Typical American Tragedy
Tracks:
The more records I make and hear, the more I realize that I can't stand overly compressed and processed music. The people who are still making records the old way—real, raw and with heart—those are the ones I want to hear. And those are the ones I want to make. Fred Gillen Jr. and I went back into this one the same way we went into the last album—I brought in tons and tons of crumpled up lyric sheets of songs I'd written in the past year, mostly in the past week, and we'd see what fits. I like recording songs when they are new, and about six of the 11 on this album were like that. No click track—just me and my guitar, and whatever comes out. And then we added the sweet sounds of Abbie Gardner on dobro and lapsteel, Oliver Hill on fiddle, Andy LaDue on drums and Steve Kirkman on electric guitar, plus Fred and me on whatever we could get our hands on. I hope that people hear this album as part of my ongoing learning experience, about myself and about writing songs. 'Typical American Tragedy' is a statement of where I was when I wrote and recorded these songs, and I'm proud of it as something people can take home and enjoy. Love, loss, fiddle girls, upstate girls, country music stars, soldiers, dancing, carnivals, mistakes—got 'em all right here.
Reviews:
Neil Pearson, Fish Records, UK—"What is most striking on Typical American Tragedy is the feel of flow—it has a tangible presence and a natural air. It's not raw or unpolished by any means, but it feels fresh, organic and full of life—an approach that turns a very good album into a great one. And this relatively simple, stripped down approach brings the focus on to the lyrics, and that's where Anthony da Costa shines. Of the 11 songs here, there isn't one that isn't worthy of comment. Anthony has obvious links to modern day songwriters such as Jonathan Byrd, Chuck Brodsky and Dan Bern, but he's a distinct talent and a writer who knows how to connect with his audience in both the live setting and in his recordings. A fantastic collection from an important, emerging artist. Essential."
E.J. Freidman, Loudersoft Blog—"On Typical American Tragedy, we are offered a clean window into Anthony da Costa's exceptionally complex understandings of love and hope—an unflinchingly moving portrait of a love we're often curious how he could know about at so young an age. Regardless of why or how, the combination of spare arrangements and consistently solid songwriting place his current achievements in a class with some of our greatest songwriters."
