Harper Simon with Peter Wolf Crier

Give a listen to Harper Simon’s shining solo debut and you’ll soon recognize that he is much more than just a shooting star. Harper Simon is the work of an exceptionally gifted singer-songwriter and guitarist who’s clearly discovered who he is (well beyond the fact that he is the son of Paul Simon) and found his own way as a recording artist in a time when the very concept of recording an album seems threatened. Simon artfully shares that sense of discovery here throughout an ambitious and deeply felt new piece of work that offers a vivid and even haunting reminder of how much an album can still mean here in 2009.

For Harper Simon, the opportunity to make his own album here was a matter of no small consequence. “The long playing album is the great artistic medium invented in the second half of the 20th century,” says Simon. “The long playing album is not just ten songs thrown together randomly. It has an arc. It has a structure. It is the attempt to make ten songs that are all as good as each other, and fit together in a seamless whole. Long playing albums like Sgt Peppers, Bridge Over Troubled Water, Pet Sounds, Blonde On Blonde, Sticky Fingers—these albums have helped define our culture. When I was making this record, I was very conscious of making a record that was an homage to the LP.”

Right from the album’s opening reworking of a traditional gospel in “All To God” through the album’s exquisitely romantic closing song “Berkeley Girl,” Harper Simon represents a seamless yet wide-ranging whole. This is also a profoundly musical and poetic song cycle that reflects a deep love and abiding respect for the musical traditions of the past, yet one that nonetheless seems very much about making great music in the present tense.

Simon recorded his new album in Nashville, New York and Los Angeles with the help of an altogether impressive and decidedly eclectic and multi-generational group of musical collaborators, including famed producer Bob Johnston, an all-star group of veteran first-call Nashville session players, an impressive group of contemporary young singer-songwriters and friends, and yes, even Harper’s own father, the legendary Paul Simon.

Opening act Peter Wolf Crier is the new project by Peter Pisano (The Wars of 1812), helped out by Brian Moen (Laarks, The Shouting Matches, Amateur Love). The duo have just released their debut recording Inter-Be, featuring original, atmospheric contemporary pop/folk music.

Tickets are on sale now from the Cedar Ticketline (612-338-2674 ext 2), Cedar outlets, and online at Ticketweb.

$12 advance, $15 day of show