Paleo
Encyclopedia
Paleo, aka David Strackany, is an American
singer of folk music
who is notable for writing a song every day for 365 days using a "half-size children's guitar" while living out of his car and being essentially homeless. He plays acoustic guitar
and sings and in 2011 is touring the United States and has a recording arrangement with an indie music label named Partisan Records
.
exhibit of butterflies
in Prague. He explained:
He exchanged his collection of music CDs for a tattoo
. In a subsequent interview, he recalled that he thought he could "make a living making music" but wasn't sure how this would happen. He has had a variety of musical influences from pop culture but one in particular that stands out is the musical Jesus Christ Superstar
which he describes as a guilty pleasure. He has a creative temperament, and in an interview, described himself as living "inwardly":
He explained after a performance in Syracuse
, New York
on April 7, 2007, that his half-sized children's guitar was more efficient since it allowed him to play while driving; he named the guitar Oh! Susanna
after the Stephen Foster
song.
Strackany recorded his debut album Misery, Missouri in early October 2004. The record was largely folk in nature but with more elaborate arrangements and instrumentation, and was self-released. The entire session was executed with one microphone. 1000 copies were pressed independently and it is now out of print, with no published plans to re-release the work, according to a description on his website. He used simple chord progression
s which were "uncomplicated sonically" but with lyrics akin to a 17th century poet, according to one account. He found that his best lyrics often come up in everyday conversation but by putting what he finds in an "unfamiliar context", the words can become very significant. He wrote song, produced his music, booked shows, and traveled around the country while living out of his car. He performed, and continues to perform, extensively; according to one account, he has played about 150 shows per year since 2005.
Day on April 16, 2006 to April 15, 2007 and playing more than 200 concerts. Paleo's "The Song Diary" project was similar to a feat achieved by playwright Suzan-Lori Parks
in 2003 and it was covered by news sources including USA Today
, Entertainment Weekly
, Magnet Magazine
, Paste Magazine, the Chicago Sun Times, the New York Post
, NPR
Morning Edition
, the Washington Post, the Boston Globe, in addition to regional and local papers. A National Public Radio music critic wrote:
Paleo made rules for himself:
He refused to sleep "until he had completely documented a new song for that day regardless of the circumstances," according to his recollection. The result was an "enormous body of work" with an "outlook of unfettered optimism." It is downloadable in its entirety from his website. Paste Magazine described it as "a streetfight of freakish prolificacy." He received a letter of congratulations from American
vice-president Dick Cheney
who had heard about the project. Cheney wrote:
Strackany described the project as psychoanalytically
transformative in a personal way:
Strackany sees a benefit to creativity
in songwriting when there are limits attached. He emphasized that boundaries are a "great way to excite your creativity" and suggested, in an example, that cutting off two of the guitar's six strings could help a writer creatively. He noted that "too much freedom can be every bit the cage."
on a Washington, D.C.
-based music project entitled These United States
. He helped Elliott develop the band's first album, and acted primarily as the band's producer as well as playing a majority of the instruments on the band's "psychotropic debut record." The band wrote "novelistic songs packed with dense narratives and loose, ragged-edged folk, rock and Americana". Strackany's contribution was as a multi-instrumentalist
who offered "skillfully mixed, multi-instrumental support with a range in keys, drums, accordion, bass and vibraphone," according to NPR. The Village Voice described Strackany's arrangements as "psychedelic" and noted that instruments he played included the "vibes
, glockenspiel
, mandolin
, and lots of off-kilter keyboards."
Elliott described Strackany as a songwriter who has "stared almost directly at the human soul."
. In 2009, he won a record deal with Brooklyn-based Partisan Records
. He once described making music as a vice. He continues to tour extensively.
