Episode 7 – Paul Jensen

Paul Jensen's long and winding songwriting road has taken him from California to Cuba, where he and NYC avant-garde dance troupe Ballet D'Angelo performed his compositions at the International Ballet Festival in Havana. Today, Paul is known for his energetic, engaging live shows, and is the founder and host of the Sound Shore Songwriter Showcase in Rye, NY, a new performance series featuring talented, local singer/songwriters.

Paul has headlined at such storied NYC venues as CityWineryNYC, the Cutting Room, The Bitter End and Arlene’s Grocery. You can catch him performing solo acoustic or with his band in and around the greater NYC area.

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:12

Welcome to another edition of Acoustic Northeast, where we talk about the singers, songwriters, and acoustic music scene in the Northeast United States. And we interview musicians who play live for us and for you in the studio. I'm co-host Dave Goldenberg.

SPEAKER_02 0:29

And I am co-host George Malice, and we are engineered today by gentleman Jim Nowak. We are sponsored by hereatheir.com, WBXO Internet Radio, and Hudson Harding Folk Radio Promoters.

SPEAKER_01 0:45

Now you can listen to us right here, obviously, where we are right now. You can listen to us wherever you get your podcasts. Also on YouTube, where you can see some video of our guests performing in studio and acousticnortheast.com. And we also stream on wbxo.com. Today in the studio we have singer-songwriter Paul Jensen from Rye, New York. Welcome, Paul. Thank you.

SPEAKER_00 1:15

Glad to be here.

SPEAKER_02 1:16

Yeah, yeah. Happy to have you. Um I've heard your music, and why don't you kick us off with a tune? Yeah. Tell us what you intro it and tell us what you're gonna do.

SPEAKER_00 1:25

This first song is called Gosport, which is the name of the town that was one of the most active uh fishing harbors in the United States about 100, 200 years ago. And um it's off the coast of Portsmouth, New Hampshire, and it's a place where I spend a lot of time. Maybe we'll get into that. I've written a lot of songs there on the Isles of Shoals next to Gossport Harbor. So uh yeah, this is a song I wrote about my relationship with that island and the community I've gotten to know there. Stories done told, and now they come from even far, some with guitars, you know who they are, it said they won't come back to you, yeah, they didn't come back to you. God's all you don't ask why, you won't say goodbye, you live free or die. God's all are you looking for me? You gonna set me free or keep me company? Can you feel the love and the pain coming down like rain? We're needing you again walk on the rocks my two bend these broken wings and make us whole again. We said we would come back to you. Yeah, we can come back to you You don't ask why you won't stay good by you live free or die for me You don't set me free. Stand by you know you see me cry and reach to the sky, and I know no matter where I'm wrong. I won't be alone when my spirit's home. I said I would come back to you. Yeah, I come back to you that's five.

SPEAKER_02 7:13

Nice tune. So that's Paul Jensen. Paul, um, first of all, thank you for coming up and um and joining us today in the studio. Let's talk about your musical journey. Um I know in talking before the show, you told us you were um born and raised in Long Island. So, but Gossport, New Hampshire definitely has this hold on you. Let's talk a little bit about that. And you said that you write a lot up there.

SPEAKER_00 7:41

So yes. I I go every summer in August to um this we call it a conference called Life on a Star and Star Island. Star Island is the name of the place. Gosport's sort of the old name for the village that used to be there. You know, it was kind of uh the 18 late 1800s and the early 20th century was a real important fishing port. And uh yeah, so we I go there every year, the family goes, there's other families there, it's about 300 people. Beautiful, five miles offshore, right off Portsmouth, New Hampshire, Kittery, Maine. And um, I run a um open mic night in the evenings. And there's a lot of on the island? On the island, yeah. And it's very, I mean, no roads, it's very um, you know, all stone buildings built 150 years ago. And wait, there's no roads on the island?

SPEAKER_01 8:33

No, it's just uh just a passenger ferry.

