goTriad.com

Meet the singer, songwriter and poet from Greensboro.
www.brucepiephoff.com

HOW IT BEGAN

My father had some Woody Guthrie and Bob Dylan records, and something about those artists that he was into struck me -- that's when I was in high school. When I went to Chapel Hill (for college), I just got more involved in writing and literature; I became an English major. I like those songwriters who wrote really great songs back in that era.

I began playing local bars and coffee houses. It's funny, I actually got a late start. I'm 60 now, so I've been playing music for over 30 years. I started when I was 19 but didn't put out a record until 1982. My first album came out in '88, and since then, I've been putting them out fairly frequently over the years -- albums almost every year.

In 1988, there were people being laid off, and I wrote songs about people going to the unemployment office. Now, they're just as relevant because things are bad right now.

17TH ALBUM, 'CLOCKWORK'

I feel good about it. It's gotten pretty good reception from critics where it's been reviewed. It's been played on many public radio stations that play acoustic music including WNCW (88.7 FM) in the mountains in Spindale, N.C. Also, Guilford College has supported me tremendously.

The theme, of course, is clockwork. It has this theme how time is running through our lives and how hard it is to understand time. This world runs like clockwork; it's kind of about the futility of time.

Some people say I put CDs out like clockwork. I've put them out almost every year. I did just turn 60. Time becomes more; you want to get things done. If you want to do it, you've got to get it done. I want to keep working as long as I can. As long as people enjoy it, I'll keep putting it out there.

THE PUBLIC'S VIEW

I don't just write about Greensboro, although sometimes people say, "He's the songwriter of Greensboro subjects." I have a lot of them that have come from here simply because I lived here most of my life. I also have songs on all kinds of things. I won't say it's my life and me in everything I do as a writer, it's also a product of your imagination; it's kind of a mix. Sometimes some little bit of an incident, you can rework it and put imaginary characters in there; it tells maybe a more original story.

WRITING POETRY

When you're a folk singer for eight or 10 years, you get kind of tired of that same mode. &ellipses; I started reading some different poets, and I started trying to write some things in different modes, free verse. It's just great to write to break out of that box. I wrote poems and started putting those poems to music and experimental kind of things with spoken words. I think that gives you something that's a little unique among singers/songwriters. The spoken words grab people's ears.

PRIDE IN HIS WORK

I think my biggest accomplishment is really just staying in the game for this long because it's so discouraging with so many opportunities to quit or become a casualty to become involved with drugs or alcohol. It's not a healthy lifestyle. To keep being able to be inspired by the work that you're doing, that's what means the most to me. Things go in and out of favor, you're not always in the popular mode of what's happening, but you have to keep working if you're dedicated to your work.

I've gotten to travel a lot and meet a lot of interesting people. I've worked with a lot of great artists, got to produce a body of work, something I can leave for my family. It's been good, I don't regret it at all.

THE FUTURE

It's like what Bob Dylan said, "I got no future, I got no past." When you're 60, the future is just different. You think more in terms of the present. The inertia of what your life has been about kind of carries you on forward. I don't have any specific goals in terms of trying to get a record deal or things like that. I just want to continue living a creative life and a happy life and see what happens. Who knows? Something great might happen this year. You just keep working. It just has always been a way that gives me something new to present to the public. &ellipses; You gotta keep going.

---- Laura Smith

Newsletter

Learn More

topCars

featured ads

TriadMarketplace.com