Jeff Monkman
What Makes It Real
© 2008 Jeff Monkman (796873081061)
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Just good songwriting with even better guitar work. An easy to listen to album that will stick to your iPod like gum on the bottom of your shoe.
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How about a little Neil Young infused with some Allman Brothers and a dash of Ray Lamontagne? Check out guitarist/songwriter Jeff Monkman's CD "What Makes It Real".
Bio:
My musical journey started at age five with a few guitar lessons and learning some old folk tunes. After graduating from the Berklee College of Music I set out to Nashville and joined the songwriting community. I was quickly dragged into the world of 'guitarist for hire' road work. This occupation soon got old and artistically very unrewarding.
So I started focusing on my writing as my priority in life. With the ultimate goal of having a collection of songs that are purely me and reflect my perspectives and life's experiences both musically and personally. I felt combining this approach with my guitar skills would yield some good results. So after a lot of growth as a writer and personally, I feel that I am now writing and recording music that is purely me. This album was written and recorded independently without a producer or engineer and free from time restraints. I believe that this approach has allowed the songs to develop more naturally.
I played almost all of the instruments on this Cd. Lots of Fender guitars, vintage amps, Martin copies, a cheap bass and vocal mic.
reviews
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What Makes It Real Jeff Monkman
author: Eric AldovinoLove this album! Jeff writes from a far away place wherein soul and heart are everything. From his amazing lyrics, right down to the brilliant melodies this album although contemporary in many ways sits quite comfortably between the great albums of yesteryear. The old saying is certainly true.. They don't make music the way they used to but someone forget to tell Jeff Monkman. He is stoking the fires of brilliant songwriting an art form long forgotten to many. I am listening to "Superstar" as I type this review and it just keeps getting better with every listen. Jeff's amazing guitar playing and his expression with that 6 string is evident in his work. I am moved to dust off my guitar and give it another shot... Great stuff and highly recommended. Thank You Jeff!
Jeff Monkman ~What makes it real
author: Eric AldovinoGreat example of the kind of heartfelt music that one seldom hears anymore. Jeff's music is a laden with wonderful lyrics, beautiful melodies and a spirit that was born and nurtured in a time when artist where artist and music was music. I find myself going right back to Jeff's music again and again. Jeff Monkman, delivers. Perfect 5 stars.
- author: KK
"What Makes It Real",I will make it simple,Jeff Monkman is a real talent.A real guitar virtuosa!His music is pure and refreshing at a time when most music being created,has suffered from the tragic disease and mighty influence of commercialism.Bravo to a truely unique and gifted song writter and musician.Hope to hear more from him in the future.
This IS real
author: Geno HaffnerAs someone that listens to a lot of music, I like to make up my own mind about an artist’s work. I like to read reviews, but I don’t allow people who get paid to write about another’s work to dictate my tastes. Even if I read a bad review of someone’s album, I still want to give it a listen to make up my own mind. I think that a lot of people probably feel the same way. So, in the interest of full disclosure, I have to tell you that I have known Jeff Monkman for almost 20 years. We graduated from Berklee College of Music at the same time, have played in bands together, have co-written a few songs , and were even room mates for a time. He isn’t paying me to write this, unless you consider giving me a copy of his cd a form of payment. What Makes It Real is basically a collection of protest songs, but it is also a musical self-portrait. Jeff isn’t a trust-fund hippie spouting sound-bites about the environment because it is the cool thing to do. He’s a regular guy using music to tell anyone who will listen how he feels about the war in Iraq, how we are treating our planet and how we should deal with each other. It is full of well-executed, laid back grooves, but this cd is far from mellow. Jeff is not the kind of cat to literally stand on a picket line shaking his fist while shouting insults at our current Vice-president, but he is the kind of cat to raise his voice in the way he knows best. On the mostly acoustic “The Sacred Tree”, “Seasons of Growing”, “Superstar”, and the title track, as well as the electric rockers “This is Home”, “A Hard Sell” and “The Greys”, he delivers pointed social commentary without being preachy. The protest songs are nicely tempered by the instrumentals “Down East Blues”, “In Unison” and “Puddle”, tone poems that bring to mind sitting around a campfire, the verdant beauty of the woods and the rocky Maine coast. With influences like Steve Gaines of Lynyrd Skynyrd, Eric Clapton, Neil Young, Kurt Kobain, and Pearl Jam, Jeff has developed his own sound, folksy, yet still able to rock hard when it’s called for. His guitar tone, both on acoustic and Fender Strat, is rich and warm. He isn’t a shredder, but he does have chops. He just leans more towards the B.B. King style of playing where less is more, where the right note played with feeling is more important than playing all of the notes really fast in hopes of hitting the right one. Like a dark Irish stout, Jeff’s voice is something of an acquired taste; not meant for mass consumption, but will definitely reward those who give it a try. It has elements of Neil Young, but also Alice Cooper. If you like J.J. Cale, Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid-era Dylan, and Neil Young, I think you will appreciate Jeff Monkman and his work.