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Monday
Jun032019

VENTS Magazine: Interview with Deborah Berg

by RJ Frometa

 

How would you classify your music?

 

Classifying anything is not my strong suit!  I’m a white girl who sings traditional gospel songs.  What do you call that?  But New Road Home is not gospel. 

 

New Road Home is acoustic based, Americana music with Country imagery and Bluegrass flavor, They are storytelling songs that are hopefully danceable to those who hear music that way. They are stories that describe struggle, hope, love, nature and faith.

 

Who are some of your top 5 musical influences?

 

Cradle songs were Bushel and a Peck, You Are My Sunshine, sung by my grandmother. The Man Who Shot Liberty Valence, and many songs from Merry Melodies cartoons that my brothers and I listened to.  I watched Lawrence Welk’s guitar player on television every Saturday night!  Big fan! The Beatles broke just when my young ears could receive their collective genius. I was smitten!  Later in the teen years, Joni Mitchell’s lyrics, voice and guitar arrangements hit me deep and hard. As a young adult, the Allman Brothers, Eat a Peach rocked my world, I wore that record out!  I loved Graham Nash’s, Songs for Beginners and J.J. Cale’s album, Naturally.  Traffic! Especially Steve Winwood’s exquisite vocals. Bonnie Raitt is a Goddess. I saw her in Minneapolis when she was just starting out, singing with Willie and the Bumblebees and have admired her ever since.  More recent influences are Gillian Welch and Dave Rawlings, Madison Violet, Brandi Carlisle, the Avett Brothers and Lake Street Dive.

 

What do you want fans to take from your music?

 

Encouragement.  Some of my most powerful Eureka moments happened in part by listening to music that reached me. Music got me through some tough times.  I would like to humbly offer these songs as a tonic for the nerves.  Our lives and situations and schedules can get pretty nutty sometimes, here’s hoping my listeners can take the time to self medicate with New Road Home to help find their own groove.

 

How’s the music scene in your locale?

 

Although I grew up in Nebraska, I have lived in NYC for 35 years.  There is music of all genres everywhere you look here. Many smaller clubs in town are closing, which is a shame.  The rents go up and little clubs go down.  But there are still some venues around that are quintessential New York City that I love playing at and listening in. 

 

What isn’t easy here is just getting together and jamming with other musicians.  Everyone is too busy, trying to make money to pay their rent!  It’s a funky cycle.  No one really has time to jam.  Most of us have to rent rehearsal studios to practice (with band).  There are plenty of home studios in NYC, just not a lot of square footage for gatherings or live rehearsals!

 

What is the best concert you have been to? What do you like most about playing live?

 

Love, Love, Love Telluride Bluegrass Festival.  I love everything about it; the music and the talent and the mountain air.  I have not played there. .. yet!  New Orleans jazz Fest is another great festival if you don’t mind crowds.  We tend to migrate to the smaller, Fai Do Do stage and the Gospel tent.

 

Favorite specific gig:

 

I saw Lucinda Williams open for Tom Petty in Hershey PA in 1999.  It was an amazing set list from both of them. Being in Pennsylvania, there were Amish teenagers sitting in front of us. The girls wore their long hair wrapped up in braids with lace caps and long cotton dresses. The boys wore black trousers with suspenders and white, button down shirts.  We were all grooving to the music.  It was their traditional Rumspringa year.  A traditional time when Amish teens are allowed one year to “run around” before deciding whether to commit to the Amish way of life or leave it all behind.  Most go back.  Their presence was such a contrast to the rest of us.  But we all loved the concert!  Music = the Great Elixir.

 

My band and I like playing at a little dive bar in the east village called, The Treehouse at 2A.  Thanks to Tom Clark, that place feels like home.  The big room at Rockwood Music Hall on the lower east side is a really nice venue.  The acoustic room downstairs is lovely, too. House Concerts Rock!  I make more money at house concerts than pretty much anywhere else of that size.  But you have to be willing to accept home-style amplification and occasional lack of monitors.

 

Is there a song on your latest CD release here that stands out as your personal favorite, and why?

 

For whatever reason, a song that sticks out for me on this record is, When I Slow Down.  I love the sound of the recording.  My producer, Ken Rich did a great job mixing it.  It polishes both the songs’ strengths and vulnerabilities.  I also really love, Sliver of A Moon.  That song was recorded live.  We kept the first take.  I doubled the guitar on a later track, which is why it sounds slightly dissonant at times.  But Ken and I were okay with keeping it that way because the feeling of that take was worth keeping.  The doubled guitar dissonance creates an eerie quality that we think grows on you.

 

How have you evolved as an artist over the last year?

