Busker of the Day: Brian Belknap

Alongside the rainbow colored streets, under lovingly and artfully restored building facades, a voice filled with gravel and gut bucket blues, spills onto the sidewalks. Perched on a small stool, music accoutrements at his feet; banjo, accordion, guitar, harmonica; there sits a gentleman of sinew and force, a fedora hat slightly askew on his head, telling his stories and selling his songs; inviting us– the random passersby to find and lose ourselves at the same time. In that moment, one knows they are in the presence of a true artist.

Brian Belknap is a musician who has shared the stage with acts such as Calexico, Cake, Richard Buckner, Train and many others. What he discovered though, was that both the distance and the financial context of ‘traditional’ gigs—in clubs or otherwise, created a barrier to genuine human connection. Several years ago, he decided to bridge that gap between audience and artist, and began presenting his work on the world’s largest and most authentic stage; the street.

Under a sky of blue, on the corner of 18th & Castro, he sings, stomps and banters with his audience. There’s an undeniable pleasure in listening to a veteran musician do his stuff. The crowd that gathers around him grows. Amid the ooohhhs and awes, he converses jovially with spectators; those who drop a buck and those who don’t; those who can and those who can’t; those with beautiful Victorian homes on the hill and those with all their worldly possessions jammed into a pilfered Target shopping cart from across town. He engages with one and all in the same manner, and it’s not only his voice, but his generosity of spirit that fills the sidewalk under the multi-colored Pride flag.

His twelve track album, Cradle to Grave, is in a box at his feet for a mere ten bucks. On the cover, he plays an accordion while a busy street whirs behind him.

If at first listen, Cradle to Grave, doesn’t get your feet to tap and your fingers to dance, then nothing will. This is pure musicianship at its best. However, the musicianship is not the strongest aspect of the album; it is most definitely and quite simply, the words, themes and verses. Belknap relates stories that bubble with poignant, deep cutting lyrics that could work anywhere on the planet. It makes the album soar.

Belknap’s voice is raw and unaffected by tricks of technology. The endearing “Read ‘Em And Weep”, is an accordion rich love song; poetry over cotton candy.

‘Tracing the lines of your face with my finger/Wishing that there was a place I could bring you/I’ve carried crosses you’ll never forgive/I’ve got a heart that leaks like a sieve/Don’t you think you deserve better than this?’

A key track, ‘Makes Me Think’ is reminiscent of Leonard Cohen style songwriting, melancholy wrapped in wistful flashes of hindsight; loss and remembrance. It is the story of two friends sharing the simple joys of life, riding in an old car, drinking beer, then drugs, then death, then ‘poppies wilted in a water glass/they make me think of you.’

The title track, Cradle to Grave, will keep you listening slack jawed. Its message is expansive, its tone minimalist. Social commentary etched within blustery power of lyrics and voice.

‘Even the wind doesn’t know what to do/Blows out the sun then it paints the sky blue/Maybe the odds aren’t on our side/Maybe the lost just know where to hide.’

In a word, this is a ‘must have’ album. There is a universal power, a timeless magic locked within Americana/Roots music, and Belknap taps into it here. But Cradle to Grave is no retro gesture. It is a time capsule of songwriting wit, of musk and groove, of durable stories that remain relevant across distance and generations. But then, some things never go out of style, like the need for human connection, no matter what your circumstance in life…or the fedora hat sitting slightly askew on his head.

#buskers #Turntable