{"id":2067904,"date":"2025-10-04T01:10:04","date_gmt":"2025-10-04T01:10:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/?p=2067904"},"modified":"2025-10-04T01:10:04","modified_gmt":"2025-10-04T01:10:04","slug":"arthur-buck-2-joseph-arthur-opts-for-fun-in-latest-peter-buck-collab","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/arthur-buck-2-joseph-arthur-opts-for-fun-in-latest-peter-buck-collab\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Arthur Buck 2\u2019: Joseph Arthur opts for fun in latest Peter Buck collab"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>Joseph Arthur ignores the adage, \u201cNever meet your heroes.\u201d The songwriter has not only befriended many of his favorite artists, he\u2019s also created music with many of them.<\/p>\n<p>One example is R.E.M.<\/p>\n<p>When a much younger Mr. Arthur moved to Atlanta, R.E.M.\u2019s \u201cReckoning\u201d album took up permanent residence in his car. Years later, when he emerged as a successful songwriter, R.E.M. became aware of him. Bassist Mike Mills joined his backing band for a tour. Singer Michael Stipe covered his song \u201cIn the Sun.\u201d And guitarist Peter Buck teamed up with Mr. Arthur for a side project. The duo\u2019s second album, \u201cArthur Buck 2,\u201d debuts Oct. 3.<\/p>\n<div class=\"editor-intro row\">\n<h2 class=\"title text-center trinity-skip-it\">Why We Wrote This<\/h2>\n<p class=\"trinity-skip-it\"><span>Joseph Arthur was discovered by Peter Gabriel and has done projects with every member of R.E.M, including his new album. As \u201cArthur Buck 2\u201d debuts, the musician discusses the connection between humility and creativity, and how tough times have led him to see songwriting as a spiritual practice.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Mr. Arthur says that, while it was all happening, it came to feel normal \u201cweirdly quickly.\u201d In retrospect, he thought, \u201c\u2018Wow, I can\u2019t believe that happened.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI don\u2019t really put anyone on a pedestal now, but at the same time, I\u2019m in awe of people\u2019s talent,\u201d says Mr. Arthur, whom the Monitor interviewed twice via Zoom.<\/p>\n<p>When it comes to songwriting, he believes that the ego, if unchecked, can dam up the wellspring of creativity. To hear him tell it, Mr. Arthur has undertaken a difficult journey \u2013 including struggles with addiction \u2013 to come at songwriting as a spiritual practice. Now it\u2019s about getting out of the way and channeling divine inspiration. That\u2019s how he wrote sheets of lyrics for the bed of melodies that Mr. Buck sent him. The result is what Mr. Arthur calls a \u201cfun rock \u2018n\u2019 roll record,\u201d a contrast to the serious solo material that set him apart from the beginning.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"injection anonymous\"\/>\n<p>\u201cHe was continuing that sort of a tradition of being the songwriter who really knew how to write a well-crafted, solid, memorable song,\u201d says David Browne, a senior writer at Rolling Stone. \u201cI can totally see why people like Stipe and [Coldplay\u2019s] Chris Martin and others would respect him for his songwriting, because he still seems like one of the last people who was trying to do that.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Mr. Arthur\u2019s career got its start thanks to another of his heroes. Unbeknownst to him, someone passed along his demos to Peter Gabriel. The famous singer immediately wanted to sign Mr. Arthur to his record label. He called and left a voicemail; a disbelieving Mr. Arthur initially thought it was a prank. The neophyte musician, then working at an Atlanta guitar store, traveled to New York to play an \u201caudition\u201d gig. No one told him that Mr. Gabriel was bringing Lou Reed to the show.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI went into the bathroom at the Fez and I got on my knees and prayed. I was so terrified,\u201d says Mr. Arthur. \u201cThen I went out to dinner with him and Lou afterwards. &#8230; It was a fairy-tale story.\u201d<\/p>\n<div class=\"in_story_embed embed-object embed-image vertical-small\">\n<figure class=\"embed ezc-image vertical-small\">\n<picture>\n\t\t\t<!--[if IE 9]><video style=\"display: none;\"><![endif]--><source media=\"(max-width: 40em)\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/images.csmonitor.com\/csm\/2025\/09\/1002%20FJOSEPH%20album%20cover.jpg?alias=original_300\"\/><source media=\"(max-width: 64em)\" data-srcset=\"https:https:\/\/images.csmonitor.com\/csm\/2025\/09\/1002%20FJOSEPH%20album%20cover.jpg?alias=original_600\"\/><source media=\"(min-width: 64em)\" data-srcset=\"https:https:\/\/images.csmonitor.com\/csm\/2025\/09\/1002%20FJOSEPH%20album%20cover.jpg?alias=original_600\"\/><!--[if IE 9]><\/video><![endif]--><\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\n\t\t<\/picture>\n<\/figure><\/div>\n<h2>\u201cArt seems to be revelatory in nature\u201d<\/h2>\n<p>The artist\u2019s 1997 debut, titled \u201cBig City Secrets,\u201d featured repeat knit stitch patterns of acoustic guitar. It bore the influence of Nirvana. Incorporating elements of grunge and hip-hop beats, he forged lyrically gritty folk music that was more urban than pastoral. His solo performances, which utilized pioneering sampling technology, were a sensation.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe would play something on the guitar and loop it and create this whole soundscape around him,\u201d says Mr. Browne. \u201cI remember at one point he [lay] down on the stage on his back and he had a glass of water and he just started spitting the water up out of his mouth. Maybe he was looping that sound, too, because by the end I thought, \u2018Okay, this guy is not your typical troubadour.