Esther Troetschel Esther Troetschel

Doug Mishkin “Tip of the Spear”

A veteran activist singer-songwriter releases his latest bulletin on our troubled times, mixed in with more personal musings. Read the full article from Americana UK here.

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Esther Troetschel Esther Troetschel

Print Only: RnR Magazine “Tip of the Spear” Review

Doug Mishkin

Tip of the Spear

4 Stars

Full text: One film I watch again and again is A Beautiful Day In The Neighborhood, in which Tom Hanks plays the television mentor Fred Rogers, to remind myself what an acceptable, nay, inspirational figure an American hero can be with courage and compassion at his core.

Doug Mishkin strikes me as a similar figure; doubly so, since Tom Paxton among others has styled him a minor legend in his own lifetime, and who shares his political awareness and healthy love of the innocent.

Mishkin says drily, 'Music... like religion, should comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable.' He achieves this amply on this album, belonging firmly in the ranks of what Pete Seeger described as Guthrie's children, tackling social issues, yet not eschewing the more tender, even jejune aspects of experience.

We listen to his intelligent lyrics and carefully constructed melodies, covering topics from addressing God, in the title song, to ‘The Delicious Part' and self-explanatory 'If They'd Been Black'; and we understand this former Washington DC lawyer is a generous and fully rounded man. Like Fred Rogers, he epitomises everything in the American psyche we shouldn't overlook, no matter how it's ravaged by corrupt and idiotic figureheads.

Nick Burbridge

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