New York, NY (Top40 Charts/ MPRESS RECORDS) Singer Seth Glier has broken through with his sophomore CD, 'The Next Right Thing' - from universal rave reviews to sold-out concerts to cover stories of Entertainment sections to multiple television appearances, to a rousing radio chart build to a promising debut via iTUNES, Glier finds himself on an upward trajectory as the new year begins. Recent coverage has described the 1/11/11 album as 'beautiful; brilliant; breathtaking' - Glier 'channels Billy Joel.' With his soaring falsetto and sensitive songwriting, Glier delivers songs that are 'as complex and suggestive as the best of the poets.' Listen to a streaming sampler of the MPress Records release, here:
https://www.sethcohenpr.com/player/sethglier2011/
Seth Glier CD is 'Beautiful; Brilliant; Breathtaking - Sets the Bar High for 2011' - 'Incredibly Poetic'
Single Hits No 1 via ClearChannel Radio; Album Shows Early iTUNES Promise
'Swoon-Worthy Pop-Rock Falsetto'
22-Year Old Phenom Seth Glier Visits Local Hospitals and Shelters Prior to Concerts While on Tour
The album's first single 'Lauralee' has shot up ClearChannel's 'NEW! Discover & Uncover' Chart to Number ONE! - this is, by far, the greatest response Glier has ever generated at radio. On iTUNES, the album debuted in their Top 100, and was featured in the 'New and Noteworthy' section of their Home page, two weeks in a row. An iTUNES Editorial Review will run soon. Look for Glier to deliver a rousing, televised performance of 'Lauralee', complete with over a dozen back-up singers, when he returns to THE CW NETWORK/WGN-TV for a live appearance on February 8th. On February 21st, Glier will return to FOX-TV to coincide with a tour stop in Birmingham.
Major dailies such as The Boston Globe, Connecticut Post, Hartford Courant and Dallas Morning News have rallied around Glier's CD, as have FOX-TV and The CW Network/WGN-TV. Regional papers, Alternative weeklies, web-based editorial outlets and more have supported Glier's release as well, and a range of recent coverage follows below. Here is NO DEPRESSION's posting of a live video of Glier's 'Walk Katie Home': https://www.nodepression.com/video/seth-glier-walk-katie-home
This is heady territory for the 22-year old phenom, but he manages to stay grounded by altruistic actions that would sound improbable if they weren't true: in nearly every city Glier visits while on tour, he spends his pre-show afternoons visiting HIV Shelters, VA Hospitals, and/or Children's Hospitals, going from room-to-room and performing for patients. It is this sense of greater purpose that places Glier in a rare spot among today's young pop stars - and his older brother might be one of the strongest reasons behind this philosophy of 'giving' - Glier's complex family relationships have long shaped his musical journey, with his brother considered to be his greatest influence. 'My brother is autistic and non-verbal. I learned to communicate with words better once I realized how to communicate to someone without them.'
WILDYSWORLD 5 Star Review
https://wildysworld.blogspot.com/2011/01/seth-glier-next-right-thing.html By Wildy Haskell - 1/2/2011
Boston-based singer/songwriter Seth Glier is all of twenty-one years old and is already preparing to release his second album on MPress Records. Twenty-two in years alone, Glier shows a depth and maturity of songwriting that seems antithetical to his youth. Glier's next album, The Next Right Thing is due on January 11, 2011 and features a guest appearance from Edwin McCain. Glier writes from a deep well of experiences both personal and observed, and certainly appears to have taken things to the next level with The Next Right Thing. Seth Glier has appeared on the main stage at the Falcon Ridge Folk and Kerrville Folk Festivals, and has shared stages with the likes of McCain, Mark Knopfler, James Taylor and The Verve Pipe. The Next Right Thing marks Glier as a rising star. The title track is a dynamic soul/gospel tune with a beating heart of urgency. 'Walk Katie Home' is a song of devotion about the lengths we'll go for love. The song is beautiful in its unadorned love and purity of thought. On 'Lauralee' Glier provides us with a literate and mature view of love using wondrous imagery; sounding more than a bit like a young Billy Joel in the process. 'First' is poetic and romantic; capturing the moments or experiences that can make love feel like new again. 'Down With This Ship' makes ethical and sociological observations about the point of impact between faith and deceit. It's a dynamic bit of songwriting that is certain to capture younger and older fans, as Glier seems to phrase the sort of problems that hit many in midlife in terms that are universal and accessible. 'I Don't Need You' takes a look inside the life of someone who sees all of her friends passing her by while she stands still. The song expresses the mix of frustration and need in muted tones of resignation and is amazingly well written. 'What Others Have Done' follows a soul who seeks himself in the whims and fancies of others; through the brief highs and the lengths of emptiness that ensue. The piano ballad style here is reminiscent of a cross of Billy Joel and Elton John. 'Beauty In the Breakdown' seeks the silver lining in human pain. Glier displays a quietly dramatic sense here, and the arrangement is among the most complete and beautiful on the album. 'Book Of Matches' is simply brilliant. Glier turns the tragedy of losing a home into opportunity, finding the sense of freedom of no longer being encumbered with possessions, burdens or expectations. The imagery here is deep, and could have multiple interpretations (fire, divorce, death, etc.), but this proves the genius in the songwriting. 'No Place To Land' captures the loneliness and displacement of someone who has been on the road so long it's become the only home he knows. The extrapolation from what are Glier's experiences playing 200 shows per year to a way of life is a logical leap that goes beyond your typical pop song. Glier closes with 'Soul, Skin & Bones'; an incredibly poetic memorial in song that's stark in its imagery but ultimately deeply loving. The palindrome simile Glier uses here is eye opening. This is how you close an album with an utter 'Wow' moment. Seth Glier is the sort of singer/songwriter that allows you to throw in a CD and get lost for an hour. Musically, he writes in subtle tones, crafting near-perfect settings for the stories he tells in song. Lyrically, Glier is an old soul, writing well beyond his twenty-two years in both poetics and depth of human understanding. The Next Right Thing is beautiful; brilliant; breathtaking. Glier sets the bar high for 2011. The Next Right Thing is a Wildy's World Certified Desert Island Disc. Rating: 5 Stars (Out of 5)
The Eagle Tribune
Is Seth Glier the 'Next Thing'?
