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Seth Glier Gives All He Can Through His Music
by Michelle McManmon
The sweet sound of ‘Lauralee’ wafts down a hospital hallway. The rooms are filled with sick and dying patients. A young man with an incredible range sings sweetly to a child who has a few weeks to live. This will be her first and last live concert. Perhaps this is a strange place to hear live music, but 22 year old singer/songwriter Seth Glier plays at AIDS clinics, Children’s and VA hospitals, through a program called Musicians on Call. He began this work while touring because he is ‘bringing music to people who need it the most.’
Currently touring to promote recently released “The Next Right Thing” in his Prius with his guitar player Ryan Hommel, Glier explains the two met at a blues bar when they were a mere 14 years old. Together they share a love of music with soul or ‘storytelling pop’ tunes. The two marked 250 shows in 2010, and this year should be even greater in numbers. Music videos for ‘Lauralee’ and ‘Walk Katie Home’ will be out in March.
Glier’s love of music manifested itself when, suffering massive injuries in ice hockey, but still wanting to be a part of the team, he began to sing the National Anthem before games. He soon became the local celebrity singing at local and then National Hockey games. This was only the initial spark that lit his musical fire.
Writing his first song on 9/11, Glier implemented a ‘rap breakdown’ as he was listening to Linkin Park and Chumbawumba at the time. On his birthday, his Dad gave him Janet Jackson’s Velvet Rope and Joni Mitchell’s Blue, the latter of which changed his musical tastes forever. Soon after he realized he could sneak off during study hall in school to play the piano they had in the auditorium. Though his behavior got him expelled at one point, it didn’t keep him away from writing songs on the piano.
Performing his music is a way that Glier feels he is able to give to people. When he is off the road, his autistic brother influences him in a profound way. “When I’m at home, I get him up in the morning, make sure he’s showered, fed, medicated, and it’s funny, when you have a relationship like that with someone, words aren’t necessary. Your bond is unspoken. I feel that bond when I’m on stage too.”
Inspiration found his way into Glier’s life at the Berklee School of Music through musician/teacher Livingston Taylor (James Taylor’s brother). Though the two met on campus, they play gigs together and Glier insists that is where the real lessons occur. Taylor has taught him everything he knows about editing songs, performing live, and his relationship with the audience. Glier doesn’t subscribe to some of the taught philosophies, such as reading the stock market to gage the moods people will be in, but he appreciates all of the lessons received and incorporates them with his own style into his performances.
Berklee was “an overpriced paint by numbers” experience and he left there knowing ‘who [he] wasn’t”. Learning chords and doing things the ‘American Idol way’ wasn’t working for him. Glier was restless at college and the school of life was pulling him to become his own person ‘Berklee was like a fork or utensil while the meal was life.”
The buzz about Glier becoming ‘the next best thing’ in music doesn’t affect him in the slightest. When people come up to him after shows and say ‘someday we’ll say we knew you when…’ he tends to brush it off and wisely responds ‘or you could just know me now.” He claims that his amazing parents and intimate circle of friends wouldn’t allow him to become anyone more than just who he is now. “Everything I try to do is from the heart and not from the head”.
Seth Glier gives far more to people than just his musical talents. He believes in being happy with what he has and enjoys where he is at these days. Working constantly in order to get his music out into the world and sharing his joy and talents with others is what gives his music meaning.
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