MARKUS RILL
''THE THINGS THAT COUNT''
MARCH 10 2008
46:18
1 Straighter Road 02:58
2 Unlike You 02:50
3 What Might've Been 03:41
4 Scene Of The Crime 05:12
5 Sarah Stein 06:51
6 Gotta Keep My Hands Off 02:58
7 On The Sly 04:03
8 Faith Is Hard 04:07
9 The Things That Count 03:51
10 Dimestore Paperback Memory 03:24
11 I'll Wait For You 03:11
12 Just Like It Never Did Exist 03:05
OFFICIAL BIOGRAPHY
By Hans Hartmann
Born in Frankfurt/Germany, Markus Rill is not the most likely candidate to become one of roots music’s most interesting songwriters and performers. And yet, over the course of eight studio albums and countless live gigs in all kinds of venues - from the Bluebird Café in Nashville, Tn. to the Country Rendez-Vous Festival in France, from Wunschlos glücklich in Würzburg to SXSW in Austin, Tx. - that is exactly what he has become.
We’re not talking about the fact that he has won major songwriting awards, played with icons like Townes van Zandt, recorded with Nashville’s finest, and is racking up accolades by every critic with ears. We’re simply talking about the songs, the albums, the performances.
If Tom Waits and Bonnie Raitt pick your songs for songwriting awards, if Rosanne Cash, Texas legend Ray Wylie Hubbard and master songwriter Gretchen Peters recommend your stuff, you’ve probably got something worthwhile going on.
Rill’s songs are honest and direct yet there’s remarkable poetry in the way he uses everyday language. His rough-hewn vocals convey deep emotion in an almost backhanded manner. And his band The Troublemakers are a remarkable, versatile outfit, grasping that some of Rill’s songs need dry, no-frills realism while others profit from a more atmospheric approach. Thus Markus Rill & The Troublemakers bring together rock’n’roll, folk, country, blues, gospel and soul to create a refreshingly original Americana sound.
Both the originality and the authenticity of their sound in a clearly American idiom have a lot to do with Rill’s origins. The German spent some of his formative years as a young songwriter in Austin, Tx. “I soaked up the music scene, I bathed in it. It felt like I had come home.” The no-BS ethos of the Austin scene appealed to Rill. “Not only did I learn a lot about country music, the blues, about all sorts of roots music, about songwriting, and live performance, I also realized that to be an interesting artist, you have to be yourself.” And as Rill matured so did his artistry. “I no longer re-write Steve Earle songs”, he says with a laugh. “I have my own stories to tell and my own viewpoint to write from.” Not being able to use generic Americana symbolism like highways, diners and pickup trucks has made Rill’s writing leaner and, paradoxically, more universal and more specific at the same time. “If I can create the image of someone sitting home alone at night at his kitchen table, I don’t need to say whether he’s sitting in Texas or Bavaria. The emotion matters more than the location.”
Rill has gleaned some very powerful songs from that approach. Some that make you laugh and jump and dance, some that make you cry, some that make you sit and think. Both his 2013 albums - the full-band "My Rocket Ship" and the more intimate solo recod "Late Night Drive" - have plenty of each.
''THE THINGS THAT COUNT''
MARCH 10 2008
46:18
1 Straighter Road 02:58
2 Unlike You 02:50
3 What Might've Been 03:41
4 Scene Of The Crime 05:12
5 Sarah Stein 06:51
6 Gotta Keep My Hands Off 02:58
7 On The Sly 04:03
8 Faith Is Hard 04:07
9 The Things That Count 03:51
10 Dimestore Paperback Memory 03:24
11 I'll Wait For You 03:11
12 Just Like It Never Did Exist 03:05
OFFICIAL BIOGRAPHY
By Hans Hartmann
Born in Frankfurt/Germany, Markus Rill is not the most likely candidate to become one of roots music’s most interesting songwriters and performers. And yet, over the course of eight studio albums and countless live gigs in all kinds of venues - from the Bluebird Café in Nashville, Tn. to the Country Rendez-Vous Festival in France, from Wunschlos glücklich in Würzburg to SXSW in Austin, Tx. - that is exactly what he has become.
We’re not talking about the fact that he has won major songwriting awards, played with icons like Townes van Zandt, recorded with Nashville’s finest, and is racking up accolades by every critic with ears. We’re simply talking about the songs, the albums, the performances.
If Tom Waits and Bonnie Raitt pick your songs for songwriting awards, if Rosanne Cash, Texas legend Ray Wylie Hubbard and master songwriter Gretchen Peters recommend your stuff, you’ve probably got something worthwhile going on.
Rill’s songs are honest and direct yet there’s remarkable poetry in the way he uses everyday language. His rough-hewn vocals convey deep emotion in an almost backhanded manner. And his band The Troublemakers are a remarkable, versatile outfit, grasping that some of Rill’s songs need dry, no-frills realism while others profit from a more atmospheric approach. Thus Markus Rill & The Troublemakers bring together rock’n’roll, folk, country, blues, gospel and soul to create a refreshingly original Americana sound.
Both the originality and the authenticity of their sound in a clearly American idiom have a lot to do with Rill’s origins. The German spent some of his formative years as a young songwriter in Austin, Tx. “I soaked up the music scene, I bathed in it. It felt like I had come home.” The no-BS ethos of the Austin scene appealed to Rill. “Not only did I learn a lot about country music, the blues, about all sorts of roots music, about songwriting, and live performance, I also realized that to be an interesting artist, you have to be yourself.” And as Rill matured so did his artistry. “I no longer re-write Steve Earle songs”, he says with a laugh. “I have my own stories to tell and my own viewpoint to write from.” Not being able to use generic Americana symbolism like highways, diners and pickup trucks has made Rill’s writing leaner and, paradoxically, more universal and more specific at the same time. “If I can create the image of someone sitting home alone at night at his kitchen table, I don’t need to say whether he’s sitting in Texas or Bavaria. The emotion matters more than the location.”
Rill has gleaned some very powerful songs from that approach. Some that make you laugh and jump and dance, some that make you cry, some that make you sit and think. Both his 2013 albums - the full-band "My Rocket Ship" and the more intimate solo recod "Late Night Drive" - have plenty of each.
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