Get (Re-)Acquainted With Arthur Nasson
For the past 15+ years, Arthur Nasson has been slowly but surely seeping into the collective mediasphere. Chances are you’ve heard his songs on Top 40 radio stations around the US, UK, Canada, Australia and beyond. Or you’ve read about him in the Boston Herald, the San Francisco Chronicle, or any number of other print and online publications. Or maybe you’ve seen his videos on MTV or the 150 TV stations playing them literally around the world.
What you may NOT know or realize is that Nasson has achieved all that without the help of a record company and the technical, promotional and financial machinery that comes with it. Nasson fully lives up to his self-described title of singer-songwriter / multi-instrumentalist / producer / filmmaker / independent recording artist — and then some. He recorded most of his albums on his own, in a basement, using whatever basic gear he could afford and learning the craft as he went along. The same goes for making his music videos, and for everything else that’s needed to be a successful musician in today’s world.
One upside to doing all this on your own is that you get to do what you want, the way you want it done. So while Nasson’s musical sound tends toward 60s, 70s and 80s pop/classic rock (think Billy Joel, Todd Rundgren and no small amount of Beatles influences), he’s free to try any number of experiments and hasn’t been shy about it over the years. The results may not please all the people all the time, but pushing limits is never a bad thing and Nasson’s music and its worldwide success speaks for itself.
So if you haven’t heard Arthur Nasson before, look him up — start with this psychedelicious video of “Watch Your Back Now”:
And even if you have heard his work over the years, you definitely want to check out his latest album West Cambridge Cowboys.