The Kitchen Musician ~ July, 2007

Hello Friends,

Welcome to the July edition of The Kitchen Musician, my occasional newsletter in which I let you know what I am up to, and share a song with you.

At The Center for the Arts in Natick, photo Phil Knudsen

This spring and summer I have been musically active. After a long (lots of years) absence from the “music scene” I have reintroduced myself to listeners via Boston area open mics. These are informal musical evenings where musicians gather in non-professional settings. Fellow musicians and others are always supportive, so it is a good way to try out new songs and to smooth the musical wrinkles. As a result, I was invited to do an extended set in June at Main Streets Market & Cafe in Concord, MA. Main Streets is a good place to perform, and with a bar and great menu, it is also a wonderful place to hear music too.

Upcoming Shows

PLEASE NOTE TIME CHANGE FROM MY PREVIOUS NEWSLETTER

My daughter Mally and I will return to Main Streets Market and Cafe in Concord Center for an 8:30 pm set on Thursday, July 26. Our 45 minute set is as the guests of Two For the Show, a wonderful duo who perform country, folk, swing and original music. If you are coming for dinner, I suggest you call ahead for a dinner reservation, or arrive early if you’d like to eat before our set. “Two for the Show” music starts at 7:00 pm, and will extend until 10:00 pm. Mally and I start at 8:30 pm.

Currently, I don’t have any other scheduled shows until January, so if you have any contacts at a prospective venue, please pass along my contact information, or e-mail me at tom@tomsmithmusic.com so that I can contact them.

Talking Post Trauma Blues
© 2007 Tom Smith

In most of my newsletters, I feature a song. This issue’s song is a “talking blues”… a musical form that some describe as an early kind of folk rap. I first became aware of the talking blues from Bob Dylan, Woody Guthrie, Rambling Jack Elliot and others. It is common for talking blues to combine folk humor with political commentary. In “Talking Dustbowl” for example, Woody said that they were so poor they had to water down their soup to the point that it was clear liquid.

Lord, man, I swear to you
That was surely mighty thin stew
So damn thin I really mean
You could read a magizine
Right through it.

Always figured
If that damn stew had been a little thinner
Some of these here politicians
Could of seen through it

~ Woody Guthrie

Back in 2001, NPR “All Things Considered” broadcast an interesting segment about the origin of the talking blues.

Last month, I found myself reading first hand accounts from Iraq veterans and their loved ones living with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Their stories moved me. I followed this up by reading some of the popular media articles which described it as a “hidden injury”, citing studies that suggest one out of every four returning Iraq war vets are bringing home PTSD or related problems. I found myself putting some of their words into a talking blues. I also dropped a few quotes attributed to George Bush into the context of this song. Coincidentally, while putting the finishing touches on this song, a young man and former neighbor delivered a pizza to our front door. He described how his brother, having recently returned from Afghanistan, over-reacted when his friend placed his hand on his shoulder to calm him down during an argument with another man. His reflex reaction included a single punch which killed his friend. He has been convicted of involuntary manslaughter and is now serving time in jail. We wonder if PTSD was why he snapped in the heat of the argument.

I have been sharing this song with others in an attempt to shed some light on this “hidden injury”, hoping to increase resources to support our returning vets, and to help people understand that it is another cost to this damnable war. In addition to singing this song live at local coffee houses, I uploaded a hastily taped video to my web site and to Youtube. Two weeks ago, it was picked up by Neil Young’s “Living With War Today” web site where viewers currently rank it 13 out of 240 videos.

I was tickled when Country Joe McDonald sent an e-mail asking me to send him the lyrics. I have vivid memories of listening to Country Joe in the 60’s when I was contemplating my iminent draft into the Viet Nam era army. If we can get folks like Neil Young and Country Joe to sing this song, perhaps we can put a close to this war a tad sooner. Compare my talking blues with a few of those from whom I have learned, shown below.

Woody Guthrie singing “Talkin’ Dustbowl”

Bob Dylan singing “Talking World War III Blues”, Newport Folk Festival

Jack Elliot singing “Talking Merhant Marine”
Written by Woody Guthrie, 1944

Talkin’ NPR Blues (Click to play audio)

Just to show that nobody is immune to the scrutiny of the talking blues, here is Utah Phillips taking a crack at NPR, singing his “Talking NPR Blues”.

Tom Rush with a more modern spinoff of a (not quite) talking blues, written by Steven Walters.

Many of us in “mid life” can relate to this song.

Thank you for reading my newsletter. If you know of others who would like to receive future newsletters via e-mail, please send them the link to my contact page at TomSmithMusic.com.