Chuck Hawthorne. Fire Out Of Stone. 3 Notches Music

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fire-out-of-stone-album-cover-w-borderA couple of years ago a record producer got talking to an imposing ex Marine from Texas, carrying a guitar case, while both were waiting for a flight in Chicago. The end result was Chuck Hawthorne’s impressive debut album, Silver Line, produced by Ray Bonneville, a fine instance of happenstance. Since that album came out Hawthorne has toured the UK twice, building up a fan base with his John Prine like delivery of folk Americana and finally he delivers a second album which will not disappoint those who have been waiting in expectation.

The opening song, Such Is Life (C’Est La Vie) pretty much sets the tone for what is to come as Hawthorne plants his feet firmly in the grand tradition of Texan singer songwriters, the song opening with this vivid portrait, “He smelled like marijuana, two finger cologne, he smoked his regal cigarettes through an ancient saxophone.” Rolling on to tell the tale of a biker’s last stand it’s Guy Clark, Kris Kristofferson territory for sure and Hawthorne inhabits this territory comfortably throughout the album. Bonneville sits out production duties this time although his impressive harmonica playing graces several songs, sounding for all the world like Mickey Raphael. Listen to his playing on Hawthorne’s tremendous elegy to war veterans, New Lost Generation, and just wonder at his playing.

New Lost Generation might be the most striking example also of Hawthorne’s songwriting but throughout the album he proves that he can capture a time, story or emotion in three minutes with unerring excellence. Amarillo Wind sends shivers up the spine as Hawthorne evokes a free frontier spirit while Arrowhead & Porcupine Claw, (spoken and sung in a similar manner to Guy Clark’s Texas-1947) is somewhat magisterial in its description of a native American’s rite of passage. Sara’s All The Way is a grim tale of an Austin woman in the gutter but still looking for stars, its forlorn delivery contrasting with the spritely fiddle laced Broken Good which gathers together a cast of “salty and sweet” ne’er do wells.

Graced with subtle backing from pedal steel, Dobro and fiddle and with Libby Koch adding some excellent harmony vocals, Hawthorne’s songs and words hit home time and time again. He chooses however to close the album with a cover of I Will Fight No More Forever, written by Richard J. Dobson. A member of the original outlaw country scene, Dobson passed away in 2017 and Hawthorne’s cover serves as a fine epitaph as Dobson’s elegiac song influenced the writing of Fire Out Of Stone.

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Tim Henderson. Gone To Texas: The Legacy Collection (Vol.1)

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timhenderson6For anyone interested in Texan folklore and the songs of Townes Van Zandt, Butch Hancock and Guy Clark this album is an intriguing listen. Tim Henderson, who died in 2011, was from West Virginia but moved to Austin, Texas when in his 30’s. Influenced by his grandmother who played mountain dulcimer Henderson took up music at an early age but once in Texas he joined in the budding musical scene there releasing his first album in 1978. While his fame never expanded much beyond the State’s borders, at home he was feted with Townes Van Zandt championing him as he won a best song award at The Kerrville Folk Festival in 1977 while he was awarded a Lifetime Achievement Award by the Academy of Texas Music in 2011 for his “timeless contributions to Texas music.”

Gone To Texas is the first volume of a six album set which gathers Henderson’s recording together and, as the title hints, it concentrates on the songs he wrote about Texas history, culture and people. Released last year in The States it’s coming to our attention now due to the ministrations of promoter Rob Ellen who heard about Henderson when he was on the road with an artist Henderson mentored, Chuck Hawthorne. Ellen attended a concert celebrating the album release and was knocked out and amazed at the galaxy of Texas artists who turned up to pay homage and undertook to try and spread the word further. For that we say, Thanks Rob.

