Smart, memorable material put across with abundant personality.”
— Performing Songwriter Magazine
The right mix of weary-eyed cynicism and helpless hearted romanticism.”
— Birmingham News
Here is the Music Player. You need to installl flash player to show this cool thing!
I am so pleased to feature Craig Carothers as the first artist on The Troubadour Series Blog. Craig is one of my favorite people in the world and he is a wonderful friend. But, that’s not why he’s here. He is here – in the number one spot on my blog – because he is one of the best songwriters I have ever heard. On top of that, he is also one of my favorite performers, and his voice and guitar playing are superb. What’s not to love?
He has a wonderful sense of humor and writes songs that make me laugh each time I hear them. But he can also write songs that make me think or make me cry. He is quite simply a master at the craft of songwriting. Craig’s songs have been recorded by Trisha Yearwood, Kathy Mattea, Kate Markowitz, Andrea Zonn, Steve Seskin, Berkley Hart, and Peter, Paul and Mary.
The songs I have posted are some of my favorites, but it was difficult to choose. Little Hercules was covered by Trisha Yearwood and was the first song of Craig’s I ever heard. As soon as I heard it I began searching for more of his songs. Surprise, Surprise was written with frequent co-writer Randy Sharp. It is a very clever and well crafted song, but it also tells a complete story and is full of emotion. One Revolution was written with Sonny Tillis and I just love the idea of the song – how much the world can change in a day. I wanted to post the video of She Needs Me (written with Tony Haselden) because it is one of the ones that makes me laugh every single time I hear it. In fact, it may even get funnier each time I hear it. What I love about this video is that you get to watch Craig performing this song for an attentive and smart audience. It is great fun to watch how he guides them along and how well they follow – even singing along. Masterful performance.
I encourage you to learn more about Craig by clicking on his photo, which will take you to his website. If you want to download some songs, the iTunes link above will take you to Craig’s albums. And if you have the chance to hear Craig live, don’t miss it. And tell him I said, “true story!”
Craig changes his photo on Facebook and MySpace every day. I gathered the photos for a while and then made this little video to one of his songs.