SPEAKER_00 8:36

But it's just a passenger ferry, leaves in Portsmouth. And the whole thing is maybe a mile and a half across, you know. It's you can you can walk you can walk around the island in 20 minutes, you know. And it's um just old buildings, and um you know, you do sort of uh this songwriting workshops or creative writing workshops or painting, or uh we have a theme speaker for the week who may talk about a number of different things. Anyway, I do it, you know, I sort of spend the week there thinking and writing, and uh then I get to perform songs as do other people in the in the uh performance cafe in the evening. We have a talent show and that kind of thing.

SPEAKER_01 9:14

Well, when did you discover that you were a songwriter?

SPEAKER_00 9:17

Oh boy, yeah. Uh probably um probably as early as like high school, college.

SPEAKER_01 9:24

I um were you in bands?

SPEAKER_00 9:26

I was in bands, mostly cover bands, and um I really um yeah, I've always loved playing. I started playing guitar when I was about 14. I was kind of the um, you know, like the kid in high school who was the good lead guitar player, so I could play Freebird and all the all that stuff. So um yeah, I had a lot of fun with that. And then I I would give Star Island the credit for really helping me discover my voice, meaning actually become a singer. Um, I was never the singer in the band. I was always good with harmony, and I could always kind of hear it. And then when I went to college, I joined an a cappella group, and that's kind of where I really found my close harmony singing. I was a baritone, but even then I wasn't the soloist. But when I, you know, I moved to New York City after college and thought about being a musician. And um, I spent three years writing. That was when I really started to focus on writing. And I I spent those three years writing and um, you know, did a few gigs with a few bands and I did some pretty interesting things, but um, you know, I it it wasn't for me for a number of reasons. It wasn't the time. I was 26. I was a little sick, I had all sort of colitis, which was kind of rough. And um I was uh, you know, I went I went to a good college and I thought, do I need to starve? And I remember I remember saying, you know, I don't know that I'm gonna give up risk to risk so much. And I and I left it, you know, and I I stopped um I kept playing, but I just wasn't professionally gonna be a musician. That wasn't really in the cards. It never was my plan all along. I just somebody sort of convinced me to move to the city and one of the guys in my a cappella group, and then I said, Oh, maybe I'll do this. But anyway, there and therein hangs a tale, as Shakespeare says, because I uh I said to myself at age 26 when I decided I'm gonna get a different career, and I went into public relations. I said, if I'm ever able to come back to this for love and not money. I hope I do it. Maybe there'll be money. I said, if I'm ever able to come back to it, if I'm in a position, I I hope I do. And then what happened? Well, what happened was uh in 2020 I'd had a very successful career at uh public relations communications. I was working at a big job running the corporate reputation practice, but I wasn't quite feeling it anymore. The company wasn't doing quite as well as it used to be. The big agencies, we were like the second biggest in the world. The big agency thing was kind of under pressure and I quit. And I said, you know, I want to think about what do I really want to do next, because the next is probably my last big move. I was uh I guess late 50s. And the the curse that became a blessing is three weeks after I quit, COVID hit, and every option, every single option I had was gone. The world shut down. And I was like, okay, that this is really uh that maybe wasn't such a good idea. So did did you have a plan when you quit? Was it so I think? I had a little bit of a plan, but I so all these people I was talking to, they're like, oh, you should come work for us, now you should come work for us. How's it? Maybe I'll do something different. I had a lot of options, and then suddenly I had none. So I got I got a coach and I started like thinking about what do I really want to do now that I suddenly have a lot of time to think about it. And um the coach said to me, you know, every time you talk about doing the exact same thing you were doing, going back into that, you really don't seem very excited about it. And I said, I'll be honest, I kind of break out in a cold sweat. I've done it for 30 years. And I said, I think is what I told her. I said, I think I uh I think I'm remembering that I promised myself when I was 26 if I could ever come back to this music. She said, Well, you keep lighting up every time you talk about your music. And I said, Yeah, I just wish I could do that all the time. And she said, Well, could you? I was like, I don't know, maybe. So I I hung my own shingle. I became an independent communications consultant. I mean, I wasn't quite ready to go cold turkey on no income. And I said, All right, let's see. And five years in, we I just passed that mark. Um I did great on the money and career. I did great. So you still have you still have clients. I still have clients, but every year my commitment to myself is every year I'm gonna do less communications and more songwriting and performing, and I'm now down to like two-thirds music and one-third of the other.

