A singer/songwriter with a damn fine voice, a social conscience and a chip on his shoulder.

13 MP3 Songs
FOLK: Modern Folk, BLUES: Rockin' Blues



Details:
Is life nothing more than a series of problems? Of obstacles to overcome? Of always striving for the next âbest thingâ? According to Eben Brooks, the Acoustic Philosopher, it most certainly is not. âMusic,â he says, âis about feeling good, but itâs also about doing good and being good.â His songs may be about love, war, power, pride, or religion. But the one thing they have in common is that theyâre all geared toward helping us become better people. And thatâs what his albums, Just Me and My Guitar and Mirrors, are all about.
For instance, âPrinces, Friends, and Loversâ is, on the surface, about a man trying to win the love of a woman. But itâs also about how the choices we make in love can hurt us or heal us, and how a little self-examinationâperhaps with the help of a friendâcan help us understand the difference. âI wrote this song for a woman I was in love with,â he says, âwho was always falling in love with losers. Iâm sure everyone knows someone like that.â The songâs message is clear: when you âfall in loveâ with someone, it certainly helps if you actually like them first.
Another song, entitled âLightbringerâs Fall,â deals with the frustration of having lofty dreams in our youth, only to end up working at a dead-end job when we get older. âI was working at the worst job Iâd ever had, and it was making me completely miserable.â But instead of just wallowing in his misery, Eben chose to write about it. While âLightbringerâs Fallâ may not sound very positive in its outlook, its message is ultimately empowering: to change a bad situation, one must first recognize that one can change it. Once that happens, things can only get better.
Both of these songs tie in directly to the theme of Eben Brooksâ music, which is that it is always possible to take control of our own lives, our own relationships, our own destiniesâand the first step in taking control is recognizing that there is a problem. âToo often,â Eben says, âpeople blame their problems on anything but themselves. Itâs their bossesâ fault, or their spousesâ fault, or the governmentâs, or the mediaâs. They never take the time to figure out how they themselves are responsible for their situations.â And even though not all the protagonists in Eben Brooksâs songs realize that, we the listeners do, and we can recognize how each song is a step along that journey from self-delusion to self-fulfillment.
Just Me and My Guitar and Mirrors arenât just music. Theyâre acoustic philosophy. And acoustic philosophy is about both making good music and doing good thingsâand thereby becoming better human beings.