DOUG KWARTLER: Silver Meteor

Doug Kwartler

Silver Meteor

© 2004 Doug Kwartler (801781816626)

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"Silver Meteor" is an act of faith. It has to be. There is such a quiet sense of urgency to this record, the second solo release by New York songwriter Doug Kwartler, that it needs to be rooted in the music that got us through - folk, country, rock and

notes

DOUG KWARTLER - SILVER METEOR -

Silver Meteor is an act of faith. It has to be. There is such a quiet sense of urgency to this record, the second solo release by New York songwriter Doug Kwartler, that it needs to be rooted in the music that got us through -- folk, country, rock and roll, and whatever else it has been cross-pollinated or categorized with; in other words, American roots music. The lineage of great voices we know - Woody Guthrie, Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Paul Simon, Bruce Springsteen, Lucinda Williams, Steve Earle, Jay Farrar - have used this music as a palette of vast expression. At times, even in these great careers, this power comes across with impatience and restlessness. In the finest instances though, these voices create documents that capture a moving moment in an artist's history. These cases -- Nebraska, Trace, Blood on the Tracks, Car Wheels on a Gravel Road -- are steeped faithfully in American roots music as if there's no time to stray while speaking breathlessly in unbelievable spaces, as if there are no words to spare.

Silver Meteor slips into this line of recordings. Whereas Halfway House, Kwartler's previous record, is a strong and broad-stroked debut, his second release is a focused, rock-solid litany of great American songs. There is the deep-rooted though updated American imagery, (trains, parkways, rivers and cars,) planted along the way to discover, enjoy and feel in your blood. Within the layers there is wariness of what lies ahead mixed with a desperate sense of hope and purpose being clung to at all costs. Here, you'll be confronted with the challenge to listen hard.

And so, in "Nothing," the record's fourth track, while there is a fearsome near-loss, ("I thought I lost you today,") a melancholy musical celebration fills speechless gasps with sweet-and-sour, focused guitar solos. Doug even discovers (and then demonstrates) his faith that a great song shows many colors. Thus, a hushed second version of "Nothing" is placed as if with careful deliberation, beyond the conclusion of the ten primary tracks.

There is faith in the power of the song itself. "Wilmington" insists on it. "Do as I command without a fight," Kwartler shouts at the city that he's turned to for inspiration in a song that parallels the very craft of songwriting with the struggles of a committed relationship. An artist's work about their craft is a line in the sand, a definition, seen on the upward arc of a career and when Kwartler sings, "Let the day live on in sin," it lays down the central tension in Silver Meteor -- fight and sometimes struggle to live and remember well, (and faithfully,) but leave what is beyond control as lessons in history.

Desperate times call for desperate measures in "I Need Your Darkness," when the singer asks his lover to, "show me your bullets and I'll show you my guns," looking for her to reveal all in exchange for him doing the same in an ultimate display of trust. "Nashville," the rollicking call to the road and "82nd Street," a nostalgic dirge on Brooklyn also populate the inherent landscape. While these places are important signposts, the acute observations on relationships and personal insights give this journey a higher power and bring Silver Meteor to a level of accomplishment too often missed in a fragmented and confused pop-music world.

"There are no subtle changes, what is is what will be," comes on as a credo in "Come Tomorrow (Caroline.)" That the writer relies on rock's favorite muse, Caroline, also shows what was is what is. Discover the title track's revision of American workingman mythology as a powerful love story that carries you all the way through to "Beautiful Commotion," the closing ballad that brings grand metaphor to intimate communication, stripped and acoustic. As if that's all that matters.

And then ending on a true bonus, what happens when this music gets worked up in front of a roomful of people? A live recording of "Mars," from Halfway House, complete with hoots and beer-bottle rattling. It goes by fast, which leaves one longing to disappear in Silver Meteor many times over.

DOUG KWARTLER - BIOGRAPHY

Doug Kwartler's musical upbringing was filled with the enduring storytelling of Bruce Springsteen, the in-your-face folk-rock of Tom Petty and the rockabilly twang of Brian Setzer. He began playing guitar at age 15. Initially influenced by Brian Setzer, a fellow Long Islander, Kwartler soon bought his first guitar - a 1963 Gretsch Atkins Nashville Model. He quickly learned the rockabilly riffs of Perkins, Cochran, Vincent and of course, Setzer, although he admits, "not nearly in the same universe as those guys."

Soon, other guitarists like Keith Richards and Pete Townshend would influence his style. It was their influence that made Doug want to perform on stage. At that time however, his dream was only to become a great guitar player. All that changed when in 1984, Doug's older brother brought home Born In The USA. "Springsteen has been the most influential artist on me as a musician. He made me want to be a songwriter. "Additional influences Doug sites are Tom Petty, Dylan, Johnny Cash, Jay Farrar, Jackson Browne and Woody Guthrie.

In addition to being a songwriter and performer, Doug also records and produces albums for other artists in his Long Island, NY, Hollow Body Studios. Artists such as: Austin Kuebler, Alli Collis, Stuart Markus, The Repercussions, Dave Isaacs and have all recorded there.

For 5 years, Kwartler led the roots-rock band, Foundry. The band released two albums, World Rattles 'Round, and Give Me A Reason To Live, both receiving critical acclaim while selling internationally.

Halfway House, Kwartler's 2003 solo debut, received a host of 4 - star reviews and airplay on many triple A and Americana radio stations. The Roots Music Report called Halfway House, "...an ingeniously compiled cd..." with AltCountryTab.com calling it "...quite brilliant..." The noted Alt.Country site Freight Train Boogie.com said, "...this is a wonderful cd..." that "...hits the mark on most every song." Ctrlaltcountry.be called Halfway House, "...one hell of a roots-rock record."