Listening to the album I was struck time and again as to why Henderson isn’t better known. His songs range from vibrant retellings of pivotal moments in Texas history to songs packed full of humour and wit. His Ballad Of Whiskey John (one of the songs that helped him win the Kerrville New Folk Competition – Van Zandt was a judge that year) is a folk tale, almost a talking blues, which recalls Loudon Wainwright and Kinky Friedman. Witch Of West Lynn, written in revenge against getting a ticket for running a red light, cackles with an absurd humour with Henderson roaring like Shel Silverstein while Jesus Would Have Loved El Paso is a sly dig at television pastors such as Jerry Falwell who delighted in calling Texans sinners and it’s delivered with a passion similar to that of Tom Russell.

Russell comes to mind again when Henderson dips into the border territory as on La Dona Maria and Maria Consuelo Arroyo, both replete with Hispanic sounds and the latter leading us into another comparison, this time with the rawness of Terry Allen’s Juarez. There really is so much treasure here (some not so polished, the living room recording of Texas Morning Ride gains from its lo fidelity) with songs such as Dust and Texas In His Ways truly embedded in the Texas tradition but our favourite is the magnificent Miss Amelia Harris, Spinster, a song which sounds as if you had bundled together all of the artists we’ve mentioned here and added a dollop of John Prine.

Gone To Texas is a tremendous listen and it whets the appetite for the accompanying volumes. Hopefully it and the other five discs serve to spread Henderson’s legacy further afield, we’d certainly love to hear more of the man. Thanks again, Rob.

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Here’s some vintage footage of Tim Henderson…

And here’s Chuck Hawthorne singing Miss Amelia Harris, Spinster (just for good measure)

 

 

Chuck Hawthorne/Les Johnson. House Concert. Glasgow. Wednesday 27/716

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You’ve probably heard of the house concert movement that’s been creeping up over the past few years, you may in fact have attended or hosted such an event. For Blabber’n’Smoke this was our first foray into such an event as we’d heard that Chuck Hawthorne, the Texan ex-marine was appearing at one not a million miles from our headquarters.

The concept is relatively simple. A host connects with an artist, arranges whatever deal needs to be arranged and then opens up their house to a bunch of strangers (and some friends presumably) who have the opportunity to hear and meet the aforesaid artist. Thereafter the details can vary.  Is there a suggested donation as a cover charge? Do you bring your own beer? Where do all the chairs come from?  Fortunately, there’s a wealth of information and advice to be had regarding all of this on various websites and Facebook pages and one such site is managed by Blabber’n’Smoke’s good friend Rob Ellen (it’s here ) and it was Rob who connected Mr. Hawthorne with last night’s host.

First off, it was comforting to see that you don’t need to have a mansion or some such in order to host a house concert. This one was in a top floor Glasgow tenement flat, the front room set up with three rows of assorted chairs and couches at either side. A simple wooden pallet allowed a podium for the artists. While some of the audience were already acquainted by the end of the night we were all on good talking terms, swapping emails etc after a couple of breaks which allowed a fine degree of mingling. I didn’t do a headcount but there were about 25 folk in attendance.

It’s all about the music of course and here the concept really proved its worth. First up was local singer Les Johnson (normally to be seen with his band Les Johnson and Me offering up some croonsome velvet country stylings) who, armed only with his guitar and striking baritone voice sang a set mostly taken from his album 15 Hands. With his easy wit and rapport with the audience (remember, those sitting at the front less than a couple of feet away) this was a delightful experience. Anyone remembering a tipsy relative giving it laldy in the parlour at New Year will recognise the intimacy that was on offer here, fortunately without the attendant embarrassment. Johnson’s dark humour in the song introductions was excellent as he sang what seemed to be a love song to a horse on 15 Hands. Requested to sing a Ronnie Lane song he gave us a finely understated version of The Poacher and there was also a powerful rendition of Dylan’s Senor (Tales of Yankee Power). Best of all however was the “urban country” melodrama of Dear Marvin where Johnson was accompanied on vocals by a member of the audience (Meghan, sorry didn’t get the surname) for what was a fine Glasgow version of George and Tammy.

