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AUSTIN, Texas — Cold and Bitter
Tears: The Song of Ted Hawkins, due
October
23, 2015 on Austin-based Eight 30 Records,
marks the first tribute album to the
soulful Venice Beach street
performer, a legend overseas later in his lifetime but a songwriter largely
overlooked in the States. Hawkins simply sang like songs were stamped on
his heart at birth. Evidence: High watermarks on the new record such as
“Big Things” (James McMurtry),
“Cold and Bitter Tears” (Kasey Chambers),
“Sorry You’re Sick” (Mary Gauthier),
“Who Got My Natural Comb” (Shinyribs)
and several other classics. Hawkins himself backs the point with the
album’s hidden track, the moving unreleased demo “Great New Year.”
The Mississippi native, who died January
1, 1995 after a hardscrabble life and brief autumnal rise in popularity,
might be gone but he’s clearly not forgotten. Local Americana power trio
including singer-songwriter Kevin Russell
(Shinyribs,
The Gourds), artist manager Jenni Finlay
(James
McMurtry) and writer Brian T.
Atkinson (author of I’ll Be Here in
the Morning: The Songwriting Legacy of Townes Van Zandt)
have lovingly co-produced Cold and Bitter Tears
over the past year with sessions mostly at Austin’s Wire Recording.
Russell has been particularly
enthusiastic about the endeavor. “Ted Hawkins’
songs and his voice were infectiously uplifting to me upon first listen twenty
years ago,” he says. “His unique style, both soulful and folkie, has
haunted me and taught me — so much that I have been on a personal mission
to tell the world about this national musical treasure. The opportunity to
steward this tribute record is a ‘go tell it on the mountain’ moment for me
that I hope can bring greater attention to the songs and recordings of Mr.
Hawkins himself.”
Hawkins earned a following as a longtime
busker on the Venice Beach boardwalk but his unpredictable lifestyle
prevented widespread notice. He made minor critical waves with his debut Watch Your Step
(1982), an album that failed commercially but earned a five-star review in Rolling Stone.
Hawkins scarcely recorded between Watch Your Step
and his major label debut The Next Hundred Years
(1994).
Boardwalk passersby always noticed the
singular singer belting his songs. They stopped cold. Listened. Amazed. “A
lot of street musicians are really good, but there was something about him
that was just pure presence,” says Jon Dee Graham,
who witnessed Hawkins on the beachfront while recording in Los Angeles
three decades ago. “Also, his songs aren’t like anybody else’s. He’s
singing in this huge, soulful voice, ‘What do you want from the liquor
store? Something sweet? Something sour?’ What? So wholly original.”
Imagine blues and country and folk having no dividing lines.
He died at 58 years old the following New
Year’s Day as his star finally threatened to rise. “At the time of his
death, Hawkins remained the greatest singer you’ve never heard,” the Los Angeles Times
obituary read. “Hawkins clearly was transported somewhere else as he sang,
and when he became aware of the audience, he seemed dazed: [Everyone]
applauding wildly, some in tears from the sheer, sad beauty of his songs.”
“When somebody plays in a way you’ve never heard anybody else play, that’s
singularity,” echoes Dave Marsh,
the iconic author and rock critic. “You might be able to imitate it, but
you couldn’t copy it. It would be like trying to sing like Ray Charles.
You can’t do that.”
Track listing:
“Big Things” • James McMurtry
“Cold and Bitter Tears” • Kasey
Chambers and Bill Chambers
“One Hundred Miles” • Tim
Easton
“Sorry You’re Sick” • Mary
Gauthier
“Strange Conversation” • Jon Dee
Graham
“Happy Hour” • Sunny Sweeney
“I Got What I Wanted” • Randy
Weeks
“Baby” • Tina-Marie Hawkins
Fowler with Elizabeth Hawkins
“I Gave Up All I Had” • Gurf
Morlix
“Bad Dog” • Danny Barnes
“Bring It on Home Daddy” • The
Damnations
“My Last Goodbye” • Ramsay
Midwood
“Who Got My Natural Comb” • Shinyribs
“Whole Lotta Women” • Steve James
“Peace and Happiness” • Even
Felker
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