 

My first instrument is my voice.  I am a strong front singer and an attentive backing vocalist.  I have been playing guitar now for over 20 years but the mandolin is a newer pursuit of mine.  I have a long way to go but I love the sound quality and look of my beautiful A-form 1923 Gibson white mandolin.  I played the solo on Muddy Weather and still can’t believe it!

 

If you could meet, play a gig, co-write a song, have dinner, have a drink with any band or artist (dead or alive) who would it be?

 

As I mentioned before, I am a heavy Tom Petty fan.  I would love to have sung or played music with TP and the Heartbreakers. Also just to hang out and watch the process. I think I would have fit right in with the Carter Family and would have loved to just sit with them after supper and sing and play!  Same with spending time with Dolly Parton back in the day.  I am drawn to the mountains.  I would also die to sing or play with Bonnie Raitt.  Just thinking about it makes me feel like a Dobby the house elf in Harry Potter.  Or was it Wayne and Garth when they met Alice Cooper?  I am not worthy!!

 

What’s next for you?

 

Promoting New Road Home and playing more gigs, further afield.  And always, listening and writing.  Thank you, VENTS!

Saturday
Jun012019

Music Existence EP Review, June 1, 2019

EP Review: Deborah Berg - New Road Home

When you have so much experience in the music business like Deborah Berg has, it’s easy to repeat yourself or fall into a comfort zone of sorts where you don’t want to branch out, thus falling into a routine of conformity. In the case of the vast majority of artists in this situation, their solution usually tends to be to branch out, but Deborah has found the balance between her core musical values and the interests she has developed throughout the years, which has crystalized in New Road Home.

With a career that has been spanning for over thirty years as a singer, guitarist and as a songwriter, you can understand why New Road Home is such a solid country release: it has the swagger, quality and delivery of someone who has been there multiple times and knows what the listener wants to hear, so she delivers in spades.

There’s a certain level of intimacy in New Road Home that cannot be imitated or faked because you need to deliver that from your heart and that is what she does, also applying some of her knowledge as a vocal instructor, which has certainly been helpful with her vocal performances because she has been remarkable in that regard in recent years.

Of course, the single You’re Gone is one of the highest points of the entire album and you can clearly understand why: it has the kind of style, passion and melodies that you could expect from such a highly-regarded artist as Deborah and she hits every single note of the track wonderfully, quickly becoming a personal favorite of mine.

Very few artists can truly understand nowadays what it means to be genuine and Deborah Berg is certainly one of them, with New Road Home poised to become one of the best country albums of 2019 without a shadow of a doubt.

–Kevin Tanza

Tuesday
Jan082019

Press for "A Bold New Love" on CBS, December 24, 2018

New York Times

What’s on TV Monday: ‘Elf’ and ‘A Bold New Love’

By Sara Aridi, Dec. 24, 2018

Celebrate Christmas Eve with an endearing comedy about a very tall, very happy elf. Or watch a holiday special by the Middle Collegiate Church.

A BOLD NEW LOVE: A CHRISTMAS EVE WITH MIDDLE COLLEGIATE CHURCH (2018) 11:35 p.m. on CBS. This one-hour holiday special has something for everyone: gospel, classical music, dance and spoken word. A production of the Middle Collegiate Church in the East Village of Manhattan, the performances feature conducting by Tituss Burgess (“Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt”) and songs from the movies “Sister Act 2” and “Selma.”

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Forbes

'Love. Period.': An Interview With Middle Collegiate Church's Rev. Jacqui Lewis

by Court Stroud, December 19, 2018

On Monday, December 24th, the CBS Television Network will broadcast A Bold New Love: A Christmas Eve with Middle Collegiate Church. The holiday special airs from 11:35 p.m. to 12:35 a.m. ET/PT and features four choirs, two dance companies and a spoken-word artist.

Emmy-nominee Tituss Burgess ("Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt") conducts a guest chorus singing two of his compositions. Middle Church’s three choirs join in the festivities, as well as dancers from the Rod Rogers Dance Company and Dendy/Donovan Projects.

Nationally-recognized theologian Rev. Dr. Jacqui Lewis serves as senior minister for the 1,200-member congregation, which is located in Manhattan's East Village. Lewis is the first woman and the first African-American to lead the church in its nearly 400-year history. Founded by Dutch immigrants in 1628, Middle is co-affiliated with the United Church of Christ and the Reformed Church in America.

This interview has been edited for brevity and clarity.

How do you describe Middle Collegiate Church?

New Yorkers say Middle Church looks like the subway at rush hour but feels like home. When I stand on the pulpit and look out at our congregation, to me it looks like heaven.

We are seniors and toddlers, children and teens. We are multiracial families and single folk. Millennials and boomers are our largest demographic. We are Black, White, Asian and Latinx. We are gay, straight, bisexual and transgender.

