Happy New Year! 2011 was a wonderful year for music-making and my busiest year yet as solo artist - 80 dates, including my European Summer tour. Thanks to everyone who came out to a show, put me up, booked me, bought a record, or shared a bill. Also, a deep thanks to the many amazing musicians who have shared their time and talent with me this past year.
Trunk Songs places Humphreys where he really shines – alone and raw. Trunk Songs may be acoustic but it stands tall, sounding large. ‘I Cover the Waterfront’ elicits a New Orleans rich and soulful delivery, taking the standard and giving it a gentle rustic ambiance. ‘Buttons & Strings’ is tender and gentle, lovingly executed, sounding like James Taylor if he channeled Otis Redding. The bluesy ‘Natural Child’ is stripped, Humphreys’ voice forward and booming. There’s the elegant ‘Faded Beauty’ that exercises restraint against a background of melancholy. Humphreys sings tenderly, Do you dream of me / like I dream of you. He switches things up with the country slow walk of the banjo rich ‘Crazy as a Loon’.
The album is steeped in character and personality; note the lament for a good dog on ‘Old Shep’. At times a love letter to his musical past and a means to tie up loose ends, Humphreys has something with these Songs. Trunk Songs may or may not spark a new direction for Humphreys but it certainly adds another color to his palette in which to play around with.
GoTriad - September 25, 2008 - by Carla Kucinski Seward
While reading an Irving Berlin biography, the phrase "Trunk Songs" - unused songs tossed into a trunk - inspired Greg Humphreys to record his own trunk songs. Recorded at various locations, including his back porch, the album instantly engages the listener with its intimacy and rawness and Humphrey's soothing vocals. Humphreys, who is accustomed to fronting bands (Hobex), sounds right at home in this role. Favorite track: "One Song Away"
Here's Photographer Richard Cox's photo gallery of our May '08 HOBEX show with George Clinton and Parliament-Funkadelic, if you'd like to check it out. Organizers Band Together raised over $100,000 for SAFEchild, a local non-profit child abuse prevention agency in Raleigh NC. Here are some pics by James Hill of our Festival for the Eno set - Andy, Russ, Dustin and I were joined by vocalist Taz Halloween and percussionist Brevan Hampden. Here's some smokin' YouTube video of Pink Champagne from our Summer on Trade Set, courtesy of Shawn Patch.
The project to catalog HOBEX live shows, demos, B-sides and rarities is going well. We'll be digitally releasing this material in the near future! More to come soon -
Have a listen to the HOBEX Live at The Garage, Winston-Salem NC 3/17/05 set via the stream and download links below - seems to have been a popular download at Archive.org lately.
1. Let Me Live 2. You Set Me Free 3. Natural Child 4. Inner City Blues 5. Something For You 6. Groove Baby 7. Slide 8. Sweet Thing
Taped by: joel at jamlivedotorg
Our 4/25/07 set at the WorkPlay Theater in Birmingham AL is the latest show to be added to the HOBEX Tapers' archive. Download and/or stream the show yourself at the link provided. Sounds good!
WFUV Words and Music from Studio A - HOBEX "Hobex has been working hard for over a decade, bringing its rock-soul blend from North Carolina to audiences around the country. The band's new CD is called 'Enlightened Soul,' and the guys took a pit stop from the road to share a few tunes from the album with Claudia Marshall. [4/13/07]"
WFUV Take Five - HOBEX "Despite the trials of record labels and the road, the North Carolina band Hobex is still in it for the music, and recently talked with Claudia Marshall about keeping going when the going gets tough. [5/1/07]"
Check out Push It (Off That Hill) from our recent WNKU Studio 89 performance, now posted on YouTube.
On its fourth full-length album, North Carolina soul-rock revivalists Hobex deliver a sweet, easy listen. The 10-track album is classic in every way. From the country-western swing of the title track to the laid-back retro feel of songwriter/frontman Greg Humphreys' production, there's a true respect for the rock and soul records of the '60s and '70s here.
There's the AM pop-rock of "Don't Waste Your Time (In Falling in Love)," which rides a lovely vocal melody. "Hold Tight!" and the guitar-driven closer, "Natural Child," boogie with a classic rock groove. Aside from a few sidelines into rock and country, it's delicious soul that rings throughout.
A big thank you to discerning DJs at the following radio stations who played Enlightened Soul.
KCRW Santa Monica CA
WNCW Spindale NC
WNKU Cincinnati OH
WFUV Bronx, NY
WBCX Gainesville GA
WCBE Columbus OH
WBER Penfield NY
KXCI Tuscon AZ
WXDU Durham NC
WTMD Towson MD
KSER Seattle WA
WQNR Auburn AL
WSGE Dallas NC
KBOO Portland OR
WCUW Worcester MA
WUTC Chattanooga TN
WCOM Carrboro NC
WQNR Auburn AL
WKNC Raleigh NC
KAOS Olympia WA
WQFS Greensboro NC
KDHX Saint Louis MO
WITR Rochester NY
WRUW Cleveland OH
KBOO Portland OR
WUNC 91.5 has my interview and acoustic performance from their daily program "The State Of Things" with Frank Stasio archived here, if you'd like hear me ramble about the band and play acoustic versions of songs from the new CD. Our taped performance backing Katharine Whalen on the World Cafe with David Dye is also archived online here.
Please check out this great compilation CD of North Carolina artists covering other North Carolina artists; proceeds go toward the fight against Cystic Fibrosis.
Wanted to tell you about a new collection of poetry and music by my friend, Shirlette Ammons. I co-wrote a song with Shirlette on the CD, John Anonymous, that accompanies her book of poetry, Matching Skin. Read all about it in thisIndependent Weekly article - some great musicians are involved in this project!
Free The Music
Don't Waste Your Time
Man And A Woman
Behind The Door
I'm Not Ashamed
You Set Me Free
Hold Tight!
Enlightened Soul
Push It (Off That Hill)
Natural Child
Here's a triple threat for ya: spicy soul-funk-jazz
that'll put taste buds on your eardrums. What
they've laid down here is an hour of untainted music-from-the-heart
that owes as much to
improvisation and intuition as it does to technique and calculation,
which is to say it has
soul, baby.
