Recent Press Clippings

          “On his solo guitar and vocal album Blues Gone By, Thad Beckman concentrates on time-honored songs.  Beckman works authoritatively in styles ranging from Charley Patton (“Banty Rooster”) to Brownie McGhee (“Sportin’ Life Blues”), including fine interpretations of Mance Lipscomb’s (“Ella Speed”) and John Hurt’s (“Spike Driver Blues”).  He even expands his scope to include Merle Travis’ (“I Am A Pilgrim”) and contemporary David Lindley’s shimmering (“Look So Good”).  Beckman’s own compositions are both serious, as in the reverential title song, and humorous, in the near-rock-‘n’-roll (“I Hate My Life”).  With commanding yet understated vocals as strong as his finger-style guitar playing, Beckman crafts a quietly compelling set.”

(Tom Hyslop, Blues Review)

          “Thad Beckman came into my view in 1998 when the troubadour delighted me with the fantastic disk Carry Me Back. A wonderful record full of impressive folk and blues tracks. Thad belongs to the unique species of guitarists that can sing. He is a passionate performer who combines his tremendous guitar technique with very soulful singing; Beckman is sequel to Carry Me Back. A colorful record with which Thad displays his class yet again. The album opens with the sober, Woody-like The Land That I Love. Outlaws In Texas offers particular melodious guitar play and in the jazzy Death’s Rattle Beckman reminds one of Tom Waits. In the train song On That Train And Gone Thad grabs his National Steel guitar again. What a great guitar player he is! He also writes interesting and narrative songs. The beautiful Sanson’s Song is an example of this. Goin’ To The Valley is one of those country blues songs from the best tradition of Mississippi John Hurt. The only cover on this album is the traditional country song Oh Death.

 (Paul Jonker, Rootstown Ezine)

     “Former Texas resident Beckman now resides in the Pacific Northwest. He's touring with a new disc, "Beckman," that features a potent mixture of roots blues, country and folk. And Beckman does know how to make the combination work.

(Jim Beal Jr.,  San Antonio Express-News)

"Beckman plays an engaging blend of folk, singer-songwriter and blues music. Not everyone can pull off such a combination, but Beckman has chops, writing talent, a big personality and a bag full of true stories which all dovetail for a cool show. Check out Beckman's latest album,'Carry Me Back', for proof.”

( Jim Beal, San Antonio Express-News)

“With a voice that rasps like shoe leather on roadside gravel, and a finger-picked guitar on which notes fly by like railroad ties under a fast moving freight, not to mention a long history of vagabonding behind him, Thad Beckman seems ideally suited to the wandering troubadour's tradition.

The Oregon native has been gigging around Austin for the past couple of years, but this is his first CD, and the portraits it paints are long on disillusionment, only occasionally leavened with moments of abandon. Beckman sings of lost loves  (“When the Sun Goes Down”) and lost ideals, (“Song for JFK,” “Freedom Slowly Sets on America”).  When sorrow’s coin turns to reflect a sunnier flip side, it is in sprightly blues-flavored tunes such as “Well Bottom Blues” and  “Headin’ On Down The Road Awhile.”

Occasionally, Beckman balances the two emotional landscapes very nicely indeed, as in the lovely and wistful title track. Though he doesn't expand the wandering minstrel’s canon either musically or lyrically, he paints some detailed portraits (“Dust Bowl Madonna,” “Pretty Senorita,”) and turns a few nice phrases (“All them colors that I thought had died/ I can see ‘em shinin' right there in your eyes”). File “Carry Me Back” under postcards from the road.”

( John T. Davis,  Austin-American Statesman)

“Thad Beckman covers a fair amount of territory on Carry Me Back, taking his accomplished guitar and sincere voice and tackling tunes from bounce to blues, from  Delightful Ditties to Deep Brooding Ballads.  Witness “Well Bottom Blues” and You’re Just So Appealin’”:  both are quirky fingerpickin’ songs that sound distinctly like the tunes that might pop into your head when you’re on your way to buy gumballs.  Compare “Freedom Slowly Sets On America” and “When The Sun Goes Down”:  Both are somber, almost sinister songs, heavily invested with a very basic despair born deep in the belly.  While the disc does end with a measure of cheer, it’s the darker mood that prevails on Carry Me Back, with Beckman coming off as a vaguely gloomy truthseeker and self-described lost soul.  Sometimes it works (“Song For JFK” is a somnolent and spacious gem) and sometimes it doesn’t (“Where Do I Belong?” is a touch over-wrought), but there’s scarcely a song on here that doesn’t carry a mood with it.  Quite a few carry a growl as well.  Solid Stuff from a good songwriter.”             (Jay Hardwig, The Austin Chronicle )

“World weariness, or perhaps, in deference to his origins, weltschmertz, rather summarizes singer-songwriter Beckman who came to Austin, apparently traveling on some hard, dusty roads, from Oregon. Resigned, or maybe just plain realistic, rather than cynical, there's a political edge running through his work, most obviously on “Freedom Slowly Sets on America” and “Song to JFK” and, taking injustice across the border, “Pretty Señorita,” though, while he's clearly a Guthrie disciple, he's also astute enough, or maybe just old enough, to observe rather than preach. Produced by Beckman with David Heath and Merel Bregante, who also play (bass and drums, of course) on most tracks, the album features appearances by Floyd Domino on organ and piano, Gene Elders violin and Chip Dolan accordion, among others, but, like bright ribbons on a scarecrow, they accentuate rather than disguise the starkness of Beckman's elemental visions.”

(John Conquest,  Third Coast Magazine)

          “You can feel the wind blowing hard across the plains listening to the opening track on Thad Beckman’s new album, “Carry Me Back.”  Singing about a “Dust Bowl Madonna,” Beckman uses a phrase that he might apply to himself, “born to sing the blues.”

   (Bob Doran, Times-Standard)

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