August Newsletter
"And it seems like I remember
Her hair was long and brown
And sometimes she put on lipstick
When we went into town"
- Jeffrey Foucault -
The phone rang in the hallway. It was a dusty Spring afternoon and the rains had not yet settled the dust blowing off of the cornfields. My mom called me inside. I was leaning against the galvanized tank looking out over the farm watching the first of the newborn calfs play in the holding pen. Sundays on the farm...Tom Russell territory.
She was crying....something about her folks. There was still some phonebooths in operation in our little town and she was holed up inside one of them. Dad let me take the pickup truck into town and taking back roads to avoid the law I finally turned into the old abandoned parking lot where she was waiting.
We drove back to the farm and she was staring out the passenger window. The sun was setting and I remember her cutoff jeans and worn out sweater. Her braided her and the freckles on her skin. We were seventeen.
Many years have passed since then. The ghosts are piling up. The stories are burning and I am navigating the complex landscape of truth, half truth, longing and fiction. Not to mention the fact that our memories become shaped by sentiment and desire. How do I tell the tales while keeping the mystery in tact and the people safe. How do I write with empathy about the people who shaped my conscience and sensibilities? How do I weave our stories into your stories and make you feel something of what I felt ?
As I'm writing this I'm aware of the hardships and challenges people across the globe are facing. I know that I can only do my best to help and also survive. Im happy to announce The Hard Yard Sessions. A platform similar to The Tiny Desk Concerts where Jaco Naudé and his team help showcase incredible musicians through episodes
professionally recorded at beautiful venues. My new album is taking shape and I'm grateful for the opportunity to make art with people I love. It should be here in the Spring or early Summer at the latest. Please support our musicians and venues. Support your favourite restaurants and be kind to one another. That is all we have and if we allow the media, the government or the church to dictate our outlook on the world we lose sight of what it means to be "a people" sharing this world of beauty, hardship, love and loss.
So for now, I'll brew another coffee. Its almost time to tune in and watch Jeffrey Foucault play Miles from the Lighting on his Facebook Livestream. A true artist and my greatest inspiration. A magnificent record that took some hardcore hunting by myself and my dear friend Beth from Milwaukee Wisconsin. She turned out to be way more resourceful than I will ever be in finding out of print not to be forgotten albums that changed a South African farmboys life. Thank you Beth and thank you Jeffrey Foucault.
JB