Chuck Brodsky brings his unique sound, one-of-a-kind stories, and a brand new CD to Sundilla on Friday, January 29. Showtime at the AUUF is 7:30; admission at the door is $15 ($12 for students), but $12 advance tickets are available at Spicer’s Music, Blooming Colors, and online at www.sundillamusic.com. Students can get in for just $12.
Chuck Brodsky is a storyteller, a songwriter, a troubadour, a modern day bard. His acoustic guitar and voice draw you in with genuine, down-to-earth warmth and quirky, rootsy, finely crafted songs. Chuck’s wit and irony, set to haunting melodies delivered over syncopated guitar strumming or sweet fingerpicking, tells stories of oddball and underdog characters. His songs celebrate the goodness in people, the eccentric, the holy, the profound, the courageous, the inspiring, the beautiful. They poke fun at what needs poking, and sometimes challenge what needs to be challenged. They’re sworn to tell the truth.
Born and raised in Philadelphia, and influenced by Bob Dylan, Woody Guthrie, Lowell George, John Hartford, Jackson Browne, Bruce Springsteen, Greg Brown, The Rolling Stones, and Nic Jones, Chuck began writing songs in a unique style of his own while paying homage to the traditions.
After hitch-hiking to San Francisco and performing weekly at the Tattoo Rose Café open mic, Chuck spent a few years singing for tips on the streets of Europe, and worked as a fruit picker back in the USA. He played in coffeehouses throughout the San Francisco Bay Area in the late 1980’s. Chuck won the “Emerging Songwriter Award” at the Napa Valley Folk Festival in 1992, and was warmly embraced at the Kerrville Folk Festival in Texas the following year. Over the past 20 years Chuck has performed at festivals and in concert all across the USA, Canada, Ireland, Denmark, England, Israel, Lithuania, Latvia, Wales, and the Shetland Islands of Scotland.
His albums have received worldwide critical acclaim, including his newest, Tell Tale Heart. Chuck’s 11th CD breaks new ground with some fresh sounds, taking on more of an “Americana” flavor combined impeccably with his clever, non-compromising, authentic to the bone lyrics.
Chuck’s passion for our National Pastime and its colorful, off-beat cast of characters is evident in two albums devoted entirely to Baseball tales. The first white man to play in the Negro Leagues. A pitcher who threw a no-hitter while hallucinating on LSD. A catcher who was also a spy during World War II. A baser-runner who cost his team the pennant by not touching a base. The Clown Prince of Baseball (Max Patkin). And Chuck’s favorite player from childhood getting booed by hometown fans.
Chuck has performed three times at the National Baseball Hall of Fame, and 18 of his celebrated Baseball story songs have been enshrined in the Hall’s sound recording library.
His beloved Philadelphia Phillies featured the song “Whitey & Harry” as well as an interview with Chuck in the documentary film about their legendary Hall of Fame player and broadcaster Richie Ashburn. Sony Pictures release, “Radio” (2003), included a cameo appearance by Chuck as well as his closing title track. “Moe Berg: The Song” can be heard in the PBS film “Jews and Baseball: An American Love Story” (2010). Kathy Mattea’s recording of his “We Are Each Other’s Angels” is the closing track for the film “Dear Mr. Goodlife” (1998). Eleven of Chuck’s songs appear in the motion picture “The Deposition” (2011). His song “Blow ‘em Away”, recorded by David Wilcox and many others, appears on the Christine Lavin produced “Laugh Tracks.”
Chuck Brodsky has become a Sundilla staple, one of those performers that we are asked to bring back again and again. Your wish is our command. Chuck Brodsky (and that brand new CD) returns to Sundilla on Friday, January 29. Showtime at the AUUF is 7:30; admission at the door is $15 (just $12 for students), but $12 advance tickets are available at Spicer’s Music, Blooming Colors, and online at www.sundillamusic.com. Student prices at the door are just $12. We’ll have free coffee, tea, water and food, and as always the audience is welcome to bring whatever food or beverage they prefer. For more information, go to www.sundillamusic.com.