SPEAKER_01 14:27

Well, your background, I mean, we know we all know a lot of performers, and we know they're very good at writing or singing songs, but what they're not very good at is promoting themselves. What were you able to bring from your in from your professional career into your music career?

SPEAKER_00 14:45

You know, it's such a good question. You would think, having spent my entire career in public relations, that I'd be like the unbelievable promoter. But I was always promoting clients. I have to say, I know exactly what I need to do. I'm very good at that. But I don't like promoting myself.

SPEAKER_02 15:04

It's my least favorite part of the job. It's the worst part of the worst part of the profession. I mean, the writing and the singing and performing is wonderful, but pushing it and getting gigs. You just gotta get over it. You just gotta get over it in the business part of the yeah.

SPEAKER_00 15:18

So I I'm quite good at asking people, hey, what's your email? I'll keep you updated on my gigs. I'm I'm relentless with that. I was very good at getting gigs, you know, not giving up because I learned that, you know, like some I said, you know, I want to play um a listening room. I want to play a place in New York City where you can really do a show and everyone you can hear a pin drop, not a loud bar. I want to play a listening room like the cutting room or the city winery. And the last two years I've played both of those places to almost a full house. So how did how did you get those so I eat so someone asked me that? It was it legal? Yeah, yeah. So I emailed and then I emailed again four or five times, no response. So for the cutting room, which was the first one, I just went there. I walked in, and the lady who ran it, they call her mama bear. She's like, it's fun. She's sitting there, and I said, you know, you may not know me. I've sent you four or five emails. You know, I live in Rye. I know I could bring a lot of people here. And you know, they're a little older and well, you know, resourced. They eat, they drink, they do all the things you want them to do. So she said, Okay, well, send me a note. I was like, I've sent you notes. And uh I said, Um, you know, you why don't we pick a date? She was like, Well, maybe so I got her engaged and I said, Maybe like a Sunday, we could do a Sunday. And then I went home and she's like, Yeah, and I followed out and I sent her a note and nothing again. And then I found out who owns the place, so I copied him. And then I was just like, you know, I think I could bring, I said honestly, you know, here's what I've done, here's my music, and two more notes. And the owner just goes, How about Sunday, November? Blah blah blah. Done. You just you just can't, you gotta believe in yourself and you can't give up so easy, you know. So I did that, and then I again that was kind of similar story with CD Winery. And after that one, I actually found a guy who knew a guy who knew the booker, and I said, Can you give me the name of the guy? And he uh he was such a generous friend. Instead of giving me an email, he emailed the booker who he used to work with, and he said, This is my friend Paul. I know he's gonna fill this room. And the guy said, Great, how about this date? And I said, Done.

SPEAKER_01 17:39

So your advice for getting the gig is to persist, which is great. Believe in yourself and persist. Yeah, your stuff's gotta be good, but you gotta really persist. What about filling the room though? I mean, well, that was just the ton of New York City, you know.

SPEAKER_00 17:51

No, it was really hard. Uh I will the city winery is funny. I I sent a note to my Facebook group of my high school class, and I didn't do it as a post. I did individual you had that this is the really you know, you gotta really be willing to put yourself out there. You know, I had friends, and some I haven't seen in 30 years, but I just once two or three said I'm going on this Facebook group. It was like, yeah, I'll go. Oh yeah, I'll go. And then someone posts, hey, there'll be a mini reunion. And then I, you know, did the same with a couple of other different groups. And you know, I probably spent two months, probably spent, you know, two weeks re rehearsing and two months promoting it.

SPEAKER_02 18:31

Yeah, that's that's great. So you went down there with a band? Am I correct?

