'Old Stag’ is new album from Rick Berlin By SARAH BLANCHETTE August 28, 2008
Photo by Rene Rives From Rick Berlin's soon-to-be-released album.

Rick Berlin spent his childhood moving from Iowa to Tulsa, San Francisco to Hartford, then to Philadelphia. However, it is what he has accomplished in his 20-plus years in Jamaica Plain that has everyone buzzing. Berlin is set to release a new album out of Hi-N-Dry records, “Old Stag,” on Sept. 16. Hi-N-Dry is an independent record label based in Cambridge.
As a kid, Berlin enjoyed a variety of music. “I was everywhere,” he said. He spent his time listening to Bob Dylan, Aretha Franklin and, later, various artists from the Woodstock generation. However, it was not until after Berlin dropped out of art school and roomed with other musicians in a large New Haven home that he discovered his love of making music.
“I took piano lessons as a kid, and I hated it,” Berlin said in a recent interview. “But the house I lived in had an old piano. I would drop acid and play with my eyes closed for hours!” He added, “It probably sounded horrible to anyone else listening.”
As a naturally gifted musician who never had any real training (aside from the piano lessons he inevitably blew off) one may assume that the next logical step was to sign a record deal and strike it rich, right? Berlin had a much different idea.
“I didn’t have any intentions of making music my career. I was making portraits of people I knew and experiences I had been through. I had no idea what I was doing,” Berlin said.
Years later and too many albums to count, Berlin is set to release a project he say he is very proud of. “Old Stag” is a compilation of 11 original songs, with Berlin’s lyrics, his voice, a piano and a string quartette in what could be described as alternative rock. “With ‘Me and Van Gogh’ [Berlin’s last album], I wanted to be as far away from other musicians as possible, but I couldn’t do that again. That was just me and my piano. I used strings for this [album] because they bring emotion to a song.”
For people who think the album’s name sounds familiar, “Old Stag” is indeed named after The Old Stag Tavern in Egleston Square. The graphics on the album use the same font as the sign on the local bar.
Berlin has also kept himself busy recently putting together a very local documentary, “Jamaica Plain Spoken Word.” Clips are available on YouTube.
Berlin has received much acclaim for his music from various Boston publications. In Sidekick in The Boston Globe one article said, “There are few sounds Rick Berlin hasn’t covered in his 35-plus years in Boston’s rock scene.”
All this time, Berlin has stuck to his humble roots, working as a waiter at Doyle’s Café on Washington Street. He said that the most difficult part of the music industry is finances. “Getting to the point where people want to buy your record and see you [perform] is difficult,” he said.
“Maybe one day I’ll make money [with my music], but if not, well, I’ll still be doing what I’m doing now.” He laughed.
The writer was a Caroline Knapp WriteBoston intern at the Gazette this summer. She will be a senior at Odyssey High School in September.