Roger Greenawalt

Roger McEvoy Greenawalt
Background information
BornBerlin, Germany
GenresRock, Pop, Acoustic Rock, Reggae, Dance, Film/TV Scoring, Electronica, Sound Design
Occupation(s)Record Producer, Composer, Performer
Instrument(s)Ukulele, Bass, Guitar, Banjo, Mandolin, Pedal Steel, Lap Steel, Percussion, Programming, Piano
Years active1978–present
Websitethebeatlescompleteonukulele.com

Roger McEvoy Greenawalt is an American record producer and musician, known for carrying a ukulele at all times everywhere he goes. Greenawalt has worked with Iggy Pop, Rufus Wainwright, Nils Lofgren, The Pierces, Ben Kweller, Ric Ocasek, Branford Marsalis, Joe Strummer, Philip Glass and many others. A story on Greenawalt's discovery of Kweller appeared in The New Yorker on April 7, 1997.[1]

Background

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Greenawalt studied at Berklee College of Music in Boston from 1978-1980. In 1980 Greenawalt formed the "Sarcastic Post Punk No Wave Death Disco" band The Dark who, after gaining a loyal East Coast following, drew the interest of Ric Ocasek, lead singer and guitarist of The Cars. Ocasek produced The Dark's second EP, Darkworld, in 1982. A single, "Judy",[2] became a local hit in Boston.[3]

Over the last 30 years, Greenawalt has produced a wide variety of music, including records by bands such as Nils Lofgren, Ben Kweller, The Pierces, Eve's Plum, Anya Marina, Iggy Pop, Nellie McKay, Julian Velard and Eric Hutchinson. Stylistically he is known for his experimental approach to pop music and careful attention to lead vocals. Allison Pierce: "I credit Greenawalt with opening our minds to new possibilities of what our music could and should be."

Beatles Complete On Ukulele

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On December 8, 2004, Greenawalt first performed his Beatles Complete On Ukulele concert by playing all 185 original Beatles songs in one day on ukulele with 60 guest singers at Elizabeth Streb's SLAM Action Lab in Brooklyn, New York. In 2008, he did the same show again at Brooklyn's Spike Hill. Since then, Greenawalt has performed the marathon show three more times at Brooklyn Bowl and three years running at SXSW in Austin, Texas (2010,[4] 2011). Greenawalt performed an abridged version near San Francisco at The McEvoy Ranch Harvest Festival in November 2010. Performers at these various concerts have included Nellie McKay, The Naked Brothers Band, The Pierces, Adam Green, Ryan Miller of Guster, Jeremiah Birnbaum, and Freedy Johnston. Greenawalt has an accompanying web site Beatles Complete On Ukulele where he is rerecording original Beatles songs on ukulele. He releases a new track periodically with an original essay about the song.[citation needed]

Discography

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References

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  1. ^ Seabrook, John (April 7, 1997). "A profile of Greenawalt's role in the discovery of Ben Kweller". The New Yorker. Retrieved 2009-06-22.
  2. ^ Dark, The. "Judy". song. Retrieved 24 May 2011.
  3. ^ Belm (24 March 2009). "Living in This Darkworld". Belm Blog.
  4. ^ Carr, David (2010-03-19). "SXSW: The Beatles Meet the Ukulele". The New York Times. Retrieved 2011-05-20.
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