By Alan Sculley, 1/6/11
https://www.eagletribune.com/lifestyle/x991598439/Is-Seth-Glier-the-Next-Thing
On many days when singer/keyboardist Seth Glier is on tour, he and guitarist Ryan Hommel will go to a veterans' hospital, children's hospital, a school or some other facility to play for the patients.
'Mostly we'll go for an hour or an hour and a half and basically walk from room to room, pushing a keyboard on a stretcher,' Glier said in a late December phone interview. 'And Ryan has an acoustic guitar, and we walk from room to room, sometimes playing our songs, sometimes it's cover songs. But basically I feel really fortunate to be able to do music and make a living out of it somehow, and this is the least I can do to use that gift and try to shed some light in places that really don't have any music and really need it.'
But Glier gets more than just a warm feeling from playing at these facilities. He has learned some important truths about his music and gained some valuable experience during these performances.
'I've learned a lot about myself from those hospital things,' Glier said. 'I don't have an issue getting in front of a thousand people and singing, but one person scares the (expletive) out of me. 'Sometimes it can be amazingly rewarding,' he said. 'Like I went in and I played 'Let It Be' for someone, and that was his mother's favorite song. And his mother passed away a year ago on that day. You just don't know, and you realize what happens. Then other times it's a really challenging environment because it's one on one. You're stepping into someone else's world. They're not coming to see you. It is the opposite of what will happen at night sometimes. So it can be a really hard thing. But I like it a lot.'
Glier has also learned an important lesson from his hospital visits about his songs and how to not be overly possessive of their meanings.
As an example, he cited the song 'I Don't Need You,' which he wrote about an ex-girlfriend. 'We went to an HIV clinic,' Glier said. 'I was playing in a room, and I saw this guy's left arm. I knew why he was there, and realized in the middle of the song that this song wasn't about a relationship with a woman for him. It was very different thing. It was the same words, but the experience that he had was different from my experience.
'At first I think I pulled back. I pulled my song back in sort of a 'this is mine' kind of way. This is what I want you to get out of it. That's not what I meant, almost like you were being misunderstood,' he said. 'But that wasn't the case at all. That's the beauty in music and in communication is that no matter how you slice it, it's its own living and breathing thing, It's going to grow and change and ebb and flow as you grow and change, too.'
There's a strong emphasis on the lyrics in Glier's songs. And he said he's always been drawn most to artists whose lyrics told stories and could speak volumes with just a single phrase.
'I listened to a lot of different music as a kid. I'm 22 now, so that's a few years ago,' Glier said. 'I kept leaving (some styles behind) because of the songwriting. Like I was big into Limp Bizkit and Eminem and all that kind of stuff in high school, and the stories didn't hold me. And Joni Mitchell did, and James Taylor did. Then Jackson Browne did. So I knew what I was looking for.'
On Glier's new CD, 'The Next Right Thing' (in stores Jan. 11), each song indeed has something to say that's worth noticing, as Glier strings together phrases and words that are both poetic and filled with emotion and meaning.
The aforementioned 'I Don't Need You' finds Glier realizing it's time to move on after breaking up with a girlfriend and regain his belief in himself and the future. On the sweetly romantic 'Walk Katie Home,' the depth of his yearning is captured in some of the CD's finest prose: 'I may be over my head I may be out of my mind/There may be skin I can shed there may be something divine/'Cause the wind is singing out to the fog and the rain is sounding like applause/Urging me to drive through the day just to walk Katie home.'
It's not just Glier's words that make a big impact on 'The Next Right Thing.' Musically it's a rich collection of songs that also defies one of the perceptions that has followed Glier during his brief career. He began releasing albums in his teens; his debut, 'Space,' was self-released in 2005, followed by 'Sojourn' in 2007. He began building his audience by primarily playing folk clubs, leading many to label him a folk artist. His 2009 CD, 'The Trouble With People' - the album on which Glier feels he began to hit his stride musically - suggested that folk was too limited a term to describe his sound. And now 'The Next Right Thing' blows that label to pieces.
Yes, there is a folk influence in the playing and largely acoustic sound. But the CD opens with the title song, whose stomping beat and a capella vocal evoke gospel-blues. 'Walk Katie Home' matches its sweet lyrics with a pretty and delicate melody. 'Down With This Ship' strikes a balance between soul and pop that might remind listeners of an artist like Marc Cohn. 'Beauty In The Breakdown' is a lush, orchestrated pop track.
