CRAIG BICKHARDT
Live At Sellersville Theater
Stone Barn 1006

www.craigbickhardt.com
 

Every time I present Philadelphia-based master songwriter Craig Bickhardt, I introduce him by pondering how it happened that hit songwriters including Janis Ian, POCO, Ray Charles, Johnny Cash and Willie Nelson came to record his songs. Not surprisingly, the answer is in the music, as is proved by this live recording.

For much of his career, Craig was a professional Nashville songwriter. That pedigree shows in the craft, the style, and the themes of these songs. In Nashville style, the songs’ messages are simple and upbeat: How the “Real Game” of baseball is played by kids in vacant lots with hand-me-down gloves; how sweet the simple pleasures are and how long that takes to realize (“A Day Well Spent”); a long-married couple wondering “where did we go right” (“Donald and June”). The tunes are catchy, lively, and depend mostly on major chords. The lyrics are direct and conversational (one wry favorite: “He offered [his daughter] a thousand to elope. She said nope.”) All are delivered in Craig’s honey/whiskey tenor and are beautifully performed live by a quartet of players featuring cello and lap steel. These are not the songs that were covered by big-name artists – which must mean they are the songs that the songwriter himself most cherishes. Bet you will, too.

— Scott Sheldon