Don Conoscenti - Extremely Live at Eddie's attic

Don Conoscenti -  Extremely Live at Eddie's attic

Chicago native, Colorado-based singer-songwriter Don Conoscenti is a highly respected musician and songwriter.  He spent 10 years in Atlanta, Georgia, some of them working on his musical skills at Eddie's Attic, revered venue of many a fine singer songwriter, from Gretchen Peters to the Indigo Girls.   In December 2001, Conoscenti returned to Atlanta for two performances, neither of which he realised at the time, were being recorded.  The result is this 20 track CD, Extremely Live at Eddie's Attic and its magic lies in that as it wasn’t intentionally recorded it has a wonderfully relaxed, natural feel about it.
The CD opens with Into/ Tipi in Oklahoma and What Else Could I Do? inspired by some time spent one summer summer in a tipi in Oklahoma reading a biography of Crazy Horse.  The song looks at Crazy Horse and beyond.  I won’t spoil it by revealing the story, but quite simply, it is storytelling at its best, beautifully conjuring an image of the American West.

For the rest of the CD, Conoscenti, or Don Con, as he often refers to himself, effortlessly switches between guitar and banjo, showing his incredible musical talent.  His voice, throughout the CD is absolutely unique – prior to seeing him perform with Sam Baker I had never heard a voice quite like it. 

The other magical element to this CD is the introductions to his songs, the vignettes that set the scene for each story.  Usually these are omitted or cut short for live CDs, but for this one they are often several minutes long.  This has always been one of my favourite parts about seeing an artist perform live, so to get to hear a full set, with vignettes, is wonderful and makes the songs all the more meaningful to the listener.

This has fast become one of my favourites and I look forward to hearing more from Don Con and I hope, seeing him play some solo shows here in the UK.  Paradox of Grace concludes the CD, but I think the greatest paradox is that he is not much more well known.  I am however, confident that his time will come.