M.R. Poulopoulos

Stacks of books and recording equipment are not far from an open guitar case. These are the objects M.R. Poulopoulos spends time with these days. His focus is on his music and the materials that influence his playing. On warm days, the windows are open.

Sweetly melodic and often melancholy, as well as intelligent and soulful, Poulopoulos’s songs, like him, are honest and eloquent. His guitar playing makes you want to tap your feet, or cry a little. Sometimes both. His lyrics, complemented by the steady strum or picked out tones of the guitar, always tell a story -- some are sad, some are happy, and some, like his song “On and On it Goes,” achieve both with a humorous spin -- and they’re always poignant.

His musical influences vary, but their common foundation is American blues and roots music. The artists he's most influenced by these days include Jeffrey Foucault, Danny Schmidt, John Prine, Neil Young, Townes Van Zandt, John Hiatt, Bob Dylan, Brandi Carlile, Patty Griffin, Matt Durfee, John Rice, Courtney Blackwell-Rice and the Family Sinners, Red Haired Strangers, Jill Andrews, the everybodyfields. His many influences lend him to the acoustic singer/songwriter style, but without sounding like anyone in particular—his music is very much his own.

Poulopoulos’s past released work include Lazaretto, an EP he released with Matt Durfee as the acoustic duo, Palatypus. He intends to release a solo album by the end of summer 2010.

- Gina DiSarro: writer / editor / friend