Looking back at it all, I posted some stories where we don't know how it evolved further on. Stories with an open ending.
It seemed a good moment to try and offer the follow-up story, and there was only one person who could offer such insides..., I'm gratefull Joe was open for the idea.
Will you finally read the closure of these stories ? Who knows, but maybe new doors will open...
Signature Guitar.
In oktober 2014 I asked Joe a few questions regarding Vintage Guitars. At the time, there was talk of a 'Joe Henry' signature.
"It is still in the design phase, but Tony (Klassen) and I are working on a model together based on a Regal guitar from the mid-30s, but with variations based on my favorite Gibson guitars –most notably a short-scale."
After that, we never heard anything anymore about it. Today it is totally off the radar. What happened to it ?
JH : This is still an idea that Tony and I kick around; but essentially, I believe he became so busy meeting customer orders (New Era is a one-man operation), that investing time into a new design ––which typically could require the completion of numerous prototypes–– has not yet been feasbile. but I am still open to the process. I love both the guitars he has built for me, and Tony is as well an exceedingly kind man.
Vinyl Records
In an interview in 2015 about Vinyl records, Joe explained that 'Invisible Hour' didn't get a Vinyl release because it was too expensive at the time. We are only a few years later, and both 'Thrum' and 'Shine a light' received their Vinyl release, both with an exquisite artwork. What changed in the meantime ?
post : thoughts-on-vinyl
JH : From my vantage point, what has changed the field a bit is that vinyl records are now significantly out-selling CD's; and as more labels and artists are making vinyl availability a priority, more manufacturing facilities are opening their doors, thus making an LP option less expensive, and requiring less lead time to produce. Not very many years ago, there were only a couple of manufacturing plants in the whole world still pressing music into vinyl grooves, and they were servicing every label’s demand, big and small; and as such it was a pricey proposition. It took a great deal of time from delivering a master to receiving vinyl refs for approval. and some of us just couldn’t reconcile the money or the time.
Is there still chance 'Invisible Hour' is going to be released on vinyl ?
JH : I would sincerely love to have issued “invisible hour” on vinyl, and would still like to. I happen to think it is sonically quite a beautiful recording. Ryan Freeland did exactly what I asked him to do: Catch all the beauty in the collisions of string interplay, and the warmth of our friendship ––and let’s not f... any sounds up just for the sake of doing so. let’s be unabashedly beautiful, if we can manage it.Yes, I’d still love to. but given that I released that record on my own label (in partnership with my management 'Work Song'), it would require an investment from my camp of resources that I’d sooner see going to recording a new album.
Frankly ––the lion’s share of songs for such having already been written, I think.
The growth of the 'Vinyl industry' happened indeed quickly these last years. Even your album 'Shufletown' got released on LP..
JH : Well, I had absolutely nothing to do with the reissue of ‘shuffletown’ onto vinyl. In fact, I didn’t know it had happened ––or was even being discussed–– until someone (No idea who that could've been) posted on social media a new physical copy. I still don’t have possession of one…haven’t heard its remaster, nor a single pressing ref.
OK, I'll make you an offer you can't refuse : Next time you are in our regions, we must listen to it together.
All kidding aside, such issues bring me to the following dilemma. Take for example a listener like me. When I buy music, I'd prefer that the money I invest, is fairly shared towards the artists who made it. Off course musicians, but there is also artwork,... What do you think, is the best purchase to do ? A legal download or streaming format, CD, LP, ... ?
JH : There isn’t a quick answer to this, given that none of us can know, when buying/streaming music, just what deals might be in place for any given artist that might best insure that the revenue stream flows as close to the artist as possible; but I am of the belief (and it is based more on instinct than on research) that vinyl is more typically instigated directly either by an artist and/or in partnership with.
Heath Cullen
It is almost a year ago, when the fundings for musical projects in Australia where made public. One of these projects was a record by Heath Cullen, Joe Henry and Jim Keltner.
post : heath-cullen-jim-keltner-joe
I was wondering, if it was already recorded or planned.
JH : It is a project I still dearly hope to do. Heath and I continue to look for an opportunity of time that works for us both. As well, we collectively have some grand ambition for this project, and a number of very particular people (Jimmy Keltner not least of which) who we are still figuring how to get all in the same room together. We could do it in pieces, of course; but both Heath and I feel committed to at least trying to go for some real-time alchemy, if we can manage it.
Steve Lippman
A Couple of months ago, unfortunatly Steve Lippman passed away.
"He (Joe) became part of the creative team of an ambitious project of mine not yet made."
post : mid-summer-update-2018
JH : The sudden passing of Steve Lippman was and remains a shock to those of us who loved and admired him. Beyond the work he did for me around “tiny voices” and “thrum,” we had been in conversation for years about his desire to make a documentary film around Judy Garland’s seminal appearance at Carnegie hall in 1961. He was interested in me writing the score and curating the period source music. I think Steve’s vision was to not only look at Garland’s powerhouse performance on an historic night, but to look as well at the times surrounding it... that provided its context. It’s a project that was dear to Steve’s heart, and I believe he had every intention of realizing it, no matter how long it took.
Do you think you, or someone else, might do something with the idea in the future ? Perhaps to honor Steve ?
JH : I can’t imagine this ever being undertaken without Steve. It was based on his vision, and a fundamental and wholly personal belief in the transformational aspects of that performance from Judy. Like a poem never written by a particular poet: No one else can step in and imagine its weather system.
Writing in Ireland
So Joe, you had a writing residency in Ireland. Now how do we have to imagine such a residency ?
post : writing-in-ireland
JH : When my wife Melanie and I were on the west coast of Ireland to celebrate our 30th anniversary, in may of 2017, we spent part of our time in the small seaside village of Ballyvaughan, where we happen to have a dear friend living. While there and in a pub one evening, I met the dean of the local Burren College of Art; and he invited me to think about my coming back there for a writing residency. He explained it to me over time that I would have no real obligations other than to show up with whatever it was I was interested in writing, and just…doing it there; be a presence on campus, where I might interact ––as much or as little as I cared to–– with the young art students. In exchange, the school would provide me a studio space at the school, a rental cottage for me and my wife, right by the sea.
Needless to say I jumped at the opportunity. I had an office in which to write, and I showed up there monday through friday, from roughly 10AM until 5:50PM, for a month; and I wrote. a lot of poems and several songs that I think will serve me well. I also did a lexture one afternoon for the students (mostly visual artists) about how I engage with the creative process. and then on the last weekend there, I invited in from Dublin both Lisa Hannigan and Glen Hansard to do a songwriting workshop with me, and then a shared performance that evening, as a benefit for the school.
Never underestimate the power of (creative) people around you. I personally believe that everything that happens in your live is important for your further evolution. It is impossible to measure, but at the same time unpayable. I'm sure your presence had an important influence for those students.
JH : If my presence at the art college in Ballyvaughan had any lasting impact on any student, it would be without my realizing it ––and well beyond my means to quantify its value. I’d like to think it meant something to someone other than me that I was there; but i don’t think I could ever know it.
That is also an aspect of something unmeasurable. The entire trip sounds like a wondeful experience.
JH : It was one of the great autumns of our lives, both Melanie and I agree.
Greetings,
Stefan.
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