Clarence Bucaro performs in Asheville, NC at Isis Music Hall Wednesday June 20.
Our NewSong Songwriting Competition finalists go on to do incredible things, and 2013 finalist Clarence Bucaro is no exception.
In May 2018, Clarence Bucaro released his powerful new studio album, Passionate Kind, on indie 2020 Records. Rolling Stone said of the album; “Buoyant, sometimes playful folk songwriting with a deep well of social consciousness,” and named him one of “10 Artists to Watch.”
Clarence is currently playing shows around the country to promote the album. The artist performs at Isis Music Hall in Asheville, NC on Wednesday, June 20. In advance of the show, we asked Bucaro about his new release, as well as his songwriting process.
For details on the June 20 show in Asheville, visit the Facebook event page. For ticket giveaway info, check out NewSong Music’s Facebook and Instagram accounts @NewSongMusic.
Can you tell us about your latest release, Passionate Kind? What was the inspiration behind it?
Passionate Kind is a collection of songs that engages in the current moment. It’s a plea for direction in confusing times and asking for answers of today’s social ills. It ruminates over social issues and attempts to find answers.
What is your songwriting process like?
Songwriting to me is a deeply personal thing. I take intimate ideas or images and turn them into tunes. Typically, I start with a lyric or image and spend time (days sometimes years) creating melodies. I try to connect to human feelings and imagine them thru different prisms. All the while asking myself, is it honest and is it real. My intent is to innovate on lyrics yet keep them completely relatable.
Is thereanything that you would like fans to know (upcoming news, tour dates, etc)?
Check out my website for tour dates this summer. I will be hitting up most major markets.
2016 NewSong Music grand prize winner Wilder Adkins’ songwriting gleans as much from the earthy poetry of Wendell Berry and Mary Oliver as it does from the works of folk luminaries Richard Thompson and Bruce Cockburn. He’s a true theosophical spirit, arrestingly taciturn, but possessed of startling guitar skills, a wit as dry as October leaves, and a tremulous, dented voice that’s frankly mesmerizing.
His courtly-but-witty lyrics evoke a Deep South Shelley or Yeats, riding a joyful guitar dexterity. Adkins’ songs, steeped in natural imagery, frequently touch upon the subjects of faith, doubt, and as the title of his new album would indicate, hope and sorrow.
“By turns haunting, spectral, tender and tenacious, Adkins is a master when it comes to conveying uncommon emotion, relying on minimal arrangements that sometimes seem suspended in the ether” – Elmore Magazine
2016 NewSong grand prize winner Wilder Adkins releases peace anthem “Side By Side” on MLK Jr. Day
“This is a song about the city of Birmingham, Alabama and the struggles of the civil rights movement in the 1960s,” says Adkins, a Birmingham resident himself. “It is also an anthem for peace and a call to keep hoping and never give up fighting darkness with the power of light.”
ABOUT WILDER ADKINS Wilder Adkins songwriting gleans as much from the earthy poetry of Wendell Berry and Mary Oliver as it does from the works of folk luminaries Richard Thompson and Bruce Cockburn. His courtly-but-witty lyrics evoke a Deep South Shelley or Yeats, riding a joyful guitar dexterity.
Adkins hails from Marietta, GA, but now lives and writes in Birmingham, AL. He grew up listening to his dad play renditions of Neil Young and Van Morrison songs on an old Guild Jumbo Acoustic. Adkins’ songs, steeped in natural imagery, frequently touch upon the subjects of faith, doubt, and as the title of his new album would indicate, hope and sorrow.
Introducing the 2016 NewSong Grand Prize Winner: Wilder Adkins
Congratulations to Wilder Adkins, this year’s grand prize winner of the 15th Annual NewSong Music Showcase and Competition. Adkins took top honors on Saturday night at Lincoln Center’s David Rubenstein Atrium in New York City.
Adkin’s songwriting is steeped in earthy poetry and is imbued with a theosophical spirit. Thematically, his songs frequently touch upon faith, doubt and the natural world. He counts poets Wendell Berry and Mary Oliver among his influences, as well as Neil Young and Van Morrison. His aptly titled latest album, Hope and Sorrow, is a characteristic marrying of poetry and musicality.
