Like a Mirror: Casey Abrams ReflectsFolk, Jazz, and the American Songbook

Cambridge, Massachusetts-based songwriter Casey Abrams is awell-heeled traditionalist with an ear for reinvention. Raised on adiet of Leo Kottke, Hoagy Carmichael, and Ry Cooder, he hasdeveloped a style reminiscent of the finest traditional music, yetdistinctive in its own right. His fresh take on American forms willleave you wondering why singer-songwriters toil over anythingelse.

Abrams’ new Like a Mirror, released by U.S. indie labelWampus Multimedia, is reverent and contemporary, atonce in touch with tradition and aware of its surroundings.Influenced by the likes of Don McLean, Spider John Koerner,

and Leon Redbone, Abrams thinks for himself while he genuflects,crafting original songs on traditional themes. Like Beck and Iron & Wine, he has

plenty of pulp for the presses, and translates old parchments into today's breaking news.

Abrams plays what he calls “tramp art music,” melding the folkier leanings of Paul Simon, Warren Zevon, andRandy Newman with hints of jazz and progressive rock. This synthesis evokes southern-gothic Americana whileliberally quoting the best of Tin Pan Alley, and is sweetened by Abrams’ delicately cynical vocals and a unique,finger-picked guitar style that recalls folk, ragtime, and country blues. Despite his old-style musical background,Abrams creates a sound that is thoroughly modern, a treat for fans of trad iconoclasts like Jeff Buckley and M.Ward.

Bookended by Abrams’ haunting “Twelve-Bar Blues,” Like a Mirror maps the mind of aprotagonist who has made more than his share of wrong turns inlife. Ruminating in moody vignettes, he comes to a crossroadswhere he must decide whether or not to atone for his mistakes.

From the chilling“Ghost Story” to thepivotal “MyDoppelganger” to

the playfully Dylanesque “The Times They Have a-Changed,”Abrams builds tension with just his voice and an acousticguitar. Virtuosity meets spontaneity in a record that is atonce refined and natural.

Produced by Mark Doyon at Wampus Sound Studio,Like a Mirror is part of the Wampus MultimediaSessions series, featuring literate singer-songwriterscaptured in the studio over the course of a single day.

The focus falls on the intimacy ofperformance, evoking the mood of a liveshow in the context of the studio.

Like a Mirror is available at Amazon,CD Baby, Tower Records, andother fine stores.

www.wampus.comwww.caseyabrams.com

download publicity photos:www.wampus.com/artists/caseyabrams

release date:January 31, 2005

Twelve-Bar Blues (open)

turn down the white lights tonightto hide the patches and the seamstonight the beer will flow like wineand the wine will flow like a glorious dream

turn up the record machine tonightwhatever will be will betonight the song will flow like wineand we’ll sing like we sang at seventeen

lock the guns up tight tonighttell the sheriff to wait by the phonetonight the blood will flow like wineif I find her on the streets alone

The View from Here

well, I don’t know how this must lookto all the people going by in the rainand oh, what they must be thinkingif they should happen to look in through the shadewhat I thought was on the agendaisn’t on the agenda at allI guess I can’t see the hand in front of my facelet alone the fine print on the wall

and oh, the view from hereis all of a sudden all too clear

well, I been over this time and againand tried out all the endings beforebut try as I might, I couldn’t make it work outlike it did when you walked throught that doorwho would have thought it would happen?that you’d be the one to falland find out that someone was right here waitingon your side of town after all

if it’d been a snake it’d’ve bit youa freight train, it might have hit youan earthquake, it might have just shook youwell, but oh, look how long it took you

Nobody’s Song

chords ring out in empty roomswith no soft eyes these words to seeno voice to raise in melody but mineand sometimes words come hardbut I’d have sung these just for youand not a one but would have sounded fine

this is the song I would have written for youbut it’s written for nobody now

the autumn leaves are falling nowon the places where we used to walkthe plans we made have all been lost in timeand from time to time it’s hardbut I believe I’ll make it throughand I’ve only got this one last thing in mind

you say there’s nothing left to sayand for you that might be trueit may mean nothing to you nowbut I mean it when I saythat this song is not for you

So Long Away

I been so long away from the places I knowso long away from my homeand I've seen all the things that I came here to see‘cause I’ve been away far too long from my home

will the gray spanish moss still hang low from the boughsin the light of a sky filled with stars?there will be no more bus stops and subways for me‘cause I've been away far too long from my home

pick up the pace, lazy riverput on some steam, you southbound train

roll on by white lines and road signstry and keep up if you can

all you captains of industry will have to keep onwith no more assistance from meyou had your chance, now it’s time I was gone‘cause I’ve been away far too long from my home

pick up the pace, lazy riverput on some steam, you southbound trainso long, you neon signs and bread linesremember me if you can

