Folk-Country with Jazz overtones, written and performed by music-college theory/composition/guitarist grad with an excellent, soulful singing voice. A songwriter's songwriter, with lyrics that cut deep and resonate.

14 MP3 Songs
COUNTRY: Country Rock, FOLK: like Joni



Details:
Lyle Stephen Ford has been playing music in the Portland Area since the mid-eighties. Before that he played clubs and coffee houses in his native Southern California, and spent 3 years or so on the road stopping in places like Provo Utah, Twin Falls Idaho, Green River Wyoming and Denver Colorado. âI paid a lot of dues with my thumb, backpack, bedroll, and my guitars. â I learned a great deal about people back in those days, and especially about myself,â Ford says. Lyle studied music at Marylhurst University from 1980-1983 where he majored in music composition and theory. He has won numerous awards for his songwriting and performances throughout the Northwest and has garnered critical acclaim for his 2 CD releases âLyle Stephen Fordâ and âVoice of a Ghostâ. Ford was a finalist in a recent Billboard Song Contest with his song âBroken Heartsâ. In the January 18th 2001 issue of The Oregonian, music critic Marty Hughley wrote In his featured article in the newspaperâs âArts & Entertainmentâ section: âBeing up-to-the-minute is a short-lived virtue, if a virtue at all, and Ford seems the type who knows this so instinctively that heâs never given it a momentâs thought. Instead, heâs spent his time working with an earlier pop template; the sort . . . pioneered 30 years ago by James Taylor, Joni Mitchell, and Jackson Browne. The Vancouver singer/guitarist doesnât try to break new ground within this form; rather, he provides always-welcome evidence of its worth, crafting solidly heart-affirming songs, and delivering them with an evident commitment to qualityâ. âIâve been singing for as far back as I can remember,â Ford says, âbut Iâm no crooner. Iâm mostly concerned about putting together and performing the 4 basic building blocks of a song; rhythm, melody, harmony and lyrics. What excites me is when a song becomes more than the sum of its parts, where everything fits together organically and it transcends craft, form, formula or genre.â His first-grade teacher, Mrs. Nall, heard him singing âSixteen Tonsâ on the playground and asked him to sing it at a school assembly, A Capella. Ford obliged. âI really havenât been the same sinceâ, he says.
Ford is incontinent, homophobic, and believes that there are mice with gas masks on Pluto. There are rumors he has knifed several people in fits of rage and likes to âdress upâ like Eleanor Roosevelt when heâs in his manic stage. If you find him mumbling incoherently on stage, itâs because heâs heavily medicated. Ford is the father of two grown boys, Stephen and Scott, and a 10-year-old girl, Kristin Danielle, who just entered fourth grade. He also has 3 grandchlldren, Natalie, Nikolas, and Isabella.