Glen Hansard Interview NYC Shows

The man is an astonishing performer. Absolutely thrilling performance turned in at The Beacon Theatre last Tuesday – December 2nd, 2015 – featuring songs from the new record Didn’t He Ramble not to mention a genius cover of Van Morrison’s Astral Weeks. This is the second ‘solo’ album from Hansard aside from the 25 years he has led The Frames and his work as a member of The Swell Season. (His first encore was The Frames’ song Say It To Me Now. The Swell Season’s Your Mind’s Made Up and Falling Slowly, which he did solo, also made it onto the setlist.) Didn’t He Ramble was made mostly here in New York, with Pat Dillett engineering, at a studio with no name that no longer exists. He also did some sessions in Chicago, Dublin, and Paris.

As Glen is such an engaging interview, I’ve included some bonus bits here beyond the 2 minute report that is airing on NY1-TV tomorrow. The first video below is outtakes from the conversation we had backstage at The Beacon Theatre prior to the show. It includes remarks about the two songs that I shot: Winning Streak and Just To Be The One. He also discusses playing King’s Theatre in Brooklyn the previous night, a great story about bringing his parents to New York, and insights on the mystery and craft of songwriting.

The second video below is a snippet from an interview that I did with him two years ago when he spoke about the circumstances of his amazing cover of Bruce Springsteen’s Drive All Night. That interview was also conducted at The Beacon Theatre at the Holiday Cheer for WFUV show on 12-30-2013 that was billed as Iron and Wine and friends. As Sam Beam, who is Iron and Wine, guests on Didn’t He Ramble, I asked if they met at that show. The answer was no; they go back further than that. However, he revealed that Holiday Cheer ’13 did mark the first time he ever played some of the songs that ended up on the new album. (This year’s Holiday Cheer show was another brilliant night by the way.)