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Though Isakov was born in Johannesburg, South Africa, he moved to the United States at a very young age and spent the majority of his childhood growing up in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He got an early start in the music industry and started touring with a band when he was only 16. Later in his career Isakov moved to Colorado and started producing solo material. He drew inspirations from a diverse range of artists including delta-blues revivalist/ jazz aficionado Kelly Joe Phelps, evocative poet and acclaimed folk artist Leonard Cohen, and heartland rock sensation Bruce Springsteen.
Isakov takes musical ideas from a variety of sources, both musically and experiential; however he never comes off sounding redundant or like a simulation of one of his musical idols. He has honed in on a sound uniquely his own. It is weathered, spacious and filled with transformative moods. His music can create an atmosphere in the same vein as pioneering delta blues musician’s like Son House and it can just as likely channel in the slowcore minimalism of artists like Mark Kozelek.
Isakov has released six full-length studio albums including That Sea the Gambler (2007), This Empty Northern Hemisphere (2009), The Weatherman (2013), Gregory Alan Isakov with the Colorado Symphony (2016), Evening Machines (2018), which was nominated for a Grammy award for Best Folk Album, and Appaloosa Bones (2023).
Gregory Alan Isakov tours internationally with his band. When not on the road, he runs a small farm in Boulder County, Colorado. The farm provides produce to its CSA members, local restaurants, as well as to a local food bank.
I discovered Gregory Alan Isakov's music five or so years ago and have been hooked ever since! His brand of songwriting evokes the wanderlust so typical of folk, as well as an expansiveness that can transport you to the wide-open, star-speckled sky. There’s something soothing about his voice, something that makes you feel as though he could be speaking directly to you. Although his sound has grown with his latest album, the songs still maintain a certain level of intimacy.
I’d been waiting for ages to see him live, and what a treat it was. Along with his banjo-wielding bandmate, Steve, he somehow made the tiny Privatclub in Berlin feel even cozier than it normally does, giving the German term 'gemütlich' a whole new meaning. They cracked jokes, took requests, and played what Isakov so aptly called “kitchen versions” of a handful of his songs, during which the two of them unplugged their instruments, huddled closely around a single mic, and serenaded us in earnest, closing out what felt like a musical night with friends.
Isakov's third full-length album, The Weatherman, was released a year ago after a four-year pause, but here’s to hoping we won’t have to wait as long for the next one.
Gabi.O
Madi Diaz has been playing a series of intimate gigs around the States of late. Among them have been the Rough Trade store in Brooklyn with British baroque pop dandies, Wolf Gang, and the Bootleg Theatre in Los Angeles with elegant indie-rockers, Social Studies and fuzzy upstarts Aan.
She’s been produced by John Aglia, who’s worked with the likes of Ben Folds Five, Paul Simon, John Mayer and Jason Mraz.
Her live show at the Bing Lounge in Portland is stripped back. She’s only got space onstage for a drum set (this actually only comprises two drums) and keyboard, so it’s a three man band tonight.
She rallies out a few songs for her latest album, Phantom, which came out this year, including ‘Tomorrow’, ‘Stay Together’, the blissed-out ‘The Other Side’. They are received well. Her songs are full and rich, laden with sentiment. Diaz has been a musician since childhood, having taken up the piano at five years old. There’s not that much space to do anything but toe tap, but toes were consistently tapping along.
tom-lee-7
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