Simply Six: Jeremy Schonfeld

1. For many artists, they cite a defining moment for themselves when they knew they wanted to be a singer.  For many it was the appearance of Elvis on the Ed Sullivan show, to another generation it was the Beatles’ appearance on Sullivan half a decade later.  Is there such a defining moment for you?

 Not sure if there was one such moment for me. My mom says I began tinkering around on the piano and writing little songs at a very young age, 4-5, something like that. Of course, lyrics didn't really come together 'til much later, but I always sang along with what I played even when I didn't have much to really say!

2. When you’re not creating music what are you listening to?  Who are some of your favorites?

I tend to go back to certain favorites. I really love the sound that Alison Krauss and Union Station get, just lush, achingly beautiful stuff. I love my 70's rock, especially when I'm in a car or driving. Bad Company, Skynard, Thin Lizzie, Boston, etc. and then there are the storytellers like James Taylor and Joni Mitchell. Of course, no piano-man can deny the influence of Billy Joel or Elton. I think I've always leaned towards the Billy Joel side of that argument because of the stories he used to tell and how expressive the music was in helping define those stories....And then there's the British side of things: Beatles, Stones, Who, Zep etc. Not much new in there unfortunately.

3. What would you say is your greatest moment so far as an artist, either on record or live? 

Been fortunate to have a few, and there are still many to come hopefully. I would have to say the whole process of recording my latest record, "Iron & Coal" in Vienna this year was a huge and emotional achievement. It's just the biggest, most detailed production I've ever done, and the experience of recording (then later performing) in a former Third Reich country really helped deepen an album that was already steeped in my personal family history. Performing for the opening ceremony of the first Maccabi Games held in a former Third Reich country this Summer in Vienna and Music directing/performing for the opening ceremonies two years ago at Madison Square Garden were both pretty cool moments as well.

4.  Do you believe music can change the world or is just something to listen to?   How much can music influence current events?

That's a good question. I worry sometimes that we live in such a fast-paced, soundbite world where everything is streaming everywhere 'right now', that it's difficult to get anyone to focus on anything for very long. That, and the fact that we process music so differently now make the answer less obvious than it was, say even 10-15 years ago. Music and art in general should be able to change the world. But the world has to find a way to slow down, focus, and take it all in. On a personal note, songwriters need to go back to crafting songs again, and the industry at large needs to step away from the dance floor - but that's just me.

5. How has technology affected the music industry?  How has technology affected your career as a musician? 

Plus and minus on this one: Plus side, it's so much more accessible now, which makes recording and creating infinitely easier for many artists. You don't have to be rich or get a big record deal to create cool exciting music. Hell, you don't even have to be in the building! People can collaborate all around the world without ever having to jump a flight etc. So that's good. On the downside, I think there are a lot more untrained musicians making music now because they can. Who needs to actually learn to play an instrument when all the technology does it for you? Singers don't have to really sing if you can fix everything in the studio, right? So, it's a definite mixed bag.

6.  Now for my Barbara Walters question:  If you were a pair of shoes what type of shoes would you be?

I gotta pair of vintage Frye round-toe cowboy boots that look great and are unique as hell. I get 'em re-soled every year or so, but they still get me where I need to go.

SIMPLY SIX: John MacLean

John MacLean is a singer/songwriter from Massachusett.

1. For many artists, they cite a defining moment for themselves when they knew they wanted to be a singer. For many it was the appearance of Elvis on the Ed Sullivan show, to another generation it was the Beatles’ appearance on Sullivan half a decade later. Is there such a defining moment for you?

By 1979 I thought I had missed my chance to be a singer, player, songrwiter - any of those things I had sort of dreamed of. I was well past my teens and figured it was too late to start learning. But that year my great dear friend George Brown, who is a wonderful Texas born guitar player and singer, was living in my house in Baltimore. One night he played Townes Van Zandt's "Pancho & Lefty" and I was suddenly knocked over by the realization that I had to learn to play and sing. George taught me how

2. When you’re not creating music what are you listening to? Who are some of your favorites?

There are so many! Constants include Bruce Springsteen (especially "Nebraska"), Richard Shindell, Kate Campbell, Lyle Lovett, Dick Gaughan, Dylan, John Prine, Emmylou Harris, and Steve Earl. More currently, I have discovered Antje Duvekot and Cliff Eberhardt and just love their music.