Glier, when asked about being labeled folk, sought to set the record straight on how he views his sound. 'I think it's pop music,' he said of his sound. 'And I write it as pop music. I write to be heard by lots of people. I love folk music. It has been an amazing home for me. It's an incredibly supportive community...But musically I'm not a folk artist. It's pop music. But pop music can be lyrically challenging and questioning. It can sort of augment the human condition, in the same way that folk music does. So I don't know, I'm a pop songwriter story teller, a pop story teller, if that makes any sense.'
Glier will spend much of 2011 telling his stories in song on stage. Fans, though, can expect his songs to differ some from the versions on the CDs because Glier tours only with one other musician, guitarist Hommel. But they try to make themselves sound bigger than a duo, without resorting to using Glier's keyboard to simulate instruments that aren't actually being played on stage.
'I literally will travel with just a digital keyboard and I'll use just a piano sound. Or if there's a piano there, I'll use that,' Glier said. 'Sometimes we expand the sound. Both Ryan and I have different items strapped to our legs. I have pig hoofs, like when I stomp them, like on 'The Next Right Thing' song, that's that earthier rhythm. And then Ryan plays electric and acoustic guitar, and he has those hoofs strapped to his right foot, as well as his volume pedals for his electric guitar. And then on his left foot, he has a tambourine. So there are little things we can do to just to (augment) the sections and stuff like that.'
MARYLAND GAZETTE - Cover Story 1/6/11 by Nathan Oravec
Seth Glier is being touted as music's next big thing https://gazette.net/stories/01062011/entefre172126_32534.php
When compared to the likes of Billy Joel, most up-and-coming entertainers might lose sight of their next step. But singer and songwriter Seth Glier, who made an indelible mark with his 2009 MPress Records debut 'The Trouble With People,' is simply too busy.
In between up to 250 tour dates per year, the altruist and environmentalist spends his time visiting children's hospitals and making sure that whatever his next leap may be, it will leave the smallest carbon footprint possible. The Boston-based musician will release his latest album, 'The Next Right Thing,' next week. Famed alternative rocker Edwin McCain, who contributed backup vocals on the track, 'I Don't Need You,' gushed that for anyone wondering what the future of music will look like, 'Seth is it.'
As 2010 came to a close, A&E spoke with Glier about the album, his work ethic, and what, for him, might be the next right thing.
A&E: Can you tell me what 'The Next Right Thing' means to you, tangibly and emotionally?
Glier: I don't know if I can separate the difference between tangible and emotional. For me, it's waking up in the morning and then leaving the day with more good in it than there was.
Tangibly, what I try to do on tour is visit children's hospitals and VA hospitals, going room to room and performing my music.
A&E: Your 'Light it Up and Let it Be' tour recently ended, right?
Glier: We wrapped [up that tour] earlier this month... [2010] was both beautiful and challenging - just finding the joy in it. I did 250 shows. When you do that many, it can feel like a job. So to start breaking up the day, my guitarist Ryan Hommel and I started doing volunteer work. It became very crucial, actually.
A&E: What can you tell me about your work as an environmentalist?
Glier: It kind of comes back to the 'Next Right Thing.' When you travel the country and stand with a mic in front of 200 people, you begin to feel like an ambassador of sorts. I like bringing something along with me, an idea - maybe an idea I haven't quite formed yet.
As we traveled during the tour, I would drive my Prius. And I just started to do little things. We started to offer merchandise that was 100 percent organic [such as] T-shirts that were created with soy and vegetable inks. We'd try to choose green hotels, encourage people to carpool to concerts. Little things like that that can make a dent in some small way, and hopefully impact the way people live their lives.
A&E: Can you tell me about your decision to leave Berklee after one year to pursue your music?
Glier: Berklee started to feel like an overpriced paint by numbers exercise. I was taking Livingston Taylor's class - James Taylor's brother - and he was one of the first people to encourage me to get out there, you know? What is it the rockers say? 'Bring the music to the people.' I couldn't sit still in class with my songs. I wanted to bring them to folks and hopefully let them shape their lives.
A&E: Speaking of James Taylor, you were able to perform with him, right?
Glier: Yeah, I performed with him during a private event in Boston. It wasn't one of those huge things, but it was definitely something you never forget.
A&E: Can you talk about some of your influences? In addition to James Taylor, you've mentioned Joni Mitchell.
Glier: I really wasn't an abnormal child. I was a huge Eminem fan. Eminem, Limp Bizkit and Linkin Park were my three favorites. That was my angry music during high school. But I started writing after 9/11, and it was a very fluid, organic process.
My brother, Jamie, is autistic. I think that had a lot to do with it. I had always been a fan of musicians who were being a voice for someone else, whether they couldn't or were afraid to tell their own story. I wanted to be a voice for my brother.
A&E: Is he your biggest inspiration?
Glier: Yeah. Definitely.
A&E: You've been compared to Billy Joel. People are touting you as the next big thing. Edwin McCain, himself, said you were the future of music. What do you think when you hear things like that? How do you not let something like that said by someone like that go to your head?
Glier: I don't think, for the most part, I let it go to my head, because when it comes from another musician, it feels like it's earned, you know? With Edwin, we had been on a couple of tours together. So we knew each other. He had given me a lot of advice. So it wasn't like blind praise coming from him. We had an understanding. So I didn't let that influence me. I was more influenced by the fact that he's managed to be an amazing father and husband. His music was another thing, which is brilliant in its own right.
Other than that, I take it all with a grain of salt. I don't really dwell on anything for too long. I sort of just move through a lot of stuff, which is both a blessing and a curse.
