Unspeakable: The Collected Lyrics of Joe Henry

 

“There was a question somewhere asked with all the answers inside, but I’ll never find the kid before she’s gone.” _{(The Tallest Man on Earth)}

 

You might think it strange to start with someone else’s words in a celebration of a book with lyrics from another musician. But the mystery of the above words by the ‘Tallest Man On Earth’ grasp my feeling today. And; I find it strange to use for such a celebration, the same words we are celebrating.

 

I received a box..

 

It was delivered at our house just in time to wave at us while we drove towards the French seaside.

Today we returned, and with a box on my lap, and our happy cat by my side sleeping (He is happy that everyday life is restored for him) I sit down with a coffee, and I opened the box…

In it this extraordinary book. 

Unspeakable: The Collected Lyrics of Joe Henry, 1985–2020.

 

 

It was an emotional experience I must admit. Reading it brought memories back alive, and I noticed, the longer I read, the beginning of my hands trembling. For example, I once started these journals entitling this space after one of Joe’s songs.

 

If you fear the angels above while you sleep
Then I'll be the blood, you paint on your door
Your dream is a worry that nothing will keep
But time is a story and there will be more

 

 

But I don’t experience it as an assembly of lyrics, poems, or songs (whatever seems appropriate). It is its whole that touches me. It is one. The universe I’m carrying on my lap is a life to its date. Longer than the 34 years it spans. There is also the unwritten history before. There is always the road before the map.

 

Humbly I bow and I wonder how Joe reacted when he checked out at the counter of the beautiful wooden archive of song, and suddenly receiving from the clerk this package of acknowledgements. I imagine I would feel the need to sit down, for it would be to overwhelming.

 

As I can think of birds flying as poetry, I also see this beautiful book in the same regions, and I’ll seek in it from time-to-time comfort, answers, questions, … life. But I’ll never find the kid before she’s gone.

 

Congratulations Joe!

Much Love,
Stefan

 

Unspeakable: The Collected Lyrics of Joe Henry, 1985–2020.

By  NAZRAELI PRESS 

UNSPEAKABLE: The Collected Lyrics of Joe Henry, 1985–2020

 Dear all, 

I don't know whether I'd call it exciting news, wonderful news, great,... . I find it definitely not 'just' news. I'll go for beautiful news. 

Joe has announced the release of a book collecting 182 of his Lyrics.

Unspeakable: The Collected Lyrics of Joe Henry, 1985–2020, is a compilation of lyrics that, when “raised by the waters of melody,” created a body of work that established the American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer as an American creative force. The volume features lyrics to 182 songs from Henry’s fifteen albums produced between 1985 and 2020, and nineteen additional songs written for, and with, other artists, such as Roseanne Cash, Mose Allison, and Billy Bragg. The volume also includes 18 black-and-white photographs made by the artist during this same time period. (source)

 

Beautiful news in terms of poetry, life's work, human-being, life, art, and so much more. Joe himself explains :

I found it surprisingly emotional to gather these songs ––to consider them now as a unified body of work. Every one of them, after all, and for a time in my life, was my all-consuming occupation, carrying within it not only my aspirations for it as a singular incantation, but standing each to represent a pilgrim’s progress: the state of my so-called artistry, for better and worse, richer and poorer. Until the next one came along.

The most startling thing for me to witness now from this vantage point is how uniformly these songs all grapple with the things I am still speaking to: our shared humanity as it is thrown into relief by both hope and suffering, and the redemptive power of love over every aspect of our lives. (Joe Henry via the official website) 

Besides the 'standard' version you can also purchase a limited edition (250 copies, signed and numbered) in a custom cloth slipcase. 
pre-order it at nazraeli press . At the same webpage you'll find also some more previewed pages. 

 

Everyone who has been following Joe's work over the years, knows that lyrics are only a portion of his creative writing. Besides wonderful interviews, written conversations there are wonderful essays, poems, and so much more. 

I, for one,  am pleased that his writing is getting the deserved spotlight, and I'm looking forward to more possible future publications. 

Much Love,
Stefan 

 

 

Pre-order the 'BIG EARS KNOXVILLE (book project)'

As announced earlier Joe wrote an essay for a forthcoming photobook about the Big Ears Festival. 


Big Ears Festival is a Festival in Knoxville. This year the festival will take place from 21-24 March. The photobook will be presented during the festival.

To celebrate 10 years of Big Ears, the art and music festival in Knoxville, Tennessee, AC Entertainment, Rock Fish Stew Institute of Literature and Materials, Southern Documentary Fund, and Hat & Beard Press worked closely with artist Kate Joyce—who photographed the festival, the people and surrounds of Knoxville over the last five years—to create a captivating time capsule, both of the last five years of performances at Big Ears and of the lyrical and visual language of Knoxville.