My Doppelganger

it was on this road at the close of daywhen the dim, red glow gives over to nightI was standing in the shadow of the hanging treewhen I saw with a fright it looked just like me

my blood runs cold at the thought of itmy doppelganger under the hanging treein the dim, red light at the close of dayon this lonesome road from the hills to the sea

but it just doesn’t get any darker than thisthough the sun and the moon may ride high in the skyit just doesn’t get any darker than thisfor I know now that I’m bound to die

I once took the life of a blameless manin a lonesome place so far from the townnot even the moon was awake to seewhen I shot him down and went on free

for years I waited for a knock on my doorbut time marched on and no one cameabout a blameless man and a robberyso I kept my name and my liberty

the moon shines down on this lonely roadpitchforks and torches are now at my backthe leaves look silver, the limbs now blackas I stand at the foot of the hanging tree

We Don’t Care How You Do It Up North

we don’t care how you do it up northyou’re forever running up and down and back and forthno time for sitting in the shadewhen there’s money to be madewe don’t care how you do it up north

we don’t care how you do it back eastyour winter weather weren’t cut out for man nor beastand you’ll wither on the vinewaiting for the sun to shinewe don’t care how you do it back east

we don’t care how you do it out westI find that way of life a little hard to digestyou can keep your protein shakesyour tofu and your earthquakeswe don’t care how you do it out west

don’t tell me how you do it back homeif I cared how romans do it, don’t you think I’d live in rome?just give me the old-fashioned waysand I’ll while away my daysdon’t tell me how you do it‘cause I won’t listen to itdon’t tell me how you do it back home

Ghost Story

have you seen the ghost of john?long white bones with no skin onmore frightful still than any hauntis a man who can’t have what he wants

have you seen the ghost of kate?looking out the graveyard gatefrom this day on she makes her homewith rattling bones and marble stones

see them pace the floor in fits and startsand drag the chains that once wound ‘round their hearts

have you seen the ghost of tom?long years dead but won’t lie downhe wrings his hands of lifeless clayand cowers from the light of day

are we compelled despite our fearto hold such restless spirits dear?is this the ghost of our last chance?or the shade of some long-dead romance?

The Times They Have a-Changed

looking back now that the race has been runwell I know I went wrong, but lord knows what I doneseems everyone you meet is looking out for number oneand number one ain’t me anymorenumber one ain’t me, that’s for sure

well you hide in the shed when the rent comes dueand your nights are as blue as a homemade tattooevery day’s just another turn of the screwsomewhere things got strange‘cause the times they have a-changed

stand in the doorways and block up the halls‘cause the times they have a-changeddon’t even try to make sense of it allfor the times they have a-changed

well I think of all the things that I know I could doif I could just find someone to do them toif the phone doesn’t ring I’ll just figure it’s youand the phone doesn’t ring an awful lot these daysthe phone doesn’t ring in so many ways

well you take your sophisticatehe’s got noboby twisting his armand your boulevardier with his hair down to herewell he’s sailing through life on his looks and his charm

stand in the doorways and block up the halls‘cause the times they have a-changedhe who gets hurt will be he who won't crawlfor the times they have a-changed

OIOU

got a visit just this morning from the savings and the loanthey pretend to regret to inform methey’re foreclosing on my home“that ain’t to say you ain’t well-dressedand good-enough-looking, toobut we can’t charge no interest on a ten-year i.o.u.”

O-I-O-I, O-U-I-O, O-U-O-U, I-I-I-OO-O-O-I, O-O-O-O, O-O-O-U, O-I-O-U

I been out of work for months nowI been out of sorts, as wellI wondered where my gal was atso I asked my ex-friend Dellwell, I guess I got my answer and it made me want to cryhe said “if there’s one thing I don’t owe youit’s ‘who’ and ‘where’ and ‘why’”

I never cared much for fightingI guess it just ain’t in my linebut the next one says those words to meis gonna have one hell of a timeand I never been much of a gamblerbut you can bet these words are trueif you’re looking for trouble this morningyou won’t get no i.o.u.

Twelve-Bar Blues (closed)

lock the doors up tight insteadput out the sign and pull the shadetonight the tears will flow like winefor me and all the mistakes I’'ve made

Words and music ©2005 by Casey Abrams. All rights reserved. Lyrics reprinted by permission.