A&E: You're only 22 years old. What do you hope to achieve next?
Glier: I would love to be one of those artists that had a stamp. In regard to writing, I would love to hone in my fingerprint. And by that, I mean - when you hear James Taylor's 'Fire and Rain' or Joni Mitchell's 'River,' it doesn't matter who sings that song - you know it's one of theirs. Their delivery is so distinctive. So, writing-wise, I'd like to hone those skills and have a fingerprint.
And I'd just like to continue to take music to a larger audience, without losing myself in the process, you know? I still want to do the one to one with people in a hospital room, whether [or not] I'm playing at Radio City Music Hall. That's imperative to me.
A&E: Going back to 'Next Right Thing,' I read that one of the tracks was inspired by Michael J. Fox. Can you tell me about that and what other influences shaped the CD?
Glier: Well, that particular song was inspired by a Michael J. Fox hour-long segment on [television] for his 'Hope for An Incurable Optimist.' The beauty of it was his personality. It was similar to how I feel about my brother - the idea that 'adversity makes you stronger.'
I had spent so much time touring, it forced me to sometimes [do something for] my own good, in a way. For me, performing came naturally - so I needed to redefine what that meant to me. That's where the volunteer work came in.
A lot of the album was inspired by things I've taken away from hospital visits. We had gone to an HIV clinic, and we had maybe visited 30 rooms that day. The last room, I performed 'Let It Be,' and the man there just started crying. He said that had been his mother's favorite song, and she sang it to him as a child. And this was a young man, but you could see he was losing his battle with HIV. And he told us that his mother had passed away a year ago that day. I walked away with this feeling. You just never know where someone else is at, but if you bring yourself to the table... I think the world needs an immense amount of empathy to sort things out.
At the end of the day, it's no huge effort to fall asleep. I just fall down. And I hope it's always like that.
PHILLYBURBS - FRONT PAGE, Life Seth Glier Sculpts Truth Into Song By Naila Francis, 1/10/11
https://www.phillyburbs.com/news/news_details/article/182/2011/january/10/seth-glier-sculpts-truth-into-song.html
It was somewhere around seventh grade when Seth Glier's dad gave him two records.
Fortuitously - though it was definitely an unintentional choice at the time - it was Joni Mitchell who first interrupted Glier's routine soundtrack of Limp Bizkit, Chumbawamba, Linkin Park and Eminem.
'My dad gave me Janet Jackson's 'Velvet Rope' and Joni Mitchell's 'Blue.' If I had listened to Janet Jackson first, we might be having a completely different conversation now,' says the piano-playing singer-songwriter with a laugh.
The Massachusetts native had always loved to sing, but it was Mitchell's album that opened his ears to a lyrical perspicacity that has come to define his own music, relative newcomer though he may be.
At 22 years old, Glier, who releases his sophomore album, 'The Next Right Thing,' on MPress Records today, has already been heralded a talent to watch by the likes of Ellis Paul, Livingston Taylor - the troubadour and music professor proclaimed his pop songwriting to be the greatest since Billy Joel - and Edwin McCain, who contributed backing vocals to one of the album's tracks.
The accolades he's received since his 2009 label debut, 'The Trouble with People,' would be potent praise for anyone. But Glier, already a seasoned performer who has shared stages with, among others, James Taylor, Martin Sexton and Mark Knopfler, feels little pressure to live up to such grand expectations.
'I think I'm enough of a workaholic to not feel those things so much,' he says. 'I've also seen the flip side of things, that there are a lot of people that get cast out there with a lot of support and it doesn't come together for whatever reason. I understand that's a very real reality of just this business and art form. So I remember that and take that with a grain of sand and I also remember the accolades and support and take that with a grain of sand and just do my thing.'
That 'thing' has been penning brightly melodic pop songs, with lyrics that reveal a sophistication and wisdom belying his years. On 'The Next Right Thing,' Glier takes aim at big themes with small, vivid vignettes: the fire that consumes 14 homes on a cold December night in 'Book of Matches' - a song based on real events near his hometown of Shelburne - becomes a meditation on the material attachments that get in the way of genuine human connection; the parade of one woman's empty affairs in 'What the Others Have Done' highlights the pain and futility of trying to find oneself by looking outward; and the ostentatious piety of a believer in 'Down with this Ship' ponders the hypocrisy of a faith practiced only in words.
'The lyrics are really square one. They're a deal-breaker for me,' says Glier, who is so meticulous about that aspect of his craft that he prefers to call himself a 'writer-song-singer' instead of singer-songwriter. 'If something's really catchy and the lyrics don't work, it's not worth telling the story.'
First arrested by the art of songwriting with Mitchell's 'Blue,' he quickly added artists like Sexton, Jackson Browne and Jeff Buckley to what would become a hefty influential catalog. Even today, his writing process includes paying attention to the works of others.
'I play a lot of other people's songs that I think are great,' he says. 'Whether they're standards or pop songs, it's just really getting the sheet music and playing through them and understanding what's going on in the song. I don't analyze it too much but enough to get a snapshot of where the writer was coming from when they were writing. Then I can almost put that card in my pocket and sometimes readapt that to something I'm working on.'
For 'The Next Right Thing,' Glier, who will perform in a CD release party at the Tin Angel on Thursday, knew that he wanted to create a bigger album than his debut. That vision applied to the music - unlike the 'Trouble with People,' which he recorded over three months in his basement, the album was produced in a studio in Stamford, Conn., with longtime collaborator, guitarist and best friend Ryan Hommel and boasts a 'bit more of a backbeat and a groove' - but it also spoke to a desire to move beyond self-introspection.
