“Lifeline,” another song on the CD, has the line “If you come looking for a hard time, hard times ain’t hard to find,” which seems to sum up both Cope’s poison and its antidote. Sad, touching, unconventional, and eminently listenable, all of Cope’s music, especially the best of it, speaks to alienation, loss, love, and ultimately hope. And one of the CD's catchiest tunes, “Healing Hands,” is upbeat and jazzy with the words “You gave me daylight, you gave me sunlight” repeated several times.
The CD consists of eight new songs and second acoustic versions of “Lifeline” and "Keep Askin'" for a total of 10 tracks.
Cope started in the music business by donating songs to compilations by other artists, and he appeared in the 1990s on albums by rapper Basehead. His music has also been featured in a number of television series and films, including One Tree Hill, Scrubs, Criminal Minds, and Fracture, among many others. In a 2002 article The Washington Post (Greenwood was born in Memphis but lives in D.C.) called him “the city’s most soulful export since Marvin Gaye.”
With his combination of jazzy, bluesy guitar, rough lyrics with a hip hop tang, and mournful crooning, Cope is an unconventional musical voice in today’s landscape but one most definitely worth exploring.
Check out his official website for a free download.
Article comments
1 - Francie
I agree with everything you said Lisa about Clarence. You deduced his style well. I have been following him for about 2 years now. I think I heard him first on the radio or some such venue. I am MESMERIZED by his sound. He is truly amazing. I missed the Carnegie Hall show, but there is a great summary of it on you tube. Thanks for writing one of suprisingly FEW reviews of him out there.