SPEAKER_00 18:35

So I went there with a full band, the people I record with in the studio, and that was a big draw because I had people who were you know really good musicians.

SPEAKER_02 18:42

So coming back into playing and everything, so you had to find a band. So how did you go about that?

SPEAKER_00 18:51

I asked people, um oddly enough, the daughter of the CEO of my company was a singer-songwriter. Um, and she I asked her who recorded, because her stuff is very Americana, like mine. I said, Who who do you use? She goes, I use this guy named Mikhail in Connecticut. And if he doesn't know, he's a producer and he just knows a lot of people. So he and I today, this was like three years ago, he and I today are like good friends. He produces everything I do. He's hooked me up with a lot of musicians. He hooked me up with a fiddle player who played at my City Winery show. Who you know, I mean, she just finished a tour with Goo Goo dolls and at Stagecoach. And because her Australia leg for the tour with Noah Cyrus, Miley Cyrus' sister, got cancelled, she was able to do my show. And she added a huge dimension to my show. Having a fiddle, having an actual really good fiddle player. So, you know, I my old boss when I started my PR career, always I used to always say, I can't do this. I I'm not that I don't have experience, I can't do this, I never did it before. But and he would always say, Why not you? I I don't want to hear this shit from you anymore. He said, Well, why not you? So I that's my advice, you know. Sure. Why not you?

SPEAKER_01 20:07

Why not me is a great name for an album, too.

SPEAKER_02 20:10

So, you know, it's really great that you're doing this, you're doing this stuff for yourself, you're fulfilling um you know your goal. Yeah. And and there's so many people who after they retire or they get a little bit older, and they've always been musicians, but they had to support their family, they had to go out and make a buck, who now are doing this. But you've gone further now. You're you're giving back to the community also. I wanted to talk a little bit about you know, the singer-songwriter series that you founded down in Rye, New York. Tell us about that.

SPEAKER_00 20:44

Sure. So I call it the Soundshore Songwriter Series because of the towns along the Long Island Sound. Well, that's a simple story. You know, I was looking for places like Cutting Room and and City Winery where you can really have a listening room. You know, you can play in people, not a loud bar where people actually sit, have a drink, and and can you know they're they're interested in independent original songs, not not tribute band, and they actually are gonna listen. And we just don't have that much in Westchester County. It's really, you know, even up here, like you guys actually have um there was Uncle Chiefs opened up. You remember Uncle Chiefs? Yeah, we played there. That was I I I was one of the early people to go there, and I talked to the owner and I said, This is great. We really need places like this where people sit and they're interested in listening. And you know, of course, I think they're gone now. Yeah, you guys know. So I couldn't find a place like that. So I decided, okay, you know what? I'll make one. Wow. And I went to our local arts center that's got a great room.

SPEAKER_01 21:47

Why not you?

SPEAKER_00 21:48

It's got a why not me? It's got a great listening room. And I said, if I bring you like Bluebird Cafe style, Nashville, like three stools, three acoustic guitars, every We'll do one a season, right? We'll do four times a year. If I bring the musicians, okay, we do, you know, we'll charge twenty bucks. And she she said, sure, that sounds great. And I said, I you know, your sound system's not quite good enough. I could I'll bring my I'll bring the PA. So I do all the work, I source the artists. Um we've had great people. We've had Drew Angus, we've had um Dan Slotnik, we've had um, you know, all all kind of women come up from Philly, and all these are all just people I just found through friend of a friend or asking around. I don't know if you know Claire Maloney, she's gonna do. Okay, so Claire gave me, she's like, I call these six people, she'll probably do my next one with uh Rebecca Haviland, who's gonna do it w as well. Um you'll have no problem getting people to play. Yeah, because they all tell me the same thing, you know. And the the irony is they come, they're most of them are like a little further along than me, right? So they come and they're um it's mostly on my fans because it's in Rye, and there's about 50 people.

SPEAKER_01 23:03

Sure.

SPEAKER_00 23:04

And they find fifty new people sitting quietly listening to them that they never had before. So they're just like, Thank you, this is incredible. And I said, No, thank you, because you're helping me make this.

