Greg Trooper

Artist Information

Biography

GREG TROOPER




GREG TROOPER

Raised in the shore town of Little Silver, NJ Greg Trooper became enthralled by the greater New York area’s rich music scene. He discovered a sort of holy musical trinity in the work of Otis Redding, Bob Dylan, and Hank Williams, with their guiding lights of passion, literary dexterity and plainspoken honesty. It’s one reason Trooper’s music feels equally informed by Memphis soul, Greenwich Village folk and Nashville twang.

Trooper has made an impact on the music scenes in all the places he’s lived since leaving home after high school: Austin, Texas, Lawrence, Kansas, Nashville and New York. His albums have demonstrated creative vision as well as a collaborator’s heart. Americana star Buddy Miller produced 1998’s ‘Popular Demons’ album, while soul legend Dan Penn steered 2005’s extraordinary ‘Make It Through This World’.

His songs have been recorded by numerous artists including: Vince Gill, Steve Earle, Billy Bragg, Robert Earl Keen, Maura O’Connell, Lucy Kaplansky and Tom Russell.

Trooper’s eleventh record, “Upside-Down Town”, will be released February 8, 2011.


Critics Praise:

Maverick Country - Mar. 2011 issue, Upside-Down Town
4 out of 5 stars.
"...'They Call Me Hank' is a definite contender for 2011 Song of the Year." - Arthur Wood

Sun209 - Feb. 2011 Upside-Down Town
"...an impeccably written and performed album, with soul in all the right places." - Ken Paulson

BBC Radio 2 - Upside-Down Town
"Great stuff from one of the great American song-writers" - Bob Harris

11-2009 “The Williamsburg Affair”
No Depression CD Review by: Jim Morrison
“Greg Trooper says “The Williamsburg Affair” is the missing link in his recording history. Befitting any missing link, it’s a piece of archaeology, a release of songs recorded in 1995 with his touring band featuring Brooklyn rocker Eric Ambel at the knobs. “I was touring with a band exclusively in those days and writing for that kind of energy,” Trooper says. “I think it informed my future writing as well. I believe my writing has improved since then and that was a stepping stone towards what I do now.” What he does now is write and release some of the best roots work around...”


International Songwriting Contest 2007. Greg's song "This I'd Do" pulled a 2nd place in the Folk/Singer-Songwriter category

* 4 of 5 stars - Nashville Tennessean 2007
'Greg Trooper the BackShop Live' "...a night that was more entertaining than most of our big-ticket, tour bus-riding artists are able to deliver."
Peter Cooper, Staff Writer Nashville Tennessean

* 4 of 5 stars - Ctl.Alt.Country "The Back Shop Live" 2007
"...this one is completely on his own, just a man and his guitar. And, it works wonderfully well!"
Benny Metten

* Country Standard Time "The Back Shop Live" 2007
"Trooper shines from start to finish in the vein of Guy Clark, John Hiatt, Tim Easton or Kevin Welch."
Jason MacNeil Country Standard Time

Uncut
Make It Through This World
4 stars
Jersey-born Greg Trooper's cut some exceptional solo records. With Dan Penn producing, this eclipses them all- a laconic country-soul masterpiece with hope and grit nestled into its eloquent storytelling. - Luke Yorn


USA Today.com
Greg Trooper, "Make It Through This World"
A songwriter who would describe showing love to a hard-hearted girl as being "futile as a prayer" might not be a religious man, but Trooper's songs have the ring of gospel truth. Sure, the organ and the piano testify to each other on Dream Away the Blues, and the slide guitar sways and shouts like a Pentecostal preacher, but mostly it's in the care the Nashville singer/songwriter shows for even his least desirable characters, and in the way they all strive for meaning in their loves and lives. — Brian Mansfield

10-2005
Nashville Scene's best of 2005
BEST AMERICANA ALBUM: Greg Trooper's, 'Make it Through This World'
"This native of New Jersey has been making journeyman folk-rock records ever since he moved to town more than a decade ago. On his best album yet, his lyrics gain in detail and poetic feel, and are only deepened by the relaxed warmth of his vocals and simmering soul of his record’s arrangements. Trooper has been on a run since 2000, and Make It Through This World suggests he’s getting better as he goes." —Michael McCall

The Austin Chronicle
Greg Trooper “Floating”
His brand-new Sugar Hill debut, Floating, is filled with songs of love (not the Hallmark variety) and cleverly depicted characters, but it's a lurking darkness that gives Trooper his edge. Live, Trooper will sweat and scuffle and rivet you in your seat.

