Weekend Song - Newton Faulkner
It’s been so cold this week that I have felt the air coming through the keyhole before I turned the handle before slipping out the door into the dark morning. But I’ve been warmed up by an addiction to this song since I first heard it this week.
There are songs that make you feel like what you are doing is more important than what it is. Or they make you realise the real importance of what you are doing. Songs that let you know you’re having time instead of spending it.
I love Newton Faulkner’s voice. And I love his name, like he’s man of science and letters. It’s like being called F. Hawking Fitzgerald.
Galileo Twain.
Archimedes Hemingway.
And with that going for him and a stunning cover of this Massive Attack classic, you’ve got to hand him at least a little something.
Love - love is a verb.
Love is a doing word.
Fearless on my breath.
Listen: Teardrop
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Related page
Weekend Song archive
November 17th, 2007 at 3:39 am
Newton Faulkner was a student of Eric Roche, who is perhaps my favorite modern-era acoustic guitarist. His arrangements and compositions really hit me close to home, and when he died I cried like a baby. While I like much of Newton’s work, and he has a brilliance of his own, and will probably far outshine his teacher in terms of popularity and commercial sales, I don’t find him as musical or listenable as his teacher was.
November 17th, 2007 at 9:45 am
Ed - that might be the best comment you’ve ever left. Newton Faulkner was a complete unknown to meas of last week, so I need to delve and I will check out Eric Roche on you sayso.
November 17th, 2007 at 6:36 pm
I’m a little biased because I was a loyal subscriber to Guitar Techniques for years and Eric had a regular column in it. We corresponded a few times via email. He always chose the most interesting pieces to demonstrate what it was he was trying to show. He did some awesome arrangements for songs that you’d never expect to hear played on solo acoustic- Smells Like Teen Spirit, Who Are You, ( I think he showed Townsend how
) , stuff you’d never expect . And it was all so listenable. Being familiar with his lessons and approach to music might have biased my opinion of his performances somewhat.
Players like Guthrie Govan and Martin Taylor were awed and amazed by him. How do you think I felt?
I hope Newton Faulkner goes on to a huge career. IT would be a nice legacy.
November 17th, 2007 at 9:15 pm
I should probably warn you that there’s a lot of loud clanging and banging, and my preference for his work is in the lesson plans and the quieter arrangements , like ‘Water is Wide’ and such.
November 19th, 2007 at 4:24 pm
ED!!!!! Holy crap - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S-tO6IFwBXI
November 20th, 2007 at 12:53 am
That’s one of those that’s a little too loud and clangy for my tastes, but it shows you a teeny bit of what he could do.
April 16th, 2008 at 12:16 am
Ed, thanks for cool words.
I like this very much
Love - love is a verb.
Love is a doing word.
Fearless on my breath.
:D
April 17th, 2008 at 5:51 pm
You’re Welcome, Bonsai Lover, whoever you may be;)