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HOT PRESS (Ireland)
August 14, 2002
HE COUNTS JULIET TURNER AS A FRIEND AND BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN AS A FAN - AND
NOW TROY CAMPBELL WANTS YOU TO DISCOVER HIM, TOO.
By Troy Keen
With a brand new album under his belt, Troy Campbell is preparing to do
what he can to bring his music to a wider audience. He is,
perhaps, best known over here for his opening supports with his friend
Juliet Turner. But despite this wide-ranging exposure and healthy
gig CD sales, he is little known to the world at large. All that
is likely to change with his latest album, his second solo release on
the respected Evangeline label in Europe and on his own M-Ray label in
the States. It has been produced by respected musician Gurf Morlix,
renowned as producer and guitarist for Lucinda Williams, a hard task
master who will only work with material he feels strong enough to pass
his stringent quality test.
Prior to his release, Campbell had been making music that few from the
childhood influences of classic country music that had his truck
driving father played and the soul music that his Korean mother listened
to. But growing up in comparative isolation, in Ohio, his first
major awakening came with punk and more speficially the music of
roots/punk band the True Believers when they played in his home state.
Their mainman Alejandro Escovedo told Campbell and his brother that if
they formed a band they could support them on their next visit.
They did and he did. Thus the Highwaymen were born. When the
Cash/Nelson/Kristofferson/Jennings supergroup emerged, and along with a
move to Austin, Texas, they became Loose Diamonds.
Loose Diamonds were a highly-respected band within the Austin community,
but feeling that they had achieved as much as they could, they split.
Following that, Troy Campbell recorded his first solo release with a
number of different musicians and producers, exploring a wide
range of textures in his music than before.
American Breakdown is a successful return to a more consolidated and
roots-oriented approach, with great success. But it is the
strength of the songs that makes it special, bolstered by Morlix's
gritty and appropriate production, that really makes it special.
Though working out of Austin, Campbell sees the world as his base.
"I like living in Austin," he says, "but my dream is to see the world
and connect with as many people as possible. I've made friends
with a lot of musicians and they give me their perspective on the
songwriting process. Its interesting to see how a writer in
Scandanavia differs from one in America, in terms of storytelling."
As to his own writing, he confesses he needs to impose deadlines on
himself to get results. "I will call someone up to see if they
want to go to the movies and in the half hour or so that I'm waiting for
them to pick me up I will write a song. I also write really well
when I'm driving. I take a tape player with me to record what I
felt." His writing is based on his perceptions of relationships,
often taking different perspectives to explain how he sees things or
equally how other people would view him.
"I tend to make a lot of assumptions and what they feel like to me,
where I stand, all of it. I tend to do that in relationships, too,
which is why maybe some of them don't last (laughs)."
His musical influences come from all over and like many musicians who
tend to get grouped under the American banner, he sees his work as a
distillation of a whole lot of things that work best under the tried and
trusted category of singer/songwriter.
One day I'd listen to Stiff Little Fingers and the next day I might
listen to Classic Rock. It just depends, like most people, on
moods."
Though he has been solo for a while he still has ambitions to have a
band again. "There's nothing like being in a band," he reflects.
"The companionship, being together and working on a common goal.
Having a nemesis that you can all share."
Meantime, his own ambitions are straightforward. "I'd be lying
though if I said that I dodn't want to sell as many records as
possible," he admits. "I want to connect with people. So if
the right deal came along, I would never dismiss working with a major
label. Its not about selling out, its about expressing yourself."
Expectations for the new record are high and one can only hope that this
time the timing is right for the talented singer and songwriter who
Bruce Springsteen describes as "a rare voice" when they met. Both
the album and the artist are worth checking out for those who concern
themselves with music that has depth and emotion and strong individual
talent.
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