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Alabama Getaway 3:090:00/3:09
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Black Peter 4:480:00/4:48
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0:00/2:51
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Loser 4:510:00/4:51
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New Speedway Boogie 3:370:00/3:37
COVERS
I play a wide range of cover songs spanning everything from rock to indie to soul and beyond. My 'songbook' includes over 150 songs, including singalongs, anthems and more obscure gems that will get your toes tapping and your head thinking. I try to inhabit each song while putting my own spin on it, often with a soulful take. I combine elements of 'rock and soul' in my music, seeking to blend together these (and other) genres in a unique way. Covered artists include Talking Heads, James Brown, the Grateful Dead, the Rolling Stones, Otis Redding, Beck, Marvin Gaye, Bob Dylan, U2, Red Hot Chilly Peppers, REM, Depeche Mode, Bill Whithers, Johnny Cash, Neil Young, the Clash, The Beatles and Sting, among others. My songbook includes beloved singalongs, deep cuts and points in between; regardless, I always try to inhabit the spirit of the song while putting my own stamp on it, typically in a soulful direction.
MY SONG LIST
ROCKER / UPBEAT TUNES
Psychokiller – Talking Heads
About a Girl – Nirvana
Sympathy for the Devil –Rolling Stones
Can’t Get what u Want–Rolling Stones
Turn on lovelight Grateful Dead
Need a miracle Grateful Dead
Come as you are, Nirvana
Born to be Wild, sheet
Deep Elem – Traditional
Manic Depression – J. Hendrix
Bertha – Grateful Dead
Dark Hollow – Grateful Dead
Saw her Standing There – Beatles
Already Gone – Eagles
Walk On – U2
When I’m 64, Beatles,
Alabama Getaway Grateful Dead
Race is on, Grateful Dead,
It’s all over now, Stones,
Big hunk of love, Evis,
Runnin down a dream, Tom Petty,
Daddy Sang Base, Johnny Cash
Slip Sliding Away – Paul Simon
Under my Thumb, Rolling Stones,
SLOW AND SOULFUL TUNES
Razor Love – Neil Young
Girl from N County Fair – Dylan
So Many Roads – Grateful Dead
Life in the Fast Lane – Eagles
Casey Jones – Grateful Dead
Don’t Think Twice – Bob Dylan
I Shall be Released – Bob Dylan
Knockin Heaven’s Door–Clapton
I must be high – Wilco, Sheet
Here for You – Neil Young
Comfortably Numb, P Floyd
How sweet it is, Marvin Gaye
Champagne Supernova, Oasis
With or without you, U2
Angel from Montgomery, Bonny Raitt, Turn the Page, Bob Segar
Amazing Grace3
Dear Mr. Fantasy – S. Winwood
I shall be released, Dylan,
Losing my religion, REM
Direwolf – Grateful Dead
Box of rain Grateful Dead
No complaints, Beck
Heaven – Talking Heads
Perfect Day, Lou Reed
Gravedigger, Dave Mathews
Everybody hurts, REM
BLUESY TUNES
Ramblin Gamblin Willie –Bob Dylan Hey Joe – Jimi Hendrix
Riders on Storm – The Doors
Minglewood Blues – G.ratefullDead Steamroller – James Taylor
Peter – Grateful Dead
Ballad of Hollis Brown –Dylan
Truckin’ – Grateful Dead
Know You Rider – Grateful Dead
Sea of heartbreak – Johnny Cash
People are Srange – Doors
Catfish John Grateful Dead
New speedway boogie, Grateful Dead Willin’, Little Feat
And it stoned me, Van Morrison
Cant you see, Marshall Tucker band, House of the Rising Sun, Conway Twitty Ballad of Hollis Brown, Bob Dylan Don’t think twice, Bob Dylan
FUNKY TUNES
I Got You – James Brown
For What its Worth – CSN
Where its At – Beck
Rock the Casbah – The Clash
When the saints go marching in
Waiting on a friend, Rolling Stones Got to give it up, Marvin Gaye
Walk on, U2
I know what I know, Paul Simon
Maggie May, Rod Stewart
I can see clearly Now, Johnny Nash
Sitting on the dock of a bay, Otis Redding Grapevine – Marvin Gaye
Wait till the Midnight Hour, Otis Redding Come Together, Beatles,
Take Me to River–Talking Heads
Ain’t no sunshine – Bill Whithers
Elevation, U2
SINGALONG SONGS
Goin down the road, Grateful Dead
Can’t always get what u want, Rolling Stones,
Satisfaction, Rolling Stones
Country Roads – John Denver
She-ll be coming around the mt,
Heard through grapevine, M Gaye
And she was, Talking heads
The gambler, Kenny Rogers
How sweet it is, Marvin Gaye
Wild World, Cat Stevens
Cats in the cradle, Cat Stevens
I can see clearly now, Johnny Nash
The Weight, The Band
Truckin’ – Grateful Dead
Pride, U2
I’d die for you, Bon Jovi
Knockin on heaven’s door, Bob Dylan Personal Jesus, Johnnie Cash
Faith, George Michael
Purple Rain, Prince
People are strange – Doors
Ticket to Ride- The Beatles
I’d Die for You – Bon Jovi
Old Man, Neil Young
On the Road again, Willie Nelson
Already Gone, Eagles
Sweer child of mine, Guns and Roses When I’m 64, Beatles
COUNTRY/FOLK TUNES
