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- Subscribe - Contact Us - Rate Card - Place an Ad Archives Revels Classifieds Real Estate Menu Guide Wedding Weather Subscribe Contact Us July 23, 2005 Cohn returns to Britt Festivals on Saturday Staff reports Singer-songwriter Marc Cohn performed at the Britt Festivals in 2004 and returns this year for a concert Saturday night. Submitted photo To say that singer-songwriter Marc Cohn is reclusive would be an understatement. Cohn, who followed hits like “Walking in Memphis” and “True Companion” with a lengthy sabbatical, will perform at the Britt Festivals on July 24. Maybe that lack of visibility has something to do with his creative side. Cohn’s songs made America sit up and take notice in the ’90s when he recorded “Walking in Memphis,” and his debut album won the 1991 Grammy Award for Best New Artist. That album, like others from Cohn, was a collection of melodic pop songs with passionate lyrics drawn from his background. Cohn returns to the Britt Festivals this summer with a concert Saturday. Cohn will perform all his hits along with a song or two from his 2004 CD. Knowing Cohn’s story makes it easy to understand his passion and maybe even to understand his reclusive nature. Cohn’s mother died when he was 2, and his father remarried when he was 12. He didn’t see his father much, as he was a pharmacist who worked seven days a week. And the family was always in debt. One of Cohn’s early songs, “Silver Thunderbird,” was thought by many to be a tribute to a car. But the character in the song is really his father who kept up that car at the expense of everything else in his life. Cohn rewrote the song 15 times in the process of finishing it. Cohn began playing acoustic shows in his late teens in Cleveland coffee bars. Soon, he moved to New York and began recording demos for various writers, including Jimmy Webb (“By The Time I Get to Phoenix”) and Leiber and Stollar, writers of many great soul hits in the ’70s and ’80s. While in New York, Cohn also became known in the business as a session keyboard player, playing on Tracy Chapman’s second album while also fronting his own 14-piece swing band that played at Caroline Kennedy’s wedding. It was while traveling through Arkansas that he stopped at a little honky-tonk. A chance meeting with a 70-year-old black pianist, Muriel, led Cohn to join her onstage for a performance that brought the house down. It also inspired Cohn to write his biggest hit, “Walking in Memphis.” A second song, “True Companion,” became a hit after it was used as the soundtrack for a live marriage proposal on Johnny Carson’s Tonight Show. Cohn’s second album included a great song, “Rest for the Weary,” and a continuation of “Silver Thunderbird.” At that point, Cohn disappeared for several years, resurfacing in 1998 with a third CD, “Burning the Daze.” Tickets for Cohn’s show are on sale at Britt. Tickets are $23 for adults and $14 for children. For more information, call 773-6077 or visit www.brittfest.org. DailyTidings.com Home Page Archives | Revels | Classifieds | Real Estate Guide | Weather | Subscribe | Contact Us Copyright 2005 Ashland Daily Tidings and Ottaway Newspapers All Rights Reserved Deep Muscle Stimulator Ceramic Piggy Banks FREE Entertainment Guide Women's & Men's Slippers Accelerate Weightloss Products Backpacks Online Pharmacy Vegas Travel Guide Search Engine Optimization Student Loans Hotel & Airline Reservations Hammocks Water Filter Helzberg Diamonds Online Casinos Community Bonus Casino Mortgage Calculator Security Systems Mailing Lists Click Here Advertisement .:Advertisements:. Site Search: RESOURCES - Mail Tribune News - ODOT Road Cams