Greg Connors
Greg Connors (born December 30, 1969) is a contemporary singer-songwriter from New York City. He is friends with singer/songwriter Joseph Arthur who produced and contributed backing vocals and other instrumentation on Greg's 2006 solo album Here, There and Anymore which was released on the Scared label.
Greg Connors Music | |
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| Background information | |
| Born | December 30, 1969 |
| Origin | New York City, United States |
| Genres | singer-songwriter, alternative rock |
| Instruments | vocals, guitar, harmonica |
| Years active | 1994–present |
| Labels | Scared Records |
| Associated acts | Front Street, The Curb, The Block, |
| Website | website |
Musical history
Greg Connors began writing and playing music in his early teens, acquiring his first guitar at the age of twelve.
In the early '90s, Connors relocated to Atlanta, Georgia, and met Joseph Arthur who worked as a guitar salesman at Clark Music Store. Joseph frequented the burrito restaurant Greg worked at on Peachtree Street, and the two struck up a friendship, both being burgeoning singer/songwriters. Greg played in a two piece band called Front Street with percussionist Will Fratesi, playing local clubs in and around Atlanta.
Drummer and studio recordist David Watkins was a co-worker of Greg's at the mid-town Atlanta burrito joint. In 1995 he persuaded Greg to come into his home studio with his band Front Street to record. They recorded tracks directly to 8-track reel to reel the songs that would eventually become the studio album Talkin' Dirty, released in a limited run in 1999 by Scared Records.
Within the next few years Front Street broke up, and Greg Connors continued recording solo work, documenting his evolving compositions at David Watkins' home studios as well as Joseph Arthur's. These recordings would later be compiled to form the album Wide Awake Drunk, also released by Scared Records in 2000.
Connors was friends with many notable Atlanta musicians during this time, and recorded a duet with Benjamin Smoke entitled Independence Day which was released as a bonus track on Greg's first CD, Fluke EP.
In 1999, Connors formed the band The Curb with Mark Perkins on bass, and Andrew Brown on drums. They played extensively around Atlanta, and recorded the album Invisible Tape in 2000, also another Scared Records release.
Autumn 2003 saw him meet back up with Joseph Arthur at Joseph's Three Rock Studio in Brooklyn. They commenced to recording some of Connors's older and brand new songs, with Joseph producing. Connors provided the lead vocals and guitar, and Joseph contributed backing vocals and played guitar, bass, pedal steel, violin, synthesizer, drum programming, and percussion. The finished album was titled Here, There and Anymore and was released on Scared Records in 2006.
Connors continues to play live throughout the southeast, and also in Pennsylvania and New York, having played on several occasions with Joseph Arthur at Pete's Candy Store in Brooklyn.
Recently, Connors recorded his fifth studio album, Full Moon Flashlight which features guest appearances by Bill Taft on cornet, Stan Satin on backing vocals, various instruments and David Watkins on drums (both who play in Vietnam (band). Stan and David also recorded and produced the album, the latest release on Scared Records.
Article written by Joseph Arthur
Joseph Arthur submitted the following review to a major music magazine:
“I first met Greg Connors years ago living in Atlanta. He worked at my favorite burrito joint and I ate there five days a week, as it was near the guitar shop I worked at and you could eat enough to make you sick for less than five bucks. After months of seeing each other, our conversations evolved beyond the realm of which kind of salsa and how much guacamole into more interesting topics, like women, speed, and the Velvet Underground.
A friendship was formed and soon we became each others support and inspiration. Years doing what years do, I hadn’t seen or heard from Greg in a while until last year, when I got a cassette in the mail with typically illegible chicken scrawl that I recognized at once as the markings from my long-lost pal. I invited him to my place in Brooklyn and made it my mission to record him in a fashion which people could understand.
Greg Connors is a great songwriter: a writer of words which find the silent space in between emotion, the typically indescribable places where you’re left on your own to dance with the shadows. Also, he’s just really very funny, like on the song “Amasakist”, where the chorus goes: “I’m a masochist / To me every day is a good one.” But usually his lines are denser, like bulletin boards full of post-it notes where you wrote emotions you forgot to feel: “Now and these days / I’m trying to hold up / my own head myself / Without the incriminating way / I think you feel / Being my puppeteer, from “Anymore”, or “Rusted colander under thoughts / Mingling somewhere between us”, from “She’s Talented.”
The other striking thing about Greg is the way these often obscure lines are delivered with a natural ease, equal parts dry wit and emotion. They devastate with a smile but never is he joking. “We’re on our way / And disappearing / The contrast gave in to regards”, from “Regards.” It's often heart-breaking stuff sung from a voice that’s been dragging behind you for years, rolling over pavement, stone and regret: “You’re pushing again / For that final start / Isn’t it a lot like / Changing lightbulbs in the dark.”
Live performances
Connors's solo live performances incorporate the classic singer/songwriter set-up of acoustic guitar and harmonica. However, beginning in 2007, Connors has incorporated a full band, The Block.
The Block are:
- Greg Connors – vocals, guitar, harmonica
- John Stun – guitar
- David Watkins – drums
- Mark Perkins – bass
and sometimes
- Stan Satin – backing vocals, percussion
Greg Connors Music are
- Greg Connors – vocals, guitar, harmonica
- Nick Attila - Violin, Mandolin & Guitar
- Scott Fragala - Double Bass
Musical instruments
Some of Connors's other guitars include:
- Gibson
He often plays a diatonic harmonica with the aid of a holder.
Discography
- Talkin' Dirty with Front Street (1999)
- Fluke EP (1999)
- Wide Awake Drunk (2000)
- Invisible Tape with The Curb (2000)
- Here, There and Anymore with Joseph Arthur (September 25, 2006)
- Full Moon Flashlight (April 25, 2009)
- Renovations (April 28, 2016)DIGITAL
- Demonstration (November 4, 2016) DIGITAL
• Caught Up (2017)
• Home Made Compass (March, 2018)
° Future Nostalgia (November 11, 2018)