Friday November 18, 2005

Jim Lauderdale

http://www.jimlauderdale.com/

Show starts at 9pm

Tickets are $15.00

MacHenry's
7618 Camp Bowie West Blvd.
Fort Worth, TX 76116
817-377-0202

www.machenrys.com


MacHenry's is located two blocks east of Cherry Lane which is exit
7A of I 30 West.

Tickets remain at www.machenrys.com

On Headed for the Hills, Jim Lauderdale fulfills a personal goal: To
record an entire album of songs written with one of his heroes,
Robert Hunter.

"There's no one in the world that writes quite like Robert,"
Lauderdale says of the California-based lyricist best known for his
collaborations with the late Jerry Garcia and the Grateful
Dead. "He's a great storyteller, and he has a way of showing his
roots in bluegrass and old-time folk music that has its own unique
twist. His lyrics are so literate yet so accessible, and they make
for these great, one-of-a-kind songs."

Lauderdale first contacted Hunter five years ago. Lauderdale had
long considered asking the famed lyricist about co-writing together,
and he figured the moment to introduce the idea had arrived. At the
time, Lauderdale was preparing songs for his first duet project with
Ralph Stanley. He knew Hunter, like Garcia, was a longtime devotee
of the Stanley Brothers.

To Lauderdale's delight, Hunter accepted the invitation. Within one
project, Lauderdale fulfilled two personal goals: tosing with Ralph
Stanley and to write with Robert Hunter. Their first two co-writes --
"Joy Joy Joy" and "I Will Wait For You" -- anchored I Feel Like
Singing Today, the first Jim Lauderdale/Ralph Stanley album. "Live,
those two songs were real crowd favorites," the singer says.

Lauderdale put another of his first Hunter co-writes, "Trust
(Guiding Star)," on his country album Onward Through It All. Then
when Lauderdale, Stanley and the Clinch Mountain Boys re-convened
for a second bluegrass album, the Grammy-winning Lost in the
Lonesome Pines, they recorded two more Hunter/Lauderdale
collaborations, ""Deep Well of Sadness" and "Oh Soul!"

"For those songs, Robert would send me lyrics, and I'd write the
melodies and music," Lauderdale recalls. "His songs read like poems,
they're so perfectly put together. It sounds like a cliché, but it's
true. Just reading his words and the natural rhythm of the lyrics
would inspire the music. There's just something magical about them."

Similarly inspired, Hunter decided to travel to Nashville,
ultimately spending six weeks soaking up the town and writing with
his newfound creative partner. "I'd go over and hang out with about
every other day or so," Lauderdale explains. "We'd talk for a while,
then work on a song."

This time, the two men reversed their usual work process. "I'd put a
melody down on tape, and Robert would write lyrics to it,"
Lauderdale says. "I'd leave him something, and the next time I came
by, he'd have a finished song."

The two wrote a mind-boggling 34 songs during that period, many of
which ended up on Headed for the Hills, Lauderdale's sixth album for
Dualtone Records.

"Robert's such a gracious, down-to-earth person, but I hold him in
such high regard that I still have a hard time believing that this
is happening," Lauderdale says. "I liken it to working with George
Jones or Ralph Stanley, two of my other heroes. In my opinion, he's
in the Mount Rushmore of musical greats. He's contributed so much
powerful music to his generation. So I hope this album goes a little
way to helping more people realize what a great songwriter he is."

The proof is on the record: From the mystical Civil War story-
song "Sandy Ford" (Barbara Lee) to the existential heartbreak
of "Tales from the Sad Hotel," from the jaunty road tune "Leaving
Mobile" to the mountain blues of the title cut, the new album
illustrates the singular vision derived from the creative communion
of these two visionary artists.

Produced with longtime co-producer Tim Coats, Headed for the Hills
concentrates on acoustic arrangements ­ the only time besides his two
bluegrass albums that Lauderdale has worked without drums. The
arrangements highlight the sharp ensemble play of the singer's hand
picked backing band, which includes Bryan Sutton, Pat McGrath, Tim
O'Brien, David Rawlings, Darrell Scott, Bucky Baxter and Byron
House. Emmylou Harris, Allison Moorer, Gillian Welch and Buddy
Miller add harmony vocals. The one song with drums is the closer, a
Lauderdale/Hunter song that the singer recorded with the band Donna
the Buffalo.

"One of the great rewards of making records the way I do is that I
get to fulfill some dreams and work with people I really admire,"
Lauderdale says. "It gives me the opportunity to call someone like
Gillian Welch or Tim O'Brien, who I hadn't worked with before, and
ask if they would like to come into the studio with us. It really
adds to the joy of recording music."

Working with others has become an integral aspect of Lauderdale's
record making in recent years. Headed for the Hills is the latest in
a series of collaborative efforts that finds the veteran Americana
artist exploring different aspects of his prodigious creativity.

"Working like this gives me direction and purpose," he says. "It
forces me to open myself to different things, to take what I do in a
direction I might not naturally go. I also like having a central
project in mind ­ it helps me get things done when someone else is
involved. It's a real motivator."

His previous album, 2003's Wait `Til Spring, found the North
Carolina native working with the wide-open grooves of the roots/jam
band Donna the Buffalo. As USA Today described it, "Wait `Til Spring
is the rare collaboration that allows both acts to blossom."

Besides his two solo albums for Dualtone ­ 2002's Hummingbirds and
2000's The Other Sessions ­ Lauderdale also drew acclaim for his pair
of bluegrass albums with Ralph Stanley and the Clinch Mountain Boys,
the first of which (acclaim for his pair of bluegrass albums with
Ralph Stanley and the Clinch Mountain Boys, the first of which (I
Feel Like Singing Today) pre-dated Stanley's celebrated national
christening as part of the O Brother, Where Art Thou? Soundtrack,
and was nominated for a Grammy.

Besides his 2002 Grammy for Bluegrass Album of the Year for the
second Stanley collaboration, Lost in the Lonesome Pines, Lauderdale
was given the Americana Music Association's first Entertainer of the
Year award the same year. In addition, Lauderdale won the Americana
Music Association's "Song of the Year" with the Lauderdale/Stanley
collaboration "She's Looking at Me."

After his `90s success as one of Nashville's most recorded and
successful songwriters ­ with hits by George Strait, the Dixie
Chicks, Patty Loveless, Mark Chesnutt and many others ­ Lauderdale
has broadened his audience and finally begun receiving more
attention for his own records and concerts. His `90s recordings for
Warner Bros., Atlantic and RCA garnered loads of critical acclaim
and a loyal cult following, and his move to the prime independent
Dualtone gave him even more creative freedom ­ and the wide-ranging
audience -- he desired.

"It's been a particularly great period for me," says
Lauderdale. "I'm with a label that's passionate about music, and
they'll let me bring unusual ideas to them. Thanks to the records,
I'm performing more and more, which I love. And I love that I can
play the Opry one weekend, a jam-band festival the next, and then a
bluegrass festival the following week. That's real inspiring to me,
and I think there's a real thread there. The roots are the same for
all of them, and that's the music I'm interested in."


We also have a brand new batch of shows booked and up on our box
office at:
www.machenrys.com
Just follow the box office link.

Have a look at
who's coming:

11/20/2005 Saturday - MICHAEL KLEIN BAND $8
11/26/2005 Saturday – JAMES HINKLE & SUMPTER BRUTON $10


Thanks
Craig Scotland
Smith Scotland Productions
Smithscotland@...