Making the connection
Musician Robert Leslie, a Tomkins Square regular, on his new album
BY BOB KRASNER
Singer/songwriter Robert
Leslie got his start in
New York City. That is
to say that he was born here,
living in NYC briefl y until his
journalist parents moved him
to Amsterdam and London.
He spent some time in college
in Utrecht but realized after the
fi rst year that the academic life
wasn’t for him. Add to that the
fact that his girlfriend dumped
him and he needed brain surgery
to remove a benign cyst and one
might understand his need to
follow his creative impulses.
Leslie followed his to Spain,
France and Morocco and
Holland, supporting himself by
busking on the streets with his
mostly original tunes and some
well chosen covers. He managed
to record two EPs while on the
road, but admits that although
“the music was going quite well,
it was hard to concentrate as a
nomad.”
He decided to try his luck in
America, thinking about going
to either Los Angeles or New
York.“New York appealed to
me more — it’s where I was
born and it had the Dylan
connection,” he explains.
Just before the fl ight — which
he paid for with coins he had
earned from busking — he
decided that traveling with clean
clothes might be a good idea.
“But someone stole my
clothes from the laundromat!”
he recounts. “I literally fl ew to
New York with just the clothes
on my back.”
He found a hostel in Bed-
Stuy — which he recalls being
somewhat less than stellar
accommodations — and began
to ply his trade in the subways.
Luckily for him, he caught the
ear of a girl who enjoyed his
music and conveniently had a
room available for him to rent.
“New York is a great place
for psychic connection between
people,” he notes.
Leslie spent four years playing
almost daily in the subway
before emerging to make a go
of it in Washington Square
Park, where he enjoyed playing
until it started to get too crazy.
ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
Leslie’s thoughtful, elegant
songs didn’t quite fi t with the
“ravers and DJs,” so he headed
east to Tompkins Square Park,
where he has found a whole new
audience.
“The crowd in Tompkins is
very brainy,” he muses. “It’s a
very creative area with a creative
crowd. Everyone is living out
their own little story. I can go
into more obscure musical
territory there.”
In addition to his own songs,
Leslie will mix in tunes by his
favorites, including Bob Dylan,
Radiohead, The Tallest Man on
Earth, Velvet Underground, the
Beatles and Nick Drake, who is
an obvious musical ancestor. He
also mentions that “books are a
big infl uence. I almost always
write the lyrics before I write
the music.”
Luck — or perhaps a psychic
intervention — brought Leslie
to the attention of producer
Perry Margouleff. An assistant
of his heard Leslie, bought a cd
and brought it to Margouleff,
who didn’t bother to listen to
it. “Just tell him to come to the
(Above) Robert Leslie at home in Brooklyn. (Left) The last
outdoor show for awhile was attended by his mom, who was
in from Holland for the holidays.
studio,” he instructed.
So Leslie made his way to
Long Island, where they hung
out amidst the producer’s
collection of antique guitars and
vintage recording equipment,
such as the original mixing
board from David Bowie’s
Berlin years.
He liked Leslie enough to
invite him on a drive to Los
Angeles “with a million dollars
worth of guitars in the trunk.”
Upon returning to his Brooklyn
home, Leslie hunkered down in
his home studio — a room he
shares with his partner’s sewing
machine and a potter’s wheel
— to record the songs he had
written during the pandemic,
which Margouleff liked enough
to produce.
“He said, ‘It needs a bass,'”
and the next thing he knew,
Dylan’s noted sideman Tony
Garnier was adding his skills to
the project, playing a bass once
PHOTOS BY BOB KRASNER
owned by Charlie Mingus. As if
that wasn’t enough, Margouleff
decided — while watching
the Rolling Thunder Review
documentary — that violinist
Scarlet Rivera was another
necessary element and he
tracked her down and got her to
record her parts in LA.
The results can be heard
on the new album “Halfway
Home”, which Leslie is dropping
bit by bit over the winter, with
the whole thing scheduled for a
spring release.
“I was writing about things
close to home during the
pandemic,” he notes. “This was
a romantic place to spend the
apocalypse.”
While he is taking a break
from performing outdoors,
there are a few shows scheduled
in the clubs in January.
Robert Leslie can be found on
Bandcamp, Spotify, Facebook
and Instagram.
Schneps Media December 23, 2021 13