Marc Berger

Artist Information

Biography

Marc has performed at Austin’s South by Southwest and The Kerrville Folk Festival, and opened shows for Bob Dylan and other national acts. His antinuclear anthem “The Last One” has been quoted in the NY Times, featured on the CBS Evening News and performed by Richie Havens at rallies throughout Europe, Great Britain and the United States. His song, "Nobody Gonna Ride On The Railroad", was honored by the 2009 Billboard Magazine International Songwriting Contest.

Marc's new concept album, RIDE, was inspired by his life long love affair with the American West – its landscape and mythology. John Ford had done it in film, Frederick Remington in painting and sculpture, A.B. Guthrie in fiction. RIDE now presents ten cinematic recordings aimed at capturing the vastness and romance of the West, while exploring its deep roots in the American psyche. From the haunting message and beat of “Twister”, to the soul shaking challenge of taming a wild horse in “Take it on the Chin,” to the sexy, mind blowing, middle-of-nowhere encounter of "Time Waits For No Man", RIDE takes you on a thrilling, dusty tour across The Great American Frontier.

Produced by Marc & Mike
Mastered by Greg Calbi

RIDE's stellar musicians:

Marc - Lead Vocals, Acoustic Guitar, Harmonica
Mike Ricciardi - Drums, Percussion
Jack O'Hara - Bass, Electric and Slide Guitars
D'raz - Accordion
Rob Meador - Mandolin

Other featured artists: Eric "Roscoe" Ambel (Steve Earle, The Del-Lords, Joan Jett)- Electric and Acoustic Guitars, Vocals; Tony Garnier (Bob Dylan, Tom Waits, Paul Simon) - Upright Bass; Walter Strauss - Piano and Acoustic Guitar; Rich DePaolo - Fretless Bass; Joe Flood (Levon Helm) - Mandolin, Fiddle, Vocals; Alex Specker - Dobro Steel Guitar

Instrumentation

Mike Ricciardi - Drums / Percussion
Rob Meador - Mandolin / Guitar
D'raz - Accordion
Rich DePaolo - acoustic and electric guitars
Harry Aceto - upright and electric bass

Discography

EP- "Beat of Life"
LP- "Ride"

Links

• Facebook
• MySpace
• Twitter
• Last.fm
• Official website
• Bandcamp

Audio

• Nobody Gonna' Ride on the Railroad
  Listen  
• Take It On The Chin
  Listen  
• Ride
  Listen  
• Time Waits For No Man
  Listen  
• A Bottle of Wine, A Suitcase, An Umbrella
  Listen  
• Twister
  Listen  
• Montana
  Listen  
• Object of My Affection
  Listen  
• Long Way From Vixenburg
  Listen  
• Heavenly Ancients
  Listen  

Lyrics

• Nobody Gonna Ride On The Railroad
• Take it on the Chin
• Ride
• Time Waits for No Man
• A Bottle of Wine, A Suitcase, An Umbrella
• Twister
• Montana
• Object of My Affection
• Long Way from Vixenburg
• Heavenly Ancients

Video

Nobody Gonna Ride On The Railroad

"Object of My Affection" -Dinosaur Bar-B-Que, Rochester, NY

Photo Gallery

Press

• FAME Review: Marc Berger - RIDE (www.acousticmusic.com) [+ Show ]
  

  The red rock country of the Colorado Plateau is my favorite place on Earth, reminds me of home (Mars...The red rock country of the Colorado Plateau is my favorite place on Earth, reminds me of home (Mars). It's the true heart of the Southwest, and I've hiked a hell of a lot of it. You name it—Zion, Bryce, Arches, Capitol Reef, San Rafael Swell, Canyonlands, Calf Creek, Goblin Valley, Natural Bridges, Moab, Kolob, a lot of places that don't even have names—and I've probably been there and tramped around. I even hit the bottom of the nearby Grand Canyon nine times. In the last decade while working in SoCal aerospace (Northrop, where the bennies used to be pretty good), I took an entire month off each year and headed to the high, wild, arid beauty where one could, if one wished, hike solo all day and never see another human being. Thus, when I caught sight of Monument Valley, petroglyphs, and one of those lone, majestic, red-rock "steamboats" in the liner for Ride, I thought "Hmmm…I wonder if this cat Marc Berger really caught what's what out in the back country?" As soon as Nobody Gonna Ride on the Railroad swam out of the speakers, I smiled and sat back. Yep, he's been there, he knows.
  
  There's a quietude to the Four Corners territory that has to be experienced to be understood. Burr Trail, especially the back side just before it lowers down a treacherous cliffside (which I hear has been paved over since I drove through a long time ago) into Glen Canyon to end up at Lake Powell, is probably the epicenter of that, and I can picture Berger and a small klatsch of cowboys perched on the overlook and playing these songs after supper as a dusty day of hard work flickers away and stars float up in the sky. Nothing on Ride is brash, no need to shout and stomp: though there's a couple or three vivacious cuts, this is country folk music wrought by a working philosopher who's missed nothing, kept a lot inside for a time, and captured the land. He knows the hills and he knows the cities and is ready to slowly wind it all back out again.
  
