INDEX | HIS MASTER'S VOICE? | ROUNDUP | LABEL FEATURE | REVIEWS | TEXT Y'ALL | ODDS & ENDS

            TEXT Y'ALL

In this section Flyin' Shoes will review the latest music books related to the art of songwriting along with occasional writings of all kinds from the pens of singer-songwriters.

Next month Flyin' Shoes hopes to feature a new Short Story from Doug Hoekstra ( see One Man Clapping label feature ).

This month FS turns the spotlight on a new imprint - Amber Waves - from Heartland Publishing of Maidstone in Kent. They have kicked off with two stunning volumes which have shown a lot of other bigger publishers how it should be done in terms of both content and presentation.

 
                                                     SONGBUILDER - The life & music of Guy Clark
                                                                                                        Nick Evans & Jeff Horne ( ISBN 1-902684-00-1)
 

  There's a good deal of craftsmanship present in this book - both in terms of its subject and in the care with which the co-authors have mapped out the career of arguably one of the best songwriters of the modern era. It all comes together in a wonderful chapter called Interlude: The Randall Knife. The authors are sat in his Nashville home's work 'den' where he puts the care so apparent in his songs into building guitars. The talk turns to one of Clark's best ever songs and he produces the actual knife which the song described. Revolving around it is as deep and heartfelt a consideration of the actual art of songwriting as I have read.
    For anyone remotely interested in the sources and working methods not to mention seminal influences ( Jerry Jeff Walker and Chet Atkins) of one of the Texas School's leading writers this is a fascinating read. Up to now the only serious analysis of Clark, Townes etc has been in Jan Reid's 'Improbable rise of Redneck Rock' and the occasional serious interview. This book pays him the respect he has long been due and should be compulsory reading for any wannabe songwriter on either side of the Atlantic. If you're going to do it right then learn from a master.
 
 
 
 

NANCI GRIFFITH'S other voices.
                                        A Personal History of Folk Music.
                                        ( ISBN 0-902684-01-X)   

   From one master to another and Heartland's second book ( first published stateside by Three Rivers Press) is every bit as impressive as their Guy Clark biography. This time though the volume is organised around the 'Other Voices' project that Nanci Griffith received due acclaim for in the past few years. Rather than being a chronological biography interspersed with interviews as above this book is a revealing guide to the songs and their authors from the related discs. Where else would you find a snippet that connects Richard Thompson's 'Wall of Death' with a ghostly image of Townes Van Zandt or Lucinda Williams referring to Alan Lomax? Interspersed are insights from producer Jimmy Rooney, a coda from Pete Seeger, and an in interview with the singer herself where her literary influences are discussed in depth. If you were looking for a single volume which would map out the great and the good from post-war United States folk music then this would come close, hell no this is it! A Trip Back to Bountiful indeed.