Singer-songwriters in recovery
Songwriter Eric Dwight: Addicts aren’t the only ones ‘Born Into Addiction’
A great many musicians touch on addiction and the ravages of it in esoteric or cryptic ways, but not Eric Dwight. The Boston-area singer-songwriter’s new record says it all in the title: “Born Into Addiction.” Writing it, he told The Ties That Bind Us recently, began as a way to process the death of his…
Read MoreLight, life and music: Singer-songwriter Eric Stracener thrives in sobriety
The first thing Eric Stracener heard when he pulled open the door to his first 12 Step meeting wasn’t what he expected. For the singer-songwriter, who last fall released the stellar indie-folk record “Ocean Springs,” the trip up those stairs seemed like the shuffle of a condemned man to the chair. He remembers vividly, he…
Read MoreWith the help of sobriety, Water Liars’ Andrew Bryant finds ‘A Meaningful Connection’
“Pain shared is pain lessened.” That’s an old saw commonly spoken in meetings of various self-help groups designed to help addicts and alcoholics get sober and stay that way. The gist is this: By speaking of the things that weigh heavy on your heart … by allowing your recovering brothers and sisters to help you…
Read MoreOn heartrending new song, David Haerle ponders a life lost to addiction
When alcoholism darkened the doorways of his family home, it spared singer-songwriter David Haerle. It found his father, who got sober in 1967. It claimed his mother, who would find recovery later in her life. And it wrapped its thorny tendrils around his brother, Christian, a brilliant man who died suddenly in 2019. A Los…
Read MoreOne of the best ‘Choices’ singer-songwriter Lucy Spraggan ever made: getting ‘Sober’
One minute in, you see it: her lip starts to quiver, and Lucy Spraggan fights to hold back a flood of tears. By minute 2, she struggles to get through the chorus — “I’ve had all the time I need to think it over, I’ve gotta be sober” — chest heaving, her face a rictus…
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