I’ll go back to supporting local SA music soon, but in the meantime, give a listen to Ron Pope of NYC. (This is not the best video, but check out www.myspace.com/ronpopeny to hear more of his songs.):
Ron Pope aka the new Gavin DeGraw (who was the new Daniel Powter)
My love affair with Ron Pope started quite by chance. In an effort to make Myspace friends with every musical artist or act in New York, I went on an adding rampage, and local singer-songwriter, Ron Pope, was among my victims. Without even noticing this, I saw him on a gig guide for local muso spot, The Bitter End. A little slower than I would have liked, I put two and two together and cottoned on to this guy’s “acoustic/southern rock” music.
Thus far, Pope has still eluded me in the five weeks since I discovered his music. Well, perhaps not eluded – he was playing at Sullivan Hall two weeks ago and I couldn’t drag my ass out in the crazy NYC heat at the time (but that’s another story). After this, my sister told me that I may have lost the chance to ever see him live because he might up and move to California in the summer. No, no. Pope is born and bred NYC. He attended NYU and still lives and records music here in the area. I know this because, if you becoma a fan of his on Facebook, he will send you personal and detailed updates about where he and his music are at. (He will also generally send you some song lyrics, which is a little bit strange, but maybe he’s deep like that…)
Pope is, in fact, a gem of a singer-songwriter. He seems to channel reams of true emotion with every plink of his piano keys. 2005 had Daniel Powter, who soon went quiet and was replaced at the piano by Gavin DeGraw, and now finally, I believe Pope has come to the forefront of hipster pianists with shaggy hair and evocative songs about long-distance love.
His repertoire is, at this stage, somewhat limited, with only seven or eight songs available for repeated listening on his Myspace page. But, as his updates tell you, he is currently working on expanding this list. At least we can be glad he’s only giving us the good stuff and not slapping any old noise up there.
For a deeper look into Pope’s oh-so-emo aura, you can log on to his newly relaunched website at www.ronpopemusic.com. It’s all like slick and entertaining as flash files slide on and off your screen.
So here’s hoping that someday soon, I’ll be able to stop giving you so many details on Ron Pope’s life and actually see whether his music shapes up live. Watch this space…
2009 ⓒ MONICA DAVIES