Greg Greenway at The Kennebunk Coffeehouse on September 13, 2008

Chris O'Brien opened the show

Concert review by Bob McKillop

At left, Greg Greenway (photo by Shawn Henderson)

Greg Greenway (http://www.greggreenway.com/) loves to sing.  He builds his songs from the vocals on down. He writes lyrics that are meant to hang in the air like a jump shot before the release of the ball.  His instrumental accompaniment fits around the vocal part and highlights it without ever interfering.

He brought that love for singing, and that knack for songwriting, to The Kennebunk Coffeehouse on September 13.  Shawn Henderson and his dedicated crew of volunteers kicked off their tenth season with this folkie legend. 

 

Chris O’Brien opened the show with a wonderful set of passionate, exuberant, acoustic gems from his most recent album, “Lighthouse”. (Read a review of Chris's killer album on this website by clicking here!)

At left, Chris O'Brien (photo by Shawn Henderson)

Greenway’s prominent brow cast his deep-set, heavily-lidded eyes in dark shadows under the stage lighting.  His high forehead and knowing smile, combined with his completely black outfit, gave him the look some hip, post-apocaliptic genius from one of the Matrix movies.  Greenway is able make a strong connection with his audience despite an almost complete lack of eye contact.  He loves to get the audience to sing along with him, and is constantly coming to the front of the stage to listen for that collaboration from the house.

“My Good Name” was Greenway’s opening number. It’s the lead track from his 2006 release “Weightless”, and it documents a lifetime of socialization, school-of-hard-knocks educations, and close calls for his reputation.  It’s a view of the world that begins with common sense assumptions about how things should be, and ends with bewilderment at how it really is.

“They sent me off to school

Where I could talk and move around

I thought that they were joking

When they said ‘shut up, sit down’

I was mistaken

Barely escaped with my good name”

Immediately before the break in the program, Greenway gave us the title cut from his most recent album, “Standing on the Side of Love”.  This piano tune is a song that stands against bigotry of all kinds, but it was inspired by gay and lesbian activism.  It has the feel of a spiritual, with a great, potent refrain: “When they call my name, I’ll be standing on the side of love”.  It’s a powerful call to stand witness to what’s right and just, and it's a look at the stark and obvious truth that we are all basically the same. 

“I want to be there when the spaceship lands

And something crawls out that we don’t understand

That’s when we’ll all embrace the family of man

And the rest will be forgotten”

(Photo below by Shawn Henderson)

Late in the second set, Greenway told the story of how his song “Icarus” was his mother’s favorite, and he next played a sequal to that song, which he wrote for her, called “The Weight of Feathers”. It’s about our need to jump into the abyss of our dreams, and the darkness of our mistakes, without understanding how we burden ourselves with perceptions of reality that can drag us down if we let them.  The last verse is addressed to his mom, and expresses regret for past conflict, but also gratitude for providing him with a gift she could never give herself:  The ability to leap into the arms of a dream.

“All those years just to provide

for me, the thing you could never try

to jump the cliffs with a dream to fly

without knowing the weight of feathers”             

A live performance by Greg Greenway will lift you into a mood of inspiration and introspection.  He is a master musician, with both the guitar and the piano, but his voice is his instrument of choice.  When he is singing, he soars, and he brings the audience with him.  His songwriting delves into the parts of the heart that we humans don’t explore frequently enough.  It’s just a lot of fun.

Catch another great songwriting legend at The Kennebunk Coffeehouse on October 11, when Pierce Pettis comes to town.