Album Notes

With much anticipation, Reuben Butchart releases his sophomore CD "Golden Boy." Co-produced with Noah Simon (Bill Frisell, Greta Gertler, Susan Tedeschi), Reuben's second full-length includes 12 new songs, including a duet with Antony of Antony & The Johnsons (Track 11).

Reuben Butchart (Boo-shárt) is a singer-songwriter whose clear and pure voice has garnered comparisons to Chet Baker and Stevie Wonder – by turns both soothingly delicate and triumphantly powerful. Blending together classic American pop and 70’s soul with today’s avant/indie influences, Reuben shapes the singer-songwriter form into a unique blend of soul-tinged chamber-pop.

Reuben’s sound creates a sweet sanctuary – a place for listeners to relax, reminisce, re-evaluate, and renew. From this world comes “Golden Boy,” Reuben's lushly orchestrated collection of alternative soul gems and mid-tempo art ballads that thematically harken back to his golden days by the golden gate in the golden state.

Growing up in San Francisco, Reuben studied at alternative music schools with a variety of eclectic and masterful musicians including Tom Constanten, the original keyboardist for the Grateful Dead.

A recipient of the Martin Luther King Jr Scholarship, Reuben studied classical composition and arranging in New York, where he immersed himself in the colorful East Village spectacle of do-it-yourself oddities and legendary avant-garde performers.

He entered the downtown scene as the original pianist for Antony and the Johnsons, while completing his own debut album “Dusk.” An eclectic blend of electronic samples, R&B flourishes, and strings, “Dusk” received the 2003 Outmusic award for Outstanding Debut Recording.