cowboys with a weakness for the czpla focail are few and far between these days. North Carolinians with a blas are even harder to come by. Which makes Jim Lauderdale (no relation to Fort, he assures me) a damn fine find round these here parts.
A veteran of the Irish live scene, Lauderdale s paid more than a handful of trips to Dublin and well beyond the Pale, by now. Even so, his Irish is a whole lot more fluent than mine is after 15 years tuition, and he s got the subtler points of plamasing an audience into eating out of the palm of his hand down to a fine art. Not bad for a lad from North Carolina who happened by Nashville on the way home from LA (well, kinda) . . .
Jim Lauderdale opened for Emmylou Harris at the Olympia the other night and it was absolute twang (never mind the torch) from the get-go. With his brand-new shiny docs and the wonderful Buddy Miller for company, he thrashed and flailed and whispered and tiptoed at all the right moments. So much so that even the stragglers who were only inching towards their seats for the final chords were enthralled.
Persimmons is the unlikely-titled album that dropped off the Lauderdale wagon-train lately. References to exotic luscious fruit are hardly expected from country music artists, much less from potential mainstreamers who ve landed the accolade of Breakthrough Songwriter Of The Year , courtesy of Music Row in Nashville.
But Lauderdale is as adept at breaking with convention as he is at seducing his audiences into rapt submission. And Persimmons is as juicy and, dare I say it, delectable as you re likely to encounter this side of a Joe Ely or Jimmie Dale Gilmore album.
Having the luxury of access to a studio whenever the whim takes him, (his very own Stax, as he observes), Lauderdale hasn t shied away from hustling with some of the best players in the business.
I ve played a lot with Garry Tallent, of the E Street Band, he nods, and Buddy Miller too, who s a real fine musician.
The songwriting has brought in more than its share of panloaves to fill the larder too. With George Strait, Vince Gill, John Mayall and Patty Loveless all seeking out the Lauderdale imprimatur, he s been in the fortunate position of collecting a healthy handful of royalty cheques. But his six-string s good for more than just country, even if he has been boxed in by the label over the past couple of years.
I made two Atlantic records, which were really eclectic, I think, he says. I didn t really consider them to be country records, and Persimmons is a real mixed one too. But I m perceived as a country artist, no matter what I do. It s kinda like Lyle Lovett, you know. He hasn t made country records for a long time, but he s still considered country . But that s okay too, I guess.
Maybe a sign that he s buckling under the pressure of tagging is the fact that he s heading for the studios shortly to record a real country album with his confederate Buddy Miller.
Yeah, he smiles wryly, I got an offer to do a record in Nashville for RCA, and it looks like they re going to give it some attention, so . . . yeah, I m doing it!
Right now, I m pretty much perceived as a songwriter for other people in the States, he continues, and my own stuff is almost a cult thing, so I m not a household name by any means. And although I want the albums to do well at the end of the day, that s okay by me, because I m making a living out of my music.
Does he feel frustrated by the proliferation of so-called hat acts , the Bland X of country music?
Hmm, he pauses, evidently not too comfortable with the prospect of rubbishing any potential clients, I think people are crying out for something different, and it s become a bit like what pop music was like in the 80s: there are so many acts, and it s so corporate-sounding, and you can t tell sometimes who s singing the song. But I think even the labels now are wary of hat acts .
Lauderdale s under no illusions though. The corporatisation of music inevitably brings with it a rake of commitments, which often includes a spot or two of self-prostitution:
I think it was Michael Stipe who I heard saying once: Hey, look basically, the reality is that what we re doing is selling advertising for radio . But at the end of the day for me, it s about making music that moves you. When I listen to Emmylou Harris, I feel that that s music that can heal you, it can make you cry, it can make you laugh, it can make you exorcise the anger you have inside you; it s such a strong force.
Persimmons is brimful of passion, crammed with tales that betray a heart broken and superglued more than once. Is he a passionate man?
Well, I always loved Layla by Derek & The Dominoes, he avers. I loved the urgency and the rawness of it. Persimmons was written when I started a relationship with a friend of mine, which then ended, so some of those experiences are chronicled in there.
Lauderdale, tai chi aficionado, gaelgeoir, and all-round nice guy to boot. Listening to him set the rafters of the Olympia alight, there s only one message he needs to understand from his audience: Y all come back now, y hear! n