We are a Christian church that believes there is more than one path to God. Therefore, Jews, Buddhists, agnostics and atheists join Christians of many stripes in our worship and educational events, and in our work for justice.

What can viewers expect to see during the CBS Christmas Eve worship service?

On the first Sunday of Advent, December 2, we filmed both our 9:30 and 11:45 a.m. worship celebrations. We wanted the sanctuary to look like Christmas and smell like pine. We hope the viewers will have a strong sensory connection to this powerful story of a God coming to earth as a baby born in poverty, a Jewish baby born in a stable, whose parents fled to Egypt in order to save the infant’s life.

What makes this Christmas Eve broadcast different?

The music is classical, gospel, jazz and pop. We were able to secure the rights to “Joyful Joyful” from Sister Act 2. Our choreographers used that for our traditional Advent Dance. We also secured the rights to “Glory” from the movie Selma. Our gospel choir does the rap in unison -- 50 people of various hues, ethnicities, and genders, rapping together.

Our classical choir sings an amazing spiritual called “O Jerusalem in the Morning” and a jazz piece called “A Child is Born.” This Christmas Eve broadcast will have viewers standing on their feet in their living rooms, clapping, dancing and singing along to “Joy to the World” and “Silent Night.” It is, as has been said about Middle Church, where old-time religion gets a new twist.

How did actor Tituss Burgess become involved?

Ten years ago, Tituss came to church. We clicked. He’s like a younger brother to me. One day in worship I was talking about God welcoming everybody. Tituss said, “We need music to tell that story.” On the train home, he began writing music for us, which turned into the album “Welcome!”

When we started a Sunday evening worship geared toward artists, Tituss conducted the Art and Soul chorus. They are many of his friends and students, and they can “SANG!” In this Christmas Eve program, they sing two of the songs from the album, “Grateful” and “You’re My Joy.”

Tituss has had a prolific career on Broadway and uses his amazing voice in his role as Tituss Andromedon on The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt. What his fans might not know is what an incredible writer and composer he is.

How did you become a minister?

When I was seven years old, attending a Presbyterian church in Chicago with my family, I took communion for the first time. I loved our little church. It had warm oak pews with red cushions, lots of children my age, and music that was classical and gospel.

I think that experience was the beginning of a calling. I sang in the children’s choir and taught Sunday school by the time I was 9. I became an elder on our board when I was sixteen. As a 14-year old at camp, I clearly sensed God calling me to do what my pastor did. He was a Black, bell-bottom wearing, big Afro-having, justice warrior named Oliver Brown. I’m not clear about how, but I got mixed signals about women being in ministry. After a career at the Eastman Kodak Company, I began seminary when I was 30 years old.

How did your time in the business world prepare you to be essentially the CEO of a church?

The corporate world taught me how to manage budgets and do strategic planning. But my work as a consultant to congregations most prepared me to learn how to create visions and strategies for ministry, to see the long picture and help others find their way into those visions. It takes more than a senior minister and staff to do the work of a church.

What would you like to see more of in the business community?

I’d love to see more business leaders lead from their faith, their ethics. In other words, bring your best faithful self to the marketplace. How does an ethic of love guide your decision making about planet and people? How does it shape how you treat employees? How does it influence the way you mentor women, people of color, religious minorities, and the LGBTQ community? I am calling for a revolution of values and behavior based on love.

What would you like to see more of in the world in general?

Less war, more love. Less greed, more love. There really is enough for everyone to not only survive but thrive. I’d like to see a global family caring for all of our children and all of our elders, caring for the planet. I’d like us to feel our liberation is bound up in each other. None of us are free until all are free.

We hope this CBS program draws people to our way of being Christian: "Love. Period."

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Los Angeles Times

Monday's TV highlights: 'Beauty and the Beast' on ABC

By Ed Stockly, December 23, 2018

SPECIALS

A Bold New Love: A Christmas Eve With Middle Collegiate Church Tituss Burgess conducts the Art & Soul Chorus in a performance of “Grateful” and “You’re My Joy,” two gospel songs he composed, during this one-hour celebration of Christmas Eve from Middle Collegiate Church. 11:35 p.m. CBS

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Broadway World

Tituss Burgess to Appear in a Christmas Eve Celebration on CBS

December 18, 2018

A BOLD NEW LOVE: A CHRISTMAS EVE WITH MIDDLE COLLEGIATE CHURCH, a holiday special, will be broadcast Monday, December 24 (11:35 PM-12:35 AM, ET/PT) on the CBS Television Network.