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With a short break to refresh drinks, dash down three flights for the smokers and queue for the loo it was time for Chuck Hawthorne to come on. By then he’d already swapped at least a handshake with all in attendance and was on first name terms with those in the front row and his set was perhaps the best mixture of song craft, performance and informality that I’ve seen. Hawthorne is formed from the same Texas dirt as Guy Clark and Townes Van Zandt. Tonight he was freewheelin’ with nods to both telling stories about his one encounter with Clark before his fine rendition of LA Freeway while TVZ’s No Deal was quite affecting.  Hawthorne grew up in cowboy country and told his tales of working amidst the piss and shit of bovine herds before eventually signing up for the Marines reckoning that it might be safer and at least it was a steady wage. As the songs unfurled there were tales of his dad’s old tools, his mum’s erratic driving, his chance encounter with Ray Bonneville (who eventually produced his album) and finally a grim recounting of service in Iraq. As with Les Johnson, the frisson of hearing and seeing Hawthorne up close as he sang several songs from his album Silver Line was somewhat shivering. Away from the cover songs Hawthorne proves to be a gifted songwriter. He grabs blue-collar working songs by, well, the collar on The Gospel Hammer and Welding Son Of A Gun while Silver Line flowed wonderfully. Dusty ballads, hard hammering work songs, he works them all but the most poignant moment was on the incredibly moving Post 2 Gate, a song about a kid blown up by an IED in Iraq. Hawthorne was there, billeted in a Saddam Palace in the green zone, the kid familiar to the leathernecks as they drove in and out. Had a pin dropped at the end of this it would have startled all as there was an awesome silence. The balloon was burst as Hawthorne valiantly moved on to a cover of Tom Russell’s Navajo Rug but it was a powerful reminder that he’s lived a life and more.

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Getting back to the house concert concept, after the show both Johnson and Hawthorne were happy to pose for pics, sell CDs and just hang about.  Beers were quaffed and the fat was chewed. A tremendous night.

 

Chuck Hawthorne. Silverline. 3 Notches Music.

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The good book mentioned beating swords into ploughshares and Chuck Hawthorne’s debut album, Silverline is a fine example of this. Hawthorne is a time served US Marine joining straight after high school and spending 21 years as a leatherneck. He starting picking guitar when aboard the USS Iwo Jima and was writing songs by the time he served in Iraq. Retired, he was scuffling around when a chance encounter with Ray Bonneville led to the recording of this album with Bonneville in the producer’s chair. The end result is a relatively unadorned slice of down home rootsy picking and singing that’s elevated on two counts. Hawthorne has one of those voices that just fits, half Don Williams, half Guy Clark, superbly supported by the pared back playing, for the most part acoustic guitars and a rhythm section with occasional pedal steel and fiddle. Secondly Hawthorne turns out to be a fine writer in the grand Texas style offering snapshots of hard lives that breathe life into the characters.

He opens with Silver Line, a mellow train song which has Gurf Morlix on pedal steel adding a stately grandeur to Hawthorne’s hymn to the frontier rail lines. Morlix again features on Welding Son of A Gun where Hawthorne salutes the sweat and toil of a man who has sold all his guns and bought himself a welding machine while the thumping The Gospel Hammer has Hawthorne recalling his father’s skill with a hammer and bal peen which defines his life and death. Eliza Gilkyson adds fine harmonies to Dragon Flies, a song that comes across like a Guy Clark rewrite of The Ballad Of Lucy Jordan and she features again on Leaving Amarillo, a dusty portrait of a woman with a chequered past, “A wild desert rainbow lost in her shadow. She’s dated every cowboy that fell to the ground.”

Hawthorne’s fine sketches continue on the slow country waltz of Ovando and the story of an old drinker lost in his thoughts and memories on Ashes and Embers. There’s a darker edge however on the sinister Enemy which features only Hawthorne’s guitar and voice along with some spooky harmonica from Bonneville. Finally, Hawthorne confronts the war in Iraq with the simple folk tale of Post 2 Gate which tells of the murder of a child street vendor caught up in a suicide attack, a scene revisited each night by the soldier narrator in his dreams as he eventually returns home a different man.

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