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Greg Copeland is a high-school friend of Jackson Browne's. He wrote the song "Candy" which Jackson covered on Lives In The Balance, and co-wrote some of Jackson's early songs with him such as The Fairest Of The Seasons which was on the Nina Demo and Nico's album Chelsea Girl back in 1967. He co-wrote "Buy for me the Rain" with Steve Noonan, which was a huge hit by the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band in 1967 (Watch the video here)
Jackson produced his debut LP, Revenge will come back in 1982 for Geffen Records. This album included a line up of great musicians, including Danny Kortchmar and Rick Vito on guitars, Bob Glaub on bass, Jim Ehingher on keyboards and Ian Wallace on drums. This album has unfortunately never been reissued on CD... "Revenge will come" has been covered by David Lindley, "El Salvador" by Joan Baez and Jackson Browne (watch the video here).
Greg's second album Diana and James was released on October 7, 2008. Here is what he says about it: "Diana and James” will be released on Jackson’s own label, Inside Recordings, on October 7. If you liked "Revenge Will Come", I think you will enjoy the new record even more. It will be 13 songs. It was produced by Greg Leisz, who is a real wonder, as you may already know. The band includes Leisz on all kinds of guitars, Carla Kihlstedt (Tin Hat Trio) and Gabe Witcher (Punch Brothers) on violins, Jay Bellerose (Joe Henry) on drums, Jennifer Condos (Joe Henry) and Bob Glaub (an L.A. hero) on bass, and Patrick Warren (Joe Henry) and Phil Parlapiano (John Prine and Lucinda Williams) on keyboards. It was an absolute joy to work with all of these folks, and I’m really proud of the record".
The new album, Tango Bar, will be in stores (CD, digital and streaming platforms) on June 12, 2020 on Paraply Records. Produced by Tyler Chester and featuring the best band known to man: Inara George and Caitlin Canty (guest vocals); Greg Leisz (guitars); Tyler Chester (piano, keyboards, and guitar); Jay Bellerose and Don Heffington (drums); Val McCallum (guitar); Davíd Garza (piano and harmony vocal); Rob Burger (accordion); Stewart Cole (horns); Anna Butterrs (acoustic bass); and Madison Cunningham (harmony vocal).
This is the official biography, courtesy of Inside Recordings
Singer-songwriter Greg Copeland is a Southern California native whose depth of feeling for music – and natural ability to conjure it up with spare, graceful melodies and lyrics that are plainspoken poetry – has been in inverse proportion to his body of work. That balance tips with his new album, 2008’s DIANA AND JAMES, an earthy, folk-flavored collection of 12 original songs produced by acclaimed musician Greg Leisz, a pedal steel master and ace guitarist who plays on every track. The disc follows up his 1982 Jackson Browne-produced debut album Revenge Will Come (Geffen), which allmusic.com calls "a first-rate singer-songwriter affair" and was included in Time Magazine’s 1982 year-end 10 Best list (along with Bruce Springsteen’s Nebraska and Richard & Linda Thompson’s Shoot Out the Lights).
Copeland and Browne have been friends since they attended high school together in Fullerton, CA, and then entered the L.A. music scene in the late ’60s. For a time, they lived in a compound of duplexes and triplexes in Echo Park, near Dodger Stadium, where J.D. Souther and Glenn Frey were also neighbors. In addition to collaborating on Revenge Will Come, Copeland co-wrote the song "Candy," which appears on Browne’s album Lives In The Balance. His credits also include the song "El Salvador," which Joan Baez recorded in 1989, and David Lindley covered "Revenge Will Come" on his 2008 album Big Twang.
During Copeland’s long hiatus from music-making, he and his wife raised two sons. He started songwriting again in 2000 – "I could feel it coming. The odometer clicked over and it was like I came out of a deep freeze. Songs just started pouring out. It took me a couple of years to really trust it. After a while, I was leaving one job and starting another, and I decided to give myself a hundred days to do nothing but write. Most of the songs on this record appeared in a rush of bits and pieces during that period, and it took me nearly four years to sort them out." The title characters, Copeland says, "recur throughout the songs. They’re the same two people moving through different lives, almost like three-dimensional chess. It’s not a concept album, but a lot of little interconnections link the songs together." For example, the character in "I Am The One" was responsible for the death of the woman in "Muddy Water." Listeners might also recognize the character in "The Only Wicked Thing" as Hank Williams on the night he died. Throughout, Copeland’s warm, plaintive vocals and lilting melodies come alive against the backdrop of his novelist’s gift for narrative and a pragmatist’s sense of unadorned emotion.
DIANA AND JAMES was recorded at Groovemasters in Santa Monica and Winslow Ct. Studio in Los Angeles. Copeland is accompanied by a stellar group of musicians that include, in addition to Greg Leisz on guitars: Jennifer Condos and Bob Glaub (bass); David Piltch (upright bass); Jay Bellerose, Danny Frankel and Don Heffington (drums and percussion); Patrick Warren (keyboards); Phil Parlapiano (keyboards and horns); and Gabe Witcher (violin). Carla Kihlstedt – a founding member of groups including Tin Hat, Sleepytime Gorilla Museum and 2 Foot Yard – is also featured on violin and delivers a gorgeous co-lead vocal on "Palace Of Love." Heather Waters and Danny Ott appear on harmony vocals. Reflecting on his return to songwriting, Copeland says, "It’s like that saying, ‘if you build it they will come.’ If you offer yourself to it, if you show up, the songs will come to you. But first you have to show up. You do your best and hope another one comes, but you never know." As for offering up his first album in 25 years, Copeland says, "it’s like putting a baby in a little reed boat and pushing it out into the river."