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
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.
ReplyDeleteI 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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