Detroit Free Press
Greg Trooper “Floating
Like all the best songwriters, Nashville-based Greg Trooper wrings powerful results from words and melodies that often seem simple and effortless…There's nothing that even resembles a dud in this batch of 12…

Instrumentation

Usually tours solo but records with a full band. His last studio record "Make It Through This World" included,
Kenneth Blevins - drums,
David Jacques - bass,
Kevin McKendree - keys,
Bill Kirchen - guitar,
Steve Fishell - lap steel and dobro,
Pat McLaughlin - harmony vocals

Discography

Upside-Down Town 2011

The Williamsburg Affair 2009

The BackShop Live 2007

Make It Through This World - 2005

Floating - 2003

Straight Down Rain - 2000

Between A House And Hard Place (Live) - 2002

Popular Demons - 1998

Noises In The Hallway - 1995

Everywhere - 1991

We Won't Dance - 1986

Official Website

http://www.gregtrooper.com

Links

• Facebook
• Twitter
• reverbnation

Audio

• 03 They Call Me Hank
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• 01 Nobody In The Whole Wide World
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• 10 Second Wind
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• 04 Bulletproof Heart
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Lyrics

• They Call Me Hank

Video

Photo Gallery

Press

• The Williamsburg Affair 2009 [+ Show ]
  

  Greg Trooper says "The Williamsburg Affair" is the missing link in his recording history. Befitting ...Greg Trooper says "The Williamsburg Affair" is the missing link in his recording history. Befitting any missing link, it's a piece of archaeology, a release of songs recorded in 1995 with his touring band featuring Brooklyn rocker Eric Ambel at the knobs. "I was touring with a band exclusively in those days and writing for that kind of energy," Trooper says. "I think it informed my future writing as well. I believe my writing has improved since then and that was a stepping stone towards what I do now."
  
  What he does now is write and release some of the best roots work around, notably his last two studio discs, the infectious "Floating" and the soulful "Make It Through This World."
  
  But to get here, he went through Brooklyn's Williamsburg on his way to Nashville and (metaphorically, at least) Memphis before returning to New York recently. "The Williamsburg Affair" is a snapshot of Trooper's progress. There's none of the assured humor of Trooper's live show and later work, but there's an appealing immediacy throughout. And it's Trooper so there isn't a dud in the set, including the lone cover of Neil Young's "Wrecking Ball."
  
  There are the beginnings of his recently soulful forays on "Stronger All the Time" and "These Sunday Nights," which foreshadows later tunes like "I Love It When She Lies." Abel Domingues rips through "Paradise," one of many highlights with searing slide work. The twang that would slip into Trooper's work more obviously after he moved to Nashville in 1996 shows up on "These Sunday Nights" thanks to Larry Campbell's pedal steel work.
  
  Not surprisingly given the band and Ambel's fondness for straight-ahead garage rock, the sound is more muscular, less adorned, than Trooper's recent work. Kenneth Blevins, the drummer on several Trooper albums when he's not hanging with John Hiatt, is ferocious from the opener, "Angel." Ambel and Dan Zanes provide the guitar muscle on "When You're Not Here." "Let's Pretend" is another in a long line of propulsively rocking love songs.
  As usual, there are quieter moments as well. "Quite Like You" can take its place beside "The Lasting Kind." "21st Century Boy," a reflective ode to his son, hints at Trooper's genius for accompaniment featuring Joe Flood's sighing fiddle work ("21st Century Boy" and "Paradise" make appearances with different arrangements on "Popular Demons").
  "Once I got to Nashville a whole new project emerged with a new label so I figured I'd return to the Ambel produced record shortly afterwards but of course things didn't go that way," Trooper says.
  
  
  The way things went is Trooper became everyone's favorite songwriter who couldn't get a break. Yes, Buddy Miller and then Garry Tallent produced albums. Steve Earle took "Little Sister" for "Copperhead Road." Emmylou came in to sing harmonies. But Trooper has endured one hard luck label after another. He signs, records an album, and the label folds or fails to back him. "Floating" on Sugar Hill Records ended that string and landed Trooper on plenty of "best of" lists in 2005. Then Dan Penn produced the followup, the reflective "Make It Through This World."
  
