George Usher returns to Banjo Jim’s with a set featuring material from his long career, popular tracks from his current release, “Yours And Not Yours” and
some completely brand new songs. Old friend and fellow Gornack Brother
Steve Almaas will open the evening at 7:00 with an acoustic set of his own.
Then, George and Steve will perform a few songs together
and George’s set will follow at 8:00.

“Yours And Not Yours” on Parasol Records is available everywhere!

GEORGE USHER
Banjo Jim’s
Thursday, February 11 8:00

Steve Almaas 7:00

700 9th St. @ Avenue C
Free Admission

www.georgeusher.com
www.parasol.com
www.myspace.com/georgeusher

Moving between guitar and piano, Usher (“one of New York’s best pop-craftsmen”—Village Voice) will perform his entire, just released, acclaimed song cycle, “Yours And Not Yours”.

TimeOut New York says:

A beloved fixture on the downtown scene for more than two decades, George Usher makes exquisitely crafted art-pop with a personal lyrical edge. His new album, Yours And Not Yours, is one of Usher’s most ambitious and realized efforts yet…

www.georgeusher.com
www.parasol.com
www.myspace.com/georgeusher

GEORGE USHER
Kenny’s Castaways
Thursday, November 12 7:00
157 Bleecker St.
New York

Moving between guitar, organ and piano, Usher (“one of New York’s best pop-craftsmen”—Village Voice) will offer up material from his long career, mixed in with songs from his new Parasol Records release, Yours And Not Yours.

The new cd:
YOURS AND NOT YOURS features 12 new songs, presented as a song cycle and featuring top New York City musicians:
Mark Sidgwick, Jon Graboff (Ryan Adams & The Cardinals), Claudia Chopek, C. P. Roth, Guy Finley, Edward Rogers, Doug Larcey, Bill Stevens and many others…

Mixed by Mitch Easter (REM, Let’s Active)
and Mastered by the legendary George Marino at Sterling Sound…

Incoming Reviews:

Gemm Magazine

What passes for good writing is often ironic and mean-spirited. Yours and Not Yours, George Usher’s new release on Parasol, is neither of these things; instead it’s a graceful, thoughtful listen. Usher has sculpted a sweeping piece of work that on first listen, will knock you off your feet with its sheer sonic beauty.

On repeated listens, his calm unaffected delivery begins to impose as the words sink in. Usher questions, and studies past relationships, and it’s this soulful study that sits at the exposed heart of his record. How we can be someone’s, but not. How someone can have our love, but not have us.

Musically its lush intricate arrangements are carefully crafted to compliment, and sometimes uplift a mood that borders on dark, but is really more dusk in tone. Pianos and strings interplay with pedal steel. The steel played by Jon Graboff of Ryan Adams’ band becomes a focal point as it converses with the voice in a free stream of consciousness. Usher, as prolific as Adams, would probably have the same number of releases, given the opportunity. But the comparison ends there.

Craftsman is a word that comes to mind when talking about George Usher. His best known song, ‘ Not The Tremblin’ Kind’, recorded by Laura Cantrell, stands as a contemporary classic. Go to his website: http://www.georgeusher.com and read his blog, a forthright account of his writing process. But Yours and Not Yours has other songs quietly waiting in the wings to be interpreted by other artists. ‘Just A Story’ with Beatlesque chord changes contains the revealing line, “I’ve got a lot to lose maybe more to gain,” is one of these.

‘The Stranger Came’ is a seductive sorrowful story song worthy of Waylon, Willie and Johnny. Here he finds himself wishing he could return to the sanctity of home, but the stranger has made this impossible. There’s humanity in the writing that Usher shares with the above mentioned country icons. “Put It Out Of Your Mind” vibes like The Band, and as the Hammond swells, Usher admits to a frustrated lover that maybe he never really listened. But he also pleads, “don’t be so resigned”, knowing that fixation on something perceived ends many a relationship.

