While Elton John is telling the BBC “Songwriters today are pretty awful” it’s reassuring to hear that one Dorset composer is being hailed as “a very unique special talent.”
The praise comes from Clive Gregson, an Englishman making a living with music in Nashville – the home of song writing.
He’s recently produced Lou Brown’s second album ‘Calm the Rising Waters’ and, while adding some Tennessee sparkle to her latest collection of songs, Clive has brought forward a brand new British talent
The compliments for this Dorset star keep flowing: “really, excellent song writer, great singer, really good guitar player, she’s got the whole thing. She writes songs that mean something and has something to say.”
Clive was speaking after the very successful launch of Lou’s album at Mr Kyps in Poole, Dorset.
He also focused on another quality of Lou’s usually found lacking in the music industry: “The thing I like the best is she’s a lovely person,” and added, “I’ve never seen an audience not respond to Lou. People just like her. She comes on stage and they all think “Blimey what is she going to do?” and then she sings and plays and they love her. And that’s worth it’s weight in gold.
Lou Brown at Mr Kyps
Lou took to the stage six weeks after a very serious operation and was determined to join Clive and her band for a night of celebration in front of family, friends, fans and former work colleagues in social services.
Her time spent helping and advising people has given Lou a valuable insight into the way people tick, and when you add this to her enviable ability to pick serious moments from people’s lives and transform them into beautiful and poignant songs, you can see why Neil King, the editor of online country magazine Fatea, is so full of prise:
“One of things I love about Lou is the way that she relates her songs to the people that she knows, and the places that she’s been and there a very personal element to it. She’s worked in social services, she’s come across some really fantastic stories from there and she’s managed to turn them into five minute documentaries.”
This observational skill manifests itself in songs like “David’s Not Sleeping” in which a young man ends up in prison even though he’s been given enough guidance to turn from that path.
In other people’s hands the message would be delivered with cold hands but Lou’s warmth and maternal insights lead you to wish David had just listened.
Yet Lou was close to losing her own life and leaving the album as her epitaph. “I had Crones for a long time and I got progressively sicker and sicker with out really noticing how ill I’d become.”
Her partner and manger, Dom Kippin, persuaded Lou to seek help and surgery was quickly prescribed.
“It was a very frightening thing to go through but actually, now I’m at the other side of it, and I’m recovering, it is strangely a bit of a blessing… every moment I have now is so much better than before because I think ‘Wow! I’m here, it’s amazing!’”
Lou thinks Clive is one of the best songwriters and musicians “ever” and is also very grateful for the opportunity to work with him and, for the first time, work at a much higher level.
“Clive was so professional and so organised and when he came in to record the album. He led us all brilliantly with out being a dictator.”
One track Clive spotted as a brilliant way of opening the album was ‘11:23′. “When I heard the original recording of that, it was one of the ones that I thought was very unique, special. I think it’s very moving.”
He felt is was different enough to get some radio exposure and the reason for placing it first: “because most people never get past track one anyway. Most radio people don’t get past 30 seconds of track one.”
In fact the decline of radio’s importance in people’s lives is a natural concern for musicians like Clive Gregson.
“Not wishing to bite the hand that feeds, the reality is that radio, as much recorded music is, is somewhat meaningless these days, because you can get your music from almost any source on demand, how you want it, and you don’t have to put up with Steve Wright in the Afternoon (BBC Radio 1) being annoying.
And the other reality is, on the whole, apart from certain shows on Radio 2 in this country, it doesn’t sell any records, so it just fills time, as much music dissemination does these days. And that’s the same in the States.”
After the launch Lou Brown and the 'Makeshift Family Band' featuring Clive Gregson (far left)
This bleak out look doesn’t bode well for new songwriters like Lou Brown. Even when you have such talented assistance and glowing praise, what hope is there when radio won’t dip in unless you have a record deal.
However in the digital download age the music business is in decline; desperately trying to find a new model. It’s influence has waned, the companies can no longer afford to nurture new talent and, as with radio, relies heavily on the past to make money in the present.
In many ways the partnership between radio and record companies is like a marriage that has hit the rocks but the two parties still feel obliged to continue because splitting up can not be contemplated.
Radio’s possible solution is to find people confident in their abilities to source new music, while record companies need to find a new way of supporting new artists, outside the traditional record deal.
And Elton John should be sent a copy of Lou’s album as reassurance that there is some talent out there but maybe a question would be included in the sleeve notes: “How can you help talented new songwriters?” because from Clive Gregson’s point of view:
“As far as being successful in music business now you don’t have to be any good, you just have to be popular. And you can be popular for all kinds of reasons that are not necessarily musical.”
Playdio.com
This article features quotes from the Playdio show “Xan Phillips presents… Lou Brown” only available on Spotify
