Now Available — Chuck's NEW double live cd, Two Sets! Contains 25 songs, including two previously unrecorded songs: Lily's Braids and Armitage Shanks. Recorded in Asheville, Sautee Nacoochee and Dublin, Ireland. (more info)
"Baseball's troubadour poet laureate...
Chuck combines his gift for lyrics and melody with his love for baseball history and culture, and in the process creates a new chapter in the folklore of our national pastime." ---Tim Wiles, director of research, National Baseball Hall of Fame Library
"What tales this singer-songwriter from Philadelphia has...
With insight and good humor, he has taken these life experiences
and distilled them into old fashioned story songs
brimming with wit and compassion." ---New York Times
This down to earth musical storyteller, with his dry, barb-witted social commentary combined with a deep underlying compassion, knows that the best stories are the little things in the lives of everyday people trying to muddle through with some grace. His great gift as a writer is to infuse these stories with humanity and humor, making them resonate profoundly with his listeners. His spoken introductions to his songs can be as spellbinding as his colorful lyrics, which he brings to life with a well-travelled voice and a delivery that's natural and conversational. His groove-oriented strumming and fingerpicking draw on influences from the mountains of western North Carolina where he now lives, and from lots of different good old traditional folk stuff of all kinds.
"Down-to-earth lyrics about ordinary folk sung in an often jocular,
and always entertaining style...He may be compassionate, but there’s always at least a modicum of black humour somewhere along the line
to keep his audiences on their toes" ---The Jerusalem Post
Chuck Brodsky's songwriting pokes fun at political corruption, road rage, mischief he made as a kid, even dumping garbage in the river; he sings about unsung heroes and forgotten but incredible people…odd characters from the game of baseball, migrant fruit pickers, the Goat Man, a clown, or “Radio,” a developmentally disabled man and the love showered on him for 40 years at a high school in South Carolina (this song was used in the 2003 movie “Radio”). In addition to being fixtures on the Dr. Demento show, his songs have been recorded by Kathy Mattea, David Wilcox, Sara Hickman, Chuck Pyle, and many others, and his tune “Blow ‘em Away” was selected by Christine Lavin for Shanachie's 1996 “Laugh Tracks” album. He's appeared on nationally syndicated radio programs “Mountain Stage,” “Acoustic Cafe,” and “River City Folk,” and has performed three concerts of his celebrated baseball story songs at the National Baseball Hall of Fame.
"One of the finest singer-songwriters in America.
There are alot of good ones, but when it comes to the
really great ones it boils down to a select few -- he’s one of them" ---Larry Groce - Mountain Stage (National Public Radio)
Chuck's debut album, “A Fingerpainter's Murals,” was released in 1995 on Waterbug Records, and was a critical favorite with its collection of vividly rendered stories--from a farmer losing his land ("Acre by Acre") to a washed-up pitcher trying to hold on a little longer ("Lefty"). In 1996, Chuck signed with Red House Records and released "Letters in the Dirt," introducing us to great characters such as a roadside peach vendor still wondering after thirty years if he married the right woman ("Bill & Annie"), and the first white baseball player in the Negro Leagues ("The Ballad of Eddie Klepp"). The album earned critical raves, and his 1998 release, “Radio,” was even more widely acclaimed for its great stabs at our laughable culture, like "The Come Here's & the Been Here's," "Our Gods," and "On Christmas I Got Nothing." “Last of the Old Time,” Brodsky's third album for Red House was released in 2000, and further cemented his reputation for telling it like it is with songs about phony politicians on the campaign trail (“He Came to our Town” ), secret meetings (“The Boys in the Back Room”), and “Schmoozing.” In the summer of 2002 Chuck released “The Baseball Ballads,”which Tim Wiles, Director of Research at The National Baseball Hall of Fame calls “a new chapter in the folklore of our national pastime.” His most recent effort, “Color Came One Day,” produced by JP Cormier, was recorded in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, and was released in June of 2004.
"Amazingly sensitive...finely honed songs...Wonderfully real...Songwriter extraordinaire...from the touching to the darkly humorous...In a grand tradition that runs from Guthrie through Dylan, Prine, and even
Greg Brown, Brodsky has an endearingly personal approach to music." ---East Bay Express (Berkeley, CA)
Chuck has toured extensively throughout the US, Canada, and Ireland for 12 years, playing at folk festivals such as Tønder in Denmark, Edmonton, Winnipeg, Kerrville, Philadelphia, and Strawberry, as well as the Lincoln Center Out of Door series in New York, among others. Some of the artists he's appeared in concert with include Arlo Guthrie, Janis Ian, Pete Seeger, Tim O'Brien, Ramblin' Jack Elliot, John Hartford, Greg Brown, Gillian Welch, Dick Gaughan, Tom Paxton, Ferron, Richie Havens, Patty Larkin, Steve Forbert, The Kingston Trio, and Christine Lavin. His influences include John Hartford, Mark Twain, Nic Jones, Bob Dylan, Lowell George, Jackson Browne, Steve Forbert, The Carter Family, Woody Guthrie, and David Massengill.
