Gordon Vincent
Since childhood, Gordon Vincent was destined to be a songsmith. Before he could even play the guitar, he was pretending to be interviewed about his music. Flash forward a few decades, and it’s no longer child’s play. Here we are, actually doing it. Cape May’s resident songwriting sage opens up about his process, his projects, and the quiet art of keeping things real.
By his early teens he was writing tunes inspired by the tight structures of The Beatles and the lyrical insights of Springsteen, Tom Waits, and Paul Simon.
“I’m obsessed with music. I humbly try to embrace my strengths and weaknesses,” he says. “I study it constantly. I’ve taken voice lessons with an opera singer, fronted different bands, and collaborated on many projects. But I also really enjoy solo gigs. Just me and my guitar. No loops or funky stuff.” He’s been serenading Cape May since 2006—without a spread of sound pedals or shred of pretense, but this wasn’t where his journey originated.
From Nashville Heat to Cool Cape May
Before his Cape May chapter, and after uprooting from his home in Perth Amboy, Vincent did a 10+ year stint in Music City. Here he wrote, collaborated, and discovered that, while the city has no shortage of talent and he respects its history, he’s not really built for rhinestone cowboy hats. “It’s a country town. I love old country—Johnny Cash, Hank Williams, Loretta Lynn—but it’s not entirely my wheelhouse.”
In search of further inspiration and the environment to allow his true sound to soar, he found his way to Cape May. For this singer-songwriter, versatility is more than a skill, it’s a way of connecting. And here he found the kind of artistic freedom that makes that connection possible. “This place embraces it,” Gordon says. “It lets you be weird or strange or any way you want. The arts community is vibrant. Everybody supports each other.”
Vincent’s relationship with Cape May’s music scene started in the iconic, dimly lit music hub The Merion Inn, where his bartending gig brought him in close quarters to the legendary George Mesterhazy caressing his Steinway ivories—a figure Gordon reveres as a mentor.
“When I got to Cape May, The Merion Inn became the place I spent a lot of time. In the cool dark by that old bar with something cold, listening to the late great George Mesterhazy. There were always musicians and singers showing up to sit in with George and the trio on jazz night. It was often so crowded I couldn’t get in. I had to get a job bartending just so I could hang out.”
Live Performance
When Gordon walks into a gig he doesn’t just tune his guitar, he tunes into the room and adapts accordingly. “I try to open with a country song, a rock song, something odd, something minor, and one of my originals,” he says. This method helps establish his presence and gather intel on what the audience responds best to. This applies to both small- and large-scale performances.
Gordon’s approach to performing is grounded in presence and tapped into his surroundings. He rarely takes breaks, even during four-hour sets, preferring to ride out that flow state once he enters it.
“I used to think it was about me,” he says. “Now I know it’s about the experience the audience is having. It’s more of a partnership.” Whether he’s playing to a packed Convention Hall or taking part in the ambiance, he refreshingly treats each show like a conversation. And in a town like this, people are listening.
He is consistently active on the scene at intimate settings around town, like many of the local wineries. “There’s something beautiful about playing a winery gig, where people are open to you doing your own thing. It’s chill. It’s honest.”
Vincent’s catalog includes 40–50 original songs which are woven into his live sets. His music is streamable across music platforms, but if you catch him live you are guaranteed to hear an original the classic way. However, you can travel through time on his YouTube channel gordonvincent88 and catch up on highlights of his career up to current day. He suggests the music video for “Pockets Full of Sand.” He said, “I think it captures my general philosophy and sense of angst. I wrote it for a friend, and the video shows many of my friends from the early days in Cape May.”
Community Engagement
Since the introductory days of the Merion, Gordon gradually embedded himself into the music scene. Now a long-time local, he’s part troubadour, part townie—and fully woven into the fabric of Cape May’s musical DNA.
For almost a decade he has worked the Exit 0 Jazz Fest, “It’s my favorite thing that happens in Cape May besides the dead of winter. It’s an honor to serve.”
He has performed at countless Cape May Singer-Songwriter Festivals where he gets to really showcase his originals, most recently alongside his new bandmates in their group called Maintenance.
Tunesday Tuesday, a weekly summertime series of popup performances on the Washington Street Mall, is another event he frequents with his six string, often with harmonica in tow.
He also regularly hosts the weekly Thursday night open mic at Nauti Spirits and has participated in many of the tribute shows held at Convention Hall produced by Marnie Bevan Lengel, alongside a stage full of local musicians with a range of instruments, skillsets, and styles.
Convention Hall shows differ from partaking in the setting of a restaurant or winery. It multiplies the quantity of the crowd and zeros in on the direction of their attention. Here, the often-sold-out shows boast a crowd of roughly 700 people. A recent highlight performance for Gordon was opening for Richard Tompson there this past spring.
New Projects
Gordon regards trust as integral in collaborating with other musicians. He has been focusing lately on two projects. The first is Maintenance, a local trio composed of Bass Flatts, Joe Couts and Gordon. He calls it “A true collaboration, democracy in action, co-writers / co-conspirators. Folk Punk meets Brahms with original cowritten songs. We were busy over the summer busking and soon we’re gonna go in the studio and record our album.”
The second project is with Tennessee songwriter Steve Meyer, in a modern unconventional fashion, stretching across state lines. “Steve and I had some good times back in Nashville and lost touch for a while and then started cowriting songs, recently, via email. He’d send me a melody, and I’d send him some words. Constantly working back-and-forth on them. We ended up writing a couple dozen songs. Now we’re packaging them for mass consumption and filling in the paperwork. ‘They Used to Be Illegal – Vol 1’ available everywhere all at once sometime later this year.”
Evolution
They say time will tell, and artists are bred to trust the process. “I have more skill now. I’m a little bit more deliberate these days. I’m a lot calmer than I used to be. Though I still rely primarily on instinct in music, and all things, I make better decisions about how and where to jump, if not when.”
After years of writing, performing, and recording, what keeps Gordon Vincent grounded isn’t fame or flash—it’s clarity. To him, the biggest challenge throughout his musical journey has been “not getting jaded”.
“At the end of the day, I’m satisfied. I have enough of everything, work and love as well. I believe in music and in my own way I believe I’m fighting for peace every time I get to sing. I can’t imagine what I’d rather be doing right now.”
Some musicians perform. Gordon Vincent communes. With a weathered guitar and a poet’s instinct, this Cape May staple makes music that strikes a chord in the crowd. Modest, melodic, and maybe a little mysterious, he’s quietly built a career committed to authenticity, preserving what’s most sacred to him.
Find Gordon Vincent this fall at Washington Inn Wine Bar’s local Thursdays (9/4–10/9), hosting Nauti Spirits open mic, and They Used to Be Illegal – Vol. 1 dropping later this year. But keep a closer eye, he is a little bit of everywhere.
