Jerry DeCicca

Last updated

Jerry David DeCicca (born July 2, 1974) is an American singer-songwriter and producer from Columbus, Ohio.

Contents

DeCicca founded and fronted the Ohio-based indie folk band The Black Swans before going solo in 2012. He has also produced a wide range of folk and country artists and collaborated with jazz, indie, and experimental musicians. In addition to his musical career, DeCicca also owns and operates a vocational rehabilitation agency that primarily serves the Hill Country and San Antonio areas of Texas, where he currently resides.

Career

2000s

After spending the latter half of the 90s occasionally recording under his own name, DeCicca founded the band The Black Swans in 2004 as a vehicle for his songs. The band toured extensively, building a following and releasing critically acclaimed albums on various indie labels.

The debut Black Swans album, Who Will Walk in the Darkness with You? , was released on the Delmore Recording Society label in 2004. AllMusic's Thom Jurek, in a glowing review of the album, wrote: "Being able to carry dirge-like ballads with purpose and tautness is a skill, and DeCicca's abilities are consummate." [1]

In July 2008, band member Noel Sayre died in a swimming accident. [2]

2010s

The final Black Swans album, Occasion For Song, was written as an unofficial tribute to Sayre, and features many songs that touch on themes of mortality and loss. The album garnered positive reviews from Mojo , Uncut , and No Depression . Pitchfork called the album a "complex, even contradictory record, not just the Black Swans' best but one of the most incisive and moving mediations on life and the loss of it in recent memory". [3]

Following the release of Occasion For Song, DeCicca relocated to London to write and demo the songs that would comprise his first solo album, 2014's Understanding Land, featuring friends Kelley Deal, Will Oldham (aka Bonnie Prince Billy), and drummer Ryan Jewell. The album also includes contributions by legendary Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section pianist Spooner Oldham. The response to the album was favorable, with PopMatters calling it "a deeply comforting collection, one that reaches out rather than coiling inward, [4] and Aquarium Drunkard declaring it "a quietly confident album". [5]

2013 saw the release of the DeCicca-produced album For The World, by outsider folk artist Ed Askew. For The World featured, among others, guitarist Marc Ribot, singer-songwriter Sharon Van Etten, and harpist Mary Lattimore, as well as DeCicca's partner, Eve Searls, who appeared as a vocalist on the album's single, "Blue Eyed Baby." [6] [7]

Around this time, DeCicca and Searls relocated to New Braunfels, Texas, where DeCicca began increasing his production profile. [8] 2017 saw the Drag City release of Chris Gantry's At the House Of Cash, which was executive produced by DeCicca and featured contributions from Bill Callahan and Edith Frost.

DeCicca's day job providing community education for a mental healthcare provider required him to spend many hours in the car driving between 19 different counties in Texas' Hill County; DeCicca used this time to conceive the songs that would comprise his next solo album, Time The Teacher, which was released in 2018. Uncut named the album "Americana Album of The Month" in its March 2018 issue, while The Fader raved that the album represented "a remarkable feat of empathy." [9]

After relocating to Bulverde, Texas, DeCicca contacted Augie Meyers, a songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and founding member of Dough Sahm's Sir Douglas Quintet. DeCicca recorded ten songs with Meyers at Blue Cat Studios in San Antonio. The fruits of this session would not be released until 2021's The Unlikely Optimist And His Domestic Adventures, preceded by 2018's Burning Daylight, recorded the previous year. Aquarium Drunkard praised the album's "raw and driving heartland rock." [10] Stereogum, also remarking on the album's "more enlivened" setting, premiered the album's first single "Here With You". [11]

Also in 2018, DeCicca produced the first new recordings of folk singer and over-the-road trucker Will Beeley for the Tompkins Square label.

In 2019, DeCicca toured with Bill Callahan, who named Time The Teacher one of the "Best Texas Records" for UK-based webzine, Mr. Porter. [12]

During this time,[ when? ] DeCicca also collaborated with experimental artist Mike Shiflet for a project called Walks On the Beach. The duo released the Adoption Tapes LP and cassette in 2015.

