Greg Trooper (January 13, 1956 – January 15, 2017) was an American singer-songwriter, whose songs have been recorded by many artists, including

Steve Earle Stephen Fain Earle (; born January 17, 1955) is an American country, rock, and folk singer-songwriter. He began his career as a songwriter in Nashville and released his first EP in 1982. Earle's breakthrough album was his 1986 debut album '' ...

Billy Bragg Stephen William Bragg (born 20 December 1957) is an English singer, songwriter, musician, author and political activist. His music blends elements of folk music, punk rock and protest songs, with lyrics that mostly span political or romantic th ...

, and

Vince Gill Vincent Grant Gill (born April 12, 1957) is an American singer, songwriter, and musician. He played in a number of local bluegrass music, bluegrass bands in the 1970s, and from 1978 to 1982, he achieved his first mainstream attention after ta ...

History

Trooper was born in

Neptune Township, New Jersey Neptune Township is a Township (New Jersey), township in Monmouth County, New Jersey, Monmouth County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 United States census, the township's population was 28,061, an increase of 126 (+0.5%) from t ...

, and raised in nearby Little Silver. As a teenager in the early 1970s, Trooper would frequent the folk clubs of

Greenwich Village Greenwich Village, or simply the Village, is a neighborhood on the west side of Lower Manhattan in New York City, bounded by 14th Street (Manhattan), 14th Street to the north, Broadway (Manhattan), Broadway to the east, Houston Street to the s ...

taking in the burgeoning singer/songwriter and blues scene. In 1976, he moved to

Austin, Texas Austin ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Texas. It is the county seat and most populous city of Travis County, Texas, Travis County, with portions extending into Hays County, Texas, Hays and W ...

, and then to

Lawrence, Kansas Lawrence is a city in and the county seat of Douglas County, Kansas, United States, and the sixth-largest city in the state. It is in the northeastern sector of the state, astride Interstate 70 in Kansas, Interstate 70, between the Kansas River ...

, where he entered college at the

University of Kansas The University of Kansas (KU) is a public research university with its main campus in Lawrence, Kansas, United States. Two branch campuses are in the Kansas City metropolitan area on the Kansas side: the university's medical school and hospital ...

and continued to hone his guitar, singing, and songwriting skills. Trooper moved to New York City for the 1980s and part of the 1990s, where he formed The Greg Trooper Band along with

Larry Campbell Larry W. Campbell (born February 28, 1948) is a Canadian politician who was the 37th mayor of Vancouver, Canada, from 2002 until 2005, and a member of the Senate of Canada from 2005 until his retirement in 2023. Before he was mayor, Campbe ...

on guitar, Greg Shirley on bass, and Walter Thomson on drums. During this time he recorded his first two records: ''We Won't Dance'' on Wild Twin Records in 1986 and the critically acclaimed ''Everywhere'' produced by Stewart Lerman. The title track to ''Everywhere'' would later be covered by

on the 1991 album '' Don't Try This at Home''. He also met songwriter/publisher Earl Shuman, who secured Trooper's first publishing deal with

CBS Songs SBK Records was a record label, owned by Universal Music Group, that is currently part of the Capitol Music Group, where it is in hibernation. The label was founded in 1988 and during its time in activity existed as part of the EMI, EMI Group. ...

. Trooper's records caught the attention of

, who recorded Trooper's "Little Sister", and

, who covered the title track from Trooper's "We Won't Dance" on his 1989 release '' When I Call Your Name''. In the early 1990s, Trooper met fellow New Jerseyite and

E Street Band The E Street Band is an American rock band that has been the primary backing band for rock musician Bruce Springsteen since 1972. In 2014, the E Street Band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. For the bulk of Springsteen's recordin ...

bassist

Garry Tallent Garry Wayne Tallent (born October 27, 1949), sometimes billed as Garry W. Tallent, is an American musician and record producer, best known for being the bass player and a founding member of the E Street Band, Bruce Springsteen's primary backing ...

who, like Trooper, would move to Nashville. Tallent produced Trooper's 1996 album ''Noises in the Hallway'' and released it on his D'Ville Record Group label. ''Popular Demons'' followed in 1998, on

Koch Records MNRK Music Group (pronounced "monarch"), formerly known as Koch Records and Entertainment One (eOne) Music/Records, is an American independent record label and music management company based in New York City. It was formed in 1987 as a music div ...

and produced by

Buddy Miller Steven Paul "Buddy" Miller (born September 6, 1952) is an American singer, songwriter, musician, recording artist and producer, currently living in Nashville Nashville, often known as Music City, is the capital and List of municipalities in T ...

. After the release of that album, Trooper signed with Nashville indie Eminent Records, which released ''Straight Down Rain'' in 2001. 2002 saw the release of Trooper's first live record ''Between A House and a Hard Place – Live at Pine Hill Farm'' with Eric "Roscoe" Ambel at the controls. He moved on to the esteemed Sugar Hill Records label in 2003 with the release of ''Floating'' followed by the

Dan Penn Dan Penn (born Wallace Daniel Pennington, November 16, 1941) is an American songwriter, singer, musician, and record producer, who co-wrote many soul hits of the 1960s, including " The Dark End of the Street" and " Do Right Woman, Do Right Man" ...

-produced ''Make It Through This World'' in 2005. ''Back Shop Live'', another live recording, was released in 2006. In 2008, Trooper moved back to New York City and in 2009 put out the previously unreleased 1995 recording ''The Williamsburg Affair''. In 2011 he released ''Upside-Down Town'' on 52 Shakes Records. In August 2013, Trooper released his album ''Incident on Willow Street'', also on 52 Shakes Records. According to Trooper, "In these songs, there seemed to be characters that were trying to break away from a bad situation into a better situation or trying to grow out of a stale and stagnant life into a richer life."from an interview o
episode 205 of the Americana Music Show
published September 1, 2014. Trooper died of pancreatic cancer on January 15, 2017, two days after his 61st birthday.

Discography

* ''We Won't Dance'' (as The Greg Trooper Band) (1986) * ''Everywhere'' (1992) * ''Noises in the Hallway'' (1996) * ''Popular Demons'' (1998) * ''Straight Down Rain'' (2001) * ''Between A House and a Hard Place: Live At Pine Hill Farm'' (2002) * ''Floating'' (2003) * ''Make It Through This World'' (2005) * ''The BackShop Live'' (2006) * ''The Williamsburg Affair'' (2009) * ''Upside-Down Town'' (2010) * ''Incident On Willow Street'' (2013) * ''Live at the Rock Room'' (2015)

References

External links

*
Dutch website

''No Depression'' Issue #33, May–June 2001 , "Greg Trooper: a New Jersey yankee in King Acuff's court" by Jim Musser

''No Depression'' Issue #44 March–April 2003 , Greg Trooper: Between A House And A Hard Place (McConigel's Mucky Duck) CD review by Barry Mazor

Greg Trooper interview with Melissa Block, NPR "All Things Considered" April 5, 2005

{{DEFAULTSORT:Trooper, Greg 1956 births 2017 deaths American folk guitarists American male guitarists American folk singers American male singer-songwriters Singer-songwriters from New Jersey People from Little Silver, New Jersey Guitarists from New Jersey 20th-century American guitarists 20th-century American male musicians MNRK Music Group artists Sugar Hill Records artists