Between 2014-2018 more than 200 artists and bands performed at Big Ears. During the five years that Joyce traveled to Knoxville for the festival, she photographed some of them, but not nearly all of them—for good reason, as you’ll soon read. Of those she did photograph, a number found their way into the book. Among them are the bands Algiers, Eighth Blackbird and Kronos Quartet, musicians John Luther Adams and his wife Cynthia, Bryce Dessner, Wu Fei, Rachel Grimes, Levon Henry, Julia Holter, Little Annie, Wu Man, Grey McMurray, Guy Picciotto, Terry Riley, Omar Souleyman, Susanna and Abigail Washburn, composer Jóhann Jóhannsson, and conductor Steven Schick with the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra.

on top of that : the book also will give you exclusive streaming access to a selection of audio recordings from performances at Big Ears between 2014-2018.

Joe performed there together with Marc Ribot in 2016. (A concert I wished I could have witnessed.)



You can now pre-order the book. Shipment is announced for late March 2019.

Greetings,
Stefan

Big Ears Knoxville (Book project)

Exciting News !

Photograher Kate Joyce is working on a photobook with photo's made during the Big Ears festival 2014-2018.

The book will consist of approximately 90 photographs, a download card with a selection of audio recordings from performances at Big Ears between 2014-2018, and essays by Rachel Grimes and Joe Henry.

The photographs were made under the influence of music. The book is a distinct visual experience that developed out of, and exists precisely because of, Big Ears.

More than 200 artists and bands have performed Big Ears between 2014-2018. During the five years that I traveled to Knoxville for Big Ears, I photographed some of the people on this list, but not nearly all of them. Of those I photographed, just a few will be in this book. I heard many of the performances, many were memorable and a few were life changing. I photographed during some of these performances, but most of them were un-photographable (better heard than seen). Sometimes I only photographed a sound check or rehearsal.

During my time at Big Ears, I also walked around Knoxville, leaving the theaters and clubs to make pictures on the streets. As I wandered, my mind remained tethered to the musical event.(Kate Joyce)

Find all the info on her website : https://www.kate-joyce.com/big-ears-knoxville-2018

In 2016, Joe Henry performed at the Big Ears Festival together with Marc Ribot.  

Special guest at book signing 'A life in Pursuit'

Update 17 March, 2017 : Joe's Presence has been cancelled.

@stefan77 @JoeHenryMusic @BookSoup Sorry to say Joe won't be able to make it. Unavoidable conflict. But his spirit & some of his words will!

— Lloyd Sachs (@Sachsville) March 15, 2017

JH will be a special musical guest at book store 'book soup' during a booksigning of the book 'T Bone Burnett, A life in pursuit. '
Event takes place on March 30.

Author of the book Lloyd Sachs will be discussing and signing the book on March 30 (7p.m.).

source

Book Soup

8818 Sunset Boulevard

West Hollywood, CA 90069

Documentary on 'the Making of Bitter Tears' in Amsterdam

 

To be screened in Amsterdam, 18-29 November.

And now a post about a documentary based on a book, that inspired re-interpreting the album the book was based up on.

Are you still following me ? And how is Joe Henry involved in this ?

Let me explain, it will all come clear quickly.

Joe Henry produced the album : Look again to the wind : 'Johnny Cash's Bitter tears revisited'. (2014) This album is a re-interpretation of Johnny Cash's album Bitter Tears.
Among the artists on that album are Emmylou Harris, Steve Earl, The Milk Carton Kids,...

The original 'Bitter Tears'(1964) was a concept album  where Cash concentrated on the harsh and unfair treatment of the indigenous peoples of  North America.

The history of that album is written in  Antonio d'Ambrosio's book entitled : A heartbeat and a guitar : Johnny Cash and the making of Bitter Tears.

And now Antonio d'Ambrosio continued working on this history and made a documentary.
We're still here : Johnny Cash's Bitter Tears Revisited

The film is based on Antonino D’Ambrosio's acclaimed book A Heartbeat and a Guitar: Johnny Cash and the Making of Bitter Tears, The book tells the astonishing story behind Cash’s little known concept album and his unique collaboration with unknown folk artist Peter Lafarge. With this still largely unknown recording, Cash placed himself in the middle of the fervent social upheavals gripping the nation at the time. Cash faced censorship and an angry backlash from radio stations, DJs, and fans, for speaking out on behalf of Native people on "Bitter Tears: Ballads of the American Indian." He decided to fight back. The book inspired Sony Masterworks to reimagine Cash’s highly controversial 1964 record on its 50th anniversary that included musicians Kris Kristofferson, Steve Earle, Emmylou Harris, Norman Blake, Nancy Blake, Gillian Welch, Dave Rawlings, Joe Henry and Rhiannon Giddens, have breathed new life into Cash’s visionary record, which came out four years before the American Indian Movement took over Alcatraz, four years before Cash performed at Folsom and six years before he recorded “Man in Black.” D'Ambrosio chronicled all of this in a new documentary that unfolds as a meditative mystery called We’re Still Here: Johnny Cash’s BitterTears Revisited.

