Gregory Alan Isakov

Gregory Alan Isakov is a South African musician born October 19, 1979. His family immigrated to the U.S. in 1989 and he was raised in Philadelphia. Isakov’s music combines indie and folk, featuring instruments such as the guitar and banjo. He is widely known for the songs “Words,” “The Stable Song,” “Big Black Car,” “If I Go, I’m Goin’ ” and “San Luis.” Isakov has released seven albums. His most recent album, Appaloosa Bones, was released on August 18, 2023.

Isakov’s grandfather was a Lithuanian Jew that fled to South Africa during World War II and Isakov was born in Johannesburg. His family moved to the U.S. because his father started an electronic engineering business. In Philadelphia, Isakov began touring with a band at age 16. He moved to Colorado to study horticulture at Naropa University. He had played instruments his entire life, but in Colorado he played occasional gigs while working as a gardener. His musical career became serious when he began touring with Kelly Joe Phelps.

In 2003 Isakov released his first album, Rust Colored Stones, with the album Songs For October in 2005. In 2007, he was named best male songwriter by Westworld, a Colorado magazine. In 2007, he self-released That Sea, the Gambler, and in 2009, Isakov self-released This Empty Northern Hemisphere which featured vocals by Brandi Carlisle on five tracks and a cover of Leonard Cohen’s One of Us Cannot Be Wrong. In 2013, Isakov created his independent label Suitcase Town Music.

From Wikipedia:
In 2016, Isakov released Gregory Alan Isakov with the Colorado Symphony, an album of eleven of his earlier songs orchestrated by several composers and recorded with the full Colorado Symphony.^[7][15] On October 5, 2018, he released Evening Machines on his Suitcase Town Music label.^[5]

Isakov has been influenced by the music of Leonard Cohen, Gillian Welch, Kelly Joe Phelps, Iron & Wine and Bruce Springsteen.^[16][12]

Acclaimed for his lyrics, his music often explores themes such as nature, introspection, and personal experiences within the folk and indie genres.^[12] He has played at many music festivals around the United States, Canada and Europe. At these music festivals, Isakov has shared the stage with numerous touring artists such as Rodrigo y Gabriela, Alexi Murdoch and Fiona Apple.^[17][12]

In November 2019, Isakov’s album Evening Machines was nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Folk Album in the 62nd Annual Grammy Awards.^[18]

The song “Big Black Car” from the 2009 album This Empty Northern Hemisphere was featured in a 2012 McDonald’s commercial. Isakov donated the proceeds to non-profit organizations that help further sustainable farming and nurture community.^[17]

While simultaneously maintaining his music career throughout the years, Isakov has been the owner and operator of Starling Farm in Boulder County, Colorado since its purchase in 2014. Described as “a six-acre farm focused on small-scale, bio-intensive market gardening”, Starling Farms not only supplies fresh produce to local chefs, it hosts Isakov’s personal recording studio where he recorded his 2023 album Appaloosa Bones.

I have chosen to share The Stable Song he recorded with the Colorado Symphony with harmonies by Julia Davis and Jeb Bows (fiddle), Philip Parker (cello), Steve Varney (electric guitar/banjo), John Grigsby (upright bass) and Max Barcelow (drums).

Remember when our songs were just like prayers
Like gospel hymns that you caught in the air?
Come down, come down sweet reverence
Unto my simple house and ring
And ring

Ring like silver, ring like gold
Ring out those ghosts on the Ohio
Ring like clear day wedding bells
Were we the belly of the beast or the sword that fell?
We’ll never tell

And come to me clear and cold
On some sea
Watch the world spin in waves
Mad machine

Now I’ve gone crazy, couldn’t you tell?
You threw stones at the stars, but the whole sky fell
Now I’m covered up in straw, belly up on a table
Well, I drank and sang, and passed in the stable (hmm, hmm, hmm, hmm-hmm)

And that tall grass grows high and brown
Well, I dragged you straight in the muddy ground
And you sent me back to where I roam
Well, I cursed and I cried, but now I know
Oh, now I know

And I ran back to that hollow again
The moon was just a sliver back then
And I ached for my heart like some tin man
When it came, oh, it beat and it boiled and it rang
Oh, it’s ringing

Ring like crazy, ring like hell
Turn me back into that wild-haired gale
Ring like silver, ring like gold
Turn these diamonds straight back into coal
Turn these diamonds straight back into coal (hmm-hmm)

Source: LyricFind

Songwriters: Charles Newman / Gregory Alan Isakov

Sorry, had to share one more, Time Will Tell.

Turning in the grain again
the bells begin to chime

Time, she says,
“there’s no turning back,
keep your eyes on the tracks”
through the fields, somewhere there’s blue
oh, time will tell, she’ll see us through

Howling out,
the windy hills
and all the time we took
you should know just how it steals
keep your hand on the wheel
and through it all, somewhere we knew
time will tell, she’ll see us through

And all fire and flames took all we trust
we’re kicking up dust
stations fade just like they do
oh, time will tell, we always knew

Oh, time will tell, we always knew

Source: Musixmatch

Songwriters: Gregory Alan Isakov

Crisp Autumn Weather