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Mr. Browne, then writing for Entertainment Weekly, crowned Mr. Arthur\u2019s followup, \u201cCome to Where I\u2019m From,\u201d the best album of 2000. The next three records were similarly acclaimed. But Mr. Arthur\u2019s artistic wheels became wobblier. Sometimes they even fell off. A reviewer for Pitchfork was aghast at the \u201cprecipitous drop in quality\u201d between the artist\u2019s earlier work and his 2007 album, \u201cLet\u2019s Just Be.\u201d<\/p>\n<aside class=\"injection anonymous\"\/>\n<p>\u201cArt seems to be revelatory in nature. It\u2019s coming from someplace higher than the ego,\u201d says Mr. Arthur. \u201cIf you make art from the ego\u2019s operating system, it\u2019s very limited. &#8230; There\u2019s a lot of effort in it. It\u2019s not as fun. It\u2019s not as punk rock. It\u2019s not as groovy. It\u2019s not as genius.\u201d<\/p>\n<aside class=\"injection\"\/>\n<p>The rock star had been struggling with addictions. He was trying to stay afloat inside a deep well of insecurity. Years later, he got sucked into a YouTube culture that celebrated narcissistic personality disorder. He bought into the idea of cutting off contact with people whom you believe to be toxic. In his case, it was family members.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI was letting anger and judgment be sort of my engine,\u201d says the songwriter. \u201cI thought I was right, and I wasn\u2019t looking at the log that was in my own eye. I was looking at splinters that were in everybody else\u2019s eyes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>What saved him, and helped him repair his relationship with his parents, was discovering the Ho\u2019oponopono mantra: \u201cI love you. I\u2019m sorry. Please forgive me. Thank you.\u201d He renewed a spiritual connection that dates back to when he began praying to God as a child. His parents weren\u2019t religious, so the young boy persuaded his grandmother to take him to church. Prayer has once again become central to his life and songwriting discipline.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"injection\"\/>\n<p>It starts with waking early to meditate. When he\u2019s not looking after his young daughter, whom he co-parents with his former girlfriend, he often sets out on a predawn hike of Camelback Mountain in Phoenix. The goal of that daily routine \u2013 which is contingent upon resisting the tempting distractions of his phone \u2013 is to connect with God. Each person\u2019s consciousness is a spiritual battlefield, he says. His fight is to quell the internal conversations of the ego, which offers an illusory sense of identity.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"injection anonymous\"\/>\n<p>\u201cThere\u2019s sort of a unification with God or God\u2019s love; you can actually start resonating with that frequency,\u201d says the Christian, who is wary about coming across as preachy. \u201cYou realize that what Jesus said about the kingdom of heaven being within is really true. And to explore that kingdom becomes really the main thrust of your life.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2>Current goal: Light and love<\/h2>\n<p>As a result of getting \u201cdecimated by the ego,\u201d Mr. Arthur has a fresh outlook of gratitude and humility. During a recent show in London, he invited his original benefactor, Mr. Gabriel, onto the stage. Before they sang together, the veteran singer declared that Mr. Arthur is \u201cone of the greatest songwriters of our time.\u201d The stage\u2019s purple lighting hid his prot\u00e9g\u00e9\u2019s blushes. After a pause, Mr. Arthur turned to Mr. Gabriel and said, \u201cThank you so much. Right back at you.\u201d<\/p>\n<aside class=\"injection\" data-widget-name=\"body-last-injection\">\n<\/aside>\n<p>Mr. Arthur says he feels like a different person to the one who wrote his earlier albums, even the lauded \u201cCome Back World\u201d in 2019. He\u2019s proud of \u201cArthur Buck 2\u201d and the way it showcases Mr. Buck\u2019s singular guitar hooks and arrangements. And he\u2019s fired up about his 15th solo album, due for release next year.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m concerned with offering my light and my love, helping other people find their light and their love,\u201d says the musician. \u201cThat\u2019s my real motive these days.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><em> \u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n<p><em> \u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.csmonitor.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Joseph Arthur ignores the adage, \u201cNever meet your heroes.\u201d The songwriter has not only befriended many of his favorite artists, he\u2019s also created music with many of them. One example is R.E.M. When a much younger Mr. Arthur moved to Atlanta, R.E.M.\u2019s \u201cReckoning\u201d album took up permanent residence in his car. Years later, when he [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2067906,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25179],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2067904","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-music"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/\u2018Arthur-Buck-2-Joseph-Arthur-opts-for-fun-in-latest.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2067904","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2067904"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2067904\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2067907,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2067904\/revisions\/2067907"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2067906"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2067904"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2067904"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2067904"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}