Duke Greene
True Enough
© 2005 Duke Greene (634479754470)
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Pure. Catchy. Uplifting. Acoustic. Rock. Wash away that cloying, corporate aftertaste with these deliciously honest tunes.
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"The love child of Dave Matthews and Norah Jones, sent off to live with Stevie Wonder." - Jeremy Harder, Household Music
Duke Greene is not your average singer-songwriter.
For one thing, he can't seem to stick to one genre, effortlessly moving between laid-back jazzy folk grooves and hard-driving social justice rockers and hauntingly beautiful ballads and soaring acoustic anthems as though they were old friends from different cliques at some impossibly utopian high-school reunion.
For another, he doesn't pretend to know about anything other than himself. His songs are always autobiographical, usually literal, and never finished if he doesn't like the sound of 'em. He doesn't try to seem alienated, misunderstood, tortured, or starving. He's authentic. It's refreshing. For both parties, generally.
Duke released True Enough in April of 2005. The songs tell the story of a young, hopelessly romantic dreamer afraid to come home, but unable to go anywhere else. Since the album's release, Duke's been seen strumming around his native Grand Rapids, MI, rocking coffeehouses and private parties and putting off trying too hard until some perfect moment.
Around Superbowl Sunday 2008, he stumbled into the next best thing. Events conspired to shove Duke away from a three-year battle with addiction, and he started playing again. Started writing again. Started getting out and returning phone calls and shedding his hermit outfit once and for all.
Started work on his second album, One More, due out June 26. It's sharper, moodier, more mature. It's the story of a man at the end of his rope who decides to start knitting.
Duke Greene will never stop writing music. So now would be a very good time to start listening. You don't wanna fall behind on this journey.
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Duke Greene's "True Enough" for any audience
author: Gary StockTwo minutes into watching Duke Greene at his day gig -- as he talked my friend Amanda through a technical issue with tremendous humor and endlessly creative patter -- I said aloud to her, "Duke's ready for his own TV show." Only later did we realize Duke's ready for another audience, too. Tag: you're it. I'm a jazz arranger from way back -- I know bebop better than Boyz of any flavor. From that distance outta the pop scene, I can compare Duke Greene's energy only loosely to what I know of John Mayer -- maybe your repertoire names a closer match. But, Duke gives Mayer a run for his money in terms of lyrical authenticity, creative impulse, and rhythmic power. That's saying a lot. Sifting into the first cut, "Déjà Vu" (inexplicably replete with ALL the proper diacritics, in this day of sloppy album covers), you may think you've time warped. Greene delivers harmonic and vocal structures reminiscent of the once-out Cat Stevens / now-hip Yusuf Islam from his earliest acoustic outings. Before you giggle, remember That Cat launched a million wannabes who held down every coffeehouse in North America for most of the 1970's. We now may be witness to Greene's launch of a similar wave. Compositionally, these are not your father's ballads. They have structural depth, and where the lyrics go, the music itself leads and follows. Such integration signals Greene's capacity for keeping more than one thread alive. When these tunes inevitably are covered for the high end market -- Diana Krall would drown us all in Greene's "Rainsong," and Michael Franks would burn up "Firefly" as a bossa -- the level of detail in Greene's composition will offer endless handles to any ensemble, and to fabulous orchestration. With music this thoroughly well formed, Greene can bring others along: you as the audience today, and any sidemen he might offer a ride into a bright future. The deeply personal "Up to You" carries a polyrhythmic feel without the complexity that slick trick can demand on paper. Just TRY counting a fast straight eight through "Up to You," without falling off. Unless you're a solid drummer, Greene will have you counting odds and ends in three by the end of the bridge. The title tune -- True Enough -- comes down in an effortless five (playfully fifth on the album, too). Here you'll find the depth of energy Greene can generate, loading lyric drive as akin to hiphop as it is to acoustic balladry. He riffs and scats as though he feels that what is "True Enough" can be captured no further in words, even with his clarity of insight. Listening to Duke Greene from within my milieu, I thought frequently of early Al Jarreau. If you're a hypercritical listener, you'll note Greene's vocal finesse won't push Jarreau off any charts. But from an artistic perspective, the two cover the same ground. You know what Greene's singing about from the first beat, and he doesn't let down when the story goes dark, or brightens again. There's one big difference: Al Jarreau is heavily produced, and knows better than to go so naked anymore. But Duke Greene, refreshingly, sounds as though he's right across the room in full acoustic bloom. You hear exactly what he plays -- what he sings, what he says -- and you need nothing more. Except, of course, to pick up a hard copy of "True Enough" -- you'd hate to be left without your own original if the interweb runs out of bits!