Press Through the Years
From Image : Art, Faith, Mystery
January 15, 2008
The Music of Burke Ingraffia On his website’s home page, musician Burke Ingraffia comes right out and says it: his music “embraces his Catholic faith, and strives to create musically what writers such as Flannery O’Connor, G.K. Chesterton, and Walker Percy created literarily.... The Catholic music of Burke Ingraffia is not preachy and does not exclude any listener, but is rooted in a vision of Catholic humanism that hopes to unify everyone in peace.” This is not exactly the kind of faux-cool writing that most musicians use to sell their music, and it may keep reps from the big record labels from knocking on Burke Ingraffia’s door any time soon. And for that, we salute him. A native of New Orleans, Ingraffia is an eclectic stylist, drawing on jazz, blues, funk, and folk traditions. His most recent album, Independence, Louisiana is his jazziest. The title song, a poignant folk ballad, pays tribute to the Italian farmers from whom he is descended (and there’s a great slideshow on his website based on the song). The opening track, “I Like the Feeling,” has such a summery, jazzy joyfulness to it that you’ll find yourself humming after just a couple listens. He has been compared to singers like Michael Franks and James Taylor, and cites David Wilcox and John Gorka as influences who set him on the road to music-making. As a Catholic humanist, Ingraffia is incarnational, not preachy or ponderously philosophical—he is like O’Connor, Chesterton, and Percy in that sense and not because he tries to imitate their styles or overt subject matter. Yes, there may be allusions to St. Augustine, but there’s also humor, as in his song about Goldilocks counter-suing the Three Bears from his Throwing Shadows at the Sun album (she gets a Hollywood lawyer). And don’t let the lack of major label financial support fool you, either: the production values on Ingraffia’s CDs are terrific and feature a number of outstanding New Orleans musicians. This is the kind of artist we love to promote: one with integrity, a grounded, earthy faith, and first-rate craftsmanship. Please, get his music into your life.
Jambalaya Meets Chesterton
Exerpt from Franciscan Way Magazine, Fall 2007
Franciscan University of Steubenville Alumni Magazine
By Tom Sofio
A 1994 yearbook photo shows a student sitting on a park bench strumming his guitar. The playful caption reads, “I will not be the only FUS student who can’t play the guitar!”
While the caption is clearly tongue in cheek, lots of Franciscan University students, like their peers on college campuses across the country, get involved with popular music. But unlike most of their peers, Franciscan students make music that makes a difference.
Because their minds and souls are steeped in and stirred by a thriving Catholic culture, the lyrics they write and music they compose speak powerfully of the good human things as well as of things divine, of things that matter the most. And for a surprising number of Franciscan alumni, the guitar playing and music writing don’t fade away to something they used to do in college, but turn into a professional career and ministry.
Independence, Louisiana, Burke Ingraffia’s most recent CD, was recorded shortly before Hurricane Katrina struck his hometown. The collection of original songs in a jazz, blues, and folk vein featured 20 of New Orleans’ finest session musicians, many of whom left town and may never play together again.
Music critics praise the album for its Catholic-infused lyrics that deftly explore sacrificial love, redemptive suffering, and other themes. That it’s toe-tapping good music makes it appeal to a wide audience.
Ingraffia ’96 credits his guitar-playing skills to the jazz lessons he took at the University of New Orleans. But he says his career break came when he left the Colorado folk music scene for a liberal arts degree at Franciscan University.
A theology major, he immersed himself in “the ageless themes of life, love, and death,” which inspired the first songs he composed as a student. “My influences were writers like St. Augustine, Thomas Merton, and G.K. Chesterton,” says Ingraffia.
In the Music Industry, But Not of It
National Catholic Register
A Conversation With Catholic Musician Burke Ingraffia
By Iain Bernhoft
March 25-31, 2007 Issue
Hailing from New Orleans, Catholic singer-songwriter Burke Ingraffia is, like his hometown, nothing if not eclectic. Ingraffia's most recent album, "Independence, Louisiana," released just a few months before Hurricane Katrina struck, showcases his velvety vocals and his multi-genre versatility. There seems to be a little of everything in the mix, from jazz and blues to folk and funk. Ingraffia's laid-back sounds and faith-inflected lyrics have elicited praise from both Catholic and mainstream critics. He spoke with Register correspondent Iain Bernhoft.
What first leaps out about "Independence, Louisiana" is how much terrain it covers in different genres. What sort of a musical background do you have?
I started getting into acoustic guitar and '60s' folk as a teenager. When I was about 22, I spent two years studying jazz guitar at the University of New Orleans, where I learned a lot about music theory and bebop. I was pretty awful, though; I didn't have the background or familiarity with the idioms.
As I understand it, you've studied theology, as well?
After I left UNO, I was living in Colorado and playing folk shows, but I really felt impelled to go back to school. I was inspired by Thomas Merton's writing, and I decided I wanted to study theology. I went to Franciscan University to get my bachelor's degree. While I was there I recorded my first record. I loved it and "caught the bug."
