Wednesday, January 26, 2011

Ramblin' Man: Hayes Carll To Open For Levon Helm

When you're writing songs for Guy Clark, who's songs have been recorded by Johnny Cash, Vince Gill, Alan Jackson, and The Highwaymen, you know you're doing something right.

This afternoon, I received an email from Levon Helm Studios listing the dates for the next set of Midnight Rambles taking place at Levon's barn/studio/home in Woodstock, NY.  The list of dates includes the artists that will be opening for each of the shows.  Included as the opener and guest on February 12th, which is amazingly the 201st Ramble hosted by Helm on his property, is Texas singer-songwriter Hayes Carll, a name that I expect many of you don't recognize.  I don't know alot about Carll, other than that it looks like his first and last name got swapped, that he is the songwriter I mentioned at the start of this post, and that his song 'Wish I Hadn't Stayed So Long' has existed on one of my Grooveshark playlists for well over a year. 

Like all songs that end up on this playlist, I first heard it on Pandora on one of several custom stations I've created over time to discover new music.  When I like a song I hear on there, I make a note of it and add it Grooveshark so I can then listen to it on demand.  Doing some research tonight on Carll, I learned that before graduating from Hendrix College in Conway, Arkansas in 1998, he began writing songs influenced by Bob Dylan, Kris Kristofferson, John Prine, Jack Kerouac and Dead Poets Society. Looks like I was on to something with Hayes.

With my pleasant surprise in seeing Carll's name in my email today, I decided that I would introduce to you the song that introduced him to me. 

Hayes Carll
Wish I Hadn't Stayed So Long




If you like what you hear, Hayes Carll will be opening for Jason Isbell at the Bowery Ballroom in April.

Bonus Content:

1 comment:

DeIsland said...

Thanks for getting the blog going again, always a great read!! I dig this Carll dude too...