New Record, Peddlers & Ghosts to be released on July 8th
Gann
Brewer is a rambler…. “I was constantly touring last year, I think I
crossed the country two, maybe three times, “ he surmises. But last year
was no exception, Gann Brewer has been collecting stories and taking
them on the road for two decades including travels to New Zealand,
Egypt, Southeast Asia and the Caribbean. “For me, it’s not just about
the music, it’s also about the travel, the movin’ around from place to
place, seeing old friends and meetin’ new ones.” Brewer, musically,
keeps it simple. Or as he describes it, “Simplified acoustic played by a
solo artist on stage that probably forgot his harmonica—which may be a
good thing.” Brewer likes the recorded songs to sound as they do live,
so most of the tracks are vocals and guitar with subtle mandolin, pedal
steel and harmonica.
In between all of his travels, Brewer took a collection of songs to Warpaint Studios in Memphis where he recorded Peddlers & Ghosts
with Jeremiah Tucker. The record is a follow-up to his 2008 self-titled
debut album that was produced by Nancy Apple on her label, Ringo
Records and a 2011 6 song EP, The Tacoma Sessions, which was recorded for NPR StoryCorps in an airstream trailer on the waterfront in Tacoma, WA. While his debut was a record about his world travels, Peddlers & Ghosts taps into Brewer’s experiences while traversing the American landscape and the places that feel close to home.
No
surprise that he cites such influences as John Prine (who he is often
compared to), Guy Clark, Mississippi John Hurt, Woody Guthrie and Hank
Williams, but Brewer’s humorous and honest voice is uniquely his own. He
cites his favorite ‘contemporary’ record as Lucinda Williams’ “Car
Wheels on a Gravel Road”—“She really captured some’ve those ghosts down
there long before HBO picked up on it.” Capturing ghosts within the
music is the overriding theme for Peddlers and Ghosts. Growing up
30 miles south of Memphis, many of the songs on the album invoke
Tennessee and Northwest Mississippi such as “Dancin’ in Memphis” and
“Coldwater River Risin”, “I was thinking about some’ve those ghosts of
the swamps when I wrote that song,” Brewer says.
“Sidewalk
Slim” is an ode to the homeless people that Brewer met on his travels
with the narrator, Sidewalk Slim, needing some kind of salvation and
willing to take it anywhere if that will keep him warm and fed.
“Dogrunner” was actually a Craig’s List Ad that Brewer had put up to
attract dog-walking jobs while in New York City. “ I also taught a bit
of guitar and one day I decided to make an ad for both things…then one
day, I started playing a simple pattern with the ad, just as it read, “
he says, “for that reason, nothing at all rhymes in the song, but it
makes people smile.” Whether they make you smile, dance or just enjoy
the story, know that the songs of Gann Brewer are carved from the heart
of the road.
TOUR DATES SPRING 2014
April 6th, Branded Saloon, 2pm (Brooklyn, NY)
April 12th, The Adobe Bar at The Historic Taos Inn, 4-5:30pm (Taos, NM)
April 13th, The Adobe Bar at The Historic Taos Inn, 6:30-9:30pm (Taos, NM)
April 16th, The Sail Inn, 7:30-9:00pm (Tempe, AZ)
April 19th, Lestats, 9 PM (San Diego, CA)
April 20th, Cinema Bar, 8pm (Los Angeles, CA)
April 23rd, The Plough and the Stars, 9 PM (San Francisco, CA)
April 26th, San Gregorio General Store, 11-1 (San Gregorio, CA off Highway 1)
May 5th, Cork Cellars Wine Bar, 6-9pm (Sisters, OR)
May 18th, The Grand Ole Echo, 6:30pm (Los Angeles, CA)
May 23rd, The 1880 Union Hotel, 8-11 PM (Los Alamos, CA)
June 13th, Live in studio at Radio Parkstad, Netherlands, 5-7pm (Veendam, Holland)
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