Brian Belknap
San Francisco, California, United States | SELF
Music
Press
Brian Belknap is a singer-songwriter whose music has a knack for tapping the darkness of his soul and being joyful at the same time.
His influences include Ry Cooder, the Flatlanders and Bob Dylan. He relates to the loose, relaxed quality of some of their records, and it's something he aims for when composing and performing.
Whether performing solo or with a full band, Belknap is well on his way to becoming a San Francisco force.
Lineup: Brian Belknap, vocals, accordion, mandolin, slide and guitar; Michael Hoffman, drums; Kenny Annis, bass; Erik Pearson, bass; Don Salting, lap steel guitar, pedal steel guitar.
How did the band come together?
In the '90s, I had a band called Turpentine that had the good fortune to share the stage with Calexico, Cake, Richard Buckner, Train and many others. I got kind of disgusted with the music business and decided to devote my time to the struggle for social justice. That's how I met Michael and Kenny. We're all socialists and initially came together to play a fundraiser for Haymarket Books, a radical press we all support.
What is the main theme of your music?
I guess they're mostly about facing adversity of one kind or another, various kinds of loss or what have you. I think much more is revealed in the places where we stumble than in our triumphs. Like a lot of people, I've stumbled plenty in my life and, as the saying goes, "write what you know."
How does living in the Bay Area affect your music?
Ever since I stuck out my thumb years ago I've played in the street, and living here makes that easier to do. I don't like the kind of distance that comes from being on a stage. I find that people are much more likely to talk to you if you're playing on a street corner, and sometimes the kind of things people will reveal to you can be quite touching. I also think that bringing music to public places is an important thing. There are plenty of people who for all kinds of reasons can't go to a club. That's why whenever possible we try to rehearse the band in the street. Also, the Bay Area is a hotbed of radicalism, and I like being part of that.
What's the most important aspect to putting on a live show?
Generosity. I remember seeing Dr. John play in a small club in Chicago well before the revival of interest in roots music and noticing how disrespectful the audience seemed to be. People were making a lot of noise and demanding songs they wanted to hear. I was getting really annoyed, but then I saw that Dr. John didn't seem bothered at all. He played pretty much all the requests and joked around good-naturedly with everyone. It made a huge impression on me. I try to bring that spirit of generosity to my performances.
- San Francisco Chronicle
You already know what a fan I am of Brian Belknap’s songs, so it should be no surprise I think his latest release, Cradle To Grave, is one of 2010's must-listens.
I’m stoked to have him back in action, with twelve more songs of romantic realism: broken hearts, lost souls, and how that little patch of blue is nothing but a dirty fuckin’ lie.
Bonus points for combining the protest song with the love song to create what might be the first lost-love lament set in the world of social activism, and is certainly the first love song with the lyric “Occupation equals genocide.”
We’re fortunate to have him in town, so go show some love – Brian plays his album-release show August 22 at the Make-Out Room. - Hello Vegetables
You already know what a fan I am of Brian Belknap’s songs, so it should be no surprise I think his latest release, Cradle To Grave, is one of 2010's must-listens.
I’m stoked to have him back in action, with twelve more songs of romantic realism: broken hearts, lost souls, and how that little patch of blue is nothing but a dirty fuckin’ lie.
Bonus points for combining the protest song with the love song to create what might be the first lost-love lament set in the world of social activism, and is certainly the first love song with the lyric “Occupation equals genocide.”
We’re fortunate to have him in town, so go show some love – Brian plays his album-release show August 22 at the Make-Out Room. - Hello Vegetables
Discography
Lucky Me (2008)
Cradle to Grave (2010)
Photos
Bio
Brian Belknap's latest release, Cradle to Grave is a homemade record that benifits enormously from the fact that the home in question belongs to M Ward and She and Him producer sideman Mike Coykendall.
Coykendall was largely responsible for Belknap's return to the music scene after a 10 year hiatus, helping him put out 2008's Lucky Me. That album eventually came to the attention of Director Adam Rifkin (Detroit Rock City) who featured three of it's songs in the new Showtime series Look! that debuted in the fall. Rifkin has called Belknap "one of the greatest singer/songwriters alive today."
Cradle to Grave picks up where Lucky Me Left off, with Belknap in top form alternating between accordion, mandolin, slide and acoustic guitar and Coykendall bringing the same sensibility that has put him in demand by everyone from Conor Oberst and Jolie Holland to Blitzen Trapper.
Recorded live in just two days with minimal overdubs the record captures both the intensity and intimacy that makes Belknap so compelling on stage.
"While we were recording Mike mentioned that Johnny Cash said that it shouldn't take more than a couple of weeks to make a country record, so a couple of days seems about right for folk." relates Belknap.
Cradle to Grave is part of a collaboration between Belknap and Coykendall that goes back years.
I first met Mike when his band the Old Joe Clarks was playing at the Bottom of the Hill in San Francisco. I stood there transfixed for the entire set and worked up the nerve to pass him a cassette I had recently recorded. A few days later he called me up and we've been fast friends ever since." Belknap recalls.
Along with Sue Sandlin of Stairwell Sisters fame Belknap had just formed the band Turpentine. Coykendall had them open for his band and they were soon sharing the stage with the likes of Calexico, Richard Buckner, Mark Eitzel, Tarnation, Cake and Train.
"The mid-90s was a good time for folk, bluegrass, and country in San Francisco", Hello Vegetables music blogger Kevin Lipski wrote recently, "but for my money it didn’t get any better than Turpentine. Brian Belknap’s songs weren’t nostalgic recreations of the folk of the past, but honest, unromanticized visions of contemporary working-class life, the bitter and the sweet. And long after you sold your car with the tape deck and could no longer listen to their cassettes, the songs stuck with you. Honest to God, I’d put these songs up against anybody’s."
The songs were stitched together from the fabric of Belknap's life. A self-taught musician who left a troubled home at an early age, he thumbed cross country making what he could playing on the streets. Finding factory work he honed his skills practicing in boiler rooms and on loading docks during lunch breaks-organizing when he could against the horrible working conditions he often found himself in.
The sensitivity to the plight of those living on the margins of society so evident in Belknap's songs is ultimately what also led him to leave music to devote his time to the struggle for social justice.
Ironically his return to performing came when he was forced out of his rent controlled apartment in the San Francisco's Mission District and started playing on the street again to help make ends meet.
Now, with the help of friends like Coykendall, drummer Michael Hoffman and bass player Jill McClelland Coykendall in the studio and live support by multi-instrumentalists Kenny Annis, Erik Pearson and Kurt Stevenson it looks like Belknap will be back for awhile.
For those long disappointed by his absence from the local music scene this is welcome news. For those still unfamiliar with his distinctive take on American folk music, Cradle to Grave will make you understand why he was so sorely missed.
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