“Getting to meet and hang out with the other NewSong Music finalists totally affirmed for me that this is a supportive community of artists serious about their craft. Playing at Lincoln Center in New York at the Holidays was a dream come true. Being named the winner of such a talented pool of songwriters is an incredible honor and one of my proudest moments!” – Wilder Adkins, 2016 NewSong Grand Prize Winner
“The NewSong Music Competition is one of the country’s strongest platforms for discovering and showcasing some of the today’s most talented, emerging and most deserving singer-songwriters. It has a rich legacy of shining a spotlight on true artists who are serious about their craft. While all of this year’s finalists were compelling in their own way, this year’s winner, Wilder Adkins is an extraordinarily gifted lyricist, vocalist and guitarist from Birmingham, Alabama, who mesmerized everyone in the room at Lincoln Center. He’s the real deal and I’m thrilled to play a part in exposing him to a wider audience.” – Erik Philbrook, NewSong Music judge and ASCAP VP and Creative Director
“We had another outstanding group of finalists this year, which made our job as judges all the more challenging. But after the first two rounds, Wilder’s deeply poetic songcraft – paired with a passionate and at times comical performance – led him directly to this year’s top honor. We look forward to working with him over the next year and beyond, and to help him and the rest of his fellow finalists take their music to the broader audience they richly deserve.” – Gar Ragland, NewSong Music Producer and Co-founder
Erik Philbrook serves as ASCAP’s VP and Creative Director. In addition to writing editorial, producing video and managing content for ASCAP’s various media channels, he has interviewed and written about many of today’s leading songwriters and composers from across the musical spectrum, from legendary icons to today’s emerging artists. He has helped lead ASCAP’s advocacy efforts in protecting songwriter rights in the digital age. And he has played an essential role in the success of high-profile ASCAP events such as the Sundance ASCAP Music Café and the ASCAP “I Create Music” EXPO, where he has interviewed on stage many top music creators, including Tom Petty, John Mayer, Bon Jovi, ELO’s Jeff Lynne, Ingrid Michaelson, Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, Steve Lillywhite and many others. In addition, Philbrook is a songwriter and musician himself, having recorded three acclaimed albums with his band NYC-based band The Brilliant Mistakes.
2016 NewSong Music Performance & Songwriting Competition
Elysa Marden is a curator and producer based in NYC. She is currently the Co-Director of Art Brookfield, a national public arts program that produces, commissions, and presents music, dance, film, visual art and spoken word year-round and free to the public. She has had the pleasure of working with NewSong Music to present NewSong artists in Brookfield spaces in NYC and Denver for 8 years.
2016 NewSong Music Performance & Songwriting Competition
Meera Dugalis the Programming Manager for the David Rubenstein Atrium at Lincoln Center. The Atrium is home to over 100 free, extremely eclectic performances a year that are curated with the aim to reflect the diversity present in New York City. Originally from Charleston, Meera has a Bachelor of Arts from New York University’s Gallatin School where she studied ethnomusicology. Before coming to Lincoln Center, Meera worked with globalFEST, The National Jazz Museum in Harlem, The Jazz Gallery, and Iraqi-American musician Amir ElSaffar. She is the manager for the New York-based traditional Moroccan Gnawa sextet Innov Gnawa and a member of Women of Color in the Arts.
Brad Cole is a New York City-based folk musician who pens songs about the human condition with wit and raw insight. Hints of roots, old school bossa and rhythm and blues set this singer-songwriter apart, and his soulful lyricism thoroughly impressed NewSong judges.
Cole is a musician poised to take off: in the last eighteen months, he has played over one hundred shows and has shared the stage with artists including Chris Stapleton, Shovels and Rope, Ingrid Michaelson, and more.
We asked Cole about his songwriting process, as well as his hopes and expectations for the NewSong finalist showcase at Lincoln Center. To learn more about this exciting musician and to listen to his latest album, Lay it Down, visit his website at bradcolemusic.com.
What is your songwriting process like, and where do you find inspiration?
I look at the world around me for inspiration, and I guess most of that lyrical inspiration comes from those who have fallen and attempted to pull themselves up to a better place. I probably have a new melody idea every day, so it’s usually a matter of putting those inspirations together with a musical expression that is cool and feels good. Then I give myself time to write and finish. Probably the last songwriting muse to inspire me is Patty Griffin.
What made you decide to submit to NewSong, and what does it mean to you to be a finalist in this year’s competition?
I was in the crowd last year, and the show was inspiring. I loved it. Of course I feel honored that this special tune has been recognized by such a well respected group. As far as music curators go, NewSong is the real deal, so I know I’ll be with a great mix of players in a room full of listeners, so that’s huge. Beyond that, just want to be able to share what I do with a new audience.
What is going on your career that readers should know about?
I released Lay It Down in 2016, and the reception has been amazing. So I’ll be touring the US in 2017, primarily east coast, mid south, midwest, southwest and California. I have an April residency planned for Chicago at The Hideout every Wednesday night, and I’m putting the final plans together for a NYC residency this spring 2017.
GOT SONGS? TODAY IS THE FINAL DAY TO SUBMIT YOUR MUSIC!
The deadline to enter the 15th Annual NewSong Music Performance & Songwriting Competition is TONIGHT (Monday, October 17) at 11:59pm PST. Ten finalists will be selected to compete at the prestigious Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in New York City this December for the grand prize, which includes featured prize performances in 2017 back at Lincoln Center AND the ASCAP Music Café at the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah. The winner will also receive a multi-day professional recording session at the award winning Echo Mountain Recording Studios in Asheville, NC.
As an entrant in the 2016 competition, you are also eligible for exclusive discounts on future recording sessions at Echo Mountain Recording Studios, and you and your music will be considered for additional recording and performance opportunities across the U.S.