On ‘I Would Have Done Anything’, with a horn line reminiscent of Robert Wyatt’s ‘Shipbuilding’, Usher understands that making a woman happy is no easy feat. On ‘Guardian Angel’ he asks “did you think that love was more than this?” In my mind, the woman answers, Yes- Love is everything! But George Usher knows it’s not. Love doesn’t provide the answers, only more questions. ‘Is There Something You Want to Say?’, he asks an old lover. and urges her to come clean, “after all this time has past, you can speak your mind at last.” He wants clearing, and closure, but we feel pretty sure he won’t get it.

Love is messy, but this record is not. It’s easier to write a kiss-off, (die bitch), than to leave honoring love. Yours and Not Yours, seeks to make sense of the past, as it walks with a weary dignity into the present. For George Usher, love has always been a cruel surprise, ‘Just A Story’ a ‘Comedy of Errors’, but he believes it is waiting, ‘Somewhere North of the Sky’.

TimeOut New York

A beloved fixture on the downtown scene for more than two decades, George Usher makes exquisitely crafted art-pop with a personal lyrical edge. His new album, Yours And Not Yours, is one of Usher’s most ambitious and realized efforts yet…

All Music Guide:

Between his work with Beat Rodeo, the Schramms, the Bongos, the Health & Happiness Show, and Edward Rogers, George Usher has a résumé that would raise the eyebrows of most fans of roots rock or contemporary power pop, but he’s chosen to turn his talents in a decidedly different direction on his fifth solo album, Yours and Not Yours. This set is a collection of subdued chamber pop tunes, most accompanied by a small acoustic ensemble or a string section, and the tone is gently downbeat, with Usher’s songs dominated by tales of relationships that have broken down or choices that didn’t work out. There is a hopeful side to the opener, “Somewhere North of the Sky,” and a sly air of mischief in the kiss-off number “Where Is Your Guardian Angel?,” but even on those songs the mood is more wistful than joyous, and Usher’s vocals (which recall a mellower and pensive Matthew Sweet) glide over the waves of gentle sadness like a sailboat over a smooth lake. The arrangements match the material beautifully, from the high lonesome pedal steel on “It Never Happened” and “Unforgivable Sin” to the muted trumpet, cello, and piano that circle one another on “Comedy of Errors,” and while the tone of these songs is consistent, Usher manages to give each a vocal reading that sets it apart; the overall theme of this album is “Love Hurts,” but he’s able to identify a rich variety of aches brought on by a broken heart. And lyrically, for all the romantic failures on display, Usher’s stories are told with a keen eye for human behavior and an eloquent gift for wordplay. Yours and Not Yours would probably be a bad choice for a party on Saturday night, but if you’re looking for mood music for a rainy autumn afternoon, you’d be hard-pressed to do better than this study of love among the ruins

City Beat

For years, George Usher has been a utility guitarist for any number of New York Pop bands, including Beat Rodeo, The Bongos and The Schramms, while maintaining one of the most consistently cool solo careers in Indie Music, both alone and with his bands (The Decoys, House Of Usher, The George Usher Group.

Usher’s new album, Yours and Not Yours, his first in over a decade, finds the gifted Pop singer/songwriter channeling his impulses in a decidedly acoustic direction, filling out his moving Folk Pop tunes with Baroque Pop ornamentation like cello, chamber strings and horns. “Love By Any Other Name” could be a lost Paul McCartney track from the Revolver/Rubber Soul era, “Somewhere North of the Sky” and “The Stranger Came” exhibit the same kind of exuberant melancholy that Michael Penn has perfected and “Jericho’s Mistress” shimmers and sighs with a charged Psych Folk atmosphere. Meanwhile, “I Would Have Done Anything” finds Usher accessing his inner Burt Bacharach and “Unforgivable Sin” could have been a hit for The Everly Brothers four decades ago. Although Usher’s electric Power Pop output has been typically unbeatable, his acoustic Folk songcraft on Yours and Not Yours easily ranks with his most accomplished and impressive.