According to one account, Strackany repeated his song-a-day project in 2010. In 2011, he is no longer technically "homeless", but when he is not touring, he lives in Iowa City; a second source suggests he lives in Davenport, Iowa
.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
singer of folk music
Folk music
Folk music is an English term encompassing both traditional folk music and contemporary folk music. The term originated in the 19th century. Traditional folk music has been defined in several ways: as music transmitted by mouth, as music of the lower classes, and as music with unknown composers....
who is notable for writing a song every day for 365 days using a "half-size children's guitar" while living out of his car and being essentially homeless. He plays acoustic guitar
Acoustic guitar
An acoustic guitar is a guitar that uses only an acoustic sound board. The air in this cavity resonates with the vibrational modes of the string and at low frequencies, which depend on the size of the box, the chamber acts like a Helmholtz resonator, increasing or decreasing the volume of the sound...
and sings and in 2011 is touring the United States and has a recording arrangement with an indie music label named Partisan Records
Partisan Records
Partisan Records is an American independent record label based in Brooklyn, New York. It was started in 2007 by Ian Wheeler and Tim Putnam. Their first releases were an expanded version of Holy Sons Decline of the West and The Standard's fifth studio album Swimmer...
.
Beginnings
Strackany was born in 1981. He graduated from college but was dissatisfied with service-level jobs and so he decided to become a songwriter. He chose the moniker Paleo after seeing a paleontologyPaleontology
Paleontology "old, ancient", ὄν, ὀντ- "being, creature", and λόγος "speech, thought") is the study of prehistoric life. It includes the study of fossils to determine organisms' evolution and interactions with each other and their environments...
exhibit of butterflies
Butterfly
A butterfly is a mainly day-flying insect of the order Lepidoptera, which includes the butterflies and moths. Like other holometabolous insects, the butterfly's life cycle consists of four parts: egg, larva, pupa and adult. Most species are diurnal. Butterflies have large, often brightly coloured...
in Prague. He explained:
He exchanged his collection of music CDs for a tattoo
Tattoo
A tattoo is made by inserting indelible ink into the dermis layer of the skin to change the pigment. Tattoos on humans are a type of body modification, and tattoos on other animals are most commonly used for identification purposes...
. In a subsequent interview, he recalled that he thought he could "make a living making music" but wasn't sure how this would happen. He has had a variety of musical influences from pop culture but one in particular that stands out is the musical Jesus Christ Superstar
Jesus Christ Superstar
Jesus Christ Superstar is a rock opera by Andrew Lloyd Webber, with lyrics by Tim Rice. The musical started off as a rock opera concept recording before its first staging on Broadway in 1971...
which he describes as a guilty pleasure. He has a creative temperament, and in an interview, described himself as living "inwardly":
He explained after a performance in Syracuse
Syracuse, New York
Syracuse is a city in and the county seat of Onondaga County, New York, United States, the largest U.S. city with the name "Syracuse", and the fifth most populous city in the state. At the 2010 census, the city population was 145,170, and its metropolitan area had a population of 742,603...
, New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
on April 7, 2007, that his half-sized children's guitar was more efficient since it allowed him to play while driving; he named the guitar Oh! Susanna
Oh! Susanna
"Oh! Susanna" is a minstrel song by Stephen Foster . It was published by W. C. Peters & Co. in Cincinnati, Ohio in 1848. The song was introduced by a local quintette at a concert in Andrews' Eagle Ice Cream Saloon in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania on September 11, 1847. Foster was said to have written...
after the Stephen Foster
Stephen Foster
Stephen Collins Foster , known as the "father of American music", was the pre-eminent songwriter in the United States of the 19th century...
song.
Debut
Strackany's initial approach was to record an album, then he learned to book his own performances:Strackany recorded his debut album Misery, Missouri in early October 2004. The record was largely folk in nature but with more elaborate arrangements and instrumentation, and was self-released. The entire session was executed with one microphone. 1000 copies were pressed independently and it is now out of print, with no published plans to re-release the work, according to a description on his website. He used simple chord progression
Chord progression
A chord progression is a series of musical chords, or chord changes that "aims for a definite goal" of establishing a tonality founded on a key, root or tonic chord. In other words, the succession of root relationships...
s which were "uncomplicated sonically" but with lyrics akin to a 17th century poet, according to one account. He found that his best lyrics often come up in everyday conversation but by putting what he finds in an "unfamiliar context", the words can become very significant. He wrote song, produced his music, booked shows, and traveled around the country while living out of his car. He performed, and continues to perform, extensively; according to one account, he has played about 150 shows per year since 2005.
