singings — when she did little concerts and stuff like that — I would play guitar.
TimesDaily: What was it that shifted you from writing poetry into writing lyrics and putting them to music?
Long: I love guitar. I just really wanted to play guitar. I'm not much of a sharer, so when I started playing with loads of other people at my school who were also playing guitar and we started making bands — I played in a band for a while — I just couldn’t do it. It was so difficult to get five people in a room and agree on a lyric line or even what kind of music we were going to play. I just had to start writing my own songs. I was about 16 or 17 at the time. I really love writing songs. It’s my favorite thing.
TimesDaily: In addition to being a singer/songwriter, you are a published poet. Do you go into writing lyrics differently from writing a poem?
Long: I’ll either be writing one or the other. I don’t necessarily write a lot of poetry when I’m not writing toward a book. Having the target of a book helps with the discipline of it. When I’m writing an album, that’s when I’m focusing on writing songs.
TimesDaily: As you’ve chosen both being a singer/songwriter and a poet as career paths, has the writing become two different animals?
Long: It’s all about discipline really. I want to get to the fruit, the core, to the goodness, as quickly as possible. If I just constantly splurt, like oh OK, I’m just going to fill up a notebook then decide what goes where — I’m going write a lot of rubbish. If I’m like, OK, I’m writing toward a book now, I’m more concise and I focus on poetry for a month. Or, if I’m going to write an album, I focus on that. I feel like I write better that way. I treat it more like a job, I guess.
Read full interview here...
