Bobby Sweet
Becket, Massachusetts, United States | INDIE
Music
Press
“Bobby Sweet has long been the Berkshire’s best and most popular singer-songwriter.” - Chronogram
“The county’s next generation of musical geniuses” - The New York Sun
“Perhaps the Berkshires’ finest singer-songwriter working today.” - Dave Madeloni
“A rare combination of music-maker, story-teller, and outstanding performer .....how Sweet it is”. - The Country Journal
"... a Berkshire treasure."
- Berkshire Living Magazine
"Though he takes pride in his accomplishments, his resume is not what's important to this talented singer/songwriter. He remains faithful to the basic elements that fuel all human beings. Heavily influenced by family, friends, and community, Bobby is loyal to love and camaraderie. "Hope's Cafe" reminds its listeners, through music and lyric, of those basic human emotions many people do not stop to think about. It speaks from a place that is happy, sad, melancholic, bittersweet, and always tender, while Bobby's gently and yet powerful voice sings of companionship, joy, love, loneliness, and a reverence for the past.
We had a wonderful conversation about his musical past, present, and many possible futures, as well as "Hope's Cafe." We talked about his devotion to making music, and how this devotion has integrated itself with every aspect of his life. Bobby's art and his way of living are intertwined. He lives to make music, and the music itself has given him the ability and cause to live as he does, through a sensitivity to himself, and the ways of the people who surround him." -Julianna Spallholz - The Artful Mind
...a collection of songs sung with heart, showing intimate moments and colorful pictures...somewhere between a countrified Bruce Springsteen and Lyle Lovett. -Raul J. Tejeiro - Top Country Hits, Uruguay
Great songs, impressive lyrics and a fantastic singer. We are sure the listeners will love this production. -Andrea Stolle- - RTW (Radio Teutoburger Wald), Germany
" I had the opportunity to interview some of the most talented performers in New England. Bobby Sweet appeared on Radio Free Berkshires several times, and it was always a very special experience. He possesses a rare combination of innate musical sense and songwriting craftiness. Add to this a natural audience rapport and a defiantly uncharacterizeable style (though, if pinned, he might agree to being somewhat alt-country) and you have a compelling and enjoyable musical package. Plus, he's funny; I think he may be a reincarnated pirate! The program was interactive, and Bobby's appearances always lit up the chat rooms as people at first caught a sound or two, then they would snap into focus on what was coming out of their speakers. My co-host, Chuck White and I thought Hope's Cafe was one of the best releases I heard all year, let alone from a "regional" performer. I expect big things out of Mr. Sweet and I hope he'll still appear on my show after the rest of the world catches on to what he is doing!"
-Sean Callaghan - LIVE-105, WBEC-FM, Pittsfield, MA
Discography
HOPE'S CAFE- Released 1999. Received airplay on over 200 stations across Europe in 2000. (list available)
ALREADY HOME- Released 2001. Promoted by indie/Americana promoter Bill Wence to Americana radio in the US in 2001.
LOVE ON THE BORDER-Released 2003.
BOBBY SWEET LIVE AT THE GUTHRIE CENTER- Released 2005.
DAYS ROLL BY- Released late 2007.
COWBOYS AND POETS - Released June 2011.
Photos
Bio
Bobby is a sixth-generation musician. He began performing at age 7 in his father's band, and left at 17 to pursue his widening musical interests. As a performer, Bobby has shared the bill with some of the top country and folk artists, including Vince Gill, Bill Staines, Bill Morrissey, Deana Carter, David Bromberg, Arlo Guthrie, Pete Seeger, Jonathan Edwards, and Sawyer Brown. As a sought-after lead guitarist he has played shows opening for George Jones, Asleep at the Wheel, Willie Nelson, The Bellamy Brothers, Waylon Jennings, and many others. Bobby toured in 2008-2009 with Arlo Guthrie's Lost World Tour, and is currently (2010-2011) on Guthrie's Journey On tour.
In 2011 Bobby released his 6th CD titled "Cowboys and Poets", and he was named a New Folk Finalist at the prestigious Kerrville Folk Festival.
His songs have received honorable mentions from The New York Songwriter's Circle Songwriting Contest, The UK Songwriting Contest, The Billboard Songwriting Contest, and The Mountain Stage NewSong Contest.
Bobby has written songs that have aired on the hit television series Nashville, CSI, NCIS, Touched By An Angel, Walker Texas Ranger, Soul Food, Judging Amy, and Brotherhood, among others. Another of his songs was featured in the Danny Devito/Bette Midler movie Drowning Mona. His instrumental and vocal work have been featured on recordings by Arlo Guthrie, Sarah Lee Guthrie, and a host of other independent album projects. Bobby is a former staff writer with HoriPro Entertainment Group in Nashville. When not busy writing, recording and performing his own songs, he works as a freelance producer and recording engineer lending more than 20 years of studio experience to other artists of varying styles, ranging from folk to Americana to world music.
Bobby has spent time in the Andes of Patagonia, Argentina, a pristine wilderness far from telephones and electricity, accessible only by horseback. His travel experiences also encompass sharing music with the chief of a Dogon village in Mali, West Africa, and building houses in Nicaragua with Habitat for Humanity. Back home in the Berkshire Hills of Massachusetts, Bobby lives in a small-town community where the love and lives of those around him continually provide the wellspring for new songs.
Stylistically, Bobby's music resides somewhere between John Prine, Jackson Browne, Guy Clark, and a countryfied Bruce Springsteen. An engaging storyteller, he is at home on the stage, whether performing solo, with his eclectic trio, or with the full band.
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