Has this aspect of your intellectual development helped shape your music?
Absolutely. I also got a master's degree in humanities from the University of Dallas, and that was great for my lyric writing, for incorporating classical elements, picking up on ageless themes of life, love and death.
Who would you point to as particular influences or inspiration, musically and spiritually?
When I started recording, my influences were writers like St. Augustine, Thomas Merton, and G.K. Chesterton. What really inspires me is good literature, and then my music accompanying the words is generally based on where I'm living. I've been back in New Orleans for the past seven years, and I come 'round to a lot of jazz-funk styles of music. But, for instance, after Hurricane Katrina, I moved to Austin and picked up a lot of that Texas-songwriter sound. It's more twangy and lyrically heavy, as opposed to the New Orleans focus on rhythm.
New Orleans has a reputation for having a distinctive flair for culture. It sounds like you feel that.
A book I've been really getting into lately is Leisure: The Basis of Culture by Josef Pieper. I think that Louisiana is very rich in culture because it's rich in leisure. There are 400 festivals in this state every year! People spend a lot of time doing family-oriented, leisurely things.
Would you explain the title of your latest CD?
My grandfather turned 100 last August and, between his 96th and 98th years, I lived with him on his farm. It's on the border of Independence, a strong Italian community. I wanted to write about my grandfather and the life he has led, and then I started doing this record with independent Louisiana musicians. It seemed a fitting title.
I did notice that there's an impressive array of musicians on the recording.
I'm tremendously proud of that record. Producer Cale Pellick and I worked with 20 local musicians, many of whom left town after the hurricane and may not ever play together again. It's a little, non-repeatable snapshot in time of the New Orleans music scene, and I'm proud of that.
Do you do music full time?
I did for a while. After I got my master's, I taught high school for a while but struggled because "crime doesn't pay, but neither does teaching." I decided to do music full time, and I went that way for about a year and a half. It was really fun, but still challenging. My music wasn't Catholic enough for some Catholics and it wasn't secular enough for everyone else.
How would you classify your music?
Well, its definitely not liturgical; it's meant to be entertainment. But I'd like to reach both a Catholic and a secular audience. I think there are many themes that are a part of Christianity that you can present in a way that's accessible to non-believers — types of sacrificial love, suffering as potentially redemptive.
Do you see your music as an expression of your faith?
I do. This may be too abstract, but I think of the communication within the principle of God, between the persons of the Trinity. I would say that my music is the way that I try to imitate that communication, of Trinitarian love between persons.
Do you consciously keep your distance from the Contemporary Christian Music scene?
I think that 90% of the music that comes out of the CCM industry is overproduced and trite. I think the focus is on the bottom line, and I don't see much tolerance for Catholics. But the music industry as a whole is a beast. People don't realize that there are tens of thousands of struggling musicians, many of whom are excellent and will always be unknown. The market is saturated and the industry sells music like disposable pens: cheap and quickly replaced.
In a saturated market, what can Catholic musicians offer that sets them apart?
I think that Catholic musicians, lyrically speaking, have a great advantage over Protestant ones, for the sole reason that our Christianity is not based on biblical language alone. We can use themes from the writings of saints, things written after the books of the New Testament. We have 2,000 more years of language to play with.
How does your music fit into your life right now?
Doing shows isn't a priority like it once was. I got an MBA and have a day job currently as a technical writer. But in the past year, I was able to move back to New Orleans from Austin. I got married in October. Settling into a routine has been really good for me; it has freed up my mind for being creative.
I suspect there'll be another record within a year. I don't really have any big business plan. What I'm going to do is keep writing and recording my songs, and put them in God's hands. If I live to be 80, and put together a great collection of records, I'll be really proud of that.
Iain Bernhoft is a graduate student
in English at Boston University.
10 to build on
Rebuild your music collection with our 10 favorite south Louisiana CDs from 2005 -- and 20 homegrown honorable mentions
Saturday, January 07, 2006
By Keith Spera
Music Editor
Selecting the best local releases from south Louisiana's bounty of music from the past year is no easy task, even in a year interrupted by Hurricane Katrina.
But it sure is fun to try.
What follows are my 10 favorite local CDs of 2005, in alphabetical order. For each artist, the CD represents a leap forward and/or a clearly articulated, professionally rendered vision, one that holds up to multiple listens.
To narrow the field, only acts based in and around New Orleans were considered. Harry Connick Jr. and Wynton Marsalis released excellent albums last year but didn't qualify for this accounting by virtue of their New York residencies.
If you are rebuilding a Katrina-soaked local music collection, these discs would be a good place to start.
