Sunday, March 20, 2022

Farmer by Day, Musician by Night: The Gregory Alan Isakov Story

 



Gregory Alan Isakov is 42-year-old singer-songwriter, born in South Africa and raised in Philadelphia. His music fuses indie and folk styles; many songs are accompanied by acoustic guitar, harmonica, banjo, and standing bass. With seven albums and nearly 3 million monthly Spotify listeners, Gregory Alan Isakov is a relatively successful musician with an enthusiastic group of devoted listeners. In addition to creating music, Isakov is also a full-time farmer, producing turnips, radishes, beets, beans, corn, and salad greens on his farm in Colorado.

Isakov finds inspiration for his music just about everywhere. He is a fan of word association and noticed the word “berth” on the cover of a book one day. Thinking about the meaning behind the word—a place to sleep on a ship or train—Isakov felt inspired to write a song of the same name about immigration. Having immigrated to the United States with his family at a young age. He has also noted taking inspiration from word magnets on his refrigerator, arranging and rearranging them until he gets a phrase that he can write a song around. As a farmer, much of his music also contains Earthy elements, like “The Stable Song”, which he wrote sitting in a barn on his farm, that paints a picture of his environment as well as telling a heartfelt story.



Despite his music being produced and performed for an audience, much of it is created pretty introspectively. Many themes present in his music are directly related to his own life and experiences, and Isakov has stated that he mostly creates music for himself and is just happy other people enjoy it as well. I believe one of the most beautiful things about his songs is that they are a real window into who he is. He never tries to make something just because he knows it will be popular, so his raw talent and emotion are always shining through every crack and crevice of his art.

Gregory Alan Isakov’s music has been integral to my life ever since I discovered it 6 years ago. I feel just a little more connected to his music after having done the research for this blog post and am excited to continue to listen, now with a deeper understanding of his inspiration, creative process, and life.



Berth: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P531bowkn_Y

The Stable Song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jGDjO9kuKyY

2 comments:

  1. He is so right to be inspired by the word "berth". It is a positively hilarious word. But now I just feel super melancholy about it. Dangit, Gregory's got me feeling Emotions-with-a-capital-E about a funny boat word!! Worth it though, just to hear that little story about how he wrote the song. It just feels like such a NORMAL way to get inspired.

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  2. I love learning about new artists that I would've never thought to listen to or even heard of without a recommendation. I don't know that I would have stumbled across Gregory Alan Isakov on my own, so thanks! Based on the way you laid out his musical style, I feel like some of his songs will fit on a few of my Spotify playlists and I'm excited to listen.

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