ALBUM:
Somewhere It's True
TAYLOR USED:
LKSM6
SONG CLIPS:
Western Sky
28K | 56K | MP3
Strawberry Smoothie
28K | 56K | MP3
CONTACT INFO:
FrogSongs Records
2326 Welsh Ct.
Walnut Creek, CA 94598
E-mail:
brian @brian joseph music .com
Web:
www. brian joseph music .com
Booking and Promotion
5842 Vallejo St.
Emeryville, CA 94608
(925) 989-6400
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There is a startling completeness in Brian Joseph's songwriting. His elegant acoustic guitar fingerstylings, warm,
velvety vocal phrasing, melodic ear, and knack for gracefully weaving wit, sensitivity, and insight into his lyrics,
converge to yield a rich, fresh, fully formed musical document. The fact that it's Joseph's debut release is downright scary.
Joseph took up piano at age five, followed by clarinet, bassoon, and singing. In high school he picked up guitar,
inspired by Paul Simon, Joni Mitchell, James Taylor, Joan Baez, and the setting of the Colorado Rockies, where he
spent his teens. The jazz of Miles Davis, Charlie Parker and Art Tatum further widened his musical palette. In
college, Joseph majored in acting, and after earning his degree from CalArts in 1992, launched a successful acting
career that led to several awards, including a Shellie in 1998 for Best Supporting Actor. His theater background has
helped him hone his stage presence and charm audiences as a performing songwriter.
Somewhere It's True finds Joseph fanning his refined songwriting talents across stylistic boundaries, blending
fingerstyle folk with jazzy chord voicings, and navigating his songs with an intuitive ear for pop melody. "Strawberry
Smoothie" sways with a pensive playfulness as Joseph finds another way to drown his sorrows. On the spare, moving ballad,
"My Father's Son," Joseph's fluid, mellow fingering on his LKSM gently cradles his voice. "Nottingham" has a deceptively
sweet, Randy Newmanesque bite. "Slam Dunk" swings with jazzy sass and sexy dynamics, finding a seedy nightclub groove cut
by acoustic bass, Reuben Maness's piano, brush-on-snare texture, and Joseph's slinky vocals. "Western Sky" is a shimmering
folk yearning for a reunion with one's love with pure vocal harmonies that would make Art Garfunkel nod approvingly. The
whole way, Joseph evades cliches and proves himself to be a fresh new voice hopefully with many albums ahead of him.
"A troubadour in the classic sense, Joseph is an actor, singer and songwriter of the first order. This auspicious debut bodes well for future projects - perhaps a stage musical based on the life of James Taylor."
— Chad Jones, The Oakland Tribune
"Joseph is at the top of his very skilled and artful form."
— Rossmoor News
"Outstanding."
— Contra Costa Times
"…with humor, beauty and wisdom, Brian Joseph adds a rich voice to today's songwriting scene."
— Julie Wolf, Seattle, WA
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