Finally got around to seeing “Man In The Sand” and was riveted throughout. Billy Bragg did a marvelous job creating music to a handful of the thousands of unrecorded songs Woody Guthrie left behind after his death. Seeing Bragg’s journey from Guthrie’s hometown of Okemah, Oklahoma to the shore off Coney Island, the last place Woody called home, added a whole new perspective to what was already one of my all time favorite albums. Rumors of tension between Jeff Tweedy and Bragg about song selection among other things have long circulated but the only allusion to it in the film that I could see was this less than thinly veiled quote from Tweedy: “In the conversations that we’ve had that have not been arguments, but just discussions, Billy starts talking about the big picture. And these are things that I haven’t thought about at all. My only response to him is, ‘You know what, I bet Woody would just pick the songs that didn’t suck.’”
If you don’t own Mermaid Avenue go out and buy it this instant. If you do and love it like everyone who owns it does than “Man In The Sand” is revelatory. Here are some unreleased demos, outtakes and alternate versions to get you started:
I waited way too long to check out this amazing documentary. A big reason, I’m ashamed to admit and at a loss to explain, is the big gaping hole of ignorance where my love for Townes Van Zandt should obviously be. In the early 70′s Van Zandt and Guy Clark mentored an outlaw (way before the term became a country music marketing concept) singer/songwriter movement that was a back-to-roots reaction to the sleek, cookie cutter glitz that dominated the Nashville scene. Filmmakers Graham Leader and James Szalapski went down to Austin TX in 1975 and filmed a laid back intimate portrait of a bunch of young artists that would have a tremendous influence on country music in the next ten to fifteen years.
Townes fans are in for a treat as he really hams it up for the camera, gives a tour of his trailer with a rifle in one hand and a whiskey bottle in the other then delivers a startlingly poignant version of the first song he ever wrote (‘Waiting Around To Die’).
Clark’s rendition of ‘Desperadoes Waiting for the Train’ is equally heartbreaking and the best scene in the film takes place around his dining room table on Christmas eve: an old-school guitar pull that features a twenty year-old Steve Earle and a twenty five year-old Rodney Crowell trading tunes with Clark and criminally under appreciated songwriter Steve Young.
I’ve always been a big Steve Earle fan and I think the tunes he performs in the film are some of the best work he’s ever done. It’s hard to imagine why he would wait twenty years to record ‘Mercenary Song’ and never release ‘Darlin’ Commit Me’ at all.
Darlin’ Commit Me
(that’s John Hiatt in the red sweater)
Mercenary Song
(Camera opens on Guy & Susanna Clark. That CRAZY shirtis all over Rodney Crowell like a cheap suit. I love how everyone joins in on the chorus. How much fun does that Christmas Eve party look like?)
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Quick note about the tunes
The mp3s on this blog are to give folks a little taste. Imagine they're those little pouches on the bag your Sunday paper comes in. You know, the one's with a packet containing just enough toothpaste to brush your teeth once or twice. They are left up for a limited time. If you find something you like support the artists by dragging your friends to their shows and/or buying their CDs/records/schwag. If you are the artist (or their label/representative) and don't want an mp3 on here, please email me (mike@nowhearthismusic.com) and I'll remove it posthaste.
Finally got around to seeing “Man In The Sand” and was riveted throughout. Billy Bragg did a marvelous job creating music to a handful of the thousands of unrecorded songs Woody Guthrie left behind after his death. Seeing Bragg’s journey from Guthrie’s hometown of Okemah, Oklahoma to the shore off Coney Island, the last place Woody called home, added a whole new perspective to what was already one of my all time favorite albums. Rumors of tension between Jeff Tweedy and Bragg about song selection among other things have long circulated but the only allusion to it in the film that I could see was this less than thinly veiled quote from Tweedy: “In the conversations that we’ve had that have not been arguments, but just discussions, Billy starts talking about the big picture. And these are things that I haven’t thought about at all. My only response to him is, ‘You know what, I bet Woody would just pick the songs that didn’t suck.’”
