Photo: Chris Parsons
CMJ NEW MUSIC WEEKLY REVIEW: TRAVELIN' SONGS
With the current surplus of singer/songwriters on the scene today, it's becoming more and more difficult for newcomers to stand apart from the crowd. Robert Wolf's Travelin' Songs makes an impact for many reasons. Opening with three songs performed with a band, he grabs your attention with his dynamic sense of melody, solid musicianship and a raspy voice loaded with emotion, especially on the guitar-laden "Just One Dance." Standing out among the rest are the brooding ballad "Twin Sister Serenade" and his ode to an old friend, "Lucky (Canine Heaven)," both of which are laid down solo and acoustic, allowing his stories of life and love to breathe and grow. Displaying a refined way with a lyric, Wolf mostly succeeds in steering clear of clichéd topics and employs a variety of folk and blues styles on Travelin' Songs, keeping your attention while establishing himself as a talent to watch. - Jim Caligiuri
NOVEMBER 3, 1994 NEWARK STAR-LEDGER
FOLKSINGER/SONGWRITER PLUGS IN AND TUNES UP ON THE INTERNET
BY JACKIE HERSHIPS
Folksinger/songwriter Rob Wolf is becoming a virtuoso on an instrument that hasn't been traditional for his art - the Internet. ''I want to look for connections and to look for other musicians or songwriters without having to pay for the phone calls to L.A.,'' said the burly 31-year-old from Millburn. ''This (Internet) is immediate contact. This is access to other musicians who are all pretty intelligent. And I like the sense of community. I really get the feeling that there are really nice people out there.''
Wolf is the author of more than 200 original songs, varying in style from what he called the ''total schmaltz'' of his earliest pieces, written at the age of 16, and ''Spirit of the Mansion,'' the alma mater he produced for Fairleigh Dickinson University during his undergraduate years there in 1982-85, to the folk/alternative songs he creates today. He's finding Internet in harmony with his music. ''The Internet, by definition, means 'in between nets,''' said Wolf, one large hand resting on a dungaree-clad knee. ''International means 'in between nations,' and Internet is in between networks. So Internet is this massive collection of computer networks all linked together all over the world.'' The wide-reaching capabilities of Internet are exhilarating to Wolf, who said he loves nothing more than to sit down at his computer to explore possibilities and look for adventure.
''There are just so many places to go,'' he said. Case in point: Wolf recently taught his first guitar lesson to a student he picked up in cyberspace - Steve Ruchelman, 16, of South Orange, who had posted a notice on a Prodigy bulletin board. And Wolf joined the Creative Musicians Coalition (CMC) after an Internet conversation with CMC president Ron Williams. ''That's what excites me about it,'' he said.''Every time you jump off, it goes so deep and it's so voluminous. It is not an information highway. It's an ocean.''
Wolf's professional background has given him the motivation he needed to take on Internet. The free-lance musician, who has a master of business administration degree from Fairleigh Dickinson and formerly was with the controller's accounting office at Nabisco Foods in Parsippany, described himself as a man whose mind is ''chaotic.'' ''But, that's why I love spread sheets,'' he continued. ''They reduce everything to two dimensions...You can add anything to the equation, press a button and see the results of your actions by changing a variable, very quickly. Spreadsheets are great. I love numbers!'' And he loves the listings on computer bulletin boards, he said. When he first started logging on, ''it was like 'Wow!''' he remembered. ''The messages started coming in: Things to see, advice on using equipment, study, philosophical discussions. One of my favorite threads was 'pursuing the dream' - people from all walks of life saying, 'No, you never have to get a job.' And other disagreeing, saying, 'There's no shame in having a job. Just do your poetry at night.' That can be pretty exciting. ''I actually got a good number of tapes out of cyberspace from posting messages with my E-mail address. And I found out about music companies, independent artists, independent labels and services trying to help others use the Internet. ''Think of it this way,'' he said. ''Each site on the Internet is like a town. And each town has so much in it: Each city has side streets and back streets. And on every street there's a house. And each house has a living room. And in the living room there's a shelf. And on the shelf there's this really neat knickknack. So every place you go, you can discover something new. It's menu driven, if you will. If you want, you can use a restaurant analogy to understand it - but it would be one big restaurant.''
Like most people who take to ''the net,'' Wolf is looking for things which interest him. He wants to get his music to people who would never hear it otherwise. He wants to meet writers, to get into collaborations, to get his music used in a movie or on TV, to find gigs, even to find agents and managers. ''They're out there and they're looking,'' he said. He also has been promoting his new CD, ''Travelin' Songs,'' by uploading his song ''Captivated'' to the Music Arts Forum, a special bulletin board for people interested in music and the arts. ''I actually may be reviewed in a number of music magazines all over the country, such as ProMotion Magazine, a monthly Pennsylvania-based magazine dealing with independent music, and Now Magazine, a bimonthly for the new music audience in the Winston, North Carolina area. ''I even saw a posting on Prodigy from an A&R (artist and repertoire) representative for Giant Records, a major label based in Los Angeles. It said 'send material to this address and it will be reviewed.' This was interesting because A&R people are notoriously closed and inaccessible. But this guy said, 'Mark it Prodigy. Send it. And I'll review it.' They may be looking for new people with abilities on computer to get a little more savvy from their artists.''