3. What would you say is your greatest moment so far as an artist, either on record or live?

For my song "Liar's War (Letter Home)" to receive honorable mention in the 2005 Boston Folk Festival Singer Songwriter Contest was a defining moment. I gave me the courage to believe I am a songwriter. As for live performing, the first time I stood in front of a microphone and sang to an audience was my greatest moment - not for the quality of my performance but simply because I did it. I'll never forget that.

4. Do you believe music can change the world or is just something to listen to? How much can music influence current events?

I'm not sure that music can change the world all by itself BUT I do believe it can provide unmeasurable emotion, unity, and focus when a serious cause is brewing. Music is very, very powerful. Songs make me cry all the time.

5. How has technology affected the music industry? How has technology affected your career as a musician?

Everything has changed and fragmented. On the one hand that has meant CD stores are closing down all over the place and few people buy my actual CD, but on the other hand the door is wide open for unsigned artists to get heard in so many other ways, especially on the internet. Voices to Hear is a perfect example of that. And I've sold mp3's and CD's as far away as Belgium and France via iTunes! Couldn't have imagined that ten years ago.

6. Now for my Barbara Walters question: If you were a pair of shoes what type of shoes would you be?

Easy. A well worn in pair of snakeskin boots - just like the pair I bought in Scottsdale, Arizona twenty years ago. They always remind me of the Texas origins of my earliest music education from George Brown.

SONG OF THE WEEK

This week's song is "Mercy Now" from Mary Gauthier. Mary was born in New Orleans and raised in Thibodaux, Louisiana. She moved to Boston and opened a Cajun restaurant. She didn't write her first song until she was 35.

Lily Holbrook

This week’s Voice to Hear is another MySpace discovery. Though this time it didn’t come to me as a request. I found her site while browsing someone else’s site. I wish I could remember who I started off with to discover her, but it’s lost in my slowly senile drifting mind. Whoever it was I owe a big thanks, because I have become hooked on Lily Holbrook. As soon as I landed on her page and the music started I was entranced. She has one of those voices that just reach out and grabs ahold of you and doesn’t want to let go.

Lily Holbrook is a young singer/songwriter that started her career busking on the streets of Boston while she was in college. Busking is another name for those street musicians you see on the side of the street or in the subway stations playing their guitar and singing with the guitar case opened for tips while most people wander by without even stopping to listen. Lily started her career this way because she was too shy to appear on stage and figured this was an easier way to sing in front of others. She soon gained enough confidence and a following that she started to play the local clubs in the Boston area and began to attract a following. Local busker and now recording artist/singer Mary Lou Lord calls Lily “Boston’s best kept secret.”

In 1999 Lily released her independent debut Running From the Sky. Drawing comparisons to Tori Amos and Kate Bush with her writing style and her singing/playing the album creates it sound with simple guitars and some strings. Her voice reminds me of Jewel, hauntingly beautiful.

Next up Lily was featured as one of 16 street musicians in the documentary Playing For Change. This documentary featured 16 different street singers and told their story. Her appearance in the movie helped secure her a contract with Backporch Records, a subsidy of EMI/Virgin.

Her next album was the Everything Was Beautiful and Nothing Hurt. For my money this is one of the best album titles I’ve seen. I like it when an artist titles his album something besides the name of his latest hit song. To me it sounds better when they dig a little deeper and name the album for some feeling or emotion they’re trying to convey with the entire album. Lily captures that perfectly with the title of this album.

This album uses a wider range of musical equipment and her folkie tendencies are joined with a wider range of musical noise. Writing that makes it sound like a terrible sound, but Lily pulls it off. She doesn’t lose her sound from her first album, she just adds a bigger musical palette to paint with.

A lot of Lily’s music concerns itself with beauty and physical appearances and what today’s society expects of women. On her new album she does a cover of Ozzy Osborne’s “Mama, I’m Coming Home” in tribute to her late brother. This is a beautiful cover of the song that slowly builds to a stunning climax.

Lily has left Boston for the warmer streets of L.A. While in L.A. she was presented with the idea of becoming the “next” Brittney Spears, but decided she would rather make music that mattered to her and not just sing formulaic pop songs. She’s since left L.A. for a life on the road and is touring in support of her music. Her last album was released two years ago, here’s hoping she’s working on a new one and also that her tour will bring her down this way.

As an added note and bonus Lily is one of the artists that I sent an interview to and has already emailed me back that she's working on it. I'm looking forward to seeing her Simply Six.