Music
Press
"Vancouver-based troubadour DeCroo made converts with his last album, the live disc War Torn Man. His following deserves to increase radically with this new tour-de-force, one already notching rave reviews. DeCroo is an original and Mockingbird Bible represents uneasy listening at it's best." - Exclaim Quote
"Mockingbird Bible is a soulful, quiet and absolutely brilliant collection of songs from one of Canada's premier musical talents. Decroo has yet again proven himself to be one of the country's best songwriters." - 24 Hours Quote
"Put the gruff-but-sensitive singer-songwriter in just about any other Canadian city besides Vancouver and you’re looking at a sold-out show and maybe even a little bit of hysteria over one of the finest tunesmiths out there. Run, don’t walk, in other words, before they all piss off to Montreal or something!"
- Georgia Straight Quote
Across 13 tracks, DeCroo weaves his thematically impressive tales of loneliness and despair sounding as if he's been doing this sort of thing since birth." - Americana Uk Quote
"He’s earned the right after his previous records to step back some, maybe turn on a light and breath easy for a while, but he doesn’t, instead wondering if it’s rain falling or gasoline, at the same time striking a match to learn the truth. - Vue Weekly Quote
"This album knocked me out within 30 seconds of hitting 'play' and has continued to relentlessly beat the shit out of me. Not that I'd expect DeCroo to show me any mercy. He's a tough-as-nails, bearded bastard who recalls Dylan circa his Rolling Thunder Revue days. War Torn Man finds him in his live element, live onstage, encouraging those in attendance to eat out of his hand but slapping them in the face when they get close. DeCroo's blue-collar work ethic inhabits every tune, and even the homey bass lines from former Spirit of the West member Linda McRae can't put a spit shine on DeCroo's rough edges and two-packs-a-day voice. The chemistry between DeCroo and guitarist Jon Wood suggests they may have been separated at birth, and it's this gritty cohesiveness and Wood's excellent fretwork that take this album from very good to fantastic." - Now Magazine Quote
"Every now and again an album comes along that right from the opening bars you just know it’s gonna be on the nail. This is such an album. Before this cd landed on my desk I’d never heard of Rodney DeCroo. Now I can’t get enough of him.
Readily compared to Steve Earle, Neil Young, Dylan, John Prine and Gram Parson there are shades of them all here. A composite if you like. His rootsy sound gets better with every listen. A story teller par excellence. " - Americana Uk Quote
"The high, ripped-lung voice of Rodney DeCroo takes only a few seconds to get used to, and the Vancouver-by-Pennsylvania singer-songwriter has a history, with things on his mind. On a live recording from Edmonton's Sidetrack club, the Dylan-goes-grunge thing is pretty cool, with a coppery electric guitarist Jon Wood who's a star too. The sad Standing in the Doorway should be a country classic. Gritty passion abounds, but then comes the last-track title song, where a Vietnam vet's son sings starkly about a father with a bombed-out heart. Suddenly the rest of the album seems awfully puny in comparison. That says plenty, mister -- and don't you dare ask for an encore. The show is done, and well done." - Globe And Mail Quote
"It’s highly recommended that you make the trek down to see him debut the songs from War Torn Man, which we can add to the exalted ranks of kick ass live albums–from Cheap Trick’s Live at Budokan to The Who’s Live at Leeds."
- See Magazine
"The comparisons come quick when listening to this Pittsburgh-born troubadour and his capable band, caught live here at Edmonton ’s Sidetrack. His high, rough and robust vocals suggest Neil Young and Bob Dylan, though it’s really the former, and Steve Earle to boot, that War Torn Man’s 13 tunes bring to mind. It isn’t just the raw, rugged, blues-charged country rock, though, it’s DeCroo’s clear-eyed, deftly articulated conveyance of both his own hard-knock history and the hard knocks recent history has dealt so many." - Montreal Mirror
Discography
2004- Rodney DeCroo and The Killers (NorthernElectric)
2006- War Torn Man (Northern Electric)
2006- Trucker's Memorial (Northern Electric)
2007- Views (Northern Electric Compilation)
2008- Mockingbird Bible (Northern Electric)
Photos
Bio
Northern Electric Recording Artist Rodney Decroo, as one music writer put it, is a true original. He is American by birth and Canadian by accident. He was born in a small, coal mining town just outside Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. After serving in Vietnam, his father deserted the Marines and took the family to northern BC where they lived in the bush. His parents separated a couple years later and Rodney returned to small town Pennsylvania until he was seventeen when he came back to British Columbia where he has remained for 20 years.
Rodney's songs and performances are known for their authenticity. He has lived what he sings and writes about. He delivers his songs like a scrap metal freight train blasting through mountains and valleys or with the sensitivity of a mother lion lulling her cubs to sleep. There are few hearts he can not touch. Rodney arrived late to the Vancouver music scene but was quickly ushered in by the likes of Ronnie Hayward, Herald Nix, and Linda Mcrae- not an easy club to join. Shortly after that Richard Chapman invited him to release his debut cd with Northern Electric Records.
Rodney established himself at the Railway Club in downtown Vancouver running the stage once a month for 3 years hosting his Folk You shows. Ridley Bent, Carolyn Mark,The Brakemen, Ida Nilsen, Sam Parton, are just a few of the artists who performed on his stage. He's also shared stages across Canada with Elliot Brood, Cuff the Duke, Corb Lund, Herald Nix, Rae Spoon, Utah Phillips, Po' Girl, Cam Penner, and many other artists.
With 4 critically acclaimed cds available he is working on the final stages of his fifth. Rodney also recently collaborated with Warner Recording Artist Buck 65.
Rodney caused a mild sensation the year he played the Vancouver Folk Fest.
There was such a stir around his side stage performances that he was invited to the main stage to play his song War Torn Man. For five minutes there was intense silence as a three thousand audience members listened closely to what Utah Phillips called, during a workshop that weekend, one of the best folk songs he'd heard in a long time.
Rodney is playing around 200 dates a year and as this is being written he is on tour across Canada, keep an eye out, you'll enjoy his show.
As as yet another music writer puts it,
"Put the gruff-but-sensitive singer-songwriter in just about any other Canadian city besides Vancouver and you’re looking at a sold-out show and maybe even a little bit of hysteria over one of the finest tune smiths out there. Run, don’t walk, in other words, before they all piss off to Montreal or something!"
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