“With “Soft Soap Purrings,” Bruce Piephoff once again proves his ability to defy category.  These songs range from the jazz-inflected jams of Troubadour-era J.J.Cale to the plaintive twang of Doug Paisley and The Everybodyfields.   As literate and erudite as these songs are, they always prove that, as Keith Richards said, Rock and Roll is music “for the neck downward.”  Lament and boogie, elegy and woogie:  Bruce, once again, has written a stellar collection of thought-provoking songs you can’t help but toe the floor in time to. Michael Parker, novelist”

“Soft Soap Purrings Bruce Piephoff’s latest work, Soft Soap Purrings’ eponymous title track is a primer for a richly textured collection.  The songs which tumble out of this musical leaving trunk mix deep fried metaphor, descriptions of faces fit for Let Us Now Praise Famous Men, bigotry, idiot boy heroes, the funky perfume of stale beer, and classical literary allusion, all with the well-traveled fearlessness of honest experience.   Soft Soap Purrings contains an encyclopedic mix of musical genres which refuse to stay put in the conventional stylistic constellations.  Jazz, folk, Western Swing, bluegrass, and blues spin with each other in easy familiarity, yet with gravity enough to hold the very personal lyrics in their own eccentric orbits.  Piephoff is wonderfully well supported by a cast of accomplished players, all of whom offer valuable contributions to the texture and lyricism of the music.  Instrumentally notable are Scott Sawyer’s articulate, conversational guit”

"The fact that Greensboro folk scene pillar Bruce Piephoff has subsisted for what is now 22 albums is a victory for creativity over indifference in the absence of wider distinction, but also for his supporters. That he’s successfully crowdfunded his past two albums, 2011’s Still Looking Up at the Stars and this month’s Soft Soap Purrings, is proof enough that the longevity of a songwriter isn’t so much dependent upon breadth as it is depth. Where this album is truly great, per his usual, are the more minimal spoken word pieces. Piephoff is deeply intriguing on “Dakota,” an open letter to old scene staple Dakota Joe. It’s like only being able to look at a painting under a microscope; there’s beauty in the minute detail, and it only makes you want to see his bigger picture that much more."

“Bruce Piephoff Soft Soap Purrings Speranza Recordings Greensboro based singer/songwriter Bruce Piephoff has released such consistently strong albums that there’s almost a tendency to take them for granted. Soft Soap Purrings (a decidedly southern term describing “flattery intended to procure a favor”) is his 21st album since 1988, giving you some idea of how prolific he is. It’s also one of his best, a trimmed down dozen songs that demonstrate the range and assurance of his talent. The title track sets the stage; a six minute word intensive ramble that moves ahead with the steady propulsion of a steam engine. It’s a great example of Piephoff’s knack for connecting seemingly disparate phrases in ways that appear wholly unexpected but always make sense. “Maps on My Taps” is the artist at his most buoyant and playful; a Buck Owens like ditty that would have fit right in with any top notch Hee Haw episode. Aided by a lovely counter vocal courtesy of Claire Holley it gli”

“On his new album, his twenty-first (!), "Still Looking Up At the Stars" almost everything is perfect -- the songs are more than outstanding, Piephoff's voice is strong, he shows off what a magical guitarist he is, that he can shred too, and the band is excellent, jazzy, rocking, like Tim Buckley at his best, or Van Morrison on "Astral Weeks".  Unmistakable folk, but the arrangements are so wonderfully jazzy that the talking blues nearly resembles the Beat Poets. The album is varied because Piephoff has made an appropriate arrangement for each song, sometimes shuffling and jazzy, sometimes hard rocking, sometimes folksy and down-to-earth, but always just right.  Piephoff is one of the best unknown singer/songwriters, but that is wholly unfair, also because he seems to get better all the time. What we have here is an absolutely brilliant album. ”

“There’s a little bit of Guy Clark, Gary Murray and John Prine living in Piephoff’s songwriting, and a remarkable effort on his 21st album shows that he’s as much of a survivor as he is an outsider. Still Looking Up at the Stars is the product of a successful Kickstarter campaign that brought together the Gate City balladeer with guitarist Scott Sawyer, only recently after the pair made their second joint performance in 30 years. The slightly wounded, yet good-natured discourse that permeates Piephoff’s other studio efforts, most recently 2009’s Clockwork, is given elegant counterpoint by producer Sawyer’s bluesy playing on a handful of tracks, while elsewhere it might be Dave Finucane blowing his sax seemingly way off in the distance. Piephoff is a consummate situationist in his storytelling. You don’t listen to his songs so much as stare into them voyeuristically like with paintings, looking for solutions amidst the mountains of color and context.”

“Despite the able instrumental support of seven other musicians (Scott Sawyer, Ron Brendle, Bobby Cohen, John Simonetti, Dave Finucane, Mike Babyak, and Adrian Duke), most of the arrangements seem spare and pensive on Still Looking Up at the Stars, Piephoff's 21st CD. Sawyer and Piephoff first met about 1975, but it wasn’t until 2009 that they reconnected on stage. Sawyer’s electric guitar is the primary instrument filling the gaps between verses.This album will be embraced with earnest by the fans of Piephoff's music and poetry. I would also recommend it for those who might like to discover his sheer creative audacity, enlightening perspective, and affirmative spirit.”

“This impressive album commences with a gem called "Don Quixote Side". The guitar tones on this number really hypnotize as well as Piephoff's way with words. "Carolina Dutch and Broken Backed Ben" would certainly make Townes Van Zandt grin. Bruce Piephoff's Still Looking Up At The Stars verifies this is the work of a fine American writer and musician. Hats off to him... James Calamine Swampland.com ”

"Bruce Piephoff is a delightful poet and musician with a talent for composing poetry of fine clarity and immediate appeal; his art is cheerful and open and he has a real feeling for his subject matter. He is of admirable personal character and has been courageous in pursuit of his genuine vision."

"If anybody's writing better folk songs than Bruce Piephoff right now, I've not heard them."

"This jam-packed, action-packed set of two dozen original song performances by Bruce Piephoff on his 2005 CD release, BRIGHT LEAF BLUES, is the kind of event that rarely happens while an artist is still alive. There is something worth hearing on all 21 of Bruce's releases dating back to the 80s but BRIGHT LEAF BLUES is something special"

"I without hesitation place Bruce Piephoff firmly upon that mythical pantheon, side by side with the masters such as Don Williams and Guy Clark"

“There's no shortage of directions you can go when tagging Greensboro folk/ roots vet Bruce Piephoff: Guy Clark of the Carolinas. Poet Laureate of the Piedmont. Master Craftsman. And the finger-picking Piephoff has earned those titles across 40 years of music-making, 20 records and two collections of poetry whose titles—Fiddlers and Middlers and Honky Tonk Stradivarius—speak to the characters and contrasts that fill his work”