Bob Hallett

This book was more a series of essays than cohesive whole, each focusing on some aspect of music that had shaped or touched Hallett and how he's grown as a musician. It was an easy read. Hallett has a nice, conversational tone in his writing. I probably would have gotten more out of this if I was familiar with the bands and songs he was referencing. But now I have a playlist to explore!

It was also interesting to reach certain points about Great Big Sea's career that Alan Doyle had also touched on in his books, and compare the two… (meer)

I picked up Writing Out The Notes: Life in Great Big Sea at a Great Big Sea concert in Kent, Ohio a few months ago. I confess: I am a folk music fan. I have a tremendously eclectic taste in music; my iTunes library has everything from the Sex Pistols and Einsturzende Neubauten to Bobby Golodsboro and Glenn Gould and all points in between, which makes for some disconcerting segues when you put the whole mess on shuffle. A friend sent me some YouTube links to a couple of Great Big Sea songs a few years ago and I was instantly hooked. I love songs that tell a story, and I love songs I can sing along with — if I can’t crank them up in the car and sing as I’m racing down the highway, what fun are they? Folk music reminds me of the songs my father used to sing with his guitar on the front porch on summer evenings. Folk songs may tell some amazing stories, but folk music isn’t exactly cool or hip, so what makes a young musician choose folk music? What sustains them as they make a career of it? Writing Out the Notes tells a bit of that story.

One of the themes that really struck home for me was the talk about travel. I’m writing this from Amsterdam, where I seem to write a lot of my reviews these days, while we are contemplating the schedule for our next round of work in Europe. (Aberdeen in January? Brrrrrr!) Much of my travel is for work, not just as a tourist, which is always a slightly different perspective. And since I’m working with local people, I tend to think a lot about the way people live in the different places I visit — I hear from my co-workers about their evenings and weekends, their difficult commutes, their complaints about local politicians and a host of other things you aren’t exposed to as a tourist.

Read my full review here.… (meer)