Great Addition To The Singer-Songwriter Oeuvre

We continue our look back at the music of 50 years ago…..

He did it his way. Layering harmony vocals and polishing them to a high sheen. Massing acoustic & electric guitars in a wall of sound. But not on this debut LP. Dan Fogelberg, who of course, died young, released his quiet & beautiful debut LP “Home Free” in 1972.

Moving from stripped down acoustic tunes to string-layered ballads to uptempo country drenched numbers, the album is a strong start to a career that will quickly take him to the top but end to soon when he died of cancer in 2007.

“To The Morning” and “Stars” may be the two most beautiful songs to ever start an album. Other stand outs include the Poco-ish “Long Way Home”, “Be On Your Way”, “Anyway, I Love You” and “The River”

The album was recorded in Nashville with Norbert Putnam producing and a number of Nashville cats contributing…David Briggs, Kenny Buttrey, Weldon Myrick and Buddy Spicher. But Fogeleberg made it clear right from the start that he was going to do things his way. He sings all the vocals while also playing guitars, piano, organ and synth.

The album didn’t sell well until it was re-released after he broke through later, but it’s a solid debut from a really talented guy.