(Sphincter Records) I stumbled across this
CD quite accidentally, the title caught my eye and intriqued me. I'd
never heard of Hoover (not to be confused with the rock band by the
same name) before. Upon further investigation, I found out that he
stopped recording in the very early 70's. But then I found out he kept
company with the likes of Waylon, Willie, Billy Joe Shaver, Tompall
Glasser and Kinky Friedman. So now my curiosity was even further
piqued- why then, had I never even heard of him before?
The story goes, in his teens Hoover
(always being called just "Hoover" since he was a kid) started out as
a wandering folk singer, playing coffee houses. In the '60s, he blew
into Nashville and became a songwriter, who's songs were recorded
by names such as Eddy Arnold, Waylon Jennings, Tompall Glasser and
Tina Turner. He won an ASCAP Award for music he wrote for an MGM movie
called "tick...tick...tick." He was also an artist on the Monument
and Epic label, and recorded albums of his own. After about a decade,
he grew tired of the recording industry, picked up, and blew right
back out of town, leaving it far behind.
He spent the years that followed as a
woodland hermit, a gambler, a bartender, a restauraunteur, a political
press secretary, and a newspaper columnist. In the 80's he moved to
the West Indies where he became an expert on Antillian cockfights,
lived on Old Rum Tree and went broke. By the 90's he was living on the
beachfront of Hawaii, working as a journalist.
Today, he is considered the world's most
foremost authority, on stringed intrument plectrums, or in
simpler layman's terms- picks. His book "Picks!" was praised
by guitarists such as BB King and the late Chet Atkins. Ok, so now
I've found out that Hoover is quite the colorful character.
Now onto his music. According to the
information regarding The Lost Outlaw Album, these songs, the
last ever recorded by Hoover, were recorded in 1971-72 at what was
known back then as "Outlaw Headquarters" (Glasser Studios) at 916 19th
Ave. South. He considered this his best recording, however, it was
never released. Hoover shortly thereafter, rode off into the sunset,
and the master tape was lost when "Outlaw Headquarters" ceased to
exist. As the years passed, both Hoover and the recording were
forgotten.
Then in 1997, a longtime Hoover fan that
never forgot him, Cathy Flanagan, acted on a phone tip, and literally
rescued the master tape from a dumpster just as it was about to be
hauled away and lost for all time. Most of the documentation was not
recovered, but this much is known. Three of the original
cuts "Unwanted Outlaw," "Subjectively Speaking," and "The One You're
Thinking Of" were not recovered. All the remaining songs were written
by Hoover, with the exception of "The Loneliest Man I Know," which he
co-wrote with Kinky Friedman. The producers were Hoover and Chuck
Glasser. The engineers were Claude Hill and Kyle Lehning.
The musicians were- Guitars: Hoover, Randy Scruggs, Biff Watson, and
John Hoffman, Steel guitar & Dobro: Doyle Grisham, Keyboards: Bobby
Woods and Buck Fell, Fiddle: Buddy Spicher, Bass: Joe Osborne, Gary
Scruggs and Bill Holmes, Drums: Mickey Jones, John Corneal and Larrie
London.
By this time, now fully intrigued, I pop
the CD into the player. Only it's not exactly what I had
expected. What I was expecting was the trademark "outlaw" sound that
Willie, Waylon, et al, had made famous. Hoover is obviously an
"outlaw"- but a very different kind than his compadres at the time.
Musically, he shares a closer kinship with the country/folk of Townes
Van Zandt or Guy Clark, and vocally, he would slide in nicely with
the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, The Byrds, or The Flying Burrito
Brothers. It makes for a mezmerizing combination of laid back,
existential listening.
"Absolute Zero" is a haunting, desolate,
acoustic song about a guy that can't seem to get anywhere no matter
what he tries. "Jesus Don't Drive No Fastback Ford" opens with a verse
of "Home On The Range," before going into a steel laden country/folk
song of just wanting the simple things in life, the more spiritual vs.
the material things.
My personal favorite track is "The
Loneliest Man I Know," co-written with Kinky Friedman. The melody
isn't melancholy but it's powerful, and the steel weeps in the
background making a song about missing home and where "the party
again, was just a party of one," a classic baroom weeper. "The Freedom
To Stay" puts a different spin on a ramblin' man tale, one who's
getting ready to move on, and just as he's about to leave, realizes
the woman he's found is what he's really been searching for all along.
"Hamilton Jones" tells the story of a
colorful old man and his life. "Can I Help You?" is a lovely ballad
about someone who can't commit to the future, but can only promise
love, and comfort for today. The humorous "I Wrote This Song For You,"
tells the lover the song he wrote for her was never meant to be a hit
on the radio for all the world to hear, and was supposed to be a
country song- not a rock song.
"Take My Hand" and "Sweet Lady Jane" are
two of the most interesting and gripping songs on the CD, though both
of these are more folk than country, and the arrangements and
production are definitely of that era. "Take My Hand" is very
reminiscent of The Byrds style of music, with soaring vocals, jangling
piano, and fuzzy guitar riffs. "Sweet Lady Jane" somehow reminds me of
the transitional Danny Kirwan era of Fleetwood Mac, the album Future
Games in particular, with it's haunting melodies.
Though it does not appear on this disc,
supposedly the last song Hoover wrote before leaving Nashville in the
dust, was a song titled "Jesus Died For Two-Timin' Lovers (And I'm A
No-Count Buckaroo)," which includes the following lyric:
"...So I'll be moving along
Tell Waylon and Willie I said so long,
little darling
The good life has been too good for me
Don't shed a tear that I'm gone"
It's a real pity he did move on, because
Nashville sure could use more highly gifted songwriting "outlaws" like
him around, not to mention a few more colorful characters.
AnnMarie Harrington Take Country Back |
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