Straight out of the golden gates
of San
Francisco, Bob Harp is reviving the spirit
of alt-country/Americana with his second full-length album, Collecting
Dust. Independently releasing on July 21, 2009, Collecting Dust is a heartbreakingly melodic
journey through the heart and soul of American folk music.
A regular on the San Francisco Bay Area
music scene for the past six years, Harp plays acoustic, electric, and 12-string
guitar, as well as harmonica. He cites artists like Roy Buchanan, Allman
Brothers Band, Bobby Womack, Van Morrison and Donny Hathaway among his
influences; the real rootsy rock ‘n roll and soul of the late 60s and early 70s
are ever-present in Harp’s own music. “The most important thing is that the
history of each old record is something you can feel, and that soulful music’s
effect on me is ultimately the same kind of timeless feeling that I want to rub
off on people,” says Harp.
After working at an independent record
store for three years, Harp not only picked up an addiction to vinyl, but his
music knowledge expanded and provided an accessible outlet to quick answers
about where he was going with his career. He found a channel to his creativity
and in 2005 independently released his first full-length, Good Misery.
Tom Chandler of KUSF 90.3FM San Francisco said of Harp: “A talented songwriter steeped in the
work of early Dylan, Guthrie and the whole
California
country
rock tradition.”
On Collecting Dust there is no
shortage of feelings that Harp indulges his audience in. Writing many of his
songs over the past few years and during a lonesome road trip through the
southwest where he experienced the brunt and beauty of America’s warm desert plains, Harp’s songs have a
certain subtlety of emotion that is almost bittersweet or painstakingly
beautiful. You can detect a slightly hidden copy of On The Road within the album art, paying
homage to another weary traveler, Jack Kerouac. “Through the Door,” one of
Harp’s favorite and first written songs for the album, depicts a cynical
scenario but put to an upbeat tempo, giving the storyline a humorous
edge.
“One Thousand
Ways” was the first song
Harp recorded for Collecting Dust and is a bittersweet ballad that
features Jordan Feinstein on piano and bass. Although his writing style is known
for its moody, twisted approach to love and relationships, Bob Harp plays with a
passion and raw talent that revives all the integral ideas of folk and Americana. Collecting Dust projects a
simple yet absorbing feeling of warmth from beginning to
end.
