In late August, a western Massachusetts record label hosted the latest in its ongoing songwriter showcase series, when local musicians perform songs by one well-known songwriter. This time, it was Paul Simon.
The packed audience at the Academy of Music in Northampton was not shy about singing along to the couple dozen Paul Simon tunes, including several from the Simon and Garfunkel era.
Some songs stuck close to the famous original versions, like "Mrs. Robinson," and others were interpreted with a bit more individual style and harmony, such as "Scarborough Fair."
The Northampton-based record label, Signature Sounds, has hosted this songwriter tribute series since 2018.
Past honorees have included Doc Watson, Willy Nelson, Dolly Parton, Gillian Welch, Townes Van Zandt and Merle Haggard.
“They've become such big cultural icons that you sort of lose track of the fact that they started as great songwriters,” said Jim Olsen, founder of Signature Sounds, who first came up with the tribute idea. “And it’s nice to get back to the seeds of what those artists are about.”
Olsen said western Massachusetts is known for valuing complex songwriting over radio hits. The tribute shows, which happen a few times a year, have become a central part of the local indie music scene, he said.
“Being a singer-songwriter can be kind of a lonely thing,” Olsen said. “You know, you're playing a solo show. You're just playing your songs. It's really fun to get out of your skin and perform songs by somebody else.”
To choose a songwriter to honor, Olsen works with a house band, known as the Deep River Ramblers, and they think about the artist’s repertoire, familiarity, musical flexibility — and the potential for local musicians to add their own flair.
“You want to make it your own,” said Easthampton's Pamela Means, who sang Paul Simon’s "Fifty Ways to Leave Your Lover" and "Slip Sliding Away" at the tribute show.
“I have to find out, how can I ingest this material and then spit it back out as myself while still honoring the original?” Means said.
While most of the western Mass. musicians usually write their own tunes, they said rallying around a famous songwriter is both humbling and inspiring.
Greenfield musician Tracy Grammar said just practicing the songs for the concert was likely to have an influence on her future work.
“So if I wrote something after doing a night like a Paul Simon tribute, I would probably sound a little Paul Simon-ish,” she said. “He would call out my inner poet. He would call out maybe a certain chord pattern that I wouldn't have done otherwise.”
The next songwriter tribute, planned for this fall, will feature the songs of Lucinda Williams.