'One of my favorite writers is Randy Newman,' says Glier. 'He's the first songwriter I feel who gave me permission to say it's OK to write about something other than yourself, which I think is the kind of clichéd sand trap that singer-songwriters tend to fall into. Not that our lives aren't that interesting - it's just that there's plenty of other things to write about. It's what's kept me out of writer's block for a long time.'
It's also what imbues his songs with a soulful honesty, whether he's capturing a rare vulnerable moment between lovers in 'Soul Skin & Bones' or acknowledging the hollow ache of picture-perfect success in 'No Place to Land.' Often, the writing itself brings revelation.
'The reason I like writing about other people is that I end up learning more truth about myself in the process,' says Glier, who sometimes will even write from the perspective of someone he disagrees with to tap into a deeper empathy. 'In the writing process, I'm safe and out of the way. My ego isn't there or my vanity isn't there. With a lot of these songs, like 'No Place to Land,' it's not autobiographical, but every once in a while, I will go back and listen to it and realize how truthfully and honestly it is about me in a way that I wouldn't have been able to write if I was consciously writing about myself.'
Having done 250 shows last year alone, he's also realizing the fluidity of his lyrics, which frequently take on new meaning on the road.
'When you take your work and you pilgrimage it out when you tour, all of a sudden, that work gets the opportunity to live in other people's lives and then it will come back at you in a different way,' says Glier, pointing as an example to the song 'I Don't Need You,' which he initially wrote seemingly as a mantra to help him get over an ex-girlfriend. 'But then as Ryan and I went on tour, I remember we were in St. Paul playing that song and there were two people in the audience who came to that venue not because of us but because it was the only place they could find in town and listen to live music and not have to buy a drink and they were in the (Alcoholics Anonymous) program. I realized that that night, for them, that song had nothing to do with my relationship with my girlfriend. That song had to do with their relationship to alcohol.
'As I changed in this world and in touring, my perspective and relationship to those songs changed as well. I became a lot more open to the multi-dimensions of what a song means to people. 'When I'm onstage performing songs, I'm kind of planting these songs as seeds in other people's lives. … It's a communication, and just one of those things that keeps me going.'
COURIER TIMES
For Seth Glier, music is an intimate communicator
By Naila Francis 1/2011
https://www.phillyburbs.com/news/local/courier_times/courier_times_news_details/article/2463/2011/january/10/for-seth-glier-music-is-an-intimate-communicator.html
(Excerpts) Even before he began writing songs, the 22-year-old piano-playing troubadour gained an early lesson in communication from his older brother Jamie, who is autistic and nonverbal.
While he would cultivate his musical and vocal skills with a number of instructors growing up - Glier began playing drums and trumpet in high school before switching to piano, was moved to begin writing songs after Sept. 11 and spent a year studying at Berklee College of Music before deciding to dive full-time into his career - it was Jamie who schooled him in the subtleties of expression. Having to learn how to engage his brother without the use of words made Glier more precise with the words he uses in his songwriting.
'A lot of our relationship was based on just listening. When I was going into the ninth grade, before I would get the bus to school in the morning, I would go into my brother's room and wake him up and get him showered and dressed and give him breakfast,' says Glier, who still tends to Jamie that way when he's home with his family in Shelburne. 'When I'm onstage performing songs, I'm kind of planting these songs as seeds in other people's lives, which is the same way I feel when I'm giving my brother breakfast. It's that intimate. It's a communication…'
Though he jokes that having such a forum has probably saved him from having to spend a lot of money on therapy, he knows there's nothing else he'd rather be doing than using his songs to reach others - and using his public platform as an artist to effect change, whether it's through volunteering at hospitals and HIV clinics while on tour or holding tree-planting parties in the cities he visits and organizing car pools for fans to get to his shows.
'The traveling is a noble job because it's so old-school in a way. Pre-media, that's how ideas and art were taken. You had minstrels and they told the news. I feel like when you're out on tour, you're an ambassador,' he says. 'I don't like going out on tour without doing something other than just what's going on onstage. It's the reason why if I'm playing for 200 people a night, we might as well bring our ideas and use the opportunity to influence some lives along the way…It makes you more grateful and more tuned in sometimes to what people need the most.'
The Hartford Courant
'A rising force on the folk scene...' 12/10 By Brian Lee
https://www.courant.com/entertainment/music/hc-mus-glier-1216-20101216,0,7404330.story
Seth Glier's career has progressed in leaps and bounds since the release of his first widely distributed album, 2009's 'The Trouble With People.' A rising force on the folk scene, the piano player with a smooth voice and distinctive falsetto has shared stages with Mark Knopfler, James Taylor and his brother Livingston, and he's expanded his touring base well outside of the Northeast. Chances are, that's nothing in comparison to what 2011 has in store for the 21-year-old native of Western Massachusetts, whose new album ('The Next Right Thing') is due on Jan. 11. Glier already has gigs on the books through May that are sure to build on past green touring initiatives that found the singer traveling in a hybrid vehicle, peddling merchandise created from organic materials and planting trees in each city along the way.
DIGBOSTON praises Seth Glier's 'swoon-worthy pop-rock falsetto', and 'Boston Brilliance'.
DALLAS MORNING NEWS previews Glier's CD as 'Melodic and folk-textured pop'.
