Arts & Entertainment

Catch Jimmy Webb at Glen Cove Village Square Friday

Webb penned "The Highwayman," "MacArthur Park," and "Up, Up And Away," to name just a few of his popular hits.

Legendary songwriter Jimmy Webb – the man who brought us both “The Highwayman,” “MacArthur Park” – performs in Glen Cove Friday for week two of the 2013 Downtown Sounds Concert Series. The evening will feature Webb’s musical repertoire and storytelling.

During a career that spans six decades, (the first top-10 song he wrote was “Up, Up and Away” for The 5th Dimension in 1967), Webb’s music has also topped country, disco and pop charts. In his performance, Webb will revisit his days as a Midwestern teen navigating fame and fortune in Los Angeles during the music industry’s coming of age. He shares tales about the inspiration behind his music and the people whose vocal talents brought his songs to life. These include Glen Campbell (“By the Time I Get to Phoenix” and “Galveston”), Linda Ronstadt (“Adios”), Joe Cocker (“The Moon is a Harsh Mistress”), Barbra Streisand (“Didn’t We”) and even “Ol’ Blue Eyes” himself, who also performed “Didn’t We” in addition to other Webb classics. He also shares insider perspective on the Nixon Sixties, the Rat Pack heyday, the London Mods and Laurel Canyon. 

Webb received his first gold record at the age of 18 and went on to become the youngest inductee into the Songwriters Hall of Fame. In addition to his accomplishments as a writer for others, he has also released ten solo albums and his latest, "Just Across the River," features duets with “friends” including Billy Joel, Jackson Browne, Vince Gill, Willie Nelson, Linda Ronstadt, JD Souther, Glen Campbell, Lucinda Williams, Michael McDonald and Mark Knopfler. A follow-up CD is scheduled for a September release and this one, "Still Within the Sound of My Voice," features Brian Wilson, Art Garfunkel, David Crosby, Graham Nash, Lyle Lovett, Carly Simon and Keith Urban. Other Webb accolades include receiving the prestigious Ivor Novella International Award in 2012 and he is also the only artist to ever receive Grammy Awards for music, lyrics and orchestration.

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Joining Webb Friday will be guitarist, producer, composer and recording artist Peter Calo as a special guest. Hailed by The Boston Globe as a master musician, Calo is “one of the most engaging performers in the biz,” according to London’s Time Out. During his career, he has performed and recorded with an all-star cast including Carly Simon, Queen Latifah, Willie Nelson, Hall and Oates, Linda Eder, Phil Ramone, Kris Kristofferson and Leonard Bernstein. He has also released five CDs (and is currently working on a sixth) and written jingles (including one for Entenmann’s) and music for the films The Lorax, Across the Universe, Hairspray and The Conscientious Objector.

Each Friday night in July and August, the Downtown BID and the City of Glen Cove bring Downtown Sounds, an annual free outdoor concert series, to the city’s Village Square at the intersection of Glen and Bridge Streets. This year, a new feature is a second stage nearby upon which alternative acts perform. On Friday, Lee Knight will perform a Books Alive Interactive Concert, an engaging night for kids as their parents enjoy the Jimmy Webb show. Knight has written more than 100 children's songs Children will be invited onstage to sing, dance and act by performing songs with costumes, props and puppets.

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