Pre-Order the upcoming release, Rainwater LP by Citizen Cope and get a limited* autographed CD booklet with purchase!

About Citizen Cope:
With The Rainwater LP, Citizen Cope offers the clearest distillation yet of his distinct musical approach, a laidback gumbo of acoustic blues, singer/songwriter rock 'n' roll and deep soul grooves. Born Clarence Greenwood, but known to friends and fans as simply "Cope," the Brooklyn-based artist has crafted an album redolent of such classic tunesmiths as Randy Newman and Stevie Wonder - both major touchstones for his emotively penned songs. As such, it's virtually impossible to put a finger on Citizen Cope's idiosyncratically inimitable sound. "The only way to explain my music is to say you gotta listen to it," Greenwood says. "I don't think there is any easy description of it. Somebody once said something about 'urban folk,' which I wasn't mad at."

The Rainwater LP comes nearly four years after Citizen Cope's acclaimed 2006 third album, Every Waking Moment. Not that Greenwood wasn't busy - the hard-touring troubadour spent much of that time on the road, introducing fans new and old to his already substantial body of work. "It was longer than I'd expected between records," he says, "but it was like a culmination of all the records getting into peoples' psyche. I just kept on touring, doing songs from all three records, and then I started getting ideas for songs. I got inspired to make another album and put it out myself."

Since making his official debut, Cope had released three fine albums on three different labels, an experience which proved frustrating, to say the very least. Having been through the industry mill, this time Greenwood was determined to take the bull by the horns and release the album himself. "A lot of labels wanted to put it out," he explains, "but I kept hearing things like 'Retail's gonna need you to do this' or 'The artwork has to be like this.' I don’t want to be led into those confines anymore. I want to be able to do it my own way. Being able to operate efficiently, not having to move buildings to do anything, just seems so basic for any artistic endeavor."

Like the music therein, The Rainwater LP - as well as Citizen Cope's new RainWater Recordings, Inc. - takes its name from a number of deeply personal sources. "It's pure," Greenwood says. "It's also the name of someone that was close to me when I was growing up, so it just made sense." Cope further points out that the "LP" in the album's moniker is no accident. Including just 10 songs in the era of excessively long CDs was a very conscious artistic move, as well as a way of paying homage to the "jaw-dropping" 1970s works that continue to inspire him. "I wanted the record to have an LP feel," he says. "Vinyl can only have a certain amount of songs. It takes you on a journey and then when it's done, you can go, 'Cool. Let me check that again.'"

"Somebody once said I was the People's Champion," Greenwood says with no small pride. "I like that."

*Offer valid only with purchase of Rainwater LP. This special offer is valid for both domestic and international orders. Pre-ordered CDs shipping with promotional material are limited to (5) per customer. Booklets will be available while supplies last, newburycomics.com will post information when autographed booklets are sold out.