New York Folk Singer/Songwriter, Greg Farley, talks: flying the nest, going solo and recruiting studio musicians in one week flat.
It takes a decent amount of mettle, courage and above all self-belief to embark on a ‘DIY tour’ from New York across the US with a bunch of friend/musicians funded only by what they earn along the way. So less surprising than I first thought when Greg Farley approached me (the journalist) to review his latest album ‘Brown Bag’ suggesting “I thought you could review my album, I think you might dig it”.
Farley became seriously interested in music around 15 years ago. Inspired by American Folk artists such as Frank Proffitt and Joni Mitchell, he started writing songs on the guitar and playing them to other musicians. Their approval was all the encouragement needed. Paradoxically, for all his bravery Farley had never ventured away from home, Catskill New York, on the northern fringes of the City until 2006. So something must have clicked when he decided to fly the nest and see how far he could get on the proceeds raised from on-the-hoof gigs and sales of homemade CDs.
I’m intrigued and curious to know more: “You can’t be fussy, I played on the street and in houses before moving onto travelling Movie Festivals” and adds “I would play in Parks, old Theatres, Army Veteran Halls, Bars, anywhere that would have me really”. Sounds daunting? “It was a lot of fun and I learnt a lot” Farley tells me and he’s nothing if not resourceful “I would sell CDs with GF stamped on the front and wrap them in the road maps we were using to navigate our journey”. A journey which saw him and his compadres make it all the way to Santa Monica, California and back.
It was on his return that he picked up a fiddle for the first time courtesy of a friend, Lily: “I was big into Cajun fiddle players like Dennis Mcgee, Joe Thompson and Eck Robertson so I started playing by ear to their recordings”. From there he found a veteran Classical Violin teacher, Rudy Efram, as his tutor. Efram was a disciplinarian but at the same time an inspiration: Farley must have made an impression saying “He was so generous, he charged me about a third of his normal rate”. Again, using his nous Farley managed to get professional work touring and recording fiddle for other bands. Although lucrative, Farley reached a crossroads two years later with the realisation that in order to refine his craft, he would need to plough all his creative energy into songwriting.
‘Brown Bag’, the new record, is a more intimate and Alt. Country affair than his last outing, ‘Take Easy’. ‘Hoosik Falls’ is the opener, a morning-after-the-night-before type of tune: hanging chords on piano, tight on production and Farley’s voice has prominence. There’s a stubbornness to his vocal delivery, it skits out of key here and there which seems more by design than accident. ‘Dodge Ram’ is both simplistic and catchy, whilst ‘Stewarts’ sees him storytelling and features an unexpected but effective CODA. Trading angry young man for introspection on this album, it seems more congruous with the singer/songwriter’s ethos for life. At the point of thinking I may have been fiddled out of Farley’s fiddle, he comes up with the goods on ‘I’m Glad’, the album centrepiece for me: a delightful riff, think Richard Ashcroft’s ‘Sonnet’ intro, with a nod to old traditions and his outside interests in woodwork and forestry.
Rounded off with ‘Fisher in a Hemlock’, a foot-stomping country affair, overall ‘Brown Bag’ is an ambitious collection of songs, made more so when you learn Farley had to find back-up musicians for the booked recording time, caused by CoVid restrictions. Alex P. Wernquest, Producer and owner of Basement Flood Studios, came to his aid and recruited Wesley Harper (Piano/Bass) and Jesse Lewis (Drums): “I would show them the songs one by one, we would play it a few times to get it to a good spot and then record”. It seems fate played its part “They fell into this better than I could have ever hoped” and adds “I loved how spontaneous it was and in the moment and I will definitely record with these guys again”.
‘Brown Bag’ is available to purchase here, or stream below.
Stuart Large freelance writer/contributor