"He is an extroadinary talent in my opinion.
I would place him in the Dylan-Guthrie-Prine league without question.
His lyrics are drawn from the lives of everyday people and his acoustic guitar playing is quite amazing." ---BBC Belfast (Tony McAuley)
Deepest thanks to
Tim Wiles and the
National Baseball
Hall of Fame for all of their assistance and enthusiasm
For information and U.S. booking, contact: Chuck Brodsky
PO Box 16009
Asheville, NC 28816
ph: 828-299-3538 chuck@chuckbrodsky.com_no spam HINT: Remove "_no spam" from email address to send email.
For bookings in Ireland: Larry Roddy
ph: 045-864017
e-mail:
Chuck Brodsky - Songs recorded by other artists:
“Blow ‘em Away”
David Wilcox
Chuck Pyle
Barton & Sweeney
Roger Henderson
Roger Day
Fast Folk Live Revue at the Bottom Line, NY NY (Dave Van Ronk, David Massengill, Jack Hardy, Louise Taylor)
Frogwings (Allman Brothers Band offshoot)
Steve Kritzer
John Dunnigan
Justin Roth
“We Are Each Other's Angels”
Kathy Mattea (for the film Dear Mr. Goodlife)
Sara Hickman
Tom Payne
Lowry Olafson
David Lamotte
Gregg Cagno
David Roth
Janet O'Conner
"Take it out Back"
Sally Love and Gary Ferguson
Jack Williams
Be Bop Hoedown
"Our Gods"
Rodney Cordner
"On Christmas I Got Nothing"
Steve Key
“Home Away From Home Again”
Bill & Mary Muse
“Come Here’s & Been Here’s”
Rick Lee
Chris Chandler
“Lefty”
Tim Robinson (Fast Folk)
"How Beautiful She Looks"
Mike Cooper
"Ballad of Eddie Klepp"
Scat Springs
Festivals Where Chuck Has Played:
Vancouver Folk Music Festival - 2005
Tønder Festival (Denmark) - 2004, 2003, 2002
Shetland Folk Festival (Shetland Islands, Scotland) - 2004
Philadelphia Folk Festival (PA) - 2005, 1997, 1995, 1993
Lincoln Center Out Of Doors (New York, NY) - 2007, 2003, 2000
Cathedral Quarter Arts Festival (Belfast, Northern Ireland) - 2007
Calgary Folk Festival (AB) - 2004
Edmonton Folk Festival (AB) - 2009, 2005, 2002
Strawberry Music Festival (CA) - 1998
Winnipeg Folk Festival (MB) - 2003, 2001, 1999
Ottawa Folk Festival (ON) - 2005, 1999
Kerrville Folk Festival (TX) - 2008, 2004, 2002, 2001, 1999, 1998, 1996, 1995, 1993
Kerrville Wine & Music Festival (TX) - 1999
Stan Rogers Folk Festival (Canso, Nova Scotia) - 2008, 2006, 2004, 2003
Owen Sound Summerfolk (ON) - 2004, 1999
City Stages (Birmingham, AL) - 1998
High Sierra Music Festival (CA) - 1997, 1994, 1993
Wildflower Festival (Richardson, TX) - 1999, 1997, 1996
Home County Folk Festival (London, ON) - 1999
Riverplace Arts Festival (Greenville, SC) - 2001, 1998
Riverfest (Chatanooga, TN) - 1998
Fiddle & Bow Festival (Winston-Salem, NC) - 2000
Napa Valley Folk Festival (Napa, CA) - 1995, 1993
Folk Project Festival (NJ) - 1997
Oak Grove Festival (Staunton, VA) - 1997
San Francisco Free Folk Festival (CA) - 1987, 1986
Lake Eden Arts Festival (Asheville, NC) - 2005, 2004, 2000, 1997, 1996, 1995
Bele Cher (Asheville, NC) - 2007, 2002, 2001, 1999
Stewart Park Festival (Perth, ON) - 2000
Winterfolk Music Festival (Pagosa Springs, CO) - 2001
Electric City Folk Festival (Anderson, SC) - 2000
Woody Guthrie Folk Festival (Okema, OK) - 2002, 2000
Vancouver Island MusicFest (Courtenay BC) - 2008, 2004, 2001, 1998
