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Lee Hazlewood Honestly, to think any of us knows much about music is funny. We could spend our whole lives searching for a song or an artist that we connect with, one that touches your life. Let me save you some time and introduce you to Lee Hazlewood. Hazlewood passed away Sunday at the age of 78 after a lifetime spent making his own music and helping craft other peoples' music. He is probably best known for his work with Nancy Sinatra, most notably for writing her hit "These Boots Are Made for Walking." The two also recorded three albums of duets, which included the second best ever version of the song " Jackson." Hazlewood also recorded albums for Duane Eddy and Gram Parsons. In the studio, Hazlewood orchestrated luscious tones from strings, horns, rhythm sections and voices. Thick velvet music is what he produced for songs that enveloped listeners in love or despair or loneliness or a moustache. I say moustache because Lee sported a thick one for many years. It suited his Arizona-by-way-of-southern-California attitude, and his sleepy-eyed take on the world around him. His lyrics were filtered through that moustache before the microphones picked them up. Hazlewood also had a unique trick for producing the deepest, most resonate reverb I've ever heard. Reverb is an effect that creates a kind of big-empty-cavern-echo on guitars and vocals, and Hazlewood actually recorded artists in a grain silo resulting in huge, deep, natural reverb. It's truly amazing to hear. But Hazlewood shined brightest when singing his own songs. He produced numerous solo albums - and a duo LP with Ann Margaret - several of which were reissued a few years ago by Smells Like Records, a great label run by Sonic Youth drummer Steve Shelley. That's how I first heard Hazlewood. Trouble is a Lonesome Town, his first album from 1963, compiles 10 songs that tell 10 stories about characters that live in a town called Trouble. Before each song begins, he gives a little history about the folks in Trouble. On "Six Feet of Chain," Lee tells the tale of two brothers who constantly steal from each other and have each other arrested and thrown in jail. "Ugly Brown" talks about Emory Jicafoos Brown, a man so ugly that "if they held one of those Mr. America contests in Trouble and Emory was the only one to enter, the best he could hope for was fourth place." Perhaps my favorite is the tale of Sleepy Gilreath, the town's undertaker who takes a walk everyday at noon - you can set your watch by it - and never smiles unless he sees one of the old folks looking kind of pale. The song is called "We All Make the Flowers Grow," and it's true: no matter who we are or what we do, "sooner or later we all make the little flowers grow." Gilreath, Hazlewood says, has no real worries because he knows we'll all be giving him a little business sooner or later. By the end of the record, Trouble sounds like the most dysfunctional place in the world, but also a great place to call home. On the album Requiem For An Almost Lady, Hazlewood sings every song about a girl he broke up with. The songs range from happy ditties about the good times the couple had together, and the dark days that follow the break-up. Again Hazlewood begins each song with a little talking. On "L.A. Lady," a bouncing, bluesy tune about missing a girl, he begins with: "It's been said that all good things begin in Heaven, but somehow I have the feeling the first time we said I love you to each other, the gods must have turned their backs and laughed out loud." Ever been in one of those relationships? To preface the song "I'll Live Yesterdays," Lee says: "Seems we're always doing something to hurt each other, but you know: you never really hurt me until the fourth verse of this song." His lyrics recall faded memories of a love that's over, and how there seems to be no life in the world anymore. "If there's no tomorrow for us, then I'll live yesterday," he sings. Lee Hazlewood's music takes me on a journey every time I hear it. Sometimes that is a fun, sappy place. Other times it is a lonely, bitter place. And while he may finally be giving Sleepy Gilreath a little business, Hazlewood's music will be around long after we're all gone inviting listeners to visit a town called Trouble. The preceding was reprinted courtesy of Marshall Avett and the Jackson Progress-Argus. MARSHALL LAW from the Jackson Progress-Argus August 8, 2007 Releases 
 See My Shopping CartLinks The official Lee Hazlewood site A great Hazlewood fan site |
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