A Big Hunk of Love – Elvis
On Road Again – Willie Nelson
Heartbreak Hotel – Elvis
Big River, Johnny Cash
Monkey and Engineer, GD
Heartbreak Hotel Elvis
Ghost riders on the storm, J Cash Fulsom Prison Blues – J Cash
Take it Easy – Eagles
Dear Doctor – Rolling Stones
Friend of Devil – Grateful Dead Understand Your Man – J. Cash Here for You – Neil Young
Ramble on Rose GD
Tennessee Jed GD
You Win again, Hank Williams Mississippin halfstep, GD
One of these days, Neil Young
Mamas don’t let sons be cowboys. Willy
Good hearted woman, Willy Nelson
Old King Coal, Sturgill Simpson
Sing Me Back Home, Merle Haggard Wild Horses, Stones
Keep your hands to yourself
Good hearted woman, Willie Nelson
REGGAE TUNES
Easy Skanking – Bob Marley
One Love – Bob Marley
3 little birds - Marley
PSCHEDELIC TUNES
Stella Blue – Grateful Dead
High Time – Grateful Dead
Wharf Rat – Grateful Dead
Comes a Time – Grateful Dead Candyman – Grateful Dead
Cold rain and snow, GD
A Day in the Life, Beatles
Loser – Grateful Dead
Black throated wind GD
Strange apparition, Beck
Brokedown Palace, GD
Golden Age – Beck
Row Jimmy – Grateful Dead
KIDS TUNES
She’ll be comin’ round the mt.
tsy Bitsy Spider sheet
Hokey Pokey
5 Little Monkeys sheet
Little Light of Mine sheet
If You’re Happy and know it sheet Stand by Me sheet
Lean on Me (Bill Wither)
Baby Beluga
Cat came back
Puff the magic dragon
Octopus Garden
XMAS SONGS
Santa Claus Coming to Town
White Christmas
Feliz Navidad
Rudolph Red Nose Reindeer
Happy Xmas– John Lennon
Silent Night
Jingle Bells – xmas book
Little Drummer Boy
Amazing Grace
I’ll be home for Christmas
Frosty the snowman,
Grandma got run over by a reindeer
EP OF ORIGINALS: WHICH WAY?
I am excited to announce that I am launching an EP of original music in early 2022 called Which Way? The songs blend an acoustic indie sound with driving hand rhythms, playful lyrics and soul. The EP will make you think and tap your feet in equal measure. As Frank Agbro, a Washington DC-based musician, empresario and radio DJ (89.3 WPFW) put it, "The songs here a highly original and thought-provoking, with a strong underlying groove and deep lyrics."
This project comes on the heels of my extended demo Unwind Your Mind in 2019 and Side Hustle, a collection of covers completed in 2018. Having played all the instruments in the first two projects, including guitar, vocals and over a dozen percussion instruments I am now joined by some of DC's finest up and coming musicians on Which Way? These collaborations add melodic layers and textures to my hand rhythm-driven sound, blending in sax, flute, violin, bass and additional vocals. The result is hypnotic, with lots of space for improvisation amid a 'live sounding' recording.
Something unexpected happened on the way to making Which Way?What started off as another project of covers morphed into originals, with most of the songs coming about mysteriously, pried loose by intuition. Cooking up lyrics and melodies has been an unexpected joy verging on obsession.
My music combines hand percussion, quirky melodies and lyrical word play in a soulful indie vibe. I rely heavily on intuition, rhythmic exploration, and subconscious thinking in my songwriting approach. Hopefully this promotes originality, allowing me to retain a distinct voice while straddling different genres and influences such as soul, Indie, world music, rock and folk music.
Layers of percussion drive these songs forward, creating an ambient and syncopated backdrop that is a bit unusual in melody-driven Indie music. The lyrics may dominate the conscious mind but the beat comes first and sets the parameters on where the songs go. Dan Lipton, a masterful singer-songwriter, said, "This project is a percussive lyrical journey—from political commentary to introspective scrutiny, and the spaces where public and private meet."
There’s no overarching theme here but recurring ideas loop in and out of the tracks. There are songs that veer into politics, others that explore ethical and psychological dilemmas, and others that mostly play with words and beats. The disorientations of our “plague life’” are not front and center but form a background context, as does my hiatus from office life, adventures in fatherhood, an uneasy dependence on technology and environmental degradation, amid the toxic setting of Trumpian chaos. But it is not all gloom and doom as the sometimes-dark commentary is leavened by fun beats, lyrical wordplay and elements of hope and redemption. I’ll leave it there. Hopefully Which Way? will fill in the gaps even if the way forward remains uncertain.
Below is a sample of originals from Which Way? and my next project called Escape.