Review of CD - Journey
H Hanson is on a journey, a quest of self-discovery, and he takes us, his listeners, along for the ride. It’s a good one.
From painful childhood memories to his relationships as a son, a brother, a father and a lover, H’s lyrics open up his world to us in a candid and touchingly familiar way. It’s a journey to which we can all easily relate. Through his music, H’s journey becomes our own.
In ‘Stood There Frozen,’ H recounts the horror of being abused as a child. In ‘Brighten My Day,’ he speaks about the pleasures of finding love in a new relationship. In ‘Now The Time Has Come,’ he struggles to explain how an old relationship has changed and yet remains the same.
Through one of his most poignant songs (‘I Saw Them Fall’), he relives his near death experience at the World Trade Center on the morning of 9-11 and asks the question we all did that day, ‘How could this be?’ By sharing his 9-11 experience, H helps us try and understand what occurred that fateful day. Few good things came out of the World Trade Center attack but H’s song is one of them. It ranks along the best of the 9-11 songs written by Bruce Springstein in “The Rising.”
H’s personal story is almost as compelling as his music. Trained as a Certified Public Accountant, H spent 20 years building a business and raising a family. Like so many of us, he often struggled to keep it all together while still trying to find time for the things he longed to do. In H’s case, that meant his music. For years, H played at family weddings but seldom had a chance to write or perform in public. In recent years, as his own family matured, H set out on a road to change his life, to find new meaning in creating original music. His hard work has started to pay off. In appearances at cafes, house concerts and other venues, H’s skills as a performer have grown rapidly. His ballads combine the best traditions of folk, country and pop music. Love, loss and redemption – these are the touchstones of his songs. Listening to his album, you will take away a lesson from his life and good memories from the music.
--By Joe Calderone, formerly of the Daily News & New York Newsday
Bio
The life of H. Hanson, a CPA, changed the moment he "took back his power" and started following his dream of being a singer songwriter. The narration of a very personal journey unfolds in H's songs, speaking directly to the part of each of us that is searching for a connection to something deeper. He tells us stories of love, loss, family ties and struggles and an unwavering quest for the spiritual perspective. Inspired by the song-writers of the sixties and seventies like Bob Dylan, James Taylor and Jackson Browne, H began writing songs and performing when he was sixteen. Although he played in college coffeehouses like his idols, the upheaval of the late sixties drove him to seek life's deeper meaning. He eventually incorporated the meditation and spiritual practice learned during those years into raising his family and becoming a CPA. Although his voice and guitar lay in the background of his life while raising his four kids, his life long passion for writing and performing reawakened in the late 90s when he sold his CPA practice and began actively pursuing a career as a songwriter. In October 2001 he released his first CD, "Journey", produced by Rob Friedman at Little Life Studios in New York City. This initial project reflects not only H's talents as a musician and singer songwriter, but in these times of unrest, he gives encouragement to "stay the course" as we follow our own inner callings. H now lives in Hopewell with his wife and plays at various venues in the NJ, NY, and PA metropolitan area.
H has just released a new 2 song CD, also produced by Rob Friedman. “Hope for You to Heal” was written for the parents of autistic children and he was fortunate to sing it up in Boston at the Defeat Autism Now! Conference on April 17th. “It’s Got to Be You” speaks to all of us, right now at this critical moment in time for humanity and the planet earth we call our home.