Every now and again I forget why I got into the song trade; then I hear a record or a group of songs, and that warm glow lifting off an old folk song reminds me why I'm here...still trying to dawn the suit of lights everyday. I've been painting a large blue-green agave to match the new kitchen...I put on the Vanguard boxed Ian and Sylvia set and there are a hundred songs, almost, on that damn thing that connect me to the core of why I signed up for the minstrel trade. Some people (Joan Baez on occasion) sang folk songs with too much reverence; tending to gloss over the real darkness and drama in the lyric. Fred Neil, Tim Hardin, Bob Dylan and Ian and Sylvia...seemed to mine the rich complexity and beautifful strangeness of the songs. That territory Greil Marcus calls "the old wierd America." It's all there, and that terrain or "querencia," is the base and root of where we write from. Where do we go from here? The Band extended it a ways....Dylan painted such a high water mark ( I tend to over-harp on this) that we need a spy glass to see it. But hearing Ian and Sylvia sing "Four Strong Winds," or Lightfoot's "Early Morning Rain," calms me down and pushes me onward. Happliy/with the glow....
On other fronts I completed a short set of questions from Susan Cane and Peter O'Brien which now are posted on http://www.facebook.com/pages/Tom-Russell/23428354936 check that site out....Peter also just published a wonderful interview with Pete Seegar in his Omaha Rainbo series...I also just sent some Aztec Jazz prints to www.yarddog.com and they have 'em available....also a new painting of Billie Holiday: "Strange Fruit." We're off to Austin to record song demos and work on a record with Gretchen Peters. Then Kerrville Folk Festival next Sunday night.....thanks for stopping by the old blog-hole saloon....and remember: "dead men walk the internet," to quote the bard. me. TR
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9 comments:
Kia ora Tom,
I love the jazz prints, but just got in the mail a few days ago the Bukowski print. I am giving it to my wife, framed, for our anniversary. Two of her favourite artists. Have a great day.
Noho ora mai ra,
Robb
TR . . . I first came across " Querencia " used by Ansel Adams in the introduction to " Yosemite " with writings by John Muir. I have also read the book by that title as well as seeing a sail boat with that name. I have not landed in mine yet. It sounds like you may have found it in your Borderland. Also, Nina Simone does a very powerful " Strange Fruit ". Billie Holiday is rarified air for sure.
Okay . . . I have swallowed the candy coated castigations by self appointed ( but well meaning ) bouncers offering it for my own ( and others) purported good. If I have over indulged the commenters role I would prefer to be shown the door by the host, but I understand the impracticality of that. My comments are to and for Tom Russell. I seek no stage or to practice in brinkmanship, but to only expand on Tom's thoughts or offer relevance or possible shared visions to light. I do apologize for any perceived rudeness on my behalf. Tom , you stand alone on your own strength as is evident by the love and loyalty of your fans. I hope that you still count me among them.
Your indefatigable fan and commenter.
Practice delete not defeat . . .
Madison, WI
-ST
I pledge allegiance to the flag of the Old Weird America...
Utah Phillips once said that the problem with folk music is that it's boring. Or words to that effect. He's right — and it's because of that excessive reverence, prettifying what ain't pretty and should never be.
I loved Dave Alvin's Public Domain because he treated the songs with respect but not reverence.
I'm gonna have to pick up that Vanguard set...
ST, sounds like there's some interesting action behind the curtain. Sorry we haven't seen it.
I'm listening to the box too, trying to get my Tyson up to speed pre-train and trying not to be a dead man walking...
TR . . .
Regarding Dylan :
Just watched " I'M NOT THERE "
It's not true, but it is ! What do you call that?
Tom, It's been a long road (alone) and to be stabbed in the back is one thing . . . but by a brother, well there is no describing it. Walking the tight rope every day. Too many people living in rooms with blind windows.
-ST
Querencia is basically a bullfight term - the area the bull feels comfort in....and defends. Terrain. Saddle Tramp is fine with me...he's literate and passionate.
He's out on that big ole road flying high on literature and song and 10,000 Red Bulls....beyond the final querencia. Glad he gives a shit....and reads...a little note from Austin.TR
Off topic, but interesting bit from TR's neck of the desert...
•••• From CNN: The streets of Ciudad Juarez are empty after police became aware of an e-mail warning this weekend will be "the bloodiest" in the Mexican border city.
Ciudad Juarez police have been given assault rifles and instructed not to patrol the streets alone.
The e-mail says gunmen will open fire at malls, restaurants, night clubs and other public places and that there will be "killings all over the city."
Ciudad Juarez Police Chief Roberto Orduna says the threats must be taken seriously and in a news release Thursday reassured residents, saying police will be more vigilant.
Officials say more than 200 people have been killed in Ciudad Juarez, a city of 1.3 million people across from El Paso, Texas, as drug cartels fight for territory.
On Friday, police found the bodies of five men dumped in blankets in front of a church.••••
Wonder if the ghost of Pancho Villa will run a train backwards into town and take over the city...
I love that word, "querencia". It proves you know a lot about bullfights. By the way, "El Juli" will be bullfighting tomorrow in my city.
Jose Ramon, from Madrid, Spain.
I met "El Juli" when he was 16 and fought in Juarez. He was fighting very close to God then. TR
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