{"id":801826,"date":"2019-11-28T18:07:29","date_gmt":"2019-11-29T01:07:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.summitdaily.com\/?p=375204"},"modified":"2019-11-28T18:07:29","modified_gmt":"2019-11-29T01:07:29","slug":"growing-ones-sound-gregory-alan-isakov-performs-in-breckenridge-thursday","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/local-news\/growing-ones-sound-gregory-alan-isakov-performs-in-breckenridge-thursday\/","title":{"rendered":"Growing one\u2019s sound: Gregory Alan Isakov performs in Breckenridge Thursday"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
Folk musician Gregory Alan Isakov will perform in Breckenridge on Thursday, Dec. 5. Isakov was recently nominated for a Grammy award for his latest album, \u201cEvening Machines.\u201d<\/strong>
Courtesy Israel Nebeker<\/em><\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

BRECKENRIDGE \u2014 According to Leonard Cohen, only some poems are worthy of a song.<\/p>\n

\u201cI always connected to that, because writing songs is such a different medium than anything,\u201d said musician Gregory Alan Isakov ahead of his Breckenridge performance next week. The concert with his five-piece band is the first of Breckenridge Music\u2019s new winter season, something that the organization hasn\u2019t done before.<\/p>\n

The singer-songwriter, who also has been told by his manager to release book of poems, began writing songs and poetry young even though he never connected with it in school. Years later, the process of writing \u2014 and finessing his work \u2014 occupies much of his time. He is frequently editing his pieces to get a set of phrases to fit one format or the other. <\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of times with songs, I\u2019m deleting,\u201d Isakov said. \u201cI\u2019m constantly taking words out of them and inserting more space musically, or just with nothing. I just feel like there\u2019s a little bit different of a ratio that you can get away.<\/p>\n

\u201cOnce in a while I\u2019ll get lucky and an instant song happens, but for the most part it\u2019s a lot of work to try to make something that feels concise and also that you\u2019re traveling somewhere in a piece of music.\u201d<\/p>\n

Isakov grew up in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, after his family emigrated from South Africa in 1986 for his father to start an electronic-engineering business. \u201cIt\u2019s trippy to think about, because he\u2019s younger than I am now when he moved my whole family from country to country,\u201d Isakov said. \u201cIt was a really intense time in South Africa with apartheid.\u201d<\/p>\n

No matter where he moved, music surrounded Isakov and his brothers from basement to basement, band to band. He\u2019s been touring since he was 16 and originally performed in punk and metal groups. While in high school, he played drums and saxophone for the jazz band. For a while he\u2019d only play the quieter songs he\u2019s known for on guitar for himself before and after shows.<\/p>\n

\u201cI never really wanted a teacher in school or anything for guitar,\u201d Isakov said. \u201cIt was just such private investigation into music in a different way for me.\u201d <\/p>\n

Isakov doesn\u2019t know specifically why he switched genres or decided to make the private music public. Rather, he figured it was time to embrace the tunes that naturally came to him. He slowly became less shy and nervous about the work when he would play gigs in small-town bars and coffee shops to pay for campsites across the northwest.<\/p>\n

Now based in Boulder, Isakov is in the midst of a tour highlighting 2018\u2019s \u201cEvening Machines,\u201d which was nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Folk Album in November. The name of his fourth album partly refers to the duality of Isakov\u2019s life \u2014 writing songs at night when he isn\u2019t too busy with his other passion, the earth.<\/p>\n

Balance in nature<\/strong><\/p>\n

When not performing, Isakov recharges his mind by tending to his farm outside Boulder. He\u2019s been interested in plants for a long time and studied soil science horticulture at Naropa University in the city.<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought that would be my whole life,\u201d Isakov said. \u201cI guess a lot of people go to school for things they aren\u2019t doing anymore, but I do both still and they\u2019re just kind of in different ways.\u201d<\/p>\n

About a third of an acre of Isakov\u2019s 6-acre farm is dedicated to growing for roughly 13 local restaurants in a French-intensive style. There are 50 60-foot beds for salad greens, root vegetables and flowers. His crops include fennel, beets, carrots, radishes, basil, kale, Swiss chard and lettuce. The growing season starts in March and wraps up in October, giving Isakov the winter to tour.<\/p>\n

It took awhile for Isakov to return to his roots and have a healthy balance between the two industries. \u201cFor a long time I was just saying yes to everything and it didn\u2019t matter if it was on the other side of the world or a summer festival or in a bowling alley or whatever it was,\u201d Isakov said, laughing. \u201cBut now I think, it\u2019s been amazing to actually go back to an ideal scenario for myself.\u201d<\/p>\n

While that schedule means a lot of hustling to afford him touring time and vice versa, he wouldn\u2019t have it any other way. Isakov is able to write more when he isn\u2019t on the road, taking advantage of the more relaxed days and drawing from his real-world experiences.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel like it\u2019s been a good way to prove to myself that it\u2019s possible to do more than one thing well, and really dig into it,\u201d Isakov said. \u201cI feel like we\u2019re such a specialized society and it\u2019s not the way I feel like, naturally, we are. We\u2019re capable of so many things.\u201d<\/p>\n

The farm is mainly run by Isakov. Friends and his girlfriend will help with washing the crops and delivering on harvest days. Seeing his bounty out in the world gives him just as much joy as releasing records.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m proud to grow food and it\u2019s a way for me to really connect with my soil and with the community in my small town,\u201d Isakov said. \u201cI feel stoked when I can bring my folks to a restaurant that I grow for. It feels really great.\u201d<\/p>\n

Both his land and the Colorado outdoors serve as a major inspiration for Isakov. The track \u201cSan Luis\u201d from his album \u201cEvening Machines\u201d relates to the state\u2019s San Luis Valley, home of Great San Dunes National Park and Preserve. The rural region is a common mental retreat for Isakov to catch up with his thoughts.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s like my one quiet spot because even my farm is a busy place and I live on the middle of nowhere,\u201d Isakov said. \u201cIt\u2019s such a special place for me and that landscape makes it into so much of my poems and songs.\u201d <\/p>\n

He shot the music video for the song on a whim with National Geographic photographers Keith Ladzinski and Andy Mann shortly after completing the tune.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt had ended up coming together really organically,\u201d Isakov said. \u201cThere\u2019s a clip of me in the van with a notebook and the ukulele, that\u2019s like when I wrote the song.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mesmerized by the harsh desert and other Colorado climes, they become characters in Isakov\u2019s work that\u2019s as integrated in him as the farming. He often wonders if he could survive on his own in the enthralling wildness as a vegetarian.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a very extreme climate and there\u2019s so much beauty that comes from that,\u201d Isakov said. \u201cHow giant and open it is, how cold it gets and how hot it gets and how high it is, how dry it can or flood. It\u2019s a very dramatic place to live and it\u2019s a marvel that we can all survive here.\u201d<\/p>\n

via:: Summit Daily<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Folk musician Gregory Alan Isakov will perform in Breckenridge on Thursday, Dec. 5. Isakov was recently nominated for a Grammy award for his latest album, \u201cEvening Machines.\u201dCourtesy Israel Nebeker BRECKENRIDGE \u2014 According to Leonard Cohen, only some poems are worthy of a song. \u201cI always connected to that, because writing songs is such a different […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[99],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-801826","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-local-news"},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-08-02 01:46:20","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSMT The Mountain","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/801826","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=801826"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/801826\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=801826"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=801826"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=801826"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}