Kickin' off Country week today (and isn't that what we're supposed to be doing anyway?).
No one complained about our new style of posting last week, so we're gonna continue, and see how things sort out.
Gonna start our "good ol' boy" week with a feller who's pretty essential to any discussion of Outlaw Country, Texas Country, or any contemporary "alt-country" whatever.
Blaze Foley counted among his contemporaries, friends, and interpreters, such folks as Townes Van Zandt, John Prine, Guy Clark, Lyle Lovett, Merle Haggard, and Lucinda Williams, amongst many others of that ilk. Not too shabby a crowd to be associated with, we think. And all of the above either covered Foley's songs, or paid tribute to him down the line ("Drunken Angel" by Lucinda, off her classic "Car Wheels on A Gravel Road" record, is reportedly a direct tribute to Foley).
An Austin, Tx. staple, Foley was fond of the drink, and followed trouble, rather than vice versa. Foley died at the age of 39, shot to death in a strange dispute covered elsewhere.
His life and lifestyle can be debated in other sectors, what we're concerned with here, of course, is his musical legacy, and it's a mighty one.
A songwriter on par with Townes, Foley never quite found the cult and commercial success that his fellow travelers enjoyed. Among his compositions, we can count "Clay Pigeons", "If I Could Only Fly", and "Election Day" as some of the better known records committed to wax by his more famous friends. You probably know those songs already.
Foley was, at heart, a country/folk sentimentalist, his lyrics and vocal delivery betraying a heart of gold amidst the chaos of his personal life. All one has to do is look at his greatest song (in our humble opinion), "Clay Pigeons":
I'm going down to the greyhound stationThat alone shoud give one an insight into the majestyof Blaze Foley. Sure, he had some more "light-hearted" compositions, and plenty of good-time country boy tracks, all of them classic and great. Too soon gone, and tragic, yes, but leaving a wealth of recorded and written work (his catolouge is woefully under-represented, but there are a couple of good records available, Wanted More Dead Than Alive, and Cold, Cold World.).
Gonna get a ticket to ride
Gonna find that lady with 2 or 3 kids
And sit down by her side
And ride until the sun comes up and down around me about 2 or 3 times
smoking cigarettes in the last seat trying
to hide my sorrow from the people I meet
And get along with it all
Go down where people say ya'll
Sing a song with a friend
Change the shape that I'm in
And get back in the game
And start playing again
I'd like to stay but I might have to go to start over again
I might go back down to Texas I might go somewhere that I've never been
And get up in the morning and go out at night
And I won't have to go home
Get used to being alone
Change the words to this song
And start singing again
I'm tired of running round looking for answers to questions that I
already know
I could build me a castle of memories just to have somewhere to go
Count the days and the nights that it takes to get back in the saddle
again
Feed the pigeons some clay
Turn the night into day
Start talking again if I know what to say
I'm going down to the greyhound station
Gonna get a ticket to ride
Gonna find that lady with 2 or 3 kids
And sit down by her side
And Ride until the sun comes up and down around about 2 or 3 times
smoking cigarettes in the last seat
trying to hide my sorrow from the people I meet
And get along with it all
Go down where people say ya'll
Feed the pigeons some clay
Turn the night into day
Start talking again when I know what to say
Blaze Foley is a Mountain favorite, a hall of famer, and a kindred soul to all we hold dear.
Enjoy.
Please support yr local, independent troubadour.
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