Shakefire.com - A+ CD review
https://shakefire.com/reviews/cd/seth-glier-the-next-right-thing
Seth Glier's first album The Trouble With People was recorded in his basement over the course of three months without timelines or interference. Glier had stated that he was creating footage for a film rather then writing songs for an album. On his second effort, The Next Right Thing, it feels like that concept is still in play. Lyrical narrative is rich with description abandoning conventional song writing as a catch and really delving into detail to create a world that can be both felt and touched. Haunting string accompaniments and Glier's vocals that seem to envelope every word with meaning simply make this a great contemporary pop rock album.
Honestly, like most people, I had never heard Seth Glier before. The first track off the album, title track The Next Right Thing, leads you to believe your getting another White Stripes/Black Keys type band mixing rock and blues together as those two bands have. The track is bluesy and ominous with a vocal style similar to Grand Ole Party. Really a fantastic first track but a bit misleading. The reason the first track is so misleading is because Glier's style is closer to Peter Cincotti, Jason Mraz , and Gavin DeGraw. The second track on the album sounds as if it came straight from Cincotti's East of Angel Town album. That's absolutely not a bad thing but a realistic one considering the title track.
Make no mistakes about this album. There is zero reason for you to pass it over, especially if your into contemporary pop or even Jazz. Glier's voice is actually very soft and acrobatic injecting a certain sense of beauty, pain, and wisdom in each track. Seriously a winding down album that you can throw on after a hard day at work or if your planning a romantic evening with a loved one. What makes the album truly accessible though is the many perspectives found in most of the songs. Track Five, First, is a narrative tale about the world we live in now; bankruptcy's, corporate corruption, the dismantling of jobs in America, but at its core its really about love, making all those things seem forgettable. The album is just lush with beauty in all things from heartbreak to the smaller seemingly unimportant things that matter to us when we're in love to the lingering touch of past mistakes that take on new meaning with understanding. Honestly an album to go down as one with depth. I highly recommend.
NY Folk Examiner - 5-star review
By Kerri Maniscalco 1/2011
https://www.examiner.com/folk-arts-in-new-york/starred-review-for-seth-glier-s-latest-album-the-next-right-thing-review
It's review time New York, and this is the very first of 2011 - so it's pretty darn special. Seth Glier's been called a 'rising folk sensation', and after listening to his latest album 'The Next Right Thing' , via MPress Records, I totally get it. Unrealized dreams, shattered Utopia's, addiction to fear, and breaking counter-productive patterns are all themes Glier touches on. Not bad for a twenty-one year old.
'As the sun rose up over the sea/Everyone was singing in a minor key/Buddhists, Hindus, Jews and priests/Gathered around for the jubilee' is an excerpt from the title track 'The Next Right Thing'. Glier definitely hits the lyrical ground running with this release.
Seth's words are juxtaposed nicely against his hopeful falsetto - resulting in an emotional bond with the audience. The songwriter is wise beyond years, with insightful prose that touches on faith, love, hope, and breaking free from our own barriers.
A stunning example is his song 'I Don't Need You' featuring universal feelings like 'I need faith when the train wrecks/Love for the suspects/I need space for the expanding/For truth and understanding/So I will never fear all these take offs and landings'.
Another song that's stellar is 'Beauty In The Break Down' where Glier (teamed with songwriter Ryan Hommel) demonstrates strong poetic talent. 'Burning letters in the snow/Not one salty cry I danced like the embers fly/Emptiness never really showed/It left in her eyes when she said goodbye/In the dark I can't see where I am going/But I find comfort in not knowing'.
If you can't wait until the album drops on January 11th, be sure to watch his video on the making of his pop-folk song, 'Lauralee' by clicking here . As an added bonus, fans are able to download the song for free here . Looking for another reason to add Seth to your playlist? Glier is an environmentalist and an altruist who uses his music to make a difference. His 'green' tour last year was a huge success, and featured Glier traveling from town-to-town in a hybrid vehicle, planting trees in each city he visited, promoting carpools for fans, selling merch made of organic materials and more. So mark January 11th on your calendars and grab a copy of Glier's album. You won't be disappointed.
CULTUREMOB
By Michele Zipkin 1/6/2011
https://culturemob.com/blog/seth-glier-radio-interview-and-cd-release
Mark your calendars for two performances from singer-songwriter Seth Glier. He will have an exclusive live interview with Gene Shay and play songs from his sophomore release The Next Right Thing on WXPN's 88.5 on January 9th at 8pm. The following Thursday, January 13th, brings Seth's CD release party at the Tin Angel , also at 8pm. The album will be officially released on January 11th. Seth Glier has made quite a name for himself on the national music scene. He plays hundreds of shows a year, having had the chance to perform with James Taylor, and share stages with the Verve Pipe, Erin McKeown, and John Mayer. This Massachusetts native composes and sings songs with unabated passion for the craft. Seth's ultimate concern when he plays music is to connect to as many people as possible; he really wants to touch peoples' lives through his sonic stories, and his beautiful and poignant melodies do just that. Reminiscent of piano-playing greats such as Billy Joel and Elton John, Seth's voice and piano chops have such vivacity, and frequent use of strings lends an intimacy to his songs that is rare in pop music. He has an incredible ability to construct arresting melodies that speak so eloquently about the heart and soul of his songs. The gospel/blues influenced title track is the first song on the album, and immediately resonates with its very present percussion and soulful, incendiary vocals. The song paves the way for the overarching theme of the album- doing the next right thing- thinking outside of yourself to change the world for the better despite life's constant challenges. Creative in his use of instrumentation, Seth has collaborated with many musicians to incorporate banjo into the folky and upbeat 'Lauralee', acoustic strings into several tracks on the album, and a beautiful saxophone solo in 'First'. Choruses can be heard in the background vocals in 'Lauralee' and 'The Next Right Thing', adding a whole new energy to the songs. The beautiful and delicate 'Walk Katie Home' recounts the time when Seth drove eight hours to New York City to take a girl he had a crush on out to dinner and walk her home, only to find that she did not reciprocate his feelings. Even if this song is essentially about heartbreak, Seth has such positive energy in his lyrical and vocal delivery, singing 'I would drive through the day just to walk Katie home'. The song 'First' tells the story of Seth's return to his hometown after having spent time away, to find that things are not quite what he remembered, and people he used to know have moved on with their lives. The change in himself is what really changed his outlook on a town he once knew. 'Beauty in the Breakdown' is about finding unusual hopefulness in dark situations. Seth's inclination to see optimism or a chance for growth where others might see darkness is not only at the core of this song, but of each song on the album. Sophisticated lyrics really ring out in their vivid account of the stories of a songwriter who has gone through so many heartbreaking and invigorating experiences in life. The Next Right Thing is a collection of poetic stories rife with musical diversity.
