Gregory Alan Isakov

A Master Craftsman Songwriter, Gregory Alan Isakov Captures Rich Snapshots of Life With Deceptively Minimalist Arrangements

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It is no surprise that the music of Colorado singer-songwriter Gregory Alan Isakov has always occupied its own space. His heavy-hearted indie-folk seems both cavernous and intimate all at once, like diary entries scrawled across landscape paintings. He sees the world through the eyes of a traveller and that sense of open space seems to define his life and his approach to musicianship. Isakov spent the first six years of his life in South Africa before his family upped sticks for Philadelphia, PA.

“My parents moved to the States in 1986,” he tells TG. “It was during the peak of apartheid and it was an intense change. You know, that’s a really different vibe growing up with mango trees, and then moving to Philadelphia. It’s grey. I was scared of the things I’d seen on TV – tornadoes from Wizard Of Oz and stufflike that! We had a one bedroom apartment and then after that my dad got a job and so we moved around quite a bit. We changed schools a few times. I did finish high school, but I dropped out. I did some travelling, hiked a part of the Appalachian trail. I could never sit still.”