1977-06-01 The New Yorker Magazine
We have just had two enjoyable encounters with Garland Jeffreys, a thirty-four year old New York songwriter and performer. The first was at a concert in Alice Tully Hall, at Lincoln Center. We had heard his recordings -- particularly a song called "Wild in the Streets" -- but had never heard him perform. He came onstage wearing black pants and a tailored gray pin-striped jacket (he removed it during the performance), a black T-shirt, and a tan Stetson hat. He danced around the stage for about five minutes before singing anything. The audience stood up and cheered him. He danced on as if unconscious of the cheers. Then he started to sing. He sang songs -- all of them his own compositions -- about New York; about his mother and father, about interracial love, about growing up in New York, about his own efforts to succeed as a songwriter, about teenage rebellion, and about politics. He sang some of the songs to a rock-and-roll beat and some to a reggae beat. Whatever beat he used, he used it very well, and we came away from the concert feeling pleased and excited.