Longer than Dan Fogelberg's lengthy career finally takes him 'Full Circle'

By Joel Hirschhorn, Correspondent June 26, 2003

Dan Fogelberg's musical mini-movie "Same Old Lang Syne," from his 1981 breakthrough two-record set "The Innocent Age," contains a memorable lyric line: "The audience was heavenly, but the traveling was hell." Reminded of it, the singer-songwriter jokes, "I couldn't have said it better myself."

But even over the course of more than three decades in show business, the long bus and plane sojourns have been worth any inconvenience, because Fogelberg loves performing and has a powerful desire to convey his deepest feelings -- emotions he'll communicate Wednesday when he unveils songs from his new "Full Circle" CD, in a concert at the Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Plaza.

The disc, released May 20 on his own Morning Sky Productions label, is Fogelberg's first studio recording since 1993's "River of Souls." Not only did he produce the disc and write all but two of the 11 songs, but he plays most of the instruments, including electric and acoustic guitars, mandolin, bass, piano, keyboards and percussion.

Sonically, the CD harks back to the gently rustic, sweetly romantic style Fogelberg mined so well in the late '70s and early '80s on such hits as "Longer" (No. 2 in 1980) and "Run for the Roses" (No. 18 in 1982). Billboard magazine raved about the album's "renewed mood" and said the disc "resonates with the personal, passionate music" that launched Fogelberg to stardom.

Revisiting his signature style with such vigor wasn't something he had planned, Fogelberg said.

"It came about accidentally," he recalled during a phone interview earlier this month. "I wasn't planning on a retro Southern California album, but I had all this material while doing other projects -- jazz, box sets, Christmas songs -- and it came together, bringing me back to where I once was stylistically. I have a very loyal base of fans, but I always knew they wanted to hear more of the style from 'Souvenirs,' 'Captured Angel' and 'The Innocent Age.' "

It was 1981's "Innocent Age" that was Fogelberg's commercial masterstroke, a sprawling two-disc song cycle that spun off a trio of Top 10 singles: "Same Old Lang Syne" (No. 9), "Hard to Say" (No. 7) and "Leader of the Band" (No. 9).

This massive success had been a long time in coming. Although he scored his first Top 40 hit with the No. 31 single "Part of the Plan" in 1975, he had toiled away for years before that as a folk singer in Los Angeles, a session player in Nashville and a sideman for Van Morrison.

His musical roots run deep.

Born Aug. 13, 1951, in Peoria, Ill., Fogelberg emerged from a solid musical tradition. His mother, Margaret, is a classically trained pianist. His father, Lawrence Peter Fogelberg, was a gifted bandleader who inspired his son's haunting "Leader of the Band," a No. 9 hit on Billboard's Hot 100 in 1981.

"When my dad first heard the song, it choked him up," Fogelberg said. "It became a hit a year before he passed away in 1982, and he went out in a blaze of glory."

Family means everything to Fogelberg and he expresses intense gratitude for the love and encouragement he received growing up.

"My parents were very supportive," he said. "They instilled a great sense of confidence in me. When I face hard knocks, I say, 'Onward and upward.' I'm blessed to have had a mom and dad that gave me strength of character."

'"Language of Love" from the 1984 album "Windows and Walls" handles the opposite --those who love but can't communicate easily. So does "Hard to Say," which points out, "It's never easy and it's never clear/Who's to navigate and who's to steer."

"Communication has to be learned," he said. "I had to learn to listen, to hear what people were saying -- not interpret them or interrupt. Actively listening, and not filtering everything through one's own ego -- that's when communication is great, and it's what I have now with my wife, Jean."

Fogelberg's songs all possess this remarkable depth, because they break below the sometimes painful surface of relationships. His own nature, however, is naturally optimistic. "Icarus Descending," a cut from "Full Circle," states: "There is a gamble in each proud act of flight, but the losses pale before the winnings."

Since early childhood, he loved getting up on stage, and by 14, he was writing songs and performing with his first band, The Clan. His second group, The Coachmen, covered material done by West Coast bands.

Fogelberg's impressive recording catalogue kicked off with 1972's "Home Free" and has continued through 22 other albums, including "Souvenirs," "Windows and Walls," "River of Souls," "High Country Snows" and "Exiles."

"I've had a great career," he said. "From day one, it's been very fulfilling. I've never had serious disillusionments and I follow my own path and create the music I believe in. I never got into the business for the sole purpose of making money. I have the same people that were with me 30 years ago. They're wonderful, totally trustworthy. I never had to fire somebody because they ripped me off."

Tops on the list as manager, support system and mentor is Irving Azoff.

"Irving and I met at the University of Illinois, moved to L.A. together in the early '70s, knocked on doors together," Fogelberg said. "Irving was seminal in helping me achieve success and he also protected me. So I had the total freedom to create just music. 'You do the music, I'll take care of the business,' he said. He completely understood me."

Fogelberg's songwriting process doesn't rely on such aids as rhyming dictionaries ("I tried once, but I didn't find anything, so I put it away"). He often favors the freedom of sound-alike rhyming -- claiming, "I like it when something seems to rhyme but doesn't. ... It opens up many more possibilities" -- even though he remains a meticulous master of perfect rhymes as well.

As for intricate inner rhyming, he utilizes it, "but it can be overdone," he said. "Too much feminine rhyme can be cutesy and convoluted. Over the past 10 years, I've tried consciously to simplify."

He generally writes on acoustic guitar when working at his home in Maine ("I don't keep a piano there"), and either guitar or piano when creating at his other residence in Boulder, Colo. Asked whether he prefers the buzz of noise or isolation while composing, he answered quickly: "I like working at night, with no one around. No distractions. If people walk in, I'll bite their heads off," he said, laughing.

He doesn't take notes throughout the day, nor does he use a tape recorder when he's writing. "I just work on them until I've got the lines and I put them down; I don't forget them," he said. "But even though I never rewrite, I may edit -- like 'Icarus Ascending,' where I thought, 'There's three extra verses; this is going to be 12 minutes long.' So I had to cut it in half."

In common with most gifted singer-songwriters, Fogelberg creates certain tunes with the idea of scoring a hit single.

"It doesn't always fly," he admitted. "Some of the ones you think are dead-on for the commercial market don't make it. Others become smashes and surprise you. Irving heard 'Leader Of the Band' and felt it was a natural. That surprised me. I'm always surprised by what does and doesn't work."

Not only is Fogelberg a composer but he's a painter, as well. Alas, art has been a skill he's had little time to dabble in.

"I put painting aside for the last 30 years," he said. "I'd really like to sit down with the easel again and dedicate the time to art that I've dedicated to my music."

Even if he never picks up a brush again, his strikingly visual style will remain alive in his songpainting. Those strokes of poetic and harmonic color draw unforgettable images in "Full Circle."

On the Net:

http://www.danfogelberg.com