2020s

In early 2021, DeCicca released, via digital platforms, a ten-song album titled The Unlikely Optimist And His Domestic Adventures, featuring collaborations with Augie Meyers as well as with Austin mainstay Ralph White. The album was released on vinyl by Worried Songs later that year. [13] Tyler Wilcox, writing for Aquarium Drunkard , opined "The Unlikely Optimist is plainspoken without being plain, earthbound but floating free," and that it "isn't a record that grabs you by the collar with its greatness. But make no mistake, it's great." [14]

Production work

In addition to his own songwriting and session work, DeCicca is a prolific producer and has been involved with the supervision of archival releases for labels such as Drag City and Numero.

Critical reception

Both with The Black Swans and as a solo artist, DeCicca has earned favorable reviews from publications such as Pitchfork, Mojo, Uncut, No Depression, Dusted, Aquarium Drunkard, Stereogum, Popmatters, and The Fader. According to Pitchfork, "DeCicca is a careful, precise songwriter, but the songs don't necessarily sound written. Instead, they seem like they occurred to him naturally and ineluctably." [15] In a profile premiering his single "I See Horizons," Stereogum wrote that while DeCicca "fits comfortably into this seemingly endless continuum of slightly askew salt-of-the-earth troubadours ... there is truly no one like Jerry David DeCicca." [16]

Time the Teacher was named Americana Album of the Month in the March 2018 issue of Uncut magazine and was named by Bill Callahan in UK-based webzine Mr. Porter as one of the "Best Texas records". [12]

As of April 2021, DeCicca's song "Watermelon" has racked up over half a million Spotify plays. [17]

Discography

With The Black Swans

Solo

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bill Fay</span> English singer, pianist and songwriter

William Fay is an English singer-songwriter. His early recordings were released by Deram, but following the release of his second album in 1971, Fay was dropped by the label. His work enjoyed a growing cult status in the 1990s, and his older works were re-issued in 1998 and 2004/2005. Fay's 2012 album Life Is People was his first album of all-new material since 1971. His most recent album, Countless Branches, was released on 17 January 2020.

<i>Broken Arrow</i> (album) 1996 studio album by Neil Young with Crazy Horse

Broken Arrow is the 24th studio album by Canadian-American musician Neil Young, and his 8th with Crazy Horse, released in 1996.

The Black Swans are an American indie rock band. Jerry DeCicca and Noel Sayre form the core of the band. Their debut, Who Will Walk in the Darkness with You? features Milan Karcic, Matt Surgeson, Joe Peppercorn (piano), and Jovan Karcic (drums). The Sex Brain EP features Canaan Faulkner (bass), Chris Forbes, Keith Hanlon, Sarah Jurcyk, and Horace Roscoe. Amy Alwood and Cassie Lewis are also listed as group members. The Black Swans have toured America with such notable indie artists as Okkervil River, Magnolia Electric Company and Early Day Miners. Their 2nd full-length album, Change!, was released on November 6, 2007 by La Société Expéditionnaire on CD and LP. It features the same core band of DeCicca, Sayre, Faulkner, Forbes and Hanlon that appeared on Sex Brain, as well as appearances by Peppercorn on piano and Amy Alwood on backing vocals. It was recorded in Forbes' living room by Hanlon and mixed by Hanlon and DeCicca at Gidget Sound in Columbus, Ohio.

<i>Woke on a Whaleheart</i> 2007 studio album by Bill Callahan

Woke on a Whaleheart is the first record released by Bill Callahan under his own name instead of his nom de plume Smog. It was released by Drag City on April 24, 2007, and released a week earlier in Callahan's home state of Texas. A single, "Diamond Dancer," preceded the release of the album on March 20, 2007.