Song a Day project
Strackany generated media attention by doing a year-long write-a-song-a-day project. He did this while touring the United States nationally and driving more than 50,000 miles from EasterEaster
Easter is the central feast in the Christian liturgical year. According to the Canonical gospels, Jesus rose from the dead on the third day after his crucifixion. His resurrection is celebrated on Easter Day or Easter Sunday...
Day on April 16, 2006 to April 15, 2007 and playing more than 200 concerts. Paleo's "The Song Diary" project was similar to a feat achieved by playwright Suzan-Lori Parks
Suzan-Lori Parks
Suzan-Lori Parks is an African American playwright and screenwriter. She received the MacArthur Foundation "Genius" Grant in 2001, and the 2002 Pulitzer Prize for Drama for her play, Topdog/Underdog.-Early years:...
in 2003 and it was covered by news sources including USA Today
USA Today
USA Today is a national American daily newspaper published by the Gannett Company. It was founded by Al Neuharth. The newspaper vies with The Wall Street Journal for the position of having the widest circulation of any newspaper in the United States, something it previously held since 2003...
, Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly is an American magazine, published by the Time division of Time Warner, that covers film, television, music, broadway theatre, books and popular culture...
, Magnet Magazine
Magnet (magazine)
Magnet is a music magazine which generally focuses on alternative, independent, or out-of-the-mainstream bands.-History:The magazine is published four times a year, and is independently owned and edited by Eric T. Miller. Music magazines with a similar focus in the 1990s era included Option,...
, Paste Magazine, the Chicago Sun Times, the New York Post
New York Post
The New York Post is the 13th-oldest newspaper published in the United States and is generally acknowledged as the oldest to have been published continuously as a daily, although – as is the case with most other papers – its publication has been periodically interrupted by labor actions...
, NPR
NPR
NPR, formerly National Public Radio, is a privately and publicly funded non-profit membership media organization that serves as a national syndicator to a network of 900 public radio stations in the United States. NPR was created in 1970, following congressional passage of the Public Broadcasting...
Morning Edition
Morning Edition
Morning Edition is an American radio news program produced and distributed by National Public Radio . It airs weekday mornings and runs for two hours, and many stations repeat one or both hours. The show feeds live from 05:00 to 09:00 ET, with feeds and updates as required until noon...
, the Washington Post, the Boston Globe, in addition to regional and local papers. A National Public Radio music critic wrote:
Paleo made rules for himself:
- The Song Diary would end if he skipped even one day.
- Each song had to be recorded before sunrise.
- No songs could be re-recorded.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
vice-president Dick Cheney
Dick Cheney
Richard Bruce "Dick" Cheney served as the 46th Vice President of the United States , under George W. Bush....
who had heard about the project. Cheney wrote:
Strackany described the project as psychoanalytically
Psychoanalysis
Psychoanalysis is a psychological theory developed in the late 19th and early 20th centuries by Austrian neurologist Sigmund Freud. Psychoanalysis has expanded, been criticized and developed in different directions, mostly by some of Freud's former students, such as Alfred Adler and Carl Gustav...
transformative in a personal way:
Strackany sees a benefit to creativity
Creativity
Creativity refers to the phenomenon whereby a person creates something new that has some kind of value. What counts as "new" may be in reference to the individual creator, or to the society or domain within which the novelty occurs...
in songwriting when there are limits attached. He emphasized that boundaries are a "great way to excite your creativity" and suggested, in an example, that cutting off two of the guitar's six strings could help a writer creatively. He noted that "too much freedom can be every bit the cage."