Glier has expanded his 2011 U.S. Tour, with dates now confirmed through May - see updated itinerary, below. Glier recently performed two tracks from the new album during a tour appearance on FOX-TV: https://www.myfoxal.com/global/category.asp?c=195956&clipId=5302597&autostart=true
BLOGCRITICS - CD REVIEW
12/3/10, BY JACK GOODSTEIN
https://blogcritics.org/music/article/music-review-seth-glier-the-next/
A lot of people have been saying some very nice things about young singer/song writer Seth Glier, and if his latest CD, The Next Right Thing, is any indication-all these accolades? He's got them coming. This is a young man with a distinctive voice, a falsetto that sticks to your ribs, and can he write songs. His music is melodically rich. His lyrics are as complex and suggestive as the best of the poets. He has an eye for the crucial detail that will grow in your imagination; he has an ear for phrase that will make it blossom. In a disc that features thirteen tracks, two of which are short string instrumentals, there isn't a clunker in the bunch. Arrangements tend to be clean and spare. He likes to begin softly with a lone piano or a guitar accompaniment and a plaintive vocal. Sometimes a song will keep that tone throughout the whole; sometimes it will build to a dramatic crescendo as the vocal gets caught up in the passion of the moment. 'Beauty in the Breakdown' begins with a throbbing piano and a vocal that grows in passion and orchestration with the seemingly contraindicated truth that there can be beauty in the irrational. There can be 'heaven when everything's falling.' 'Book of Matches' starts with a soft vocal and sweet guitar that turns into a horrific story about what appears to be an actual fire which then becomes a metaphor for even larger horrors. Turns out 'we are all a book of matches waiting to be turned.' 'I Don't Need You,' a track that features Edwin McCain, has a lilting guitar and tinkling beat that seems almost like a lullaby until it turns out that what is not needed is drugs or at least something just as bad for which drugs can stand as something of a metaphor. In 'I Don't Need You' (and a number of the other songs on the CD) Glier creates a character to speak the speech. In the words of another poet long gone he 'speaks in so many voices not my own.' There is the speaker in 'Beauty in the Breakdown' whose breakdown, I would suspect is not necessarily to be attributed to the artist. 'No Place to Land,' a song that reminds me of Jackson Browne (I keep waiting for someone to break out into 'Stay'), which deals with the failure to juggle career and relationships need not be taken as autobiography. Indeed that voice seems significantly different from the plaintive philosopher of 'Soul, Skin and Bones' who finds in his love a 'perfect palindrome' or the passionate youth of 'Walk Katie Home' who would drive a hundred miles to walk her home. 'Lauralee,' an anthem about lost love which channels both Billy Joel and Bruce Springsteen, is a tune with real pop hit potential. It's the kind of song you'll be playing over and over on your iPod. While there are these interesting takes on the typical love and love lost song, Glier has some other fish in the fryer. Besides 'Book of Matches' and 'I Don't Need You,' 'Down With the Ship' is a song that deals with the conflict between faith and loss of faith, belief, and action. 'Who's going to believe in you,' the song asks, if you don't act on your beliefs. 'First' seems to suggest that the more things change, the more they stay the same: 'Everything I see seems like the first time.' 'The Next Right Thing,' the album's title song which musically is like nothing else in the collection, is a discordant rhythmic testimony to the need to do 'the next right thing' accompanied by a drum and tambourine. 'What the Others Have Done' takes a darkly realistic look at the morning after what seems like a one night stand from the point of view of a woman who has been burned by lovers before. Like I said, a lot of people have been saying really nice things about Seth Glier; I guess I'm just another one of them.
Glier has earned consistent praise since the release of his MPress debut, 2009's 'The Trouble With People'. Critics have described him as having 'the vocal prowess of a performer with a lifetime of singing experience' and as a 'huge musical talent.' College Music Journal (CMJ) described Glier's music as 'perfect vocals paired with immense instrumental talent on piano...' The sophomore album draws inspiration from unlikely sources - from Michael J. Fox to organized religion, from a loved one's dementia, to witnessing a friend's shallow embrace of fame.