<i>Change!</i> 2007 studio album by The Black Swans

Change! is the second full-length album by the Black Swans. It is a follow-up to 2004's Who Will Walk in the Darkness with You? and their 2006 EP, Sex Brain. Harp Magazine described the album as a tip of the hat to Charles Simic, the Left Banke, and Fred Neil.

Cotton Jones is an American indie folk band, with elements of psychedelic folk, dream pop, and chamber pop, based in Cumberland, Maryland and currently signed to Suicide Squeeze Records.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thor Harris</span> American drummer

Thor Harris is an artist, sculptor, musician, painter, carpenter and handyman. He was the percussionist for Swans (2010–2016). He has performed with Shearwater (2001–2010), Bill Callahan, The Angels of Light, Lisa Germano, Yonatan Gat, Gretchen Phillips, Devendra Banhart, Rebecca Cannon, Xiu Xiu, Flock of Dimes & Amanda Palmer, Whalesong, and the Grand Theft Orchestra. He has recorded at least six instrumental albums with the Austin producer Rob Halverson. He also contributed to Ben Frost's 2014 album, Aurora. He joined the touring lineup of Xiu Xiu as a percussionist in February 2017 and he has enjoyed touring with Thor & Friends since 2015.

<i>What Will We Be</i> 2009 studio album by Devendra Banhart

What Will We Be is Devendra Banhart's seventh studio album released on October 27, 2009, on Warner Bros. Records. The album was co-produced by Banhart and Paul Butler from A Band of Bees. Rejoining Banhart are old band mates Noah Georgeson, Greg Rogove, Luckey Remington, and Rodrigo Amarante, all of whom worked with him on his previous album, Smokey Rolls Down Thunder Canyon.

<i>Apocalypse</i> (Bill Callahan album) 2011 studio album by Bill Callahan

Apocalypse is a studio album by Bill Callahan, released on April 5, 2011. It is the third studio album released under his own name, and fourteenth overall when including LPs released as Smog.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Orwells</span> American rock band

The Orwells are an American rock band from Elmhurst, a suburb west of Chicago, Illinois, United States. The members include Mario Cuomo (vocals), Dominic Corso (guitar), Grant Brinner (bass), and Henry Brinner (drums). Their debut album Remember When was released in August 2012. The band is known for their song "Who Needs You", which was performed on the Late Show with David Letterman and was featured in an Apple commercial for the iPad Air 2.

<i>Life Is People</i> 2012 studio album by Bill Fay

Life Is People is the fourth studio album by English singer, pianist and songwriter Bill Fay, released by Dead Oceans in August 2012. Fay had been without a record label after being dropped by Deram Records following the release of his second album, Time of the Last Persecution in 1971, and could not secure a release for his third album Tomorrow, Tomorrow & Tomorrow. To support himself, Fay took various jobs outside of the music industry, while continuing to record music at home. In 1998, Fay's first two albums were reissued on compact disc by British record label See for Miles Records, prompting a revival of interest in his work, and Tomorrow, Tomorrow & Tomorrow was finally released in 2005.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Steve Gunn (musician)</span> American singer-songwriter

Steve Gunn is an American singer-songwriter based in Brooklyn. He studied art and music at Temple University before moving to New York City. Gunn was formerly a guitarist in Kurt Vile's backing band, The Violators.

<i>Visions of the Country</i> 1978 album by Robbie Basho

Visions of the Country is the tenth studio album by composer and guitarist Robbie Basho, released in 1978 by Windham Hill Records. It was restored and remastered by Joe Churchich, Kyle Fosburgh, and John Dark and re-issued by Grass-Tops Recording and Gnome Life Records on September 25, 2013.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kevin Morby discography</span>

American indie rock musician Kevin Morby has released seven studio albums, thirteen singles, and eleven music videos.

Sam Griffin Owens, known professionally as Sam Evian, is an American songwriter, instrumentalist and producer based in New York. He has released four full-length albums and one 7" single.

