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Acoustic & Acoustic Rock Music artist from West Boylston, MA. New songs free to stream or download. Add to your playlist now.

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Bruce Irving

West Boylston, MA  USA
January 08, 2002
8,477 plays
41,667 views
Bruce Irving is an eclectic pop singer/songwriter in Central Massachusetts. His music combines influences of 60's and 70's pop with a willingness to incorporate anything that works with the songs, from jazz to power pop to alt country.
Band/artist history
I started writing songs when I met a group of musically creative science and engineering dorm-mates, fellow freshmen at Carnegie-Mellon University in Pittsburgh, back before there were CD's and the Internet (yes, we did have electricity). These CMU folks became good friends and we enjoyed making music together, mainly for fun. I formed an acoustic duo with another CMU friend, Rob Simbeck, and we performed at coffee houses and at a bar called The Casbah. We were occasionally funny and usually in tune. We called ourselves Bruce and Rob (yes, we were creative too). For reasons of his own, Rob followed me to the great music capitals of America, Rochester, New York and Los Angeles, California. We wrote together and played at the LA Songwriter's Showcase, which at that time was held at the Improvisation in Hollywood. Rob later moved to Nashville and ran the Boston Marathon, but that's another story. Fast forward to real life. A lot of good, important stuff happened, family, kids, jobs, travel. Somehow I became an optical engineer and a father. Along the way I continued to do music from time to time, played with flight sims on the PC, and finally got my pilot's license. When I noticed the MP3 revolution with the help of my (ahem) college-age daughter, I got busy making some new music, including my first CD, "Jardin du Luxembourg" (available at www.cdbaby.com/bruceirving).
Have you performed in front of an audience?
Yes. I'm doing acoustic solo gigs at coffeehouse type places, such as the Cafe Espresso in Bellingham, MA.
Your musical influences
Paul Simon, the Beatles, Joni Mitchell, Sting, Elvis Costello and many other songwriters of all styles and persuasions. Eclectic or confused? You decide. I have my own style but people say I sometimes sound like Cat Stevens (or was that Bobcat Goldthwait?), and maybe even James Taylor.
What equipment do you use?
I play mostly acoustic guitar but I do OK on electric and dabble in keyboards. The PC has been a great help -- Cakewalk Home Studio 2004 is cool (it's the junior version of their top-of-the-line SONAR program, but it does all I need and more). I love the control the PC gives you over sound, and the effects and software synths are very cool.
Anything else?
Well, check out my web site for additional info: You can also email me
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