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 | SOUNDTRACKING Join us Thursday 10/25/07 at 5 EST for a Live Chat with Marc Cohn! Soundtracking is a weekly column featuring indie, alternative, and all around amazing music - published by music correspondent Laura Cushing on Gather.com. Soundtracking includes interviews, CD reviews, band and concert news, music trivia, playlists and much more! Â |
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Soundtracking Presents: Live interview with Marc Cohn - Thursday 10/25 at 5pm EST!
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Click to load a sampler of Marc Cohn songs! (opens in a new window so you can listen while you read. To listen to the full versions, visit Soundtracking on Imeem.)
Grammy award winner Marc Cohn is best known for his signature song Walking in Memphis. Cohn has just released a new album, Join the Parade, on Decca Records. This is his fourth studio recording - but his first in nine years. Cohn struggled with writer's block, though still an active performer - until he was shot in the head during an attempted carjacking while on tour. The bullet lodged in his head, but miraculously he avoided major injuries. In fact, he was released from the hospital the next day. While recovering from post-traumatic stress after the incident, he watched coverage of Hurricaine Katrina - and an amazing thing happened.
“I got home a couple of days after being shot,†said Cohn. “And then Hurricane Katrina hit a few weeks later. I'm in the middle of my own crisis, and now I'm watching all these haunting images on television of thousands of people suffering through a far more horrific event. And then something I never could have predicted happened. It was like my song-writing receiver got flipped into the on position. Everywhere I turned, in conversations I overheard, even in get-well emails I was receiving, song ideas started coming. For several weeks, I'd be working on 2-3 songs simultaneously. And these songs weren't polite about their sudden presence either; they insisted on being written.â€
The result of this surge of songwriting is Join the Parade, an exploration of brushes with death and disaster - and the hope that rises through such sufferings.
My favorite song on the CD, "Dance Back from the Grave," captures the spirit of New Orleans, and evokes imagery of an old-time jazz funeral - where sadness gives way to celebration of life, and the hope for a better world.
Well a thousand souls crossed over and they were greeted by an all-star band
And while the saints go marching in there's still hell to pay back down in Dixie Land
Yeah the storms are headed south again and the hour's getting pretty late
Somebody better build that levee; it's already Mardi Gras at heaven's gate (yeah)
Dance back from the grave 
Get your tambourines, slide trombones
And dance… back from the grave
Oh yeah, ooh yeah, ooh yeah
So don't shed a tear for them tonight as they circle and swoop and promenade
They're just carrying their torches and marching in a heavenly parade
No don't shed a tear but take their cue there's only one thing left to do in the name of every soul we didn't save
From the ninth ward to the quarter to the Mississippi border -dance back from the grave
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Quick Facts on Marc Cohn:
- born in Cleveland, Ohio
- Jewish-American singer-songwriter
- influenced by The Band, Neil Young, Van Morrison, Joni Mitchell, and Jackson Browne
- attended Oberlin college and majored in Psychology
- wrote Walking in Memphis in 1991
- 1992 Grammy award winner
- 1993 VH1 One-hit-Wonder Acheivement winner
- married to Elizabeth Vargas of ABC News
- father of four (two from previous marriage)
- shot on tour in 2005 - recovered and wrote new album
- new album Join the Parade just released on Decca Records
For More Information:
Marc Cohn on Wikipedia
Marc Cohn official website
Marc Cohn fan site
Marc Cohn on Myspace
Join the Parade on Gather video
Marc Cohn's Gather profile
Marc Cohn on Gather
Join us for a live interview with Marc Cohn this Thursday at 5 pm EST ! Please help us interview Marc by posting your questions for him here - I will try to ask as many of them as possible! You will also be able to comment with any other questions you have during the chat on Thursday.
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What would you like to ask Marc Cohn? Comment and leave your questions!
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BEACH BOYS LITHOGRAPH contest winner announced!
Congratulations to Cori Anders, who won this lovely prize! Read her winning entry here.
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Soundtracking
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| Laura Cushing, Music Correspondent - Soundtracking | ||||
Laura's column, 'Soundtracking' is published every Saturday in Gather Essentials:Music. Soundtracking is your guide to indie and alternative music -- featuring musician interviews, CD reviews, MP3 mixes, and discussions. Laura Cushing is a 37 year old writer from the New Jersey Pines. In addition to music journalism, she writes fiction and poetry. Keep up with Laura's music series by joining her network, or subscribing to her content. | ||||
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Comments: 34
I think I'll check this one out though. Lyrics are awesome!
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Tracey
I just wanted to drop in for a moment and say that I'm really looking forward to my first cyber-chat this Thursday. Talk to you then.
Best wishes,
-marc
We're looking forward to talking to you as well.
--L
I will probably miss the chat on Thursday, so I hope there will be a transcript somewhere that I can read because I do have a couple of questions for Marc (hi Marc!)
1. When writing a song, what generally comes first, words or music?
2. How did you come to work with your current lineup of musicians?
Looking forward to seeing you in December! :-)
Shawn here - one of the original strangers in a bar from Blighty. Great new CD, potentially your best. Love Giving up the ghost. Questions - two if I may: firstly, any plans for a DVD release, and second, WHEN are you coming over to the UK. We miss you!!