This Christmas Eve celebration features gospel and classical music, four choirs, two dance companies, and a spoken word artist. Emmy-nominated and Broadway veteran Tituss Burgess ("Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt" and "Jersey Boys") will conduct the Art & Soul Chorus singing two gospel songs he composed: "Grateful" and "You're My Joy." This Christmas Eve worship also features music from "Sister Act 2": "Joyful Joyful," in which the church's 50-member Jerriese Johnson Gospel Choir is joined by dancers from dendy/donovan projects, Rod Rodgers Dance Company, and the children of Middle Collegiate Church. The Jerriese Johnson Gospel Choir performs the Academy Award-winning song, "Glory" from the movie "Selma". Nationally recognized speaker and public theologian the Rev. Dr. Jacqui Lewis, the senior minister of Middle Collegiate Church, offers a powerful sermon. The worship celebration concludes with a candlelight ceremony to the holiday classic "Silent Night."

Middle Collegiate Church is a 1,200-member, multiracial congregation in Manhattan's East Village. The Rev. Dr. Jacqui Lewis is the first woman and the first African-American to serve as senior minister in the Collegiate Churches of New York's nearly 400-year history. The Middle Collegiate Church was founded in 1628 by Dutch immigrants, and is now co-affiliated with the United Church of Christ and Reformed Church in America.

"At the center of the Christmas story is hope...hope which comes to us in the form of a vulnerable, poor baby. A child, not a king, changes the world. God appears to us as a marginalized, Afro-Semitic, Jewish child from Nazareth in Palestine. A child who grows up to teach us to welcome the stranger. How would our world be different if we loved our neighbors as ourselves?" asks the Rev. Dr. Jacqui Lewis, senior minister of Middle Collegiate Church.

In our country that is deeply DIVIDED around race and religion, Middle Collegiate Church is a rare place where blacks, whites, Hispanics, and Asian Americans worship together. Also Christian, Jewish, atheist, and Buddhist worshippers are drawn to the congregation because of its legendary music and commitment to the poor, the LGBTQIA+ community, and addressing race relations in our nation. On Christmas Eve, this congregation gives us a picture of unity and hope.

This Christmas Eve special is a production of the Middle Collegiate Church, directed by Broadway and television director Charles Randolph-Wright ("Motown: The Musical" and "Greenleaf") and produced by award-winning producer Michael Hanna. Elizabeth Kineke and John P. Blessington are the executive producers for CBS. Jacqui Lewis is the Executive Producer for Middle Collegiate Church.

In addition to the Art & Soul Chorus, the following choirs and groups perform: the Jerriese Johnson Gospel Choir, directed by John Del Cueto; the Middle Church Band, directed by Dionne McClain-Freeney; the Middle Church Choir, directed by Tami Petty; and the Village Chorus for Children and Youth, directed by John Del Cueto. In the "Joyful, Joyful" dance, sections of the dance are choreographed by Broadway's Mark Dendy and Lincoln Center veteran ("Taboo" and "The Pirate Queen") of dendy/donovan projects, Middle Collegiate Church children are choreographed by Broadway's and Alvin Ailey's Adrienne Hurd ("Down to Earth" and "Annie Get your Gun") and Kim Grier-Martinez, Artistic Director of The Rod Rodgers Dance Company.

Genesis Be, founder of People Not Things, is the spoken word artist who reads scripture.

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Uproxx

What’s On For Christmas: It’s A Great Time To Catch Up On Netflix And These Holiday Offerings

by Kimberly Ricci, December 24, 2018

A Bold New Love: A Christmas Eve With Middle Collegiate Church (Monday, CBS 11:30 p.m.) — Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt‘s Titus Burgess will conduct the Art & Soul Chorus while singing two of his own gospel songs during this lead-in celebration of Christmas morning.

Thursday
Feb162012

PensEyeView.com

Featured February 16, 2012.

by Richie Frieman

There isn’t much in the music industry that Deborah Berg hasn’t seen – from taking on the industry solo as a singer/songwriter to her days signed to one of the biggest labels in the world, Berg is now enjoying making music on her terms, her way.

She started out with the group Eye to Eye, eventually signing with Warner Brothers Records, even working with Steely Dan’s producer, Gary Katz. Deborah recalls those days: “It was great! But it was really hard too, for me because I knew so little about the music business. Opportunities would come up and we just didn’t know how to kick them into gear. Our name came up to be the support band for Fleetwood Mac and for Eric Clapton’s tours but we didn’t have a firm grip on what a manager could and should do for us, not to mention, how to stretch a budget.”

Click to read more ...

Sunday
Jan292012

Los Angeles Examiner

Deborah Berg celebrates 25 years in the music business with a new project

Bob Leggett
Griffith Park/Los Feliz Examiner

Deborah Berg is a New York City-based singer/songwriter and teacher whose distinctive voice, songwriting talents, and warm teaching style characterize her 25 year musical career.

No Rush, her fifth CD (and second solo CD), is scheduled for release early this year.  It has been 12 years since the release of Places Where I Dream, which was also her debut solo recording.

Click to read more ...