=========================
1 of 20 More Honorably Mentioned
Burke Ingraffia
Independence,Louisiana
Caleo Records
Independence, Louisiana CD Press Release, 2005
Independence, Louisiana. Is it a place, or does it mean something else? We live in a state where we vote for the eternal right to hunt and fish, where the distinction between leisure and laziness requires clarification, and the oral traditions still breathe out loud. Were it not for television, the rest of America would have such little bearing on our lives. We are a mix of cultures and of styles. That is what this CD represents. It features 20 musicians from the state of Louisiana performing my songs in various styles, including jazz, pop, funk, and folk and incorporating many of the images and rhythms that I have absorbed during my stay at this particular time in history on this particular part of the planet.
In the summer of 2002 I moved from New Orleans to live with my grandfather on his retired dairy farm lying on the border of Tickfaw and Independence, Louisiana. Paw Paw was 96 at the time and still managed to get some sort of work done around the place every day. He will be 99 this year and has become for me both the bridge to the common sense of the past and the personification of Independence. Aside from him, however, out there on the sidelines of modern society it's like living in one's own personal Faulkner novel, with Yokapatawphna County being replaced by Tangipahoa Parish - all the old men, thieves and scoundrels, Snopeses, and colorful characters. The Town of Independence still retains its strong Italian identity, and although it is as sleepy as a 99 year-old man napping, there are still many good families keeping the place alive.
Now Available: Independence, Louisiana - The New CD by Burke Ingraffia, featuring 13 Original Songs and 20 of Southeast Louisiana's Finest Musicians.
Vancouver Courier, July 2002
You've probably never heard of Burke Ingraffia. I certainly hadn't, that is until the New Orleans -based singer/songwriter and guitarist sent a copy of Good, his five-song CD. The disc, which reveals his extremely infectious vocal style, tasty guitar licks and overall funky vibe, is in fact very good. Ingraffia will perform July 25 at the Cellar with his quartet.
Review of the EP, Good. November 2001
Bunny Matthews, OffBeat Magazine
Warning: Really Ugly Words - Such is the World - Although He Undoubtedly Enjoyed the Music
Burke Ingraffia's CD isn't exactly Good. It's great. Since I know he's a Theology teacher, I might be reading a lot of subliminal sexual undercurrents into his compositions that he didn't intend (or maybe he subliminally, subconsciously did). "Undercover" strikes me as a celebration of sneaking around although Ingraffia's notes claim "This song is the result of late night cop show re-runs while simultaneously reading the biographies of Ss. John of the Cross and Teresa of Avila." St. Teresa, for the non-Catholics in the audience, is the nun who encountered the Holy Spirit as a sexual orgasm. "Everything Is Wet," every bit as funky as the Meters (really!), I assumed was about vaginal secretions but lo and behold, it's a song about Noah's Ark. Paul Turnipseed's slide guitar on this cut is unlike any recorded instrument you've ever heard. In fact, it sounds like the collision of a heavily-panting St. Teresa, a very distant runaway freight train with cokehead Casey Jones at the controls and that no-good, well-hung Satan. I give it 666 stars.
CD Review - Burke Ingraffia by Susan Bailey (Grapevine Magazine, 1996)
This is the album I have fantasized about making. But then I am not a poet. Mr. Ingraffia, however, is, and his song-poems will challenge your mind as they feed your soul. His debut album, titled Burke Ingraffia, contains 10 such songs, performed in a folk-acoustic style, with basic instrumentation and a clear vocal so that the listener doesn't miss a single word.
I do think I need to issue a warning here about this collection: be prepared to make a commitment to it. This is not a casual listen-in-the-background while-you-do-housework type CD. You need to sit down and read over the lyrics, and allow the music to fill your head. It reminded me of the commitment I always had to make everytime I bought a Joni Mitchell album. It took several days for the music to sink in, but once it took root, I would never forget it. And each time I listened to the lyrics, I would find out something new.
Ingraffia's album is like that. And the lyrics gave me that "oooh" experience, of reading the line and saying to myself, "oooh, what a cool way to say that!"
Ingraffia doesn't believe in spoon feeding the message to his audience; therefore you have to actively decide for yourself what each song means. This is the challenge to the mind, the commitment that needs to be made. The commitment is well worth it.
Since each listener is supposed to draw their own conclusions regarding the meaning of each song, I will not betray that by offering my own interpretation. Rather, read over these offerings from my own personal favorites and decide for yourself:
When all your white-collar crimes have let you down
and you always know the punch line
And your hairs fall out without a sound
cause there's no one there to listen
Will I still meet you by the well to draw water?
(from "Friday Evening Traffic")
I knew a joker who got left in the box
This is what he said to me: "While all the
other cards are out playing games of
chance, the other joker is my only
company. But I've learned a few things
within this box, as my corners are not bent.
It's not the time or the place that you're
given, it's how that time is spent.
(from "Ace of Hearts," my favorite)
Drinking milk from a wine glass but
It still takes like milk
You can wear the finest suit of cotton, but
It will never feel like silk ...
It's impossible to be something that you're not
You can try but it's hard to teach the tango
To a polka dot.
(from "The Milk Song")
If you experienced the "oooh" factor while reading, add this album to your collection. And if you're simply curious, take the leap of faith and make the commitment. You won't be sorry.