(source)

We're Still Here: Johnny Cash's Bitter Tears Revisited

- See more at: https://www.idfa.nl/industry/festival/program-sections-awards/music-documentary.aspx#sthash.P85cwKSb.dpuf

Among the artists featured in this film, are also the artists on the Joe Henry produced 'Bitter tears revisited'.

I have no idea if Joe will be seen in the film, or if he was involved in it more personally,  but  this documentary, and that album are connected to each other in some way I think.

Read more about the book and album on the Joe Henry Blog.


This documentary will be screened at the Amsterdam IDFA documentary festival (November 18-29) The screening schedule will be released on November 5th.

Edit :
Screenings on November 20, 22, 24, 25 and 28.

Screenshot :

Live from High Fidelity Podcast

Live from High Fidelity has a fantastic podcast, with, an almost 3 hour long, conversation with Joe Henry and Jay Bellerose.

Post by Live from High Fidelity Podcast.

Divided in 2 parts, you can listen to a wonderful conversation between these 2 friends/musical brothers and hosts Tom DeSavia & Eric Gorfain. Hear them speak on how they met, how it all began and evolved for them.

But also a wonderful insight on the inspiration, creation and recording of Joe's album 'Reverie', and the story behind writing Richard Pryor's Biography.

The podcast is availably at iTunes.
(The 2 parts are the podcasts released on 12/21/14)

JH interview about 'Furious Cool'

Austin, Texas based KUT news has an interview with Joe on the book Furious Cool, a biography of Richard Pryor. Joe wrote it together with his brother David Henry.
The book was released last year. 

Dave Henry Interview

KETVideos has an interview with Dave Henry on youtube.

He talks primarily about the book 'Furious cool', but also about working with his brother, and ends with a short bit about the movie 'pleased to meet me'.

Furious cool : Reviews

The Irish Times.
David and Joe Henry make plain their love for their subject without ever drifting into hagiography. The result is an intelligent and beautifully written book, which is full of heart and which rescues Pryor’s legend from the unfortunate, fat Elvis period of his later movie career. It sent this reviewer scouring the house for an old DVD copy of Richard Pryor: Live in Concert to enjoy again the man in all his heartbreaking, broken brilliance.

villagevoice.com

"We didn't set out to write the definitive cradle-to-grave biography of Richard Pryor," say the Henry Brothers, "We chose to go exploring, mine the soil out of which he grew . . ." Despite the Cultural Studies disclaimer, the authors — brothers, one a screenwriter, the other a musician — have fashioned Pryor's unruly tale into a coherent narrative with a lot of respect to the context. They investigate the story that Pryor's grandfather got crushed between railroad cars in 1925, and they interview natives of Pryor's unlikely hometown — Peoria, Illinois, for God's sake — demonstrating along the way how inappropriate a simplistic documentarian approach would be for such a contradictory, profane-yet-profound figure. Or let's say curious fool.

chortle

The creative slump was perhaps inevitable, and Pryor’s decline into unwatchable movies is acknowledged, though not dwelt upon, in the book, as the Henrys seek to polish his professional reputation, not tarnish it, even while acknowledging his deep failings as a decent human being.

Their passion provokes in the reader a renewed admiration for such groundbreaking work, and if anyone who knew Pryor more for Superman III than his comedy seeks out his stand-up after reading their book, their job will be done.

the spectator

"every page carries something either appalling or amusing — Furious Cool is an energetic contribution to the written history of stand-up comedy."

Laphams Quarterly podcast
(an interview with Joe and David Hery)

theprojectroom podcast
(an interview with Joe and David Hery)

undercovers
It’s a must read for any Pryor fan and may create plenty of new ones who will watch any Pryor DVDs or movies they can find.

Find more reviews on God is in the details' review page

The Joe Henry Conversation

One for the archives....

Last february, there was an episode with Joe Henry on 'Compared to what podcast'.
The 'Compared To What Podcast' is produced by Charlie Hunter and Mocean Worker.



Topics covered during the session :
 - The book Joe and his brother David had out, about Richard Pryor, ”Furious Cool-Richard Pryor And The World That Made Him”
- Discovering Jazz as a kid , Joe’s having grown up in suburban Detroit the son of a father in the auto industry.
- The making of Joe’s album “Reverie” and the importance of sound in recordings and everyday life in general.

 from the site :
Lastly this description would be useless without mentioning the great Little Jimmy Scott. Mostly because Little Jimmy Scott is truly an American Treasure. ( Joe and Mowo! have also worked with him. ).

The podcast is still online. Listen to it here