Various Artists - Heartworn Highways [1995] [EAC/FLAC]seeders: 27
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Various Artists - Heartworn Highways [1995] [EAC/FLAC] (Size: 414.94 MB)
Description FLAC / Lossless / Log (100%) / Cue Label/Cat#: Loose Music #167 Country: USA Year: May 1, 2006 Genre: Americana Format: CD 01. L.A. Freeway - Guy Clark 02. '...That's A Lightnin' Lick...' - Dialogue 03. Ohoopee River Bottomland - Larry Jon Wilson 04. That Old Time Feeling - Guy Clark 05. '...People Condemn Whiskey...' - Dialogue 06. Waiting Around To Die - Townes Van Zandt 07. I Still Sing The Old Songs - David Allan Coe 08. Intro - Heartworn Highways 09. Desperadoes Waiting For A Train - Guy Clark 10. Bluebird Wine - Rodney Crowell 11. Alabama Highway - Steve Young 12. Intro 2 - Heartworn Highways 13. Pancho And Lefty - Townes Van Zandt 14. Texas Cookin' - Guy Clark 15. Charlie's Place (Gamble's Story) - Gamble Rogers 16. The Black Label Blues - Gamble Rogers 17. '...These Guards All Drive Cadillacs!' - Dialogue 18. River - David Allan Coe 19. One For The One - John Hiatt 20. Darlin' Commit Me - Steve Earle 21. Ballard Of Lavern & Captain Flint - Guy Clark 22. I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry - Steve Young 23. The Mercenary Song - Steve Earle 24. '...Would You Do Elijah's Church?' - Dialogue 25. Elijah's Church - Steve Earle 26. Silent Night - Various Artists Reissued by HackTone after its original CD issue in 1995, Heartworn Highways is the sonic companion to the classic 1981 documentary of the same name. David Gorman goes out of his way to tell listeners/purchasers that this disc is not the soundtrack to the film because there never was one. HackTone "had to go back to the original film elements and Nagra tapes with the film's editor and producer to create one," according to Gorman. They "spent months working between them and an audio restoration engineer in New York to make a stand-alone album out of audio that works perfectly well while watching the film but would sound horribly disjointed otherwise. In fact, most of the performances in the film are edited down to about 1/4 their original length." This is key because it must have been a very painful process at time—especially during the 'round table' recordings on Christmas Eve at the end of the album. The microphone was literally in motion during the entire evening, trying to capture whoever was singing lead; but you'd never know it by listening to the CD. The breathtaking sound quality is a credit to restoration engineer Alan Silverman. A number of performances were left off in order to make this fit onto a single disc. What is here is a vintage treasure trove of the then-emerging singer/songwriter movement from the (mostly) American South. What is most important to note is that these performances were recorded for the documentary; they are not licensed recordings from a catalog. Some of the artists included here are no longer with us, but their performances (e.g., Townes Van Zandt's "Waitin' 'Round to Die" and "Pancho and Lefty," Gamble Rogers' "Charlie's Place" and "The Black Label Blues") are chilling and top-notch. Yet, they are in context because these infromal performances are stunning throughout. Some of the truly notable ones are by songwriters who are not well known even now among the general populus — for example, the great Steve Young, who decided on deeply moving covers of Hank Williams' "I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry" along with his own "Alabama Highway". Youngis the guy who wrote "Seven Bridges Road," "Lonesome, On'ry and Mean" (the anthem of Waylon's outlaw movement that didn't include him—though, who was an outlaw long before it became a marketing concept)—and his "Montgomery in the Rain." is also here. Larry Jon Wilson makes an appearance with his deep backwoods "Ohoopee River Bottomland," which is equal parts Tony Joe White and Lightnin' Hopkins, all of it wrapped in Young's swampy Georgia voice and guitar playing. Guy Clark is heard on five cuts, three of them well known, but "Ballad of Laverne and Captain Flint" makes it too. Other writers here include David Allan Coe and John Hiatt, both of whom originally hailed from the Midwest. Hearing Coe in this setting is especially rewarding, almost separated from his bullshit image, just playing and singing his utterly moving songs, especially "I Still Sing the Old Songs," done with only an acoustic guitar. The glimpses listeners get of Rodney Crowell and Steve Earle apart from the slick Nashville production on their own records is especially refreshing. This is a timeless collection that truly stands on its own whether or not you saw the film in 1981 (it is available on DVD thank goodness). It's a no-jive set of songwriters doing what they do best away from the hype, the myth-making, and the self-destructive impulses that have plagued many of them. Sharing Widget |
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