Bands/Artists are having a hard time this year due to the Covid-19 outbreak – That’s why many artists are giving a virtual concert – So is Glenn Kaiser (Rez band/Glenn Kaiser band) last weekend (Oct. 16) Kaiser says:
BIG Thanks to Grrr Records staff and all who viewed my Virtual Show last night (or later depending on when you are reading this)!
In Covid time I think about the emotional and other tolls so many are suffering. I also believe it essential we mask up, keep six feet apart and wash our hands consistently. Distance is a real pain but there are worse pains that have included virtual funeral/memorial services for more than 200,000 people, their families and friends here in the U.S. alone.
In light of all this, last night I popped a new song into the show, just a sung/blues-harp blowin’ number. If you watched or do, here are those lyrics.
DYIN’ FOR A HAIRCUT -glenn kaiser
If you’re dyin’ for haircut – it might be time to change your style (2x)
Hair today gone tomorrow – ain’t no sense to live on guile
If distance drives you crazy – go ahead and get up close (2x)
Write a note to friends and family – at least it weren’t no overdose
If freedom for yourself – means you don’t get it as you like (2x)
A true miracle happened to ya – more and more you’re just like Christ
Vote -yes vote for mercy – ain’t no Savior in D.C. (2x)
None of us is saviors neither – we all need justice jus’ ta breathe
Glenn Kaiser‘s musical career started in the late ’60s while in his early teens. In 1971, he founded the seminal Christian hard rock group that would later become Resurrection (Rez) Band. Glenn fronted Rez for more than 25 years before continuing on his own. In 1999 he formed the blues rock trio Glenn Kaiser Band (GKB) with former Rez bassist Roy Montroy and drummer Ed Bialach. Glenn’s solo career is centered around the blues, especially with handmade cigar box guitars and other “found object” instruments, but also with lapsteel, acoustic and electric guitars, and harmonica. His extensive discography – over 35 recordings to date – includes projects of rock ‘n’ roll, R&B, worship, and American roots.
In 2012, Glenn and blues harmonica great Joe Filisko recorded their live concert at the final Cornerstone Festival (Glenn Kaiser and Joe Filisko Live) and continue to share the stage when schedules allow. His 2011 project Cardboard Box was inspired by the plight of Chicago’s homeless and the symbolic use of found-object instruments like cigar box guitars. Its proceeds continue to benefit a northside homeless shelter, CCO.
In 2016 came Long Way from My Home, where the handmade cigar box and diddley bow guitars are even more prominent. The recording is essentially one-man blues, though Joe Filisko features stealthily on four tracks with harmonica, and accurately represents what one will get when Glenn performs solo.
“Swamp Gas Messiahs” is the latest official release as of October 2020. Stylistically eclectic, it features Glenn on about a dozen instruments, including acoustic and electric guitars (fingerstyle and slide), bass, dobro, cigarbox guitar, diddley bow (homemade 1-string guitar), harmonica, ukulele, banjo, mandolin, harmonica and even kazoo. Long-time pal and bandmate Ed Bialach provides percussion and also engineered, mixed, and co-produced the 18-song project. Glenn‘s most valuable instrument, his voice – both literal and figurative – is prominent in any GK venture, and this is certainly no exception. Of his motivation on this issue-heavy project, Glenn states, “I’m a child of the 60’s when protest records from musicians such as Bob Dylan, Phil Ochs, Buffy Sainte Marie, Pete Seeger, and many more spoke to the injustices in our world. Then and now political ‘gains’ too often yield horror to ‘the least of these’ world-wide….”
