Charles Murray examines the remains of 21st Century, post-modern culture for signs of absurdity, irony and hypocrisy-listen with open ears, an open mind, and ready for a chuckle.

10 MP3 Songs
FOLK: Political, POP: Quirky



Details:
Welcome to Charles Murray's sacred cow barbecue resplendent with dense imagery, riotous humor, and laser chainsaw massacres, replete with thoughtful, yet artfully decadent, surprises on every cut. A guitar fingerboard master who salutes the chaos beneath a seasoned cynic's arched eyebrow through songs of cinematic opulence layered in a gorgeous harmonic sponge cake of reality cookies, wild-eyed flights of fancy, and futuristic flirtations with the great American songsmiths from Stephen Foster to the present day.

Charles relies on his background as a jazz guitarist and conservatory trained composer to create songs that are musically rich, inventive and run the gamut of American popular music styles from country, to blues, to rock, to Broadway, to jazz, to folk, with even an occasional excursion into dodecaphonia. An evening with Murray compels the listener to sit back with open ears and open mind, but always prepared for a chuckle.

Topically his material touches on the eating disorders of the Bush family (What is it about these Bushes?), America's obsession with junk food (Fast, Fast, Fast, Fast Food), the high-tech meltdown (dot com blues), corporate greed (Who got rich, when I got robbed?), the possibility (er, should we now say certainty) of war with Iraq (Back to Iraq), the post 9/11 erosion of civil liberties (It Can't Happen Here), the hunt for bin Laden (Osama's Pajamas), Martha Stewart's legal travails (Perfect Martha), the open mike experience (Down at the Open Mike), the ethical challenges of bioengineering (Stem Cell Clone), America's litigious streak (Sue You Later), the zany world of tabloid journalism (I Read it in the Paper, so it Must be True!) and more.

Charles' latest compact disc, "What's Next?" was produced in cooperation with Colorado's HapiSkratch Records and was released in September 2004. If you liked "Ordinary Times", you will love "What's Next?". "What's Next?" will be available from CDBaby by mid-October 2004.