RECORDINGS FROM THE BIRTH OF AMERICANA REMASTERED FOR NEW SOUNDTRACK
HEARTWORN HIGHWAYS
Released To Coincide With the Film's 30th Anniversary, Companion Album to Legendary Documentary Features Very First Recordings by Steve Earle, Rodney Crowell and John Hiatt, plus Front-Porch-Intimate Performances by David Allan Coe, Townes Van Zandt and Guy Clark
IN STORES VIA HACKTONE/SHOUT! FACTORY ON MARCH 14th
LOS ANGELES — HackTone Records and Shout! Factory announce the CD release of Heartworn Highways, the whiskey-warm companion album to the cult documentary of the same name. Recorded in 1975-76 in Nashville and Austin, Heartworn Highways captures the birth of an alt-country movement light-years from the spit-polished Music Row. Armed with little more than a camera and microphone (and maybe a case of Jack), the filmmakers captured lightning in a bottle, spotlighting a particular band of brothers — Steve Earle, Townes Van Zandt, Rodney Crowell, John Hiatt, Guy Clark and perennial outsider David Allan Coe — at the dawn of their careers. They also captured inspired performances from relative unknowns Gamble Rogers and Larry Jon Wilson that will instantly convert listeners into adoring fans. What they walked away with is a document of the fierce, raw talent burning at the core of some of the greatest singer-songwriters of our time. The CD, produced with the direct involvement of the movie's original producer, Graham Leader (In the Bedroom, etc.) and editor, Phillip Schopper, features 20 audio performances recorded for the film, as well as key dialogue excerpts. After more than six months of painstaking audio restoration from the raw Nagra tapes, each song has been restored to its unedited length, speed corrected, and remastered to stunning audiophile quality. This historic collection will be in stores on March 14th for the suggested retail price of $18.98.
Naturally, the first-ever recordings by Steve Earle, Rodney Crowell, and John Hiatt — not to mention previously unreleased acoustic performances by David Allan Coe, Townes Van Zandt and Guy Clark — demand a unique treatment. Rather than doing a literal soundtrack, HackTone started from scratch, compiling an album from all of the recordings made during filming in order to create a stand-alone listening experience that captured the essence of the film. They eliminated songs featured in the film that were irrelevant to the new wave of artists it was conceived to document; they also included several tracks from artists that were omitted from the original film. All of which says nothing of the meticulous audio restoration, done by GRAMMY®-award nominee Alan Silverman and Heartworn Highways editor Phillip Schopper, which restored all of the recordings to their original length and captured all the richness and warmth inherent in their original performances. It's this exacting attention to detail that makes the Heartworn Highways CD a deeply intimate listening experience as well as a historical document of incredible value.
Heartworn Highways includes the previously unreleased versions of "Waitin' Around To Die" and "Pancho and Lefty" by Townes van Zandt, "Desperados Waiting for a Train" and "LA Freeway" by Guy Clark, the unreleased song "One for the One" by John Hiatt and the first recording ever of "Mercenary Song" by Steve Earle. And a spontaneous, whiskey-soaked version of "Silent Night" sung by Steve Earle, Guy Clark, Rodney Crowell and Steve Young during Christmas Eve at Guy's house is unexpectedly beautiful.
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VARIOUS ARTISTS -- HEARTWORN HIGHWAYS
Catalog Number: DK 37457
Price: $18.98 SRP
Release Date: March 14, 2006
1. "LA Freeway" (Guy Clark)
2. "Ohoopee River Bottomland" (Larry Jon Wilson)
3. "That Old Time Feeling" (Guy Clark)
4. "Waitin' 'Round To Die" (Townes Van Zandt)
5. "I Still Sing The Old Song" (David Allan Coe)
6. "Desperadoes Waiting For A Train" (Guy Clark)
7. "Bluebird Wine" (Rodney Crowell)
8. "Alabama Highway" (Steve Young)
9. "Pancho and Lefty" (Townes Van Zandt)
10. "Texas Cookin'" (Guy Clark)
11. "Gamble's Story" (Gamble Rogers)
12. "The Black Label Blues" (Gamble Rogers)
13. "River" (David Allan Coe)
14. "One For The One" (John Hiatt)
15. "Darlin' Commit Me" (Steve Earle)
16. "Ballad Of Lavern And Captain Flint" (Guy Clark)
17. "I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry" (Steve Young)
18. "Mercenary Song" (Steve Earle)
19. "Elijah's Church" (Steve Earle)
20. "Silent Night" (Guy Clark, Rodney Crowell, Susannah Clark, Steve Earle, Richard Dobson)
Soundtrack To Heartworn Highways To Be Released In March
Moderator: SMLCHNG
Heartworn is a great piece of work for many reasons.
