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Clarence Greenwood (a.k.a Citizen Cope)

Ohhh and once he did! This vibe swept through the club catching all of us. It was like when you’re walking to the beach or up a mountain and at some point the breeze just hits you and it’s different. It’s not just another breeze, it’s top-of-the-mountain or fresh-from-the-sea breeze. It’s the kind of breeze that if corporate America got a hold of it, it would have a bottle of its own and a marketing campaign to go with it. “Fresh from the top of the mountain breeze” or whatever, point is this wasn’t just another band doing another show, this was something rare. The live show is always such a true barometer of talent and if you’re not on top of your game you can’t fake it. Citizen Cope didn’t fake anything.

From the get-go he kept us guessing, fusing rhythms and lyrical styles creating hypnotic hybrids; from chill acoustic, to rocking hip-hop, smooth reggae, rough Mississippi delta blues, and beatnik poet meets Latin dancer. Each song was an original, each one a work of art unto itself. The live mix was awesome, especially the bass, props go to their sound engineer. He mixed it with a strong deep thump but not so much that your internal organs vibrated with every note. And the weaving of each instrument with the other … it was seamless, intricately arranged, and played with love and genuine talent. You could tell the band was enjoying performing and letting the moment lead them. This show was alive, not some pre-packaged-cookie-cutter-mass-produced-minimal-effort thing. There is this rawness in Copes’ style, an authenticity, no holds bared, pure nakedness, and it draws you in like water to a sponge.

His fans were just shy of unbelievable, seriously, they were so into the show, it was hard to believe? If I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes I wouldn’t have believed it. So please don’t take my word for it, go see them for yourself. And it wasn’t some teeny-bopper boy band thing with girls screaming either, there were just as many guys singing along. It reminded me of watching Sesame Street back in pre-school when a good song would come on, like the alphabet. And all of us would jump up and start singing and dancing with that reckless abandon we have at 3 and seem to loose over time. And before you cynics think it was only because everyone was drunk, there was no stumbling drinking going on, well there was one stumbling drunk, but she wasn’t singing. No, these fans were singing because they knew every word of every song, and they resonated with them. They were singing from the heart. They were there to participate, not just as a change of scenery for their evening drinking. We had some help of course from Cope, he would pause during each song, at just the right moment, and give us a chance to wail, rhyme, or chant the lyrics for him, including us in the mix and giving us the chance to be part of the show. Giving us a chance to be part of something bigger than our selves, a chance to breathe that fresh breeze in and blow it out. Which is why I was so surprised when Chuck asked me who was playing? There wasn’t a person in there that wasn’t completely engaged with the show.

There was this one song in particular, “Hurricane Waters” and when Cope gave us the chance to sing, “I will carry you through the hurricane waters and I’ll remember you in the blue sky” I got one of those goose bumps all over type spiritual – wow – moments, singing along with a few hundred others. Something in that exchange of us singing with Cope transcended this plane of here and now. Something opened up and all that each of us were wrestling with at that moment was broken, every thought and problem - broken. And in that breaking, the music moves you out of your reality and into something else. Like we were all balancing on the edge of a cliff-hanger that they usually take you to commercial with. Except Cope bucked the system, and we never went to commercial. He didn’t go for that box, he stayed in the moment letting hope work through us, and we sang right through … a few times. It was during this song that Chuck and Casey caught the breeze and were swept up like the rest of us. First they were boppin’ their heads, then the rest of their bodies, soon after they were belting out the chorus too. Before the show was over Casey was getting a CD and waited in line to have Cope sign it, music to get them up 81. They were taking a detour to VA, why they stopped in Knoxville I’m still not sure? Except, that whole there are no coincidences thing came together as we talked after the show. We all needed our faith restored in humanity. And I needed to see that there are still a few people who can let go enough to leave their day-to-day lives and travel across the country for a whole summer going where the wind blows.

Citizen Cope’s music has this haunting aspect in that he’s in touch with this ache that we all have, that we all know and understand. There is a dichotomy to his songs, enchanting you as reality soaks in. Cope is an amazing musician; he reaches into the spirit of each song to weave the music and lyrics together, breathing life into it. In “Sideways” he’s singing about this feeling that won’t leave, and if you’ve ever been in love or thought you have been, it takes you right back there again. While you are in this place of heart ache the music is swelling like a wave as it glides towards you. The guitar he’s playing is like the sound of those millions of shimmering lights on the surface of the wave where the sun and the water meet, leaving you with a sense of peace. As the song crescendos you are hit with the memory of a broken heart but now you’re reliving it surrounded by shimmering lights, and a dope bass line. Listening to “Sideways”, you are aware of the fact that you are aching, but at the same time, that ache doesn’t necessarily have to be your sole reality. I mean you can be sick aching and still be full of joy, and that’s the magic of Cope’s music, he breathes hope into the reality of life.

So it’s been a few days and his music still travels with me, from home, to work, to car. I’d only heard one song before this show, “Son’s Gonna Rise” and couldn’t even wait until after work the next day to get the CD. “Bullet and a Target” is my favorite of the moment, and I’m still blown away by the fresh from the mountain breeze that I witnessed when I saw them live. It got me thinking though, that if I were a rock star I’d want to be Citizen Cope. I’d want fans that zealously sing, and want to engage with me, want to be part of something bigger than them selves. Fans that come to savor that live ‘never know what you’ll get’ experience. I’d want to have the courage and freedom to create deep from my heart and have it be received with enthusiasm. I’d want to create in a style that is pure, original, and genuine, completely authentic to me and not what a label exec says is ‘hot’ at the moment. And I’d want to have the skills to play and arrange multiple instruments, to write meaningful lyrics that I deliver with an original flow, style and rhythm all my own. And so, if I were a rock star I’d want to be Citizen Cope.

Oh, and Chuck and Casey, wherever you are, happy trails…

(Citizen Cope appears at the Bijou Theatre on Sept 27th. Tickets still available here.)

--Gretchen Paxton has been working in the music biz since she was 15 and has been a fan since she could hear. She is also a writer and an activist.