CONTRIBUTED BY SUNDILLA
AUBURN —
Singer-songwriter extraordinaire Jeff Black returns to Sundilla to give area music fans another evening filled with the very best jewels in singer-songwriter genre, so be sure to be there on Friday, Sept. 9 for a special evening of music. Showtime at Pebble Hill (101 S. Debardeleben St. in Auburn) is 7:30 p.m. Advance tickets are $15 and can be found at Spicer’s Music, Ross House Coffee and online at sundillamusic.com; admission at the door will be $20. The Chill Spot will be on hand selling tacos, sausage dogs, soft drinks and frozen treats, and attendees are invited to bring their own favorite beverage or food. If the weather cooperates, the concert will take place outdoors.
For Black, it is his life’s work that has driven him to build a career like few other singer-songwriters in the business. Boston’s WUMB listeners voted Black as one of the top 100 most important folk artists of the last 25 years. Black’s songs have earned Grammy recognition, radio chart-topping stats and numerous BMI awards. Although flying below the radar as a performer himself, he has been recognized by NPR as a musical pioneer in the digital age, and his catalog of critically acclaimed albums continues to grow. Composing music for film and television, his credits include numerous indie-film soundtracks and a repertoire of songs cut by artists as diverse as Alison Krauss & Union Station, Waylon Jennings, Sam Bush, BlackHawk, Dierks Bentley, Jon Randall, John Oates and Jerry Douglas. Black has forged a reputation as a true folk troubadour entertaining audiences globally for over three decades. A master songwriter and performer in the tradition of the great storytellers, his passionate, soul-driven live performances of songs from his vast catalog are not to be missed.
The words other people have written about Black also speak to his talent and influence:
“Say on your venue wish list is: Waylon Jennings, Tom Waits, Randy Newman and Sam Bush. Say you could book the lot of them for one night, in one entertainer. Jeff Black. Book Jeff with his guitar, banjo and harmonica, rent him a keyboard, then sit back and smile.” – Miner Seymour, Old Settler’s Inn
“Jeff Black has the troubadour quality of a Steve Goodman, the poetic dignity of a Bruce Springsteen, and the outer-fringe edge of a Townes Van Zandt. We kid you not.”
– The Boston Globe
“Some would call it heresy, but there are those who say that Steve Earle learned a lot from Jeff Black. His words and voice hold down center stage with a craft so deeply in the artistic pocket that it obscures anything outside.” – No Depression
“The tradition of an artist delivering songs that are damn near perfectly crafted and filled with the wisdom of the ages.” – Jedd Beaudoin | PopMatters
“His voice has great dramatic range. When he’s hitting it hard, it’s a little like Springsteen, but a lot more like one of my favorites, Kevin Gordon. On the ballads, he may remind you more of Harry Chapin, Marc Cohn, early Elton John. But that’s just his vocal sound, not his songs. His songs are deep and wide, they’re all his own, and he’s unto himself in this realm. Although he is a sky high craftsman, these are heart and soul compositions.”
“As a pure profession, songwriting is somewhat hard to understand. Even though Bob Dylan, Tom Waits, Steve Earle, et al are surely masters of the craft of marrying melody and verse, we probably view their art through the prism of what we know of their personas, making the songs resonate all the more if we identify with what they project. Harder to comprehend is the songwriter who is perennially behind the scenes, writing songs for other artists and apparently never seeking to break through or have people hail them as undeniable genius. Jeff Black is one them.”
If you’re keeping track, you know that Black has been favorably compared to Waylon Jennings, Tom Waits, Randy Newman, Sam Bush, Steve Goodman, Bruce Springsteen, Townes Van Zandt, Steve Earle, Harry Chapin, Marc Cohn, Elton John, Kevin Gordon and Bob Dylan. That’s quite a list, but those who are already familiar with Jeff and his music know that he doesn’t need those comparisons; just being “Jeff Black” is plenty, all by itself.
See why people are head-over-heels excited about the return of Black to Sundilla. Join them at Pebble Hill on Friday, Sept. 9, at 7:30 p.m. Admission at the door is $20, but you can get advance tickets for the lower price of $15 at Spicer’s Music, Ross House Coffee and online at www.sundillamusic.com.
For more information, go to www.sundillamusic.com.