Cary Brothers
With help from his friends, Cary Brothers offers listening music in the folk ballad genre along with more percussion/guitar influenced rock ballads. In many cases, Brothers puts emphasis on acoustic guitar, soft percussion meant to hold the music and dynamics that are only possible with a soft beginning. “If You Were Here” begins with the softest of guitar and vocal, builds to strong pseudo-finish, then drops to the softness of the song’s start. This attention to structure may be one of the most important factors in Brothers’ popularity. But you can’t discount his experienced voice, often balanced by clear female vocals. “Ride” and “Blue Eyes” are a fantastic listen.
Brothers, a native of Nashville, uses influences of the 70s and 80s, along with a nod to New Wave, for his recorded efforts. He has been fortunate to see numerous uses of his songs on major television shows and he has worked with KT Tunstall, Imogen Heap and Liz Phair. Fine company indeed.
While Brothers is obviously the drawing card with this music, the “band” consists of a number of singers and musicians. Regulars are Jason Kanakis-guitar, Marco Meneghin-drums, and Matt DelVecchio-bass. The constantly changing/rotating cast includes more than a dozen contributors.
Brothers latest effort, Who You Are, (2007) features a song of the same name, the much-more-electric “Who You Are.”But whether he is adding drums and electric guitar or strumming with a few friends, Brothers tries to deliver a message through his lyrics. He is currently involved in a massive tour that runs through three months (October, November, December)
Tags: indie, indie music, cary brothers, music, independent music
Folk genre is really starting to make a comeback, it is one style of music that can be enjoyed by a variety of people. Whether or not they really like that style of not. It is a form of easy listening in my book and varies so much from other things I listen to. It is good to see someone ad some flare to the music with a rock ballad style format involved.
So coming back to the old folk days and mixing it with modern styles is becoming a common thing now, huh?
Great to see they have not so much pop music on that, it is more similar to real folk, hope he can play like that live too hehe, loved the ‘if you were here’ song
Sounds like a good band, I’m a fan of 80’s music and I’m quite into folk music as well.
Looking at his Myspace page, it seems he’ll be doing a show on December 2nd in Nashville, I live pretty close to there, maybe I’ll check it out when it rolls around. Doesn’t seem to play on our radio stations though, but hopefully, a little visit to Nashville should change that!
I happen to like “folk music” far more than I like, say, hard rock or hip hop. (To be honest, I don’t like 99.9% of hip-hop, which, irony of ironies, happens to be the spinoff of urban African-American folk styles and traditions!) While I was far too young to say that I grew up liking Peter, Paul and Mary, Burl Ives, and Woody Guthrie, I have listened to them and have learned to appreciate them for the way in which they express feelings and thoughts that reflect everyday life for ordinary folk.
As Louis “Satchmo” Armstrong was fond of saying: “All music is folk music; I never heard a horse sing….”
I enjoy laid back acoustics with soft vocals, and these guys definitely have that going for them. They also have a bit of a southern softness in their songs. I love “Blue Eyes”. It almost reminds me of a country tune with a little hippyness added in. What’s more appealing to me is they can handle a song like “Blue Eyes” perfectly, then mix it up a bit with a song like “Ride”.
I get musical whiplash when I hear some of the more “hard rock” bands – even though I do sometimes enjoy that style – and tend to like the more mellow tones of songs like “Blue Eyes.” So, yeah, leighdu, you hit that one dead on with your comment – there is a hint of down-home gentleness with a 1960s-like groove thing going on there.
I actually got to see him live in Nashville last year. A lot of singers just don’t sound as good when they are live, but I have to admit that he was even better live then he is on his myspace page. I’m not a big fan of folk music, bu after seeing and listening to him I became more of a fan then I thought I’d ever be.