now playing: Peter Mulvey

Notes from Elsewhere



Take the heartland poetry and energy of Bruce Springsteen, the guitar skills and slightly zen outlook of Chris Smither, and the unexpected turns of Chuck Prophet’s work, mix all these together and you’ll have sort of an idea of what Peter Mulvey’s music is like. But not really. Mulvey is his own man, and his own artist, of course, and for a decade and half he’s been doing just fine as that, thanks, crossing the country and the world with his guitar and his songs. In that time, he’s figured out how to get from the beginning to the end of a song -- and not always the same way -- and he’s figured out how to support his words with his guitar, and let the guitar stand alone when that’s called for. For this recording he pulls favorites from songs he’s written over the time from 1991 through 2007, and records them afresh, just the man and his guitar. The songs are fan favorites, and favorites of Mulvey’s fellow musical road warriors as well. Looks like more people are meeting the Wisconsin song poet’s work too, as at the moment Notes from Elsewhere is rising up the Americana airplay charts. Standout cuts include Grace, Black Rabbit, and Every Word Except Goodbye.