A chance to catch a novel performer
“IT’S a long, long way down to Reno, Nevada; it’s a long, long way to your home,” wrote late folk-singer Richard Farina (brother-in-law of Joan Baez) in his much-covered song.
It is appropriate here because one of the native sons of the former “gambling capital of the USA” has a gig at Gosforth Civic Theatre next Tuesday night, courtesy of the Jumpin’ Hot Club.
Willy Vlautin was the mainstay of the alt country band Richmond Fontaine, which ran for 20 years of so after its formation in 1994, releasing 11 studio albums plus several live recordings/EPs, and played the region many times.
Vlautin, the band’s singer, guitarist and songwriter, folded the band “while we were still friends” and subsequently formed the Delines with Amy Boone (currently sidelined after a car accident) and others.
He has more in common with Farina than the Reno connection.
Farina, who was only 29 when he was killed in a motorcycle crash in 1966, was also a poet and published novelist aside from his musical career with his wife Mimi Baez. Vlautin’s own conversion from songwriter to novelist has resulted in five published novels and his work has attracted widespread plaudits from writers and critics alike.
The books are set in the western US that he is familiar with and are populated by real folks with lives that reflect some harsh and troubled experiences not gained in a creative writing course.
The newest novel, Don’t Skip Out On Me, is officially released next month (although copies should be available at his show) and is accompanied by a Richmond Fontaine soundtrack CD.
Vlautin’s show is both music and words – he is accompanied by Corkbased pedal steel guitarist David Murphy – and will, apart from readings from the new novel, include another facet of his career when he discusses the newly released film Lean on Pete (from another of his books of the same name).
On Monday night, the great Irish fiddler Martin Hayes brings his quartet and a new album to Sage Gateshead’s Hall 2.
Hayes was born into a musical family in County Clare and won the first of his Irish fiddle championships at the age of 13.
He has been based in Chicago now for more 30 years and his many musical collaborations have frequently included long-time guitarist Dennis Cahill. The pair operate as a duo and also worked together in the band, The Gloaming.
Cahill is joined in the new quartet by Liz Knowles (violin/viola) and Doug Wieselman (bass clarinet) and Hayes seems proud of the new album, released last October, The Blue Room.
The title is a reference to the said room in the historic Bantry House, County Cork, where the album was recorded.
Describing the process, Hayes said: “We sat in a circle in that beautiful