<i>Shepherd in a Sheepskin Vest</i> 2019 studio album by Bill Callahan

Shepherd in a Sheepskin Vest is a studio album by American musician Bill Callahan, released on June 14, 2019, by Drag City. It is the sixth studio album released under his own name, and seventeenth overall when including LPs released as Smog.

<i>Sundowner</i> (album) 2020 studio album by Kevin Morby

Sundowner is the sixth studio album by American indie rock musician Kevin Morby, released on October 16, 2020, on Dead Oceans.

<i>Gold Record</i> (album) 2020 studio album by Bill Callahan

Gold Record is a studio album by American musician Bill Callahan, released on September 4, 2020, by independent record label Drag City. It is the seventh studio album released under his own name, and eighteenth overall when including studio albums released as Smog.

Fred Thomas is an American indie rock musician who was described by Mark Deming of AllMusic as "[o]ne of the most influential figures on Michigan's indie rock scene". Thomas founded the math rock band Chore in 1994. After this band broke up in 1996, he joined His Name Is Alive in addition to serving as a member of Lovesick and Flashpapr. He founded the band Saturday Looks Good to Me in 1999, and it released four studio albums before going on hiatus in 2008.

<i>Ytilaer</i> 2022 studio album by Bill Callahan

Ytilaer is a studio album by American musician Bill Callahan, released on October 14, 2022, by Drag City. It is the eighth solo studio album released under Callahan's own name, and his nineteenth overall when including LPs released as Smog.

References

  1. ↑ Jurek, Thom. "Who Will Walk In The Darkness With You review". AllMusic . Retrieved March 28, 2022.
  2. ↑ Mack, Shane. "RIP Black Swans Violinist Noel Sayre". Tinymixtapes.com. Retrieved March 28, 2022.
  3. ↑ Deusner, Stephen M. "Occasion For Song review". Pitchfork.com. Retrieved March 28, 2022.
  4. ↑ Fiander, Matthew (June 4, 2014). "Jerry David DeCicca: Understanding Land". Popmatters.com. Retrieved March 28, 2022.
  5. ↑ Woodbury, Jason (May 27, 2014). "Understanding Land review". Aquariumdrunkard.com. Retrieved March 28, 2022.
  6. ↑ "Ed Askew – Blue Eyed Baby (New version)" – via YouTube.
  7. ↑ "For the World, by Ed Askew". Edaskew.bandcamp.com. Retrieved June 8, 2022.
  8. 1 2 Kelly, Jennifer (February 6, 2018). "A Sense of Geography: How a Move to Texas Hill Country Gave Jerry David DeCicca's Songs New Resonance". Popmatters.com. Retrieved May 20, 2022.
  9. ↑ "Do you like watermelons as much as this man?". Thefader.com.
  10. ↑ Woodbury, Jason (May 27, 2014). "Burning Daylight review". Aquariumdrunkard.com. Retrieved March 28, 2022.
  11. ↑ "Jerry David DeCicca – "Here with You"". Stereogum.com. July 25, 2018.
  12. 1 2 Scnipper, Matthew. "The Great American Songwriter Mr Bill Callahan Picks His Texas Playlist". Mrporter.com. Retrieved March 28, 2022.
  13. ↑ "The Unlikely Optimist & His Domestic Adventures, by Jerry David DeCicca". Worriedsongs.bandcamp.com.
  14. ↑ Wilcox, Tyler (October 14, 2021). "Jerry David DeCicca :: The Unlikely Optimist & His Domestic Adventures". Aquariumdrunkard.com. Retrieved March 28, 2022.
  15. ↑ "Occasion for Song". Pitchfork .
  16. ↑ Deville, Chris (July 24, 2020). "Jerry David DeCicca – "I See Horizons"". Stereogum.com. Retrieved March 28, 2022.
  17. ↑ "Watermelon". Open.spotify.com. February 9, 2018.
  18. ↑ Thompson, Paul. "The Black Swans: Don't Blame the Stars". Pitchfork.com. Retrieved May 20, 2022.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.