With the current surplus of singer/songwriters on the scene today, it's becoming more and more difficult for newcomers to stand apart from the crowd. Robert Wolf's Travelin' Songs makes an impact for many reasons. Opening with three songs performed with a band, he grabs your attention with his dynamic sense of melody, solid musicianship and a raspy voice loaded with emotion, especially on the guitar-laden "Just One Dance." Standing out among the rest are the brooding ballad "Twin Sister Serenade" and his ode to an old friend, "Lucky (Canine Heaven)," both of which are laid down solo and acoustic, allowing his stories of life and love to breathe and grow. Displaying a refined way with a lyric, Wolf mostly succeeds in steering clear of clichéd topics and employs a variety of folk and blues styles on Travelin' Songs, keeping your attention while establishing himself as a talent to watch. - Jim Caligiuri
NOVEMBER 3, 1994 NEWARK STAR-LEDGER
FOLKSINGER/SONGWRITER PLUGS IN AND TUNES UP ON THE INTERNET
BY JACKIE HERSHIPS
Folksinger/songwriter Rob Wolf is becoming a virtuoso on an instrument that hasn't been traditional for his art - the Internet. ''I want to look for connections and to look for other musicians or songwriters without having to pay for the phone calls to L.A.,'' said the burly 31-year-old from Millburn. ''This (Internet) is immediate contact. This is access to other musicians who are all pretty intelligent. And I like the sense of community. I really get the feeling that there are really nice people out there.''
Wolf is the author of more than 200 original songs, varying in style from what he called the ''total schmaltz'' of his earliest pieces, written at the age of 16, and ''Spirit of the Mansion,'' the alma mater he produced for Fairleigh Dickinson University during his undergraduate years there in 1982-85, to the folk/alternative songs he creates today. He's finding Internet in harmony with his music. ''The Internet, by definition, means 'in between nets,''' said Wolf, one large hand resting on a dungaree-clad knee. ''International means 'in between nations,' and Internet is in between networks. So Internet is this massive collection of computer networks all linked together all over the world.'' The wide-reaching capabilities of Internet are exhilarating to Wolf, who said he loves nothing more than to sit down at his computer to explore possibilities and look for adventure.
''There are just so many places to go,'' he said. Case in point: Wolf recently taught his first guitar lesson to a student he picked up in cyberspace - Steve Ruchelman, 16, of South Orange, who had posted a notice on a Prodigy bulletin board. And Wolf joined the Creative Musicians Coalition (CMC) after an Internet conversation with CMC president Ron Williams. ''That's what excites me about it,'' he said.''Every time you jump off, it goes so deep and it's so voluminous. It is not an information highway. It's an ocean.''
Wolf's professional background has given him the motivation he needed to take on Internet. The free-lance musician, who has a master of business administration degree from Fairleigh Dickinson and formerly was with the controller's accounting office at Nabisco Foods in Parsippany, described himself as a man whose mind is ''chaotic.'' ''But, that's why I love spread sheets,'' he continued. ''They reduce everything to two dimensions...You can add anything to the equation, press a button and see the results of your actions by changing a variable, very quickly. Spreadsheets are great. I love numbers!'' And he loves the listings on computer bulletin boards, he said. When he first started logging on, ''it was like 'Wow!''' he remembered. ''The messages started coming in: Things to see, advice on using equipment, study, philosophical discussions. One of my favorite threads was 'pursuing the dream' - people from all walks of life saying, 'No, you never have to get a job.' And other disagreeing, saying, 'There's no shame in having a job. Just do your poetry at night.' That can be pretty exciting. ''I actually got a good number of tapes out of cyberspace from posting messages with my E-mail address. And I found out about music companies, independent artists, independent labels and services trying to help others use the Internet. ''Think of it this way,'' he said. ''Each site on the Internet is like a town. And each town has so much in it: Each city has side streets and back streets. And on every street there's a house. And each house has a living room. And in the living room there's a shelf. And on the shelf there's this really neat knickknack. So every place you go, you can discover something new. It's menu driven, if you will. If you want, you can use a restaurant analogy to understand it - but it would be one big restaurant.''
Like most people who take to ''the net,'' Wolf is looking for things which interest him. He wants to get his music to people who would never hear it otherwise. He wants to meet writers, to get into collaborations, to get his music used in a movie or on TV, to find gigs, even to find agents and managers. ''They're out there and they're looking,'' he said. He also has been promoting his new CD, ''Travelin' Songs,'' by uploading his song ''Captivated'' to the Music Arts Forum, a special bulletin board for people interested in music and the arts. ''I actually may be reviewed in a number of music magazines all over the country, such as ProMotion Magazine, a monthly Pennsylvania-based magazine dealing with independent music, and Now Magazine, a bimonthly for the new music audience in the Winston, North Carolina area. ''I even saw a posting on Prodigy from an A&R (artist and repertoire) representative for Giant Records, a major label based in Los Angeles. It said 'send material to this address and it will be reviewed.' This was interesting because A&R people are notoriously closed and inaccessible. But this guy said, 'Mark it Prodigy. Send it. And I'll review it.' They may be looking for new people with abilities on computer to get a little more savvy from their artists.''