We continue our look back at the music of 50 years ago…..
He came out of the Greenwich Village folk scene of the early 60’s. A politically aware troubadour, a contemporary of Dylan and the rest. Eric Andersen touched the edge of the musical consciousness without every really breaking through. Other, more popular artists have covered his songs many times
He released some songs that were popular in certain circles…”Violets Of The Dawn”, & “Thirsty Boots” (a tribute to Phil Ochs), . He had released a number of folk LPs and by 1972 he came out with an LP called “Blue River”. Nothing really political here…unless you consider the idea of love political.
The mostly original tunes are really mellow and feature some tasty playing from the likes of David Bromberg, David Briggs, Norbert Putnam(who also produces), Eddie Hinton, Kenny Buttrey and other Nashville and Memphis cats. He also covers Hank Williams “Why Don’t You Love Me” on the record.
The title track, with a second vocal from Joni Mitchell, “and Sheila” are the two standout tracks for me. But it’s all very pretty and heartfelt.
He recorded LPs through the 70’s before de-camping to Europe where he lived for a long time. he also did some work with former member of The Band, Rick Danko.
I saw him live at the tiny Cafe Carpe in Fort Atkinson a couple of years ago and he was still in great voice and told some excellent stories of the “good ol days”.
A solid contribution to the 70’s singer-songwriter files.
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