They Know a Good Place When They Sing in It (original) (raw)

New York|They Know a Good Place When They Sing in It

https://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/09/nyregion/they-know-a-good-place-when-they-sing-in-it.html

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April 9, 2006

FOR music fans who listen to the radio and wonder where all the singer-songwriters have gone, the answer is actually simple: to Westchester. Whether it is a teenage prodigy from Pleasantville, or 40-somethings in Katonah, a musical movement is undeniably afoot in the county.

These tunesmiths are not only starting to get national airplay, but they are also keeping the friendships they formed while playing together.

Anthony da Costa is a member of this group but he is the only one whose father has to drive him to his performances. His songbook is so large and diverse that Ryan Adams, one of his heroes, may admire it.

"I've been playing around the county for two years, at places like the Peekskill Coffee House and Coffee Labs in Tarrytown," said Anthony, 14 years old. "At first, I was doing mostly covers, but about a year ago, something clicked and I started writing my own songs. Now, I can't stop. Over Christmas break, I wrote about 30."

Several of those songs, like the wistful "Matters of the Heart," will appear on Anthony's coming CD, "Rearranged," his third release. Anthony, who has a Beatles haircut, said that the Westchester folk organization, Tribes Hill in Hawthorne, has been invaluable in connecting him to other area songwriters.

"I met a guy there named Fred Gillen Jr., who's from Yorktown," Anthony said. "He has been helping me record and get jobs. That's pretty much what all the members do. We sit in at each other's shows and tout one another on our Web sites. It's very much like a commune."

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