I never knew about Gamble Rogers, except through Jimmy's dedication on the Fruitcakes album
http://www.gamblerogers.com/life/tribut ... oc=buffett
When I bought the VHS of Heartworn Highways, I could see what Gamble Rogers was like. It is a brilliant segment on the video.
The DVD even has more great stuff on it.
I never knew about Gamble Rogers, except through Jimmy's dedication on the Fruitcakes album
http://www.gamblerogers.com/life/tribut ... oc=buffett
When I bought the VHS of Heartworn Highways, I could see what Gamble Rogers was like. It is a brilliant segment on the video.
The DVD even has more great stuff on it.
http://flagpole.com/Weekly/ReduxNation/2006-04-12
VARIOUS ARTISTS
Heartworn Highways
Hacktone
Though it follows the DVD of the same name by a couple years, this audio companion to the original 1981 outlaw country documentary at least arrives sooner than the initial product, which sat shelved for almost 20 years before its re-release in 2003. With Heartworn Highways, filmmaker James Szalapski put together a simple, off-the-cuff portrait of the mid-‘70s “outlaw country” scene that was emerging in Texas, Nashville and elsewhere. Many of his subjects were unknown at the time, but featured performers like Guy Clark, Townes Van Zandt, Steve Earle and John Hiatt would eventually become well-known and venerated figures.
All those “name” troubadours and a few who’ve been forgotten (Steve Young, Gamble Rogers, etc.) appear on the CD, which presents 26 live and studio performances taken from the film. From Augustan swamp balladeer Larry John Wilson’s “Ohoopee River Bottomland” to Clark’s tear-squeezing “Desperadoes Waiting For a Train” to David Allen Coe’s rowdy performance before inmates at a Tennessee state prison, there’s a wealth of previously unexplored gems here. Coe’s brow-raising comments like, “All the guards here drive Cadillacs,” is just one of the choice moments captured by the filmmakers’ cameras and audio equipment.
Elsewhere, Clark and wife Susanna host a holiday party that features such then-greenhorns as Rodney Crowell and Earle seated around a crowded kitchen table swigging whiskey and swapping songs. Earle’s first-take performance of “Mercenary Song” and the seldom-heard “Elijah’s Church” are nice inclusions, as is John Hiatt’s sentimental “One For the One,” recorded the same day that Hiatt signed his first recording contract.
Equally impressive are the living-room recordings of Van Zandt, already a great deal out of his gourd at twenty-something, playing music and shooting bull with neighbor Seymour Washington, who advises his drunken comrades to enjoy such temptations as brown liquor “in moderation.”
One of the film’s most acclaimed shots accompanies Van Zandt’s skeletal “Waitin’ Around To Die” as Washington slowly tears up during the song. Though those strong visuals are absent here, Van Zandt’s weathered performance, complete with yard dogs howling in the background, retains its eerie, prophetic vibe just the same.
Given that these juxtaposed performances sat untouched for so long, it’s remarkable what a cohesive album exists. The recordings (many one-time-only takes) are, for the most part, free of age-related audio obstructions and chunks of dialogue (like Wilson’s impromptu studio conjuring of Lightnin’ Hopkins) have been left in to provide a better sense of flow. The brief appearances and accidental character studies captured by Heartworn Highways are snapshots that could never be repeated. Fortunately, they also make a pretty righteous souvenir.
VARIOUS ARTISTS
Heartworn Highways
Hacktone
Though it follows the DVD of the same name by a couple years, this audio companion to the original 1981 outlaw country documentary at least arrives sooner than the initial product, which sat shelved for almost 20 years before its re-release in 2003. With Heartworn Highways, filmmaker James Szalapski put together a simple, off-the-cuff portrait of the mid-‘70s “outlaw country” scene that was emerging in Texas, Nashville and elsewhere. Many of his subjects were unknown at the time, but featured performers like Guy Clark, Townes Van Zandt, Steve Earle and John Hiatt would eventually become well-known and venerated figures.
All those “name” troubadours and a few who’ve been forgotten (Steve Young, Gamble Rogers, etc.) appear on the CD, which presents 26 live and studio performances taken from the film. From Augustan swamp balladeer Larry John Wilson’s “Ohoopee River Bottomland” to Clark’s tear-squeezing “Desperadoes Waiting For a Train” to David Allen Coe’s rowdy performance before inmates at a Tennessee state prison, there’s a wealth of previously unexplored gems here. Coe’s brow-raising comments like, “All the guards here drive Cadillacs,” is just one of the choice moments captured by the filmmakers’ cameras and audio equipment.
Elsewhere, Clark and wife Susanna host a holiday party that features such then-greenhorns as Rodney Crowell and Earle seated around a crowded kitchen table swigging whiskey and swapping songs. Earle’s first-take performance of “Mercenary Song” and the seldom-heard “Elijah’s Church” are nice inclusions, as is John Hiatt’s sentimental “One For the One,” recorded the same day that Hiatt signed his first recording contract.
