Fire in the water, earth in the air : legends of West Texas music / Christopher J. Oglesby.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Oglesby, Christopher J. (Christopher Joseph), 1965-

Series:

Brad and Michele Moore roots music series.

Brad and Michele Moore roots music series

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Musicians--Texas, West--Interviews.

Musicians.

Artists--Texas, West--Interviews.

Artists.

Texas, West--Social life and customs--Anecdotes.

Texas, West.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (302 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Austin : University of Texas Press, 2006.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

From Buddy Holly and the Crickets to the Flatlanders, Terry Allen, and Natalie Maines, Lubbock, Texas, has produced songwriters, musicians, and artists as prolifically as cotton, conservatives, and windstorms. While nobody questions where the conservatives come from in a city that a recent nonpartisan study ranked as America's second most conservative, many people wonder why Lubbock is such fertile ground for creative spirits who want to expand the boundaries of thought in music and art. Is it just that "there's nothing else to do," as some have suggested, or is there something in the character of Lubbock that encourages creativity as much as conservatism? In this book, Christopher Oglesby interviews twenty-five musicians and artists with ties to Lubbock to discover what it is about this community and West Texas in general that feeds the creative spirit. Their answers are revealing. Some speak of the need to rebel against conventional attitudes that threaten to limit their horizons. Others, such as Joe Ely, praise the freedom of mind they find on the wide open plains. "There is this empty desolation that I could fill if I picked up a pen and wrote, or picked up a guitar and played," he says. Still others express skepticism about how much Lubbock as a place contributes to the success of its musicians. Jimmie Dale Gilmore says, "I think there is a large measure of this Lubbock phenomenon that is just luck, and that is the part that you cannot explain." As a whole, the interviews create a portrait not only of Lubbock's musicians and artists, but also of the musical community that has sustained them, including venues such as the legendary Cotton Club and the original Stubb's Barbecue. This kaleidoscopic portrait of the West Texas music scene gets to the heart of what it takes to create art in an isolated, often inhospitable environment. As Oglesby says, "Necessity is the mother of creation. Lubbock needed beauty, poetry, humor, and it needed to get up and shake its communal ass a bit or go mad from loneliness and boredom; so Lubbock created the amazing likes of Jimmie Dale Gilmore, Butch Hancock, Terry Allen, and Joe Ely."

Contents:

Terry Allen : going back to the dirt

Richard Bowden : underground Lubbock

Lloyd Maines : it's amazing how much gets done

Jay Boy Adams : chicken-fried memories

Don Caldwell : selling the family farm for a song

Bobby Keys : like a rolling stone

Tom X Hancock : the supernatural family band

Butch Hancock : the universe in a grain of sand

Angela Strehli : blues in a Texas town

Jesse "Guitar" Taylor : a bad loud place

Ponty Bone : illumination on the streets of Lubbock

Bruce Jaggers : the greatest show on earth

Joe Ely : lord of the highway

Sharon Ely : living on dreams

Kimmie Rhodes : West Texas angel

Jo Harvey Allen : take me back to Paradox City

Jo Carol Pierce : bad girl upset by the truth

Guy Juke : life imitates art

David Halley : hitchhiking to nirvana

Cary Swinney : desperate searcher

Doug Smith : music ordained by God

Downe Burns : back to the basics of love

Bob Livingston : gonzo compadre

Wade Parks : nothing else to do

Colin Gilmore : living in dichotomy

Jimmie Dale Gilmore : Hub City mover

Mac Davis : happiness is Lubbock, Texas.

Notes:

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Includes bibliographical references, discography (p. 242-279), and index.

ISBN:

0-292-79424-X

OCLC:

646793589