Now with even more focus and purpose, on Silver Meteor, his soon to be released follow up, Kwartler continues to break open and delve into many of life's most defining moments, putting them into songs with lasting melodies and genuine lyrics. Drawing from his own experiences, he has created records that are both fresh and authentic, with music rooted in history and with stories and struggles that are a part of all of our lives.

Look for Kwartler to tour in support of Silver Meteor through the fall, 2004.

reviews

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  • A really great record
    author: Lex from Holland

    This is a really great record. The songs Nothing and 82nd street are classics !!!! www.altcountry.nl thanks for drawing my attention to this cd.

  • author: Tony Tedeschi

    Doug Kartler is a wonderful singer and musician and, with Silver Meteor, he further enhances his creds as a master songwriter as well. The album in general and the title track in particular are nothing short of brilliant. If you want to get away from the pap produced by the major labels and enjoy something truly worth your time and money, Silver Meteor will definitely put you on a track whence there is no turning back.

  • The songs on Silver Meteor, all written by Kwartler, are country-breathed and as
    author: Lance Looper - Pop Culture Press - Austin, Tx

    Silver Meteor is Doug Kwartler’s second solo release and sticks close to his alternative country roots. Kwartler paints incredibly vivid pictures of the American landscape, and the imagery created is rich and meaningful. Lyrics on “Come on City Save My Soul (Wilmington)” create a sense of mysterious hope such as when you return home after being away for too long. The songs on Silver Meteor, all written by Kwartler, are country-breathed and as honest as they are haunting. The lyrics are fantastic. “Show me your bullets and I’ll show you my gun,” from I Need Your Darkness is dazzling in its effectiveness. The playing on Silver Meteor is just as evolved as the songwriting. Kwartler, who has been playing guitar since he was 15, does a masterful job escorting the music through the songs and shows a knack for creating drama in the music; a pause here and there to allow the piano or fiddle to come through sets the dramatic tone of the record without weighing it down.

  • One of the 10 Best CD's of 2004
    author: Niek De Boer

    Niek De Boer of AltCountry.nl picks "Silver Meteor" as one of the 10 Best Cd's of 2004!

  • I think that Doug Kwartler is on a roll here. The tapestry of the Americana land
    author: Don Grant - Freight Train Boogie

    I think that Doug Kwartler is on a roll here. The tapestry of the Americana landscape that he started to weave in Halfway House is expanded in this, his second solo outing. This New Yorker reminds me of John Mellencamp in his country moments, a bit of early Dylan, (lyrically, not vocally!), and, when his subject matter is the road and movement, as in the Mex-flavoured title track, it's an emotional combination of Simon & Garfunkel's “America” and Matt Minglewood's “Swing Low Sweet Cadillac”. You can't judge a book by its cover, and you can't judge an artist by the age evidenced by his/her photograph. Kwartler's depth of perception and knack for getting ‘inside' the mundane and the everyday amazes me in one who looks so young. That capacity usually only arrives after kicking one's ass around the block several times. He has been compared to Ryan Adams, and on the bonus live track, “Mars”, I can see the correlation, but, I think his observations run a mite deeper than Adams' do. Who says you can't find good Americana in the megapolitan sprawl of urban America? It's not a state of geography so much as a state of mind.

  • "The message is clear: look out Ryan and co. If there is any justice then Silver
    author: Michael Mee - Americana-UK

    The message is clear: look out Ryan and co. If there is any justice then Silver Meteor should do for Doug Kwartler what Gold did for Ryan Adams and The Art Of Self Destruction did for Jesse Malin. Whether it catapults Kwartler into the national limelight may be in the lap of the gods but Silver Meteor sends out a clear and unequivocal message, there's a new kid in town. The comparison with Adams and Malin is reinforced by the album's opening track Disappear, it has the same rock undercurrent and aggressive attitude that is the trademark of both. Although this is Kwartler's second solo release, Halfway House being the first, it has an unsophisticated impatience, more reminiscent of the debut of a musician in a hurry. Maybe that's as much to do with his coming from New York, Kwartler is a street smart performer and his songs have dark places and shady characters. Writers like Kwartler makes an instant connection, his songs are so perceptive that there's no barrier to cross to get to the point, Wilmington is about as up close and personal as it can get without Kwartler being in your living room. If you buy into singer songwriters, and for the life of me I can't imagine why you wouldn't, then tracks like Nothing become irresistible. Wonderfully gentle guitars mix country and blues into a melody that allows Kwartler to float the song into your consciousness. As it is with the very best, Doug Kwartler is as skilled portraying the bottomless beauty of I Need Your Darkness or 82nd Street, or the very much harder Come Tomorrow. The reason for that is that everything on Silver Meteor is rooted in reality. Nothing happens because it is contrived or staged, the music flows naturally and because it's right. There's also a super little live cameo at the end with a reprise of Nothing and an extra track Mars. Kwartler on record is a treat, if these two live tracks are indicative, then he's better when you can see the whites of his eyes.

  • Kwartler creates "...his own engaging sound without retreading well-worn musical
    author: Ryan Cormier, The News Journal

    Listening to his songs, including "Wilmington," you can tell that Kwartler grew up listening to artists like Bruce Springsteen and Tom Petty. Just like his core influences, he too can combine rock with country and folk music, creating his own engaging sound without retreading well-worn musical paths.

  • "Another fine alt.country / roots rock record from Doug Kwartler!"
    author: Theo Oldenburg, Alt. Country Cooking

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