Dan Bern - Wasteland [mp3]
* This was not written in traditional such loud noise manner. Indeed, this is a simple concert preview exhibiting fairly mainstream journalistic tendencies. Please excuse the total sense of logic, I will be posting another entry within a few hours in accordance with the defined goals of this blog. For those in Columbia, SC, Dan Bern will be playing at White Mule on Sunday. Be there.
Dan Bern sounds like Bob Dylan. He is also of Jewish heritage like Bob Dylan, from the Midwest like Bob Dylan, sings songs titled “Talking X Blues” like Bob Dylan, has the letters D and B in his initials like Bob Dylan, possesses one X and one Y chromosome like Bob Dylan, etc. Dan Bern is not Bob Dylan.
When Dan Bern takes the stage at the White Mule, he will do so with a simple request, one that he made in the opening seconds of his debut album in the song ‘Jerusalem’: “Don’t ask what kind of music I’m gonna play tonight / Just stay awhile / Hear for yourself awhile / And if you must put me in a box / Make sure it’s a big box / With lots of windows.” In the intervening years since the release of his under-appreciated debut album Bern has managed to enlarge his box all on his own, irrespective of the allowances afforded by audiences and critics. Across 15 albums in 13 years, Bern has established himself as a witty lyricist with an avid interest in popular culture. The world in which his folk music resides is populated by all manner of celebrities and athletes behaving just as you might expect in your wildest dreams. Whether its a road trip to Alaska with Leonardo DiCaprio, a meditation on Tiger Woods’ huge balls, a visit with Ani DiFranco’s mom or the hypothetical marriage between Marilyn Monroe and Henry Miller, Bern weaves characters from the cosmos of Hollywood and beyond in and out of his songs with great comedic effect.
His pop culture acumen goes much deeper than simple parody though. Dan Bern is a cultural philosopher privy to some of the most fundamental truths underlying the everyday life of an American. His fascination with popular culture is simply an extension of his concern with the post-modern dirge that most people experience on a day-to-day basis. As a lyricist, Bern is genuinely concerned with the human condition and the American condition. His songs might make you laugh a lot, but they just as often will make you cry. Sometimes even, they will make you laugh with tears at the absurdity of our society and the utter hopelessness of our circumstances.
This is one area where the similarity to Bob Dylan rings most true. Just as Bob Dylan was an innovative artist with a penetrative understanding of how an individual interprets reality in the context of the broader society, so to does Dan Bern understand that there are forces outside of our singular orbit that have a great emotional impact. In particular, Bern shows a fascination with the wandering souls of the world. The growing population of transient American citizens can certainly relate to Bern when he says “And everyplace I go is one less place I could call home / And every girl I kiss, well I just cross her off my list / I don’t go far / I just go crazy.”
Dan Bern is well known for his live performance skills. A Dan Bern concert is a folk music and stand-up comic routine all for one low price. Where many musicians use on-stage banter to fill the time needed between songs to tune instruments and take a swig of beer, Bern tells long and invariably hilarious stories about touring the country. His performance at The White Mule will be the final stop on the southern leg of his tour following preceding performances in Decatur, Charlotte, Tampa and Fort Myers so you can be sure that he will get in a word or two about Southern culture before the night is over.
As was made clear already, Dan Bern is not Bob Dylan. The good news in that statement is that instead of Bob Dylan, we got an American original from the heartland with a keen eye for the absurdities of American life.
Dan Bern is a rhythm and blues band from Iowa. The featured song is from the album Dan Bern. Purchase the music at Amazon | Insound | eMusic.
