Glen Templeton Revisited

(Today's word will be in red, and bold.)

The first time I ever heard the name, "Glen Templeton", was about a year ago, when he performed at the Bing Lounge.  I remember being totally blown away by this man's talent on stage; then being blown away again by how genuinely nice Glen is.

I wrote about the experience in a blog post a couple days later, mentioning at the time that I thought Glen had added a few more fans to his roster after that show.

Since that time Glen has had a couple of songs out to radio, his first single, "I Could Be The One", and his current single, "Sing That Song Again".

I know that both songs have gotten well deserved, extensive airplay on KUPL's overnights. For the most part however, Glen's name isn't on the tips of everyone's tongue quite yet; at least not in this area.

That's why this morning I was happy to see two of my friends on Facebook post about this talented young man.  Much like the review I wrote a year ago, both these ladies had high praise for Templeton's music and talent.  Aside from this, there was mention also of how kind Glen is.  One of my friends is a line dancer, and after seeing Glen perform that evening, was surprised to see him out on the dance floor, dancing along with the rest of the crowd.

To say the least, Glen Templeton made a huge, favorable impression on both these women, and probably a lot more people as well.  It's their posts on Facebook that had me remembering that same feeling when I met Glen Templeton; and being glad to hear he hasn't changed in the past year.  I was thinking it was time once again to help get this man's name out to the rest of the world.  He has an official website:  http://www.glentempleton.com/ ; as well as a Facebook page:  https://www.facebook.com/gtmusic ;  and Twitter account:  https://twitter.com/#!/GLENTEMPLETON.

If you haven't heard Glen Templeton yet, take the time to listen to his music, you won't be disappointed!

GUESS WHO?

In another blog I mentioned how I don’t like “cookie cutter” voices.  Those artists who are so generic you can’t tell one from the other.  They could be interchangeable on any song played on the radio, and I doubt anyone would know the difference.

I also said how I like voices that stand out. The minute you hear a song, even if you’ve never heard it before, you instantly know who’s singing.  To me, that makes the music on the radio much more interesting.  It adds flavor to what would otherwise be bland and boring.

Then there are the newer artists who’ve come on the scene lately.  It seems there are quite a few that sound like other, established artists.  The person most people think of first is Easton Corbin.

Easton has always been compared to George Strait; which he doesn’t like.  In some ways, I understand why he resents the comparison.  He’s a new artist who wants to make his career based on his own merits.  Yet, he keeps being compared to George Strait; those are big shoes to fill, especially as a new artist. 

On the other hand, in this case, I see it as a compliment to Easton also.  To me, George Strait seems to have a wide range of styles he plays off of.  So, if people are comparing Easton Corbin to George Strait, which style?  If it’s all of them, I see that as a good thing. It’s worked for George, why wouldn’t it work for Easton?  I’m not sure there will ever be another George Strait, but there are worse artists Easton Corbin could be compared to.

  Awhile back KUPL was playing a song, “If I Run”, by the Harters.  Until I looked the song up, I would have sworn it was Steel Magnolia.  Even though both acts are new to country music, Steel Magnolia is known a bit more than the Harters.  The nice exception to thinking the Harters and Steel Magnolia sound alike is, neither have that cookie cutter sound.

Then there’s Joey+Rory.  I’d heard music by them before, most notably, “Cheater, Cheater”.   They’re another duo without a generic sound.  However, the first few times I heard the song, “That’s Important to Me”, I thought the Judds had put out new music.  The song has the Judds “feel” to it, and Joey’s voice, (on this song at least), sounds like the Judds. I like that this song has that “familiar” sound to it; yet Joey+Rory still have their own style and sound.

On the subject of of acts sounding like others, but only on some songs, there’s the Dirt Drifters.  Every time I would hear “Something Better” on the radio, I thought it was Toby Keith.  I wondered why Toby had two songs out at the same time.  When I found out it was the Dirt Drifters, and that they were going to be in Portland, I HAD to see them.  I wanted to know firsthand whether all their songs sounded like Toby Keith, or just that one.  I was pleasantly surprised to find that the Dirt Drifters are a very talented band, with their own distinct sound.  They did say that others had thought their first single sounded like Toby Keith, and they were okay with that.  They took it as a compliment that people wanted to find out more about them, because of the comparison.

On a slightly different path of voice comparisons, there’s Glen Templeton.  This new country artist definitely has his own style and sound, and is great at what he does.  At one point in time though, Glen was the star in the traveling play about Conway Twitty’s life.  He had been personally chosen by Twitty’s family for the role, because he sounded so much like Conway.

 Right now, KUPL is playing a song by Bradley Gaskin called, “Mr. Bartender”.  The first time I heard it, I instantly thought of Travis Tritt in his early days.  Yet, while the song reminds me of Tritt, Gaskin actually does hold his own, with his own sound, on the song. 

And then there’s this year’s American Idol winner, Scotty McCreery.    McCreery definitely has his own style and voice, as evidenced by his single, “I Love You This Big”.  While on Idol though, his “signature” song was Josh Turner’s “Your Man”.  Scotty was a dead ringer for Josh Turner; which was especially noticeable when Turner showed up to sing the song with Scotty at McCreery’s homecoming concert for American Idol.

I think there will always be comparisons of groups and artists in all genres of music.  Whether it’s someone like Easton Corbin, who has that “voice” all the time; or it’s a band, like the Dirt Drifters, who just happen on one song to sound like another artist, the comparisons will always be there. 