Collaborations
Strackany worked with songwriter Jesse ElliottThese United States
These United States is a musical group from Lexington, KY, Brooklyn, NY, and Carrboro, NC made up of songwriter and bandleader Jesse Elliott, pedal steel and electric guitarist J. Tom Hnatow, drummer and vocalist Robby Cosenza, guitarist and keyboardist Justin Craig, and bassist and vocalist Dave...
on a Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
-based music project entitled These United States
These United States
These United States is a musical group from Lexington, KY, Brooklyn, NY, and Carrboro, NC made up of songwriter and bandleader Jesse Elliott, pedal steel and electric guitarist J. Tom Hnatow, drummer and vocalist Robby Cosenza, guitarist and keyboardist Justin Craig, and bassist and vocalist Dave...
. He helped Elliott develop the band's first album, and acted primarily as the band's producer as well as playing a majority of the instruments on the band's "psychotropic debut record." The band wrote "novelistic songs packed with dense narratives and loose, ragged-edged folk, rock and Americana". Strackany's contribution was as a multi-instrumentalist
Multi-instrumentalist
A multi-instrumentalist is a musician who plays a number of different instruments.The Bachelor of Music degree usually requires a second instrument to be learned , but people who double on another instrument are not usually seen as multi-instrumentalists.-Classical music:Music written for Symphony...
who offered "skillfully mixed, multi-instrumental support with a range in keys, drums, accordion, bass and vibraphone," according to NPR. The Village Voice described Strackany's arrangements as "psychedelic" and noted that instruments he played included the "vibes
Vibraphone
The vibraphone, sometimes called the vibraharp or simply the vibes, is a musical instrument in the struck idiophone subfamily of the percussion family....
, glockenspiel
Glockenspiel
A glockenspiel is a percussion instrument composed of a set of tuned keys arranged in the fashion of the keyboard of a piano. In this way, it is similar to the xylophone; however, the xylophone's bars are made of wood, while the glockenspiel's are metal plates or tubes, and making it a metallophone...
, mandolin
Mandolin
A mandolin is a musical instrument in the lute family . It descends from the mandore, a soprano member of the lute family. The mandolin soundboard comes in many shapes—but generally round or teardrop-shaped, sometimes with scrolls or other projections. A mandolin may have f-holes, or a single...
, and lots of off-kilter keyboards."
Elliott described Strackany as a songwriter who has "stared almost directly at the human soul."
Solo career
In 2007, Strackany did soundtrack work on the feature film In Search of a Midnight KissIn Search of a Midnight Kiss
In Search of a Midnight Kiss is an American independent romantic comedy written and directed by Alex Holdridge. It is listed on the National Board of Review's Top 10 Independent Films of 2008, won the Independent Spirit John Cassavetes Award in 2009 as well as having earned awards at festivals...
. In 2009, he won a record deal with Brooklyn-based Partisan Records
Partisan Records
Partisan Records is an American independent record label based in Brooklyn, New York. It was started in 2007 by Ian Wheeler and Tim Putnam. Their first releases were an expanded version of Holy Sons Decline of the West and The Standard's fifth studio album Swimmer...
. He once described making music as a vice. He continues to tour extensively.
According to one account, Strackany repeated his song-a-day project in 2010. In 2011, he is no longer technically "homeless", but when he is not touring, he lives in Iowa City; a second source suggests he lives in Davenport, Iowa
Davenport, Iowa
Davenport is a city located along the Mississippi River in Scott County, Iowa, United States. Davenport is the county seat of and largest city in Scott County. Davenport was founded on May 14, 1836 by Antoine LeClaire and was named for his friend, George Davenport, a colonel during the Black Hawk...
.
Music reviews
- NPR music critic Deborah Amos suggested that Paleo's year-long one-a-day songwriting project took a "toll on his psyche", shifting back and forth between hope and despair.
- Boise Weekly critic Elijah Jensen wrote that Strackany "explores interiors of the human mind, the dissolution of love, the value of success and does so poetically with such entrancing use of metaphor."
- Daytrotter’s Sean Moeller described him as a Poet Laureate in 2007.
Discography
- Misery, Missouri (2005)
- The Song Diary (2006–2007)
- Pedestrian Crossing (Recorded 2006 and released 2009)
- A New Day (2010 Cassette tape)
- A View Of The Sky (2010)
- Fruit of the Spirit, 2011, Partisan Records