Andrew Calhoun - Hope - Amercian Folk CD

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Track Listing
1. Getaway
2. I Love You All the Time
3. Glad Old Man
4. The Swimmer
5. Veteran
6. You Better Get a Lawyer
7. Balls
8. Scrapbook
9. Long Legged Lover
10. She's Like the Autumn
11. If
12. Survivor
13. Recall

Album Notes

Personnel: Andrew Calhoun (vocals, guitar); Kat Eggleston (vocals, guitar); Fred Campeau (vocals, banjo); James Terry, Al Day (vocals); Steve Rashid (harmonica, piano); Mark Graham (harmonica); John Williams , John Williams (accordion); Kevin Connelley (drums).Recording information: OMB Studios, Port Orchard, WA; Woodside Avenue Music Productions, Inc., Evanston, IL.On the surface, Andrew Calhoun's trenchantly articulated acoustic guitar fingerpicking and keening, nasal vocals make him sound like the American midwest's answer to Martin Carthy. A closer listen reveals these elements to be Calhoun's only connection to the traditional folk sound. He's a poet first and foremost, and one of uncommon insight and imagination. Over sparse, acoustic accompaniment, he delves into the darkest regions of the soul on "The Swimmer" and "Veteran," but he's no gloom-obsessed doomsayer. "You Better Get a Lawyer" and the randy, uproarious "Balls" displays his knack for biting humor, and "If" finds him no slouch at the art of the love song.

Sensitive lyricism is set to gentle, acoustic melodies by Chicago-based singer/songwriter and record company owner/producer Andrew Calhoun . Influenced by early John Prine , Leonard Cohen and Martin Carthy , Calhoun brings a poetic approach to his unique style of songwriting.

Although he continues to perform and record as a soloist, Calhoun has expressed his love of acoustic music as much through his record label, Waterbug Records, which has released more than forty albums by such artists as Chuck Brodsky , Diane Ziegler, Kat Eggleston , Sloan Wainwright , Kate McDonnell , Rick Lee , Michael Jerling , Michael McNevin and Steve Fisher .

The son of a Bell Laboratories technician and a high school teacher, Calhoun grew up listening to traditional songs recorded by folk singers including Ewan MacColl and Richard Dyer Bennett. When he was a youngster, his mother opened her home to problem-struck teenagers and runaways, including several who played acoustic guitar. By the age of ten, Calhoun had taught himself to play the six-stringed instrument, and after attending a concert by John Prine at the age of twelve, he began writing his own songs.

Calhoun moved with his family to the suburbs of Chicago in 1968. Nine years later, he moved on his own to Evanston, Illinois, where he continues to reside with singer/songwriter Kat Eggleston . Sharpening his performance skills in folk music coffeehouses, Calhoun recorded his debut album, Water Street , in 1983. After releasing two albums on Flying Fish, he launched Waterbug Records in August 1992 to issue efforts including Hope , 1996's Phoenix Envy and 1999's Where Blue Meets Blue