David Kleiner

There is no typical David Kleiner song. Sure, you’ll hear influences from his youth: folk protest (To Kill in My Name), blues (Same Bar Blues), rock (Baby, I Burn). But he never stopped listening, intent on offering tuneful songs with precise lyrics regardless of genre. After David toured France in an old-time band playing swing from the American songbook and fiddle tunes, the styles and new chords he had to learn started turning up in his music, sometimes in very unexpected settings. Like in a swing tune about Joan of Arc—both reverent and irreverent--he dedicated to Tom Lehrer. Or the reshaped O'Carolan melody he used to tell the story of songwriter Jack Hardy losing a brother on 9/11. An old fiddle tune morphed into a solemn retelling of Philadelphia’s largest mass killing (Massacre on Lex Street). Sing Out’s review of David’s love song album, This Human Heart, raves he, “embraces the realities of loving” with “intensity and passion.” France’s XRoads gave David’s homage to Phil Ochs, The News That’s Fit to Sing, five stars, explaining, “This album reveals itself little by little, with modesty, insinuating itself into you, listen after listen, never to leave you.” Yes, both albums were written by the same guy. Fans who saw David open for Pat Wictor, Hot Soup, or Dave Matthews or headline iconic venues like Charlottesville’s Prism or World Cafe Live’s Lounge, might not have known exactly what to expect. But you can be assured they left both entertained and reflective.