Equally impressive are the living-room recordings of Van Zandt, already a great deal out of his gourd at twenty-something, playing music and shooting bull with neighbor Seymour Washington, who advises his drunken comrades to enjoy such temptations as brown liquor “in moderation.”
One of the film’s most acclaimed shots accompanies Van Zandt’s skeletal “Waitin’ Around To Die” as Washington slowly tears up during the song. Though those strong visuals are absent here, Van Zandt’s weathered performance, complete with yard dogs howling in the background, retains its eerie, prophetic vibe just the same.
Given that these juxtaposed performances sat untouched for so long, it’s remarkable what a cohesive album exists. The recordings (many one-time-only takes) are, for the most part, free of age-related audio obstructions and chunks of dialogue (like Wilson’s impromptu studio conjuring of Lightnin’ Hopkins) have been left in to provide a better sense of flow. The brief appearances and accidental character studies captured by Heartworn Highways are snapshots that could never be repeated. Fortunately, they also make a pretty righteous souvenir.
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jbfinscj
- Lester Polyester
- Posts: 7691
- Joined: January 12, 2004 2:46 pm
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- Favorite Boat Drink: Coconut Rum
- Location: Pennsylvania
Did you get this album yet Jah? I love it, especially the Guy Clark tracks. David Allen Coe seems a little out of place I think.Jahfin wrote:http://flagpole.com/Weekly/ReduxNation/2006-04-12
VARIOUS ARTISTS
Heartworn Highways
Hacktone
Though it follows the DVD of the same name by a couple years, this audio companion to the original 1981 outlaw country documentary at least arrives sooner than the initial product, which sat shelved for almost 20 years before its re-release in 2003. With Heartworn Highways, filmmaker James Szalapski put together a simple, off-the-cuff portrait of the mid-‘70s “outlaw country” scene that was emerging in Texas, Nashville and elsewhere. Many of his subjects were unknown at the time, but featured performers like Guy Clark, Townes Van Zandt, Steve Earle and John Hiatt would eventually become well-known and venerated figures.
All those “name” troubadours and a few who’ve been forgotten (Steve Young, Gamble Rogers, etc.) appear on the CD, which presents 26 live and studio performances taken from the film. From Augustan swamp balladeer Larry John Wilson’s “Ohoopee River Bottomland” to Clark’s tear-squeezing “Desperadoes Waiting For a Train” to David Allen Coe’s rowdy performance before inmates at a Tennessee state prison, there’s a wealth of previously unexplored gems here. Coe’s brow-raising comments like, “All the guards here drive Cadillacs,” is just one of the choice moments captured by the filmmakers’ cameras and audio equipment.
Elsewhere, Clark and wife Susanna host a holiday party that features such then-greenhorns as Rodney Crowell and Earle seated around a crowded kitchen table swigging whiskey and swapping songs. Earle’s first-take performance of “Mercenary Song” and the seldom-heard “Elijah’s Church” are nice inclusions, as is John Hiatt’s sentimental “One For the One,” recorded the same day that Hiatt signed his first recording contract.
Equally impressive are the living-room recordings of Van Zandt, already a great deal out of his gourd at twenty-something, playing music and shooting bull with neighbor Seymour Washington, who advises his drunken comrades to enjoy such temptations as brown liquor “in moderation.”
One of the film’s most acclaimed shots accompanies Van Zandt’s skeletal “Waitin’ Around To Die” as Washington slowly tears up during the song. Though those strong visuals are absent here, Van Zandt’s weathered performance, complete with yard dogs howling in the background, retains its eerie, prophetic vibe just the same.
Given that these juxtaposed performances sat untouched for so long, it’s remarkable what a cohesive album exists. The recordings (many one-time-only takes) are, for the most part, free of age-related audio obstructions and chunks of dialogue (like Wilson’s impromptu studio conjuring of Lightnin’ Hopkins) have been left in to provide a better sense of flow. The brief appearances and accidental character studies captured by Heartworn Highways are snapshots that could never be repeated. Fortunately, they also make a pretty righteous souvenir.
I'm back to livin' Floridays
Blue skies and ultra-violet rays
Blue skies and ultra-violet rays
Jahfin wrote:
VARIOUS ARTISTS
Heartworn Highways
Hacktone
No, I haven't but it's on my every growing most wanted list. I have seen the movie though and don't see how David Allan Coe seems "out of place". These guys all operated outside the mainstream (and for the most part continue to) so I'm not sure why David wouldn't fit right in with the rest of 'em.jbfinscj wrote:[Did you get this album yet Jah? I love it, especially the Guy Clark tracks. David Allen Coe seems a little out of place I think.