My musical hero Dave Alvin (aka the Voice in Raylan Givens’ head) has committed authorship again (a book of poetry was published in 1996). You can bet it’ll be in hand as soon as it rolls off the press.
Celebrated singer-songwriter and guitarist Dave Alvin is, first and foremost, a storyteller. The Grammy winning artist’s disarmingly well-crafted lyrics represent just one of the many expressions of his unique ability to capture the gritty and beautiful moments of life with the written word. This anthology of his writing is a companion piece to Dave’s considerable musical output, and presents a staggering cross section of his work. New Highway includes a generous selection of his celebrated poetry; excerpts of his moving prose; newspaper articles and essays on artists including Frank Zappa, Bo Diddley, and Ray Charles (which earned Dave a Grammy nomination); tributes to influences such as Merle Haggard; a long-lost interview with Buck Owens; and, of course, a carefully curated representation of his inimitable lyrics. Packed with rich imagery and poignant observations, New Highway follows Dave’s previous collections Nana, Big Joe & the Fourth of July, and Any Rough Times Are Now Behind You: Selected Poems & Writings: 1979-1995. If you know Dave Alvin for his music, this collection will give you deeper insight into the heart of an artist whose pen knows no boundaries.
Publishes in May 2022.
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The full-length trailer for Y: 1883 has dropped.
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Spent a couple of hours on Friday with the guitar, out with the truckers and the kickers and the cowboy angels revisiting some classic Gram Parsons.
Between GP and the news from Dave Alvin, I was smote with a spate of nostalgia for my Southern California roots. Ol’ Frederick Russell Burnham will be back there as well by the end of Part III of the series on The Frontier Partisans Podcast. Maybe I should re-watch L.A. Confidential. It is a Christmas movie, after all.
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Got a couple of fine pieces of plunder set for giveaway to Frontier Partisans patrons on our Patreon page. One is Burnham-related, the other is related to Pontiac’s War, the next series in the podcast.
Sign up at Patreon to support Frontier Partisans and get in on the fun.
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Had a long conversation with Captain Schwertfeger on Saturday morning. He was knocked out by The Bush Runner and plans to write a post (or several) on that old rogue Pierre-Esprit Raddison and his world.
Pierre-Esprit Radisson was one tough coureur du bois.
Sounds to me like we all better put this one on the list for Badass Santa. And we might as well fire up some appropriate music to accompany:
Speaking of Radisson, reader Westley+Wu mentioned an old YA book by Sterling North titled Captured by the Mohawks, which was one of those books custom-built to light a fire of adventure in a youngster. Hadn’t thought of it in years:
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Christmas is a significant holiday for Clan Cornelius; we do enjoy the trappings of the season. I, however, have very limited tolerance for “Christmas music.” These work for me:
Biathlon is back. Sweden’s Sebastian Samuelson scored back-to-back sprint victories to start the season in Ostersund, Sweden. This despite a miss, which means he skied unbelievably fast.
“I am not sure [how I won with one mistake],” Samuelsson said. “I am surprised that I could win a race with one mistake here. I am at loss for words; it is amazing. I am very happy and proud of my performance. I knew that one mistake is not optimal in a sprint, so I had to do a good standing shooting I am happy I did it with I think some pressure. Then I think my final loop was something very special.”
Lisa Theresa Hauser of Austria won the first women’s sprint — her first World Cup sprint win.
Greg+Marshall says
If you’re jaded by mall Christmas music, try “A Tapestry of Carols” by Maddy Prior. Also “Feasts and Spirits” by Finest Kind, if you can find it.
Have a find Christmas season.
JimC says
And to you and yours. Thank you.
Matthew says
I used to work at a grocery store. Ever December they would play Christmas songs constantly. It was so annoying particularly since there are only so many songs that they could play so you would hear the same song multiple times a day. I particularly hate “Santa Baby” and one about giving your heart to someone at Christmas (I don’t know the title.) I went from just not being concern with Christmas music to hating it.
Stephen Fox says
I’ve you liked Bush Runner you’d dig Immortal Scoundrel; The Story Of Etienne Brulé. Pretty much mandatory reading up here in Ontario.
JimC says
You had me at the title.
David Wrolson says
I have a thing for “O Come O Come Immanuel” and “Angels from the Realms of Glory”:-in fact, I almost think of “Realms” as kind of Frontier/Empire song-LOL.
I asked Santa for the Bush Runner book.
I have one in the TBR that I want to read before I post on it as podcasts with the authors mention various kinds of Frontiers in an interesting way.
JimC says
OK, I’m duly intrigued.
Matthew says
Off topic, but a fifteen minute podcast about Native American folklore on youtube.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1N0pcWS8mlE
lane+batot says
You are working as an inside instigator for Amazon, ain’t you, Jim? Thanks to this, and other recent posts, I was FORCED to extend my limited(?) budget, and order 4 books over it! How could I resist “The Cowboy And The Cossack”; “Etienne Brule, Immortal Scoundrel”; “Bushrunner”; AND “Captured By The Mohawks”? My one excuse is that, as an obviously reincarnated Coureur De Bois(not just portraying one on film–ahem!), I simply could not resist! My book herd is totally out of control, stampeding all throughout my shack, but some slight order prevails, in as various species of book do tend to flock together. I DID, at last, resort to an entire bookshelf(already CRAMMED!) to contain only those books I have YET to read(no simple “book stack” could accommodate the numbers of those, anymore…..), and a nice chunk of those are thanks entirely to the “Frontier Partisans”! I hope yer happy! And Amazon gives you a commission! Don’t think for a moment that I neglect the “already read” books–I still regularly pull out past reads for rereads–it’s just what one must do….I mean, does one only listen to a favorite song or piece of music once? Of course not!
JimC says
Perish the thought! I ain’t freelancing for no
Hudson’s Bay Co.!East India Co.Amazon! I encourage every order to go through Paulina Springs Books.Or the indie of choice.
lane+batot says
I believe you, Jim! You realized, I am sure, my tongue was super-glued to my cheek!
JimC says
Oh, aye! Just havin’ some fun, as we do here at the campfire. It’s all fun and games till someone takes a hot coal to the crotch…
lane+batot says
Ha! But you gotta still be careful sometimes–computer communication comes without all the ingrained knowledge of primate facial and body expressions that further define one’s communication, and you never know when someone’s gonna git inadvertently offended!
JimC says
That is VERY true.
Reese Crawford says
If you’re looking for non standard Christmas music, Michael Martin Murphy’s cowboy Christmas album is good.
JimC says
That sounds great.