SPEAKER_01 23:14

So you've built the kind of series that you want to play in.

SPEAKER_00 23:16

Yeah, that I want to play in. So I play uh so I'm the third. That's the I host. So I need two more artists. So it's three of us every every show, and it's sort of one, two, and then I'm at the end, and then I we all take turns. So I I basically built a place I could play at. That was yeah, that was the you're not alone.

SPEAKER_02 23:34

There's a lot of people who's it. Yeah, but it's great. It's great that you're giving back. So yeah, let's get another tune. Sure. And um tell us intro it, tell us what you want to play.

SPEAKER_00 23:45

So this one is um, you know, I don't know if any of you or any of the listeners out there have dogs or cats. This uh I had a wonderful golden retriever. He just couldn't couldn't have been a better uh life companion. And he we had to say goodbye to him uh this year. Actually, Sholy named after the Isles of Shoals, another Star Island thing. Um he lived to be 17, and uh, you know, his last few months I said, you know, my wife's got a song, my daughter's got a song, my son's got a song, I gotta give Sholi a song. So so I wrote this song, um but it's not sad, you know, or not intended to be anyway. It's just he was such a summer dog, you know, swimming at the beach, um, just loved, just the happiest dog in the world. And uh so I wrote this song, a sort of a as many of my songs are a little double entendre. It's called the dog days of summer. And uh I'll play that one for you.

unknown 24:46

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 25:01

I remember when we picked you up, ten weeks old, just a pub. You had nothing to give but love. It wasn't long before you would be the missing piece in this family. Your sister and your little brother made it three. You were all they'd ever need, jumping high and running free, chasing rabbits in your dreams, filling all our hearts with wonder. Diving headfirst in the waves, finding cool spots in the shade, and hiding from the thunder in your dog days of summer Those summers, how they flew by sand castles and moon pies, and walking on bus stops and long ret. But if you're lucky, there'll soon be snow. You see how fast that sled can go, racing down that hill with two best friends in tow. It'll be spring before you know, jumping high and running free, chasing rabbits in your trees, filling all our hearts with wonder. Diving head first in the waves, digging ditches in the shade and hiding from the thunder in those dog days of summer, we all knew this day would come, seventeen was a hell of a run, but in the end we all move on. If I could have just one more ride, sitting shotgun by my side, I'd roll those windows down, you won't be tonight, cheeks flapping as we fly. You're still running fast and free, chasing rabbits in your dreams, making those angels smile with wonder. You're still diving in the waves, finding cool spots in the shade, and hiding from the thunder in your deep and golden slumbers, in your dog days of summer.

SPEAKER_01 28:55

That's Paul Jensen, Dog Days of Summer. Somebody needs to make a compilation album of people's songs about their dogs. Although I probably couldn't get through it without uh without.

SPEAKER_00 29:08

Yeah, the third verse took me about uh ten tries before I could do it.

SPEAKER_01 29:12

So, Paul, when people want to hear their music, where where can they find it?

SPEAKER_00 29:16

So I'm on every platform. So J N S E N J-E-N-S-E-N. Yeah, well, I will tell you there are two Paul Jensens. So there's another guy, I've never met him, don't know anything about him, but he's out, I think, in Santa Fe, because a lot of his songs are about like that area in New Mexico.

SPEAKER_02 29:32

He's got a lot of hair and a big beard from what I saw.

SPEAKER_00 29:36

Yeah. Yeah. Uh my stuff is now, I think, popping up first if you search, because when I first started, it was a little hard because you you know, I wouldn't have been out very long. But I've released a lot more music in the last three years, so you you should see. If you if you just go on any platform, I'm in, you know, uh Spotify, iTunes, YouTube, everyone. I'm on 35.

SPEAKER_01 29:59

Paul Jensen without a beard.

SPEAKER_00 30:00

Paul Jensen without a beard. And you look for the picture of me, you'll see a guy in a hat, uh no beard. Um, and uh yeah, look for Dog Days of Summer, any of these songs you're hearing.

