Howard Eisberg is a Kansas City attorney who creates wry music under the pen name of Howard Iceberg.
Witty, self-deprecating and often profound, he's Kansas City's equivalent of the revered singer-songwriter John Prine.
Eisberg performs and records with a folk-based aggregation of musicians named the Titanics. On his new album "Netherlands," they're supplemented by a handful of Kansas City jazz cats including Rich Hill, Charles Perkins and Doug Auwarter.
Regardless of who's playing with him, Eisberg’s craggy voice — occasionally tune-challenged but utterly honest — is the most distinctive component of his music. Some listeners can't get past it, but his admirers find it ingratiating.
Representative of Eisberg’s unassuming sound as well as his influences, “I Can’t Find You at All” alludes to dusty Tin Pan Alley jingles and as well as to the playful side of Bob Dylan, mixing jaunty music and forlorn lyrics.
Iceberg releases "Netherlands" at a free show on Thursday. “All proceeds from album sales," he says, "will be donated to Care Beyond the Boulevard, which provides medical and social services to the homeless and other vulnerable groups.”
Howard Iceberg and the Titanics, 7 p.m. Thursday, March 29 at The Ship, 1217 Union Avenue Kansas City, Missouri, 64101.
KCUR contributor Bill Brownlee blogs about Kansas City's jazz scene at Plastic Sax.
