An itinerant soul with a canyon-deep alt-country croon, W.C. Beck has established himself as a resourceful and empathetic session musician and multi-instrumentalist through his affiliations with Blue Giant, Bobby Bare Jr., Horsefeathers, Vikesh Kapoor, Swimming Bell and other acts. A busy guy, Beck took his sweet time assembling the 10 tracks that eventually made the cut for his latest self-released LP, A Mostly Quite Life. Well more than a decade, in fact.
During that period, Beck cycled through an array of bands and studio gigs, weathered a global pandemic, recorded in various studios and did some moving around. After lengthy stays in Portland, Ore., and Paris, he’s currently based in Brooklyn, which has proven to be fertile ground for the Kansas native. His previous solo effort, the weathered indie-folk travelogue First Flight, was a well-received 2019 collaboration with several NYC musicians and producers, including Myles Turney, Joel Arnow, Craig Akin and Jason Myles Goss.
Most of the songs on A Mostly Quiet Life were written in Portland between 2010 and 2012, when Beck was on the road with different bands. “This Year” is an exception.
“I wrote it over the holidays a few years ago as I was reflecting on the year that was nearly done and looking ahead at the new year before me,” says Beck. “It’s always a strange exercise in the dead of winter, wondering what new things—good, bad and in-between—will unfold over the next calendar year. This tune is a hopeful look at what’s to come, knowing that the only constant in life is change.”
We’re proud to premiere W.C. Beck’s “This Year.” Look for A Mostly Quiet Life Aug. 15.
—Hobart Rowland
