Goldford

One Liner: Classic soul sounds from a killer voice
Wikipedia Genre: Indie soul
Home: L.A. (via Chicago and Nashville)

Poster Position: Bottom Quarter - Line 22
Day: Saturday
Weekend One Only.

BMI Stage at 5:15.

Thoughts:  All of us have considered it.  Maybe in a slightly different way, but I know that you have also considered the idea.  Jeffrey Goldford was living in Chicago, working a corporate job, finding no passion in his day-to-day life.  He went through a tough break-up, and instead of just licking his wounds and heading back to the office, he went for it in the music business.  And now he has co-signs from SZA, Sam Smith, Noah Kahan, and James Blake!

Now, he had been a musician - he was a season 4 finalist on American Idol in his 20's.  But he has said that he was expected to go get a "real" job and so that is how he found himself in a boring sales job making a living but being sad.

He had a hit at the start of the pandemic with the lovely track "Walk With Me," which has since been used in lots of commercials and TV shows.

For a Jewish white boy, that voice is magic.  He jokes that this song sort of wrote itself as the pandemic unspooled and everyone in California was just trying to figure out what to do.

Slightly limited output in the 12 years he's been out there - 2013's Shed a Little Light, 2019's Deconstructed EP, 2021's Dreams of Sunshine EP, and 2024's Orange Blossoms album (and a handful of singles).  But his top track is the title song to that new disc.  53.6 million streams.

The whole disc is this sort of soulful groove and I am extremely here for it.  What a lovely sound.  His earlier album is not nearly as self-assured and warm.  It sounds more like someone who isn't sure about what he wants to be, like the kind of album an American Idol contestant would make in a hurry to capitalize on attention.  I don't know if that happened or not, but just my feel.  I'd go watch this guy.