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Grammy-Winner Marc Cohn Is ‘Most Proud’ Of New Album

By John Voket

Making an indelible mark right out of the gate with his Grammy-winning debut single, “Walking in Memphis,” Marc Cohn’s follow-ups have never been what you might diplomatically call … expedient. But then again, crafting a song with universally definable piano syncopations, and lyrics that rock critic Dave Marsh calls “perfectly written narrative [that] takes into account the whole history of American music,” might inspire an artist to become a little introspective about what comes next.

Cohn has, in the ensuing decade and a half, produced a greatest hits album worth of singles. And he is well on the way to serving up a new batch of tasty cookies wrapped up in a relatively nondescript package he has temporarily dubbed #4.

He has been showcasing and sampling much of the material in intimate gatherings in recent months, treating his fans at small concert venues to soulful and heartfelt renditions of new songs like the post-Katrina homage to New Orleans, “Dance Back from the Grave,” “Giving Up the Ghost,” “I will be Your Witness,” “My Sanctuary,” and “Life Goes On.”

Mark Cohn will return to Connecticut twice in the coming weeks, performing at The Lincoln Theater in West Hartford on Friday, March 2, and will wrap up his late winter tour at The Ridgefield Playhouse, March 11. In between he’s also been invited to play Zankell Hall, “one of the smaller and nicer rooms,” at Carnegie Hall in New York City, March 8.

About a month ago, his website posted the happy news that #4 was essentially complete and getting shipped off to Los Angeles for mastering. At the same time, Cohn said he was going to work figuring out the best company to promote and market the record, promising to have it available by “spring or summer.”

Co-producing with Charlie Sexton, and featuring engineer Jim Scott who produced former Band founder Robbie Robertson’s solo work and Tom Petty’s Wildflowers, Cohn felt he was on the verge of creating something truly unique, with “…a different sound and feel,” than anything that has come before.

To spice up the stew already stocked with the prime ingredients of songs, primarily written in the months after being shot in the face during an attempted carjacking in Denver, Cohn surrounded himself with friends including guitarist extraordinaire Shane Fontaine, and the incomparable drumming of session god and former Traveling Wilbury Jim Keltner, who already worked with Cohn on The Rainy Season.

Benmont Tench, of Tom Petty’s Heartbreakers contributes keyboard work, David Byrne’s Tosca String Quartet appears on a couple of tracks, as do The Holmes Brothers, Shelby Lynne and Sly’s better half – Rose Stone. A few weeks back, The Newtown Bee sat down for an extended conversation with Marc Cohn to see if he would spill the beans and actually let us break the news of his new album’s actual title.

And while he was remiss to do that – “I don’t want to say it out loud, and then have it change,” – Cohn offered some deeper insight into his music, his life, and the long, long journey to completing his fourth studio album since his 1991 debut.

Newtown Bee: #4 – it’s so Peter Gabrielle-esque

Marc Cohn: Also a little too Chicago-esque, but I can tell you truthfully it won’t end up being called #4. I just need to hear the whole thing a few times once it’s completely mastered and sequenced, and I’ll come up with a name and folks can go out and look for it.

NB: So you’re coming into Connecticut for a couple of shows in the coming weeks, and then there’s a little detour to Carnegie Hall. How do you get a gig like that?

MC: It’s funny because about ten years ago I got invited to play at Carnegie Hall and I couldn’t open up a date in my calendar. But now there’s a series that WFUV is sponsoring in the new hall, Zenkell Hall, and they invited me and Roseanne Cash and several other songwriters to be part of that series.

NB: So what will we be seeing here in at the local shows, just you and Shane (Fontaine)?

MC: I was just talking to my management today, and it might end up being a full band.

NB: There’s an intuitive kind of telepathy going on between you and Shane, and sitting beside you and behind you at a recent show it’s not unlike seeing you finishing each other’s sentences, from a musical perspective…some real magic happening there…

MC: Thanks. I do feel really great about my partnership with Shane, especially on the road. There’s nights when we hit it, and it feels really, really great.

NB: Does working with a full band then, make things a little more constrained, than when you are just out there on your own with Shane?

MC: It can, depending on the song and the musician. For a few years I was working with a quartet which included Shane. Now the other two are out with Ray Lamontagne and I know very well why he chose them. They are extremely intuitive players who can be relied upon to be there if you decide to change something in the moment. So working with a full band can be restrictive, but I try to choose the right players who can open up the possibilities of your set list. In fact, there are a few songs that Shane and I wouldn’t try live because they can really only come across with a full rhythm section.

NB: And when you have some musicians who are out there every show saying, ‘go ahead, make my day,’ …how great is that?

MC: It’s fantastic. It’s what you are looking for…a band that makes you feel like you can do anything. For me, the only way I can survive on the road and be away from my family is to find a way to keep it alive every night.

NB: Getting back to the new album. You don’t just have Charlie Sexton participating as co-producer and playing a bunch of different instruments. But you have an incredibly diverse and flavorful cast of other characters pitching in as well.

MC: I think it only works so well because they are cast so well on the parts they are singing or playing. I was really familiar with Shelby (Lynne), and there was a song I knew I wanted a very specific sound, and there were only about two people I wanted to do it and Shelby was on the top of the list. So having never met her, my management got in touch with her and sent her the song, and she liked it and we ended up getting it together on one trip back to Los Angeles from Austin. I’m really glad Shelby decided to do it, because I really had a short-list of who would be capable of doing it.

NB: What about Rose Stone?

MC: I had no idea she was still singing and what she sounded like. But even though it was a leap of faith, she still sounded unbelievable. Again, I was looking for a specific sound, and Charlie called up T-Bone Burnett and asked him who might be available to do this rich Gospel thing.

NB: Radio hasn’t found a single from Marc Cohn to match “Walking in Memphis.” That being said, do you hear a single coming off the new album?

MC: We didn’t make that record with that as our primary motivation. But obviously if you have a song that goes the distance, it gives the rest a better shot of being heard. If one goes over, there actually may be two or three. But more than that, it’s the record I’m proudest of so far, it sounds more like me to me. It has a more cohesive feeling. Radio is such a hard thing for singer-songwriters so you never know.

NB: You mentioned the shooting three or four times during the live set I saw recently. Has the incident caused you to approach your craft and creativity in a new way now that you are in the unique minority of gunshot survivors? It’s certainly bought you a ton of cred with the gangsta rappers. I heard you are on 50-Cent’s speed dial…

MC: You didn’t really hear that…that’s pretty funny, I’m going to use that (laughing).

It’s just a year and a half ago that it happened. It certainly impacted a couple of songs on the record. I don’t think a few of these songs would have been written if that never happened. I would say for the most part, I don’t think I can say how it has impacted me creatively, except for just being inspired to write a certain kind of song about fate, or mortality. But it didn’t alter my process at all. At some point every major trauma that has happened in my life has found its way into a song.

Visit tickets.com or call 1-800-274-8587 for tickets and details about the West Hartford show. For information or tickets to the Ridgefield show, visit RidgefieldPlayhouse.org or call 203-438-5795.