The Clarence Greenwood Recordings:Citizen Cope

Title: the Clarence Greenwood Recordings

Label: Arista

Genre: Urban Folk

Rating: 5.8 of 7

Citizen Cope, also known as (if you couldn’t have guessed) Clarence Greenwood, returns for his second full-length, and does a damn fine job of it. Juggling genres, Greenwood sings soulful, nicotine stained ballads backed by a combination of R&B influenced drum machines with just a dash of Latin beats. For the most part, the concentration lies on the raspy Greenwood whose voice lies somewhere between soul-hip hop and folk-country. His lyrics could be described as very bluesy, yet the presentation is innately funky. Most of the songs utilize a piano harmony, a drum machine that overlays various Latin beats (congas, etc) and an extremely subtle and lightly plucked acoustic guitar. He can even bust out the occasional guitar solo (see #4). Production is also very good, but I’m sure with Arista and RCA backing you, equipment was not a problem. Here’s an artist who could receive praise playing one night with the likes of RJD2 and then spend the next day at Bonaroo.

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