  Yeah, this Ride milieu could even be Old Laredo or The Great Plains, but it ain't, it's the breathtaking grandeur of the high desert and plateaus suspended between the pioneer days and ten minutes ago (listen carefuly, you'll hear mention of Jimi in Time Waits for No Man). It's also the towns, shanties, and elsewhere but what pervades the disc is a very Knopfleresque composure with some Randy Newman and others laid atop a writing hand with wiry sinews and leathery skin, sun and wind, a blood pulse that beats in time with owls and snakes…and a night at the honky-tonk or maybe just a rustic bar. Thus, don't play this at home. Jump in the car and head for somewhere that isn't the city, anywhere nature still holds sway. Do it at night. Then open the doors, all of them, and let the dark satiny sky in. Sit back, relax, and grant the 11 songs license to breathe themselves into your skin, up into the clouds, let 'em wander where they will, and when everything finally goes silent after the fifty-four minutes, you too will know what Marc Berger knows. Welcome to the club.
  
  -Mark S. Tucker
  

• SOUNDOFF COLUMN: Marc Berger takes a "RIDE"' out West for new album [+ Show ]
  

  Marc Berger has spent most of his life on the East Coast, living in New York City while also maintai...Marc Berger has spent most of his life on the East Coast, living in New York City while also maintaining a home in Ithaca since 1989. But for many years, he did extensive traveling out west, and it was those journeys that laid the foundation for his new album, "Ride."
  
  "I came across a book by A.B. Guthrie, who writes about the West in its pre-cowboy days from the perspective of the first white people who didn't want anyone to tell them what to do," Berger said in an interview last weekend. "I had a lot of experience in American wilderness at that point, but the book really made me think about making a record focused on the concept of subject of the West itself."
  
  Berger worked on this concept album for more than a decade, and he finally finished last year. After recording four songs in New York City with producer Eric "Roscoe" Ambel, he realized that to take the time needed to capture the vibe he wanted, he had to build his own home studio in Ithaca.
  
  "When you hear this record, I don't even want you to think there are musicians playing," Berger said. "I want it come at you like a movie, as an organic whole, and maybe with repeated listening, you'll pick up individual parts. But I didn't know how to do that; I just knew that was the goal. So I had to put a recording studio together and learn how to use it."
  
  The vastness of the West influenced the sound of the songs. "The whole idea of what effect it has to be in a place where things don't move too fast, where you can hear yourself think and feel yourself breathe," he said. "There are certain positive things about that experience."
  
  This Saturday, he'll be playing a CD release show for "Ride" at the Chapter House. He'll be joined by Rich DePaolo, Harry Aceto and Mike Ricciardi for the 10 p.m. show. Cover is $5.
  
  Though "Ride" is a concept album, it's not a "rock opera" like The Who's "Tommy," for example. "These songs all tangentially have something to do with the American West," he explained. "A lot of subjects in these songs that below the surface have to do with lots of other things. But the West is the patina that's over all the songs, and they're each pretty different from each other."
  
  On many of his trips out west, Berger was joined by Ricciardi, who took the photo on the "Ride" album cover, as well as many others. "We would like to do concerts in art galleries and hang the photos in conjunction with the show," Berger said. To see Ricciardi's "Ride" photos, visit www.ricciardiphoto.com.
  
  Written by Jim Catalano
  
  To learn more, visit marcbergermusic.com.

• MARC BERGER – RIDE (Review) [+ Show ]
  

  Singer/songwriter Marc Berger offers a flavorsome and illuminating exploration of the fabled America...Singer/songwriter Marc Berger offers a flavorsome and illuminating exploration of the fabled American West on this supremely tuneful and colorful album. Berger’s raspy, yet still warm voice projects a certain raggedy charm while his songwriting possesses a clarity and vividness that’s both intriguing and engaging. The gradual tempos and laid-back beats mosey along at a pleasingly relaxed clip. Moreover, Berger’s stark and straightforward musical evocation of the American West eschews cliché and sentiment in favor of an admirably clear-eyed honesty and reflectivity. One can almost taste the dust and feel the desolation of the wide open prairies while listening to this exquisitely harmonic gem. Accolades don’t come any better than that. - Joe Wawrzyniak, JerseyBeat

• Guy Clark with consistently memorable tunes [+ Show ]
  

  "Guy Clark with more consistently memorable tunes. As much meditations on life itself as on plains l..."Guy Clark with more consistently memorable tunes. As much meditations on life itself as on plains life, the songs… never falter. No mistaking it, this is the good stuff, roots music infused with intelligence and wisdom."

Setlist

Long Way From Vixenburg
Twister
Nobody Gonna' Ride on the Railroad
A Bottle of Wine, A Suitcase, An Umbrella
Ride
Montana
Take it on the Chin
The Buffalo Song
Time Waits for No Man
The Last One

Set is approx. 45-50 minutes

Basic Requirements

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