  
  "The road we ride is a little rough, the times we live in are a little tough...these are my shoes, will you walk in them? These are my blues, try avoiding them," he sings on "21st Century Boy." Trooper's road has taken him North, where he began life as Jersey boy. He's back on the road, telling those stories about being so French, suffering through another shitty Saturday night, and being mistaken for Joe Pantoliano, enduring obscurity.
  If songwriters were paid for good reviews and the admiration of peers, Trooper would be on Easy Street. That he's not doesn't diminish the power and craft of another stellar set.
  

• The Back Shop Live – 2007 [+ Show ]
  

  The Back Shop Live – 2007 4 of 5 stars - 'Nashville Tennessean reviews 'Greg Trooper the BackShop...The Back Shop Live – 2007
  
  4 of 5 stars - 'Nashville Tennessean reviews 'Greg Trooper the BackShop Live
  "...a night that was more entertaining than most of our big-ticket, tour bus-riding artists are able to deliver."
  Peter Cooper, Staff Writer Nashville Tennessean
  
  * 4 of 5 stars - Ctl.Alt.Country
  "...this one is completely on his own, just a man and his guitar. And, it works wonderfully well!"
  Benny Metten
  
  * Country Standard Time
  "Trooper shines from start to finish in the vein of Guy Clark, John Hiatt, Tim Easton or Kevin Welch."
  Jason MacNeil Country Standard Time
  
  C

• 10-2005 [+ Show ]
  

  10-2005 Nashville Scene's best of 2005 BEST AMERICANA ALBUM: Greg Trooper's, 'Make it Through This...10-2005
  Nashville Scene's best of 2005
  BEST AMERICANA ALBUM: Greg Trooper's, 'Make it Through This World'
  "This native of New Jersey has been making journeyman folk-rock records ever since he moved to town more than a decade ago. On his best album yet, his lyrics gain in detail and poetic feel, and are only deepened by the relaxed warmth of his vocals and simmering soul of his record’s arrangements. Trooper has been on a run since 2000, and Make It Through This World suggests he’s getting better as he goes." —Michael McCall

• Make It Through This World [+ Show ]
  

  Uncut 6/2005 Make It Through This World 4 stars Jersey-born Greg Trooper's cut some exceptional s...Uncut 6/2005
  Make It Through This World
  4 stars
  Jersey-born Greg Trooper's cut some exceptional solo records. With Dan Penn producing, this eclipses them all- a laconic country-soul masterpiece with hope and grit nestled into its eloquent storytelling. - Luke Yorn

• Make It Through This World" (Sugar Hill) [+ Show ]
  

  Montreal Gazette Make It Through This World" (Sugar Hill) On earlier albums, Greg Trooper has used...Montreal Gazette
  Make It Through This World" (Sugar Hill)
  On earlier albums, Greg Trooper has used alt-country and folk-rock settings for his well-crafted songs. Here, though, Trooper teams up with legendary rhythm 'n' blues producer Dan Penn to give his music a soul-infused edge. Numbers like Lonely Pair and Close to the Tracks are a very appealing synthesis of old school R&B and classic country music that come alive under Penn's warm-sounding analog recording approach. That there are no synthesized sounds on these tracks also helps. You can sense the whirl of the Leslie when Kevin McKendree plays his washes on the Hammond B3 organ. One of the most appealing tunes is Green Eyed Girl, a nice mix of a laidback R&B groove with a raggy, Piedmont-style blues guitar arrangement. Mike Regenstreif

• Greg Trooper, "Make It Through This World" [+ Show ]
  

  USA Today.com Greg Trooper, "Make It Through This World" A songwriter who would describe showing l...USA Today.com
  Greg Trooper, "Make It Through This World"
  A songwriter who would describe showing love to a hard-hearted girl as being "futile as a prayer" might not be a religious man, but Trooper's songs have the ring of gospel truth. Sure, the organ and the piano testify to each other on Dream Away the Blues, and the slide guitar sways and shouts like a Pentecostal preacher, but mostly it's in the care the Nashville singer/songwriter shows for even his least desirable characters, and in the way they all strive for meaning in their loves and lives. — Brian Mansfield

Setlist

Basic Requirements

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