#146: Greg Laswell

The first song I ever heard by Greg Laswell was his haunting cover of Cyndi Lauper's "Girls Just Want to Have Fun".  Any man who can turn one of the peppiest songs of all time into a miserable ballad is a man after my own heart! The day after hearing that cover I downloaded all of his albums and have seen him live many times.

Whenever I hear Greg's music I think to myself, "How is this man not more famous?" And yet, sometimes I selfishly want to keep him my little secret. John Green wrote in his novel The Fault In Our Stars about how passionately you can feel about certain books, and if you alter his quote to be about music, that is how I feel about Greg Laswell: "Sometimes, you read a book and it fills you with this weird evangelical zeal, and you become convinced that the shattered world will never be put back together until and unless all humans read this book. And then there are books...which you can't tell people about. Books so special and rare and yours that advertising your affection feels like a betrayal." For me, Greg's music is so special and rare and mine that advertising him does feel like a betrayal in some ways....unlike any other musician I listen to, his music reaches me on such a personal level that sharing it is like giving away a piece of myself.

That being said, Greg's newest album, Landline, was released today, and I wish him the best of luck and success with it. I've downloaded it and am listening to it as I write this. It's a different vibe than his other albums, and with any new music it will take time to grow on me. But it inevitably will, because at his core Laswell is a masterful singer and songwriter. He's one of those people about whom I think, "Thank you for being."

"How The Day Sounds" (Live), My favorite Laswell song...and it's surprisingly a happy one!

Greg Laswell! And me!