Likewise, whether, like Corbin, artists resent the comparison, or like the Dirt Drifters, embrace it; there will always be both as long as there’s music in the world.

HAPPY HOURS & SOMBER MOMENTS

The evening of May 12^th was a time of mixed emotions for many KUPL listeners, including myself.

Things got started in the Bing Lounge at 5:30 with KUPL’s first “happy hour”.  Attendees were treated to free beer, wine and food, which was plentiful and excellent.

At 6 pm, a mini concert was provided by up and coming country artist Glen Templeton. I’d only heard Glen’s song once or twice on KUPL, and liked what I heard. 

Not only did Glen sing a number of songs, he told the stories behind them, and of his life in great detail.  You felt as though you’d known him your whole life just listening to him talk. 

Glen’s passion for what he does shines brighter than a neon sign at night.  You can just tell he’s eager to have people know about himself and his music.  At the same time, he seems to be a very humble person as well.  I say this because of some of the things he said while talking to the audience.  He was quick to introduce the two musicians with him, (Drew Lambert and Ronnie Paul), and to let everyone know that they’d all been friends for a long time.  When it came to the music, and what was to be released on a CD, I don’t think there was one time Glen ever said, “I”, “me”, or “my”, even though he’s a solo artist.  He always said, “we”, “us” or “our”, which was in reference to himself, Drew and Ronnie.

One of the interesting things I learned about Glen is that, for two years he played the part of Conway Twitty in the musical about Twitty’s life.  He then sang Conway’s “Goodbye Time”, almost dead on a ringer for Conway himself.

Don’t think Glen is getting by on sounding like someone else though; definitely not the case.  While he can sound like Conway, Glen has his own distinct voice, and knows how to use it, whether on a slow song, up-tempo, or in between, the guy can sing it. My favorite song of the evening was “Devil in the Mirror”.  There was just something about it that made me want to hear it again and again. 

Over all, I walked away from the Bing Lounge that evening a new fan of this man.  If he ever comes this way again, I’ll definitely be going to that show!

  

While things were winding down in the Bing Lounge, another KUPL event was getting ready to start a few blocks away in Pioneer Square.

There had been talk in the days since the death of Osama Bin Laden about how to deal with the situation.  The day of his death, KUPL opened up their phone lines to let listeners express how they felt. 

The discussion carried over to the “Simon in the Morning” show the next day.  It seemed to be a general consensus that while people were happy that Bin Laden was dead, we shouldn’t celebrate the fact.  Instead, we should celebrate those who helped bring him down, and those who gave their lives trying. 

From all the talk, feelings and emotions, it was decided that a candlelight vigil be held in honor of the 271 soldiers from Oregon and Washington who gave their lives over the past 10 years.

Walking into Pioneer Square, it wasn’t hard to tell where the vigil was to be held.  One corner of the square was set up with a KUPL tent, the KUPL truck and later a Portland City fire truck.  KUPL staff were out among the crowd passing out stickers for everyone to wear, and Rockstar had cans of their energy drink available to those wanting one. One moving piece on display was a portrait of a fallen soldier that had been painted by a woman.  The soldier had been her daughter’s fiancé, and he’d been killed overseas.

The vigil began at 7:30 pm with Scott Simon, Jolynn Winter and Earthquake Jake, from “Simon in the Morning”.  They told about how the vigil came to be and what events were planned for the evening.

The primary reason for the vigil was to read all 271 names of the soldiers who had died.  The reading would be done by various dignitaries from the area; including Lars Larson from KXL, Kacey Montoya from KOIN-TV, retired military personnel, Mrs. Oregon and others.

Music was also provided.  “Amazing Grace” done by a bagpipe group from Vancouver, Washington; and musician Kurt Van Meter doing an acapella version of “If You’re Reading This”, and an acoustic version of “Have You Forgotten”.

Before the reading, Scott Simon introduced a woman who’s with an organization known as “Blue Star Mothers”.  She had their flag with her, and all the details of it were explained to the crowd. 

A gentleman was also introduced and thanked for being the one to compile the list of soldiers’ names to be read.

One of the happier moments of the evening was the story of a family who knew soldiers who’d been in Afghanistan.  The topper of their evening had yet to happen.  After attending the vigil, they were heading to the airport to pick up their son who was returning from Afghanistan that night.

While the introductions were being done, the KUPL staff passed out candles to those in the crowd.  Then the morning team lit their candles, and those of the people in the front row.  Those people in turn lit the candles of those around them, and so on, until all the candles were lit. 

Once the candles were lit, Lars Larson stepped up to the mike, speaking about some personal experiences in his family, before beginning to read the names of the fallen soldiers.

Each person reading had a two page list with the name, and rank of each soldier, as well as where they were from.  When one person ended their list, another took the mike to begin their list.  This continued until all the names had been read.

In all, the entire ceremony took approximately an hour.  Talking with Scott Simon afterward, he expressed that he hoped they’d, (KUPL), done enough; that the vigil had helped to provide some closure for people.  I think it did, and I told Scott so.

Personally, I was amazed at how everything came together so well for being done in such a short amount of time.  Two weeks really isn’t a lot of time to put something like this together, yet the people at KUPL managed to do it, right down to the stickers I mentioned earlier. (It’s the picture at the start of this part of the blog.)  Just coming up with a design, and getting them made takes time.  To me, it was kind of like the icing on the cake…Not only did KUPL pull off a nice memorial to our fallen soldiers, they rallied together and got it done in a short time frame.

And so ended my evening of happy hours and somber moments.  Both were good for my soul.