David Wilcox

All Music Guide:

A warm, baritone vocal tone and poetic lyricism are combined with a unique guitar style that blends soft jazz and folk sensibilities and an intimate stage persona by singer/songwriter David Wilcox. Often compared to James Taylor and John Martyn, Wilcox has built a solid fan base for his well-crafted folk-pop tunes.

Cleveland-born Wilcox was inspired to play guitar after watching a fellow student play in a stairwell at Antioch College in Yellow Springs, OH. Transferring to Warren Wilson College in Asheville, NC, in 1981, Wilcox began taking music seriously. Although he took four lessons with a classical guitarist, Wilcox developed most of his playing technique on his own. In addition to being inspired by Joni Mitchell to play in a variety of tunings, he designed a capo that produced an unusual sound by leaving one or more strings unaltered.

Wilcox strengthened his skills as a performer through regular appearances at an Asheville night club called McDibbs. His debut album, The Nightshift Watchman, was released in 1987 on his own label, Song of the Woods, and reissued in 1996 by Koch International; it featured scaled-down arrangements and launched Wilcox's career as a touring musician. After performing at the Bluebird Cafe in Nashville, Wilcox signed with A&M in 1989. His first release on the label, How Did You Find Me Here, sold over 100,000 copies by word of mouth. Wilcox subsequently recorded two other studio albums for the label -- Home Again in 1991 and Big Horizon in 1994. In 1991, the label released a six-song CD, Mostly Live: An Authorized Bootleg. East Asheville Hardware, Wilcox's first album after being dropped by A&M, featured live recordings of previously unreleased tunes including a version of Chuck Brodsky's satirical song "Blow 'Em Away."

His contract with A&M ended after four albums in 1994, but Wilcox has continued to share his love of music and his explorations of personal growth. His 1997 album Turning Point recorded in the log cabin studio in the woods behind his home, represented a shift to a more controlled approach to music, while his February 1999 release, Underneath, continued to focus on his vocals and guitar playing despite the additional instrumentation of electric guitars, keyboards, and rhythm section. Although his albums have featured diverse arrangements, Wilcox continues to perform in concert as a soloist. In August 2000, What You Whispered was released. A best-of collection followed the next year, released during his successful national tour. Due to his popularity, the demand for a live album became too great and he offered Live Songs and Stories in the summer of 2002. Into the Mystery appeared in 2003, followed by a joint effort with Nance Pettit, Out Beyond Ideas, in 2005, Vista in 2006 and Airstream in 2008.

Wikipedia:

David Patrick Wilcox (born 1958) is an American folk musician and singer-songwriter guitarist. He has been active in the music business since the late 1980s.

Career

Wilcox was born in Mentor, Ohio, attended Antioch College in Yellow Springs, Ohio in 1976 where he began learning guitar. He later transferred to Warren Wilson College in North Carolina in 1981 and graduated in 1985. Wilcox appeared regularly at an Black Mountain, North Carolina night club called McDibbs. His debut album The Nightshift Watchman was released in 1987 on Jerry Read Smith's label, Song of the Woods, and reissued in 1996. He began touring regularly. After performing at the Bluebird Cafe in Nashville, he signed with A&M Records in 1989. He made several albums with this label. His albums were described by one Rolling Stone critic as "unjustly neglected". After his contract with A&M expired in 1994, Wilcox continued to write songs, tour and release albums. In 1994, he performed at Carnegie Hall with thirty other singer-songwriters in a showcase event. Wilcox also appeared on the cover of Acoustic Guitar which described him as James Taylor combined with the "husky breathiness more reminiscent of the late Nick Drake" and said he was the "best known of the brilliant crop of singer-songwriters to emerge in the late '80s." He's been based in Asheville, North Carolina in the 1990s, in Washington, D.C. and Maryland in 1999-2000, and again in Asheville in 2009.

In the next decade, Wilcox continued to release albums, including Into the Mystery in 2003. He's been a guest artist at guitar workshops. His lyrics are sometimes of the "probing meaning-of-life" type. as well as "thought-provoking". Wilcox plays acoustic guitars made by Olson Guitars. His fingerstyle style which is similar to Nick Drake and Joni Mitchell uses open tuning extensively, often in combination with customized capos with notches cut out to allow lower strings to ring open. He's been featured in Performing Songwriter magazine on five occasions.

About his approach to music:

His 2005 album Out Beyond Ideas was a joint project with his wife Nance Pettit described as a significant diversion from prior work featuring sacred poetry set to music from different religious traditions including Saint Francis of Assisi, Jalaludin Rumi, Shams-ud-din Muhammad Hafiz, Rabia al Basri, Yehuda HaLevi, Solomon Ibn Gabirol, Uvavnuk, and Kabir. During 2005 Wilcox traveled the country with his wife and teen-aged son in an Airstream trailer attached to a bio-diesel truck. He named one of his albums Airstream. His album Vista was released in April 2006.

In 2008 Wilcox was honored with a silver award along with Bob Dylan, in Acoustic Guitar's singer/songwriter category. His latest album "Open Hand" was released in March 2009. He's sometimes confused with Canadian rock and blues guitarist David Wilcox. Although his albums have had diverse arrangements, Wilcox generally performs as a soloist. He has released 16 albums. Wilcox performed a benefit concert in Westfield, New Jersey for Coffee With Conscience in late spring, 2008.

Critical reception

A New York Times music critic wrote Wilcox has a "handful of sterling folk-pop songs, a genial voice and enough guitar virtuosity to make even his lesser material sound convincing." Another described him as a prolific songwriter and folk artist. Another wrote he "sings with a mellow fluency that suggests a hybrid of Mr. Taylor and Kenny Rankin, but he has better enunciation than either." Critics describe his voice as having a "warm, expressive" quality with an "engaging vocal style" and a "warm, baritone vocal tone."

His music has been written as "deeply philosophical" and "insightful". One music critic wrote he was a "influential acoustic guitarist ... the PBS darling of contemporary singer-songwriter folk." Another critic wrote that an "eager, unapologetic sincerity flows from the heart of David Wilcox's acoustic music," and elaborated that "Wilcox uses extended metaphors and beautifully detailed imagery in lyrics that are far more compassionate and philosophic than self-absorbed ... Indeed, as steeped in romance as most popular music is, it rarely speaks directly to issues of loneliness, intimacy and commitment – let alone mortality and inner fortitude. Wilcox does this with sensitivity, analytic zeal and subtle emotional force."

Many critics compare his style to James Taylor as well as Joni Mitchell and John Gorka. A Rolling Stone critic suggested Wilcox's best album was How Did You Find Me Here, which was released in 1989.

One critic sensed Wilcox had a "boyish sensitivity" with "something to say about love, relationships and life" which is sung with "insight, humor and moments of profundity." But the critic felt Wilcox needs to "get some excitement into his music and voice ... His even-keel, generic style of singing, playing and music-writing isn't enough to keep the focus of the modern short attention span" and his songs lack "musical distinctiveness." Wilcox is a "poet/storyteller first, a songwriter/player second".