Thanks
SHawn
Some remarks and questions for Marc ---- Yeah, I'm the "obnoxious" (hopefully not TOO obnoxious) guy from Charlotte, NC, who keeps showing up at your performances all over the place (San Francisco California, Park City Utah, a couple of shows on Long Island in July of 2006, Carnegie Hall in NYC, "Wherever the Heck We Were" New Jersey, Indiana Pennsylvania - it was my request for "Join the Parade" that seemed to take you by surprise at that one, and oh, yeah, you did also make it to my part of the country for shows in Greenville South Carolina and Charlotte North Carolina back in November of '04), so I think it goes without saying that I really love your live shows (which is a pretty dumb thing to say, seeing as how I just said it!). My first question is this - obviously Jay and Jennifer won't be on the road with you this fall. I'm sure I'll really miss them, if I'm lucky enough to make it to a show or two. Are they busy with other things and perhaps you'll have the chance to include them in your live band again in the future, or are the new folks a permanent switch? I'm not knocking Joe and Jeff (or whoever you have on bass at a particular gig) at all - they're incredible players - but the thing that the four of you (Jay, Jennifer, Shane and you) had going for a while there was truly special. I'm just wondering if it might be resurrected at some point?
As for the new album, I must admit that a little bit of it is taking some "adjustment" (having gotten so used to "Dance Back" and a few others live, the fully produced sound is taking a while to grow on me) but the songs I had never heard live before are just so fresh and new that I've loved them right away. "Live Out the String", in particular, is just so great. Upbeat, catchy, yet still the classic Cohn lyric with the many messages and meanings (and appropriately autobiographical, yes?). I'm curious as to why this wasn't selected as the first "single" to promote at radio. Was this your choice, or a Decca decision?
Finally, I'm still of the opinion that "One Safe Place" is a glaring omission from the new album. As I "mentioned" when you were on stage at Zankel Hall, we fans can't purchase a studio version of this song because the soundtrack for "The Upside of Anger" was never commerically released. So we're left with only the live version available on the 04/05 CD and the "Best Of" package from Rhino/Atlantic. It seems to fit with the other material on "Join the Parade" and had some excellent exposure in both the movie and on "House". So I think that it might have been a natural "song 11" (like your first three studio releases) to close out the disc. Yet it's not there. Was this a deliberate decision on your part, to leave it off the record? Or maybe there was a licensing issue since the live version is on the "Best Of" disc? And since it's not there, many of us "out here" are still wondering if it will ever be made available as a download or something else for purchase?
I know you've often joked about folks downloading and spreading your music around for free, but believe it or not most of us really DO want to pay for your product. A lot of us have stuck by you through some ups and downs over the last decade or so and now that we finally have a legitimate means of showing our support financially we're very glad to have the opportunity. Thanks for sticking with it and finally getting it out there. And next time please don't go looking for a cure for writer's block at the wrong end of a gun, okay? Thanks for sharing your gift with us, Marc. CHRIS
Amanda
Loving the new record. But I'll echo Shawn's question... when are you coming over? Or even better, when can we expect an announcement about dates? Is anything in the works for the rest-of-the-world? We can't keep arranging family get-togethers around your US concert schedule. I'm running out of cousins to marry off!!
much love
xx
Greetings from Cleveland! A big group of us is gearing up for your concert in a few weeks. Your last show here was one of the best concerts I've seen, and we can't wait to hear the new music live.
You've stated that the tragedy in Denver sparked a creative surge for you. I'm curious to know how many songs you've written since the shooting, whether you already see some of these songs going on Album 5 (no, I'm not trying to rush you!), and whether you're continuing to write new songs even as you prepare for your tour. I'm sure it's difficult to carve out time to write with all the promotional work that's going on, but I wondered whether you're still making time for writing since the creative juices are flowing, or whether the songs come to you in times like these regardless of whether you're making time for writing.
Also, this album represents a change in style from your previous work. I'd describe it as a bit more raw and soul-influenced. Was this a conscious decision, and do you have thoughts about where you'd like to take your music next?
Thanks for giving us the opportunity to ask questions. I love this album (I can't get "My Sanctuary" out of my head!) and hope it gets the attention it deserves.
Best,
Scott
I am so thrilled about your new CD release (does anyone call them "albums anymore"?) But, am waiting to buy it becuase I have just purchased tickets to your Nov 12th show at the Ironhorse in Northampton as a surprise for my husband. I don't want him to "catch" me with the new music. I am so glad that you are "back" and am looking forward to seeing you in Northampton! (Any thoughts of appearing in the Berkshires? (Tanglewood is a pretty nice place! and we have a newly restored theater called The Colonial which is a smaller year round venue!) All the best!
Although my dad's Ford Taurus doesnt quite stike up the imagry of a Thunderbird, he'd think a foreign car is absurd too. I found my One Thing of Beauty and married my True Companion 4 years ago....Ive got 29 ways to get to her, but I wont talk to her at night. I live in the NW, which is a perpetual Rainy Season. My toursity ferry across the waters of NYC brought tears to my eyes as I approached Ellis Island and Im praying my wife and I will soon enjoy the spoils of the Things We've Handed Down.
All that said, your music never leaves my truck and is always spinning on our stereo at home.
My question is....what sort of goals need to be met for you to consider this new album/tour a "success" in your mind? I know I'd go see you if all you were playing was covers of AC/DC songs, but are there things you are hoping to see which may add fuel to the fire of the upcoming 5th album? ;)