Blurt:

Although perhaps best known for penning Laura Cantrell’s “Not the Tremblin’ Kind”, songwriter George Usher has been in and out of bands since the 1970s, fronting the Decoys, the House of Usher and the George Usher band and sitting in with Beat Rodeo, the Schramms and the Bongos. A songwriter’s songwriter, he has written for Amy Rigby and Richard Barone and, for two albums, worked alongside Edward Rogers of the Bedsit Poets.
His latest, Yours and Not Yours is a collection of warm, well-crafted and understated country pop songs, carried by Usher’s tremulous tenor and embellished with close harmonies, strings and pedal steel. All 12 songs consider relationships — mostly from the downhill slope – and there is a quaver embedded in melodies as Usher considers the sadness of broken love. Yet though the subject matter is weighty, Usher’s voice flutters effortlessly, making octave length leaps with a casual ease and spinning righteous pop choruses into bittersweet overload. Once or twice, elaborate orchestrations threaten to capsize delicate tunes, as in the piano-violin-brass introduction to “Comedy of Errors,” yet for the most part, the songs themselves predominate. “Somewhere North of the Sky” exactly balances emotional rawness with melodic skill, it’s “Love is always waiting” chorus uplifting but not never saccharine. “The Stranger Came” pits gentle picking against billowing Byrdsian harmonies, and pedal-steel twanging “It Never Happened” couches thousand-yard-stare rejection in the sweetest possible country melancholy.

Burning Wood:

Beautifully crafted and relentlessly hook-filled pop, from Cleveland born, NYC based, singer-songwriter George Usher.

Limewire:

East Coast power-pop’s secret superman, George Usher has been on the scene for twice as long as the aforementioned Apples, but it’s still not too late to get in on his cult-status phase. Since the ’80s, Usher has worked with Beat Rodeo, The Bongos, The Schramms, and others, but he’s been turning out perfect-pop solo albums since the mid-’90s, and his latest is as full of winsome tunecraft, heavenly harmonies, and help-it’s-stuck-in-my-earlobe hooks as savvy camp followers would expect.

The Big Takeover:

Singer/songwriter GEORGE USHER has quite a NYC underground pop pedigree, boasting stints in BEAT RODEO and the SCHRAMMS and long associations with RICHARD BARONE and current power pop darling EDWARD ROGERS. He does have a small catalog of solo albums, though, of which Yours and Not Yours is the fourth. Though Usher’s prior experience might lead you to believe this is a jangle pop record, it’s not. Instead, lush, gentle tunes like “Love By Any Other Name,” the pedal steel-laced “Unforgivable Sin” and the strings ‘n’ piano-drenched “Just a Story” have more in common with the baroque pop of the LEFT BANKE and its plush, folky cousins from the late 60s and 70s. This means that Yours and Not Yours demands a certain attentive focus in order to appreciate Usher’s craft and charm; put this on in a busy office as background noise and you’re likely to dismiss it as soft rock. Which would, frankly, be a mistake – Usher’s graceful melodies and emotional depth softly caress the ears and heart alike if you give ‘em a chance.

“Somewhere North Of The Sky”, “The Stranger Came” and “Comedy Of Errors” have already become popular live Usher favorites.(Stream versions of these and other Usher favorites can be heard at www.georgeusher.com)

George Usher:

George Usher has been a fixture on the NY scene since the early ’80s, when his band, the Decoys, were mainstays of the CBGB/Village clubs. While putting in stints with local legends Beat Rodeo, the Bongos, and the Schramms, Usher formed House Of Usher and the George Usher Group, releasing many well-received albums, including: Miracle School (“****”—Pulse, “marvelous folk-pop”—Alternative Press), Dutch April (“timeless, hum-along pop music”—Amplifier), Days Of Plenty (“a wonderful collection of worthwhile songs”—Music Matters), and Fire Garden (“a true pop masterpiece”—20th Century Guitar, “*** a textbook definition of power pop”—Uncut).

As a songwriter, he’s made his mark with songs recorded by Laura Cantrell (“Not The Tremblin’ Kind,”) Richard Barone (“River To River,” “Clouds Over Eden”), and Bedsit Poets’ Edward Rogers; he co-wrote and co-produced the latter’s stunning first solo record, Sunday Fables, and his recent follow-up, You Haven’t Been Where I’ve Been (***Uncut , ****Rock N Reel).

www.georgeusher.com
www.myspace.com/georgeusher
www.parasol.com