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David Mallett brings folk together with spoken word recordings for a unique show. |
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Mallett merges Thoreau with folk music
Rich Eldred
Banner Staff
After 30 years of singing to audiences around the world, David Mallett is thrilled to finally be able to just talk.
The Maine native’s 13th album is a spoken word CD, setting the 18th century words of Henry David Thoreau upon Mallett’s evocative instrumental tableau. Catch him doing both at First Encounter this weekend.
“People look at me mainly as a singer-songwriter,” Mallett says while traveling between Syracuse and Ithaca, N.Y., for a pair of shows. “I like the Thoreau thing because it gave me a chance to use my speaking voice. I used to be a theater major years ago in college and I’ve always wanted to use my voice as a tool.”
Of course, that’s what he’s been doing, really since age 10 when he formed a country band with his younger brother Neil. But after three decades in the music business something fresh is always great. “The Fable True” was released in 2007.
“Which was the 150th anniversary of Thoreau’s field trip to Maine,” Mallett says. “He made three journeys, and he wrote the book ‘The Maine Woods.’ I grew up over the hill from where he stopped. I had a lot of fun performing research and reading about different spots he stayed and spoke about. I edited out 22 stories that I thought could stand on their own. One was about fishing, one about riding the rapids in a bateau, one about camping in the woods in the 1850s. Each one conjured up a musical theme and I kept those as a background.
Mallett is a skilled wordsmith himself. He’s written dozens of songs, including the very popular ‘Garden Song’ (“inch by inch, row by row, gonna make this garden grow’) that’s been covered more than 150 times. The song can be heard on his website, www.davidMallett.com, where his latest albums also are available for purchase.
Mallett is a fifth-generation Mainer, but he says he still feels like trips to the Cape are like coming home.
“It’s nice to come back to Cape Cod. It’s been a while,” he says. “It’s just nice to see those people, to see that landscape, and to get there before summer. My wife’s family is from the Cape; they lived in Wellfleet a long time ago — Newcomb’s Beach — my wife is a Newcomb.”
What: Folk concert with David Mallett
When: Saturday, 8 p.m.
Where: First Encounter Coffee House, 220 Samoset Road, Eastham.
Tix: At the door at 7:30 p.m. $15.
For the complete text of this story see the April 24 Provincetown Banner.
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Apr 24th, 2008