SPEAKER_01 30:10

And you you wrote one or you you mentioned to somebody in an interview one time, and this is something George and I have talked about a lot. Like when inspiration strikes, it happens to me a lot when I'm driving, and the same thing to George. And you've talked about the the what do you call it, the therapeutic power of driving. Talk about that and how that plays into your music.

SPEAKER_00 30:29

Yeah. Well, I mean, I just uh I like driving. My daughters like this too, you know, just you get to think and get kind of away from it all. In fact, I encourage you if you look up my profile, look up a song called Drive. There's a really great song um on there. And my son plays the trumpet. That's the one he plays the trumpet on. And I and I wrote a song about um kind of using driving in your car to just kind of get away from it all. And and you know, it's almost like a uh mental health thing, you know, you know, just kind of like being with your own thoughts and and quiet. It's nothing I used to love better. I I went to Cornell and I had to drive home to Long Island, you know, in the sun with my car, my old used Toyota Corolla. And uh, I remember driving on that Route 17 at night, you know, for the breaks. Sure. When you got off for holiday breaks, and I remember if it was like raining or dark, I would put on dire straits, love over gold, and I'd listen to um Telegraph Road, you know, 11 minutes of sure. It's the per it was like the perfect driving song. And I remember thinking to myself, that song's so hypnotic. You know, you just you just get into it, and then the and then I I wrote Drive in a way kind of inspired by that by that song. And uh if you check it out, you'll I think you'll get it. It's just two chords over and over and over, but um there's like a dynamic peaks and valleys and richness to it.

SPEAKER_02 31:59

Cool. Cool. So what do you have coming up as far as uh new music?

SPEAKER_00 32:03

Uh new music, yeah. I'm really excited. I'm dropping a a song uh in a week and a half, which is called Good Enough for Me, which is I'm really proud of that song. Is kind of for all the musicians out there, it's about like learning to be good with just writing for you and not the commercial market. And long backstory on that one. Um you know, I got a lot of a lot of songs coming out, and I'm and I'm gonna put out an album called Gosport, probably late spring, maybe June, um, which is uh a lot of these songs I've been talking about and playing. And um you hit your stride. Yeah, yeah. I have to say, you know, when I decided when I decided to do this, the songs just started coming like they had never come before. And in fact, I would love to play for you guys a new brand new one. I just wrote this song three days ago. And um, you know, it deals with a topic that is uh it's a heavy topic. It deals with the the the concept of war. And um, you know, in the in the spirit of Bob Dylan and others who've come before me, this um you know, it's something I struggle with a little because it's you know, sometimes it is necessary and sometimes it's something that can't be avoided. But for me it's it's always been, you know, it's a last resort. And even if it has to be, it's nothing to celebrate. And uh anyway, I wrote this song called uh let's listen to that polygons.

SPEAKER_01 33:38

Thank you so much for joining us today, and we're gonna have you take us uh with your new song. Yeah, you got it.

SPEAKER_00 33:48

Alright, this is uh this is wrong end of a gun. Battle lines are drawn, troops deployed. There'll be no rest till the enemy destroyed. The cause is righteous, the fight's for good, no time for questions that's understood, and the drums they keep on beating, for the noble cause we're heeding. There's a job here to be done, and the flags will all be waving as the masons start engraving the names of all the fallen ones who got on the wrong end of the gun. Don't call it a theater. No one's playing pretend, and everybody knows how it's gonna end. If the war is just and the reasons plain, why are they struggling to explain? When the smoke is finally clearing, and all of those got the souls can see what we have done. Will the drums just keep on beating drowning out those pleading for love? Forgiveness for the ones we put on the wrong end of a gun. In the end, the world belongs to the me, but now for an eye, so we know round and round the ghost, the trumpets will be playing, mothers will be praying Who's gonna be the chosen ones? And the flags will all be waving as we honor all the braven with bury daughters and the sons on the wrong end of a gun on the wrong end of a gun. Who's on the wrong end of a gun?