Eight years ago, Ethan Hawke wrote and directed a movie about Blaze Foley. It was the first time much of America had heard of the gentle giant from Arkansas whose life was cut tragically short in 1989, when he was just 39.
The movie was very well-received, built around a stand-out performance by Ben Dickey in the title role. Then, both the movie and the man faded back into the shadows. If you didn’t catch the movie back in 2018, odds are pretty good you have never heard of Blaze Foley.
But an artist of Foley’s dimension is impossible to keep under wraps forever. His name and his songs continue to pop up along the way. Soon, they will pop up once again, and this time, the impact could be big. Perhaps not as big as the impact of that Ethan Hawke film, but still big.
Lost Art Records announced this week that it will soon release Sittin’ With Blaze, a tribute album which features a number of first-rate country singers performing a collection of Foley songs. They teased the upcoming album with two singles – “If I Could Only Fly” by Phosphorescent and “Election Day” by Uncle Lucius.
Quiet legend Blaze Foley to be honored with a new tribute album
Among the other artists who will have songs on Sittin’ With Blaze are big names like Lucinda Williams and Lucy Dacus. But the bulk of the numbers will be performed by artists whose profiles fit more closely with that of Foley. None are novices or newcomers, but many are younger and less well-known. The type who have bandcamp pages instead of Wiki entries.
Artists like Pennsylvania’s Angela Autumn and Austin fixture Cactus Lee. Old Crow Medicine Show’s Willie Watson and John Moreland. I am particularly interested in hearing how Moreland handles “Faded Love and Memories,” one of Foley’s most traditional and beautiful old-school country tunes.
Moreland and Dylan Earl seem like natural fits to tackle Foley’s songs. Joshua Ray Walker is not as obvious a choice, but that is one of the most exciting things about the upcoming project. Walker provides a very different vibe – far more flamboyant than the supremely understated Foley. He should deliver a very intriguing take on the sad, bouncy spiritual “Cold, Cold World.”
The fact that I just called a Foley song both sad and bouncy gets at the heart of his unique songwriting. He could be laugh-out-loud funny. He could dive deep into the blues. He was always supremely warm and human.
I am equally eager to hear what Watson does with “Big Cheeseburgers and Good French Fries,” a song that deserves a lot more recognition than it currently has received. Dacus will tackle one of Foley’s best-known tunes – “Clay Pigeons.”
That is actually the way I came to Foley, some fifteen years after his death. John Prine released a cover of it on his album Fair and Square in 2005. I felt embarrassed that I just assumed it was a Prine original and had never heard of the man who wrote it. That is, until I learned how Prine himself came to the song.
He heard another artist signing it and was completely enamored. He asked who wrote “Clay Pigeons.” Prine did not recognize the name, Blaze Foley. But he knew him. He knew Foley as “Deputy Dawg.”
That was the nickname everyone knew him by when he would hang out at out at clubs, picking up work wherever he could while trying to launch his own career. Prine was stunned that Deputy Dawg (AKA Depty Dawg) was capable of writing a song as magnificent as “Clay Pigeons.”
Truth be told, I am not a big fan of the Phosphorescent version of “If I Could Fly,” which kicks off the tribute album. It is a little too ethereal and soft for me. I like the way Foley’s rough, minimalist production showcases the longing in the lyrics. Uncle Lucious’ “Election Day” works better, filtering the folksiness through some harder rock, electric noise.
One thing that does concern me just a bit is that both of the released songs run longer than the originals. Not a lot longer, mind you, and I suppose it would be virtually impossible to strip them down any further than Foley does in the originals. I am eager to hear how each artist makes Foley’s songs their own. I just hope they don’t get too elaborate in their interpretations.
I suppose that’s part of the fun, though. We should see the songs in a new light. Lucinda Williams, the most iconic voice on the new album, will close things out with a second version of “I Wish I Could Fly” and I imagine it will sound quite different from the Phosphorescent take. Williams' song "Drunken Angel" (1998) was her own personal tribute to Foley.
I guess the reason I worry about how far afield some of the new covers may go is this. We should hear new versions of songs we already know. I don’t think enough people know Foley’s recordings.
But that’s the way it goes – or so said Foley’s on-again, off-again friend Townes Van Zandt back in the day. If this album entertains listeners, it will have done most of its job. It causes listeners to go check out the guy who wrote these songs, then it will have done vital work.
The complete Sittin’ With Blaze album drops on August 7.
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