As for the focus track, 'Lauralee,' BLOGCRITICS describes the song as 'an anthem about lost love which channels both Billy Joel and Bruce Springsteen…a tune with real pop hit potential.' Watch Glier's video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aTiZf2Vxzqo. Visit his YouTube Channel here: https://www.youtube.com/sethglier Fans may download the track for free, here: https://sethglier.com/files/topspin/TNRT_Lauralee_SC.html
Glier is an environmentalist and an altruist who uses his music to make a difference. His 'green' tour last year was a huge success, and featured Glier traveling from town-to-town in a hybrid vehicle, planting trees in each city he visited, promoting carpools for fans, selling merch made of organic materials, and more. As mentioned above, he is also an advocate of performing in Hospitals, Nursing Homes and Elementary Schools, frequently hosting special events including autism benefits & songwriting workshops, and more.
More about Seth Glier:
Singer-songwriter Glier's powerful, silky voice catches you off guard, like the first time you heard Simply Red's Mick Hucknall sing 'Holding Back The Years.' The prodigious 22-year old's diverse music showcases his soaring falsetto, as well as a Cat Stevens-esque style of hushed storytelling.
Boston-based Glier was raised on the music of James Taylor, Randy Newman & Joni Mitchell. In 2010 he was invited to perform with his idol James Taylor, and shared stages with such diverse artists as Edwin McCain, Mark Knopfler, The Verve Pipe and Livingston Taylor. Edwin McCain enjoyed Seth so much that he contributed backing vocals on 'I Don't Need You' (THE NEXT RIGHT THING, 2011) and raved 'If any of you are wondering what the future of music will look like, Seth is it.' Since the release of MPRESS debut 'The Trouble With People' in late 2009, singer-songwriter Seth Glier has learned a lot more about the impact of music on his community, his fans and himself. Coming into his own as writer & performer, Glier is making his name on the national scene, and has appeared as a mainstage artist at the Falcon Ridge Folk Festival and the Kerrville Folk Festival.
'The greatest pop songwriting since Billy Joel' - Livingston Taylor
'If Seth isn't destined for huge super stardom then no one is' - Livingston Taylor
'Seth is a great singer, great pianist and this record has the magic beans' - Stephen Kellogg
'Talent like Seth Glier's brings out the psychic in all of us…. He's gonna be huge.' - Ellis Paul
'Seth Glier is a young writer who has already experienced many of life's travails. His musical exuberance shines through his compositions regardless of the subject matter. The songs are direct and catchy and his vocal delivery compels your attention. Seth is naturally effervescent and fearless and his gift will surely reach the wider audience it deserves.' - Kevin Killen
Seth Glier On Tour 2011 - 'The Next Right Thing Tour' - *CD Release Party | ** Sold Out Show
Jan 21st Best Buy Boylston St. - CD Signing Boston, MA
Jan 25th StickAM.com - Live Streaming Performance Your Home USA
Jan 26th Jammin Java (w/ David Berkeley) Vienna, VA
Jan 27th City Winery (w/ Livingston Taylor) New York, NY
'Fresh Voices from Berklee College of Music'
Jan 29th House Concert Cleveland, OH
Feb 2nd Cyber Cafe West Binghamton, NY
Feb 4th The Abbey Bar (w. Livingston Taylor) Harrisburg, PA
Feb 5th Lake Floyd House Concerts Salem, WV
Feb 6th The Purple Fiddle Thomas, WV
Feb 7th The Barking Spider Tavern Cleveland, OH
Feb 8th WGN-TV Live Performance on CW Network Chicago, IL
Feb 8th Schubas Tavern Chicago, IL
Feb 9th Schubas Tavern (w/ Meagan Hickman) Chicago, IL
Feb 11th Ritual Cafe Des Moines, IA
Feb 12th Prairie Wind Folk & Bluegrass Association * Minneapolis, MN
Feb 16-20th International Folk Alliance Memphis, TN
Feb 21st FOX TV Birmingham - Live Performance Birmingham, AL
Feb 21st Moonlight On The Mountain Birmingham, AL
Feb 22nd Eddie's Attic* (w/ Rachael Sage) Decatur, GA
Feb 25th The Evening Muse (w/ Reeve Coobs) Charlotte, NC
Feb 26th NightCat (w/ Liz Longley) Easton, MD
Mar 4th Port City Blue (w/ Liz Longley) Portland, ME
Mar 5th The Gathering Room Glastonbury, CT
Mar 6th Radio Bean Burlington, VT
Mar 12th Rouse House Concert Houston, TX
Mar 14th Opening Bell Coffeehouse (w/ Rachael Sage) Dallas, TX
Mar 19th MPressFest SXSW 2011 @ Soho Lounge Austin, TX
Mar 25th Northampton Center for the Arts Northampton, MA
Mar 26th The Musical Admiration Society of Keene Keene, NH
Apr 4th The Bitter End (NY Songwriters Circle) New York, NY
May 6th Infinity Hall* (w/Antigone Rising) Norfolk, CT
Jun 18th The Knight Theatre (@ Levine Center for Arts) Charlotte, NC
Jul 30th Boothbay Harbor Opera House (w/ Liz Longely) Boothbay Harbor, ME
Aug 27th The Sanctuary (w/ Julie Gold & Amy Speace) Chatham, NJ
Oct 14th Me & Thee Coffeehouse (w/ Liz Longley) Marblehead, MA
Visit https://www.sethglier.com/
Visit https://www.mpressrecords.com/
