Frets Magazine Dan Fogelberg Fogelberg’s music doesn’t need to be rammed down the public’s throat; his audience waits with open arms. In a career that has spanned just over a decade, Fogelberg has recorded ten LPs -- eight of which have earned platinum status (over 1,000,000 copies sold.) The other two are gold (500,000 copies sold). In those grooves, the listener can find everything from crisp, hard-driving rock to mellow acoustic ballads and instrumentals. Virtually all of that material is from Fogelberg’s prolific pen. A good share of the instrumentals (guitars and keyboards) and most of the vocals (lead and harmonies) on those records are also the work of this 33 year old master musician. It seems odd when a man in this early thirties is referred to professionally as “enduring” and “long-lived”; but such descriptions are appropriate. Because Fogelberg has always insisted upon having a free hand as an artist, he’s been able to stay in the mainstream without drowning in it. That has kept things interesting for everybody. Just when you think you know what the next Fogelberg album will sound like, he throws you a change-up. In the late ‘70s, with the entire music industry in retreat, Fogelberg was moving forward. His “experimental” Twin Sons Of Different Mothers co-featured flautist Tim Weisberg, and it included material as diverse as a bossa nova classical guitar/flute duet (“Guitar Etude #3”) and the rocking hit single “Power Of Gold.” Fogelberg crowned the early ‘80s with a diamond: “Language Of Love,” a straight-shooting blast of rock truth serum. He made a video. The press had him pinned down at last; “Dan Fogelberg: rock ‘n roll star.” But then Dan got an idea. Why not put together an acoustic supergroup for a new album? Before long, the basic tracks for the LP High Country Snows were recorded. An acoustic, spring/summer 1985 tour began, with the core of the High Country stellar lineup all aboard: Fogelberg (guitar and vocals); David Grisman (mandolin); Jerry Douglas (dobro); Herb Pedersen (banjo and vocals); Chris Hillman (bass and vocals); Al Perkins (guitar and pedal steel); and the dean of LA session drummers, Russ Kunkel. Any recording company executive would have told Fogelberg he was making a mistake by going acoustic, that the market was just too thin. It’s a good thing he isn’t subject to the edicts of such sage advisors. High Country Snows already has gone gold, and is well on its way to platinum status. The phenomenal success of this acoustic album and tour gives rise to some very interesting questions: How thin is the acoustic market, really? Do the major labels really have a grip on what the public wants to hear? What could be achieved for art’s sake if a fraction of the money now spent on promoting new wave or heavy metal was instead spent on promoting acoustic music? Leave it to Dan Fogelberg to stir things up. There’s no secret to Fogelberg’s success. Innately talented, |