Jon Anderson, the lead singer of Yes, might appreciate the quiet lifestyle in Arroyo Grande, but that doesn’t mean he’s resigned to hanging out in the Village, drinking lattes and perusing antiques every day.
Anderson, whom we profiled in Ticket last March, is constantly working on projects, including an album he recently co-wrote with progressive rock band Glass Hammer and a “rap opera” he’s currently working on.
Glass Hammer recently released its 10th album, “Culture of Ascent,” which includes Anderson compositions and a couple of songs Anderson performs on.
The album is a concept record based on Jon Krakhauer’s book Into Thin Air,which chronicled a deadly 1996 mountain climbing mission at Mount Everest.
The album includes a cover of “Southside of the Sky” by Yes.
Glass Hammer, based in Chattanooga, Tenn., is a Tolkien-loving,prog rock band in the spirit of early Yes and the Peter Gabriel-led Genesis. They met Anderson through mutual acquaintances.
“He’s my Elvis, my John Lennon,” Glass Hammer front man Steve Babb said recently in a story published by the Chattanooga Times Free Press.
Glass Hammer isn’t a household name (their CDs sell around 10,000 copies). But Anderson often collaborates with both established and relatively unknown musicians.
This summer, for example, he solicited musicians for a project he calls a rap opera.
As noted on his web site in July:
“Jon has also started work on three large-scale choral projects and a work he calls a ‘rap opera,’ so he has expanded his search to talented choral singers and rap producers as well!”
Anderson has lived in the county for more than a decade. But he’s constantly on the road. In November he’ll kick off a European tour, which will include stops in Belgium, Sweden, Russia, the Netherlands and Germany.
And if that wasn’t enough, during the interview with the Tribune last spring, Anderson suggested Yes would probably get together again soon.
— Pat P.
Posted on October 29th, 2007 by Pat
Filed under: Music
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