Natalie Merchant: Motherland. Bath Forum 11/11/2023

Later Than Laugharne.

I had a text from my friend Sian this morning, ‘Come over to mine, bring some wine and sandwiches’. I needed to get out of the house, so went to the supermarket and then the bus stop where I found there was no bus for an hour, so I got a taxi to Sian’s house in Warminster. I noticed how wonderful the trees looked at this time of year, and it felt good to get out and about. After a pleasant few hours at Sian’s I decided to head home before dark. At the bus stop I found it was 18 minutes until my bus back to Westbury. To pass the time I walked across the road to the Blue Cross charity shop and had a mooch through the second-hand books. Most of them were the usual rubbish you come across, but just as I was losing interest, I noticed this slim volume of poetry called Later Than Laugharne by Aeronwy Thomas- Ellis. It was a first edition of her first book of poems from 1976, and also a signed copy. Aeronwy was the only daughter of Dylan Thomas, probably the greatest Welsh person of the 20^th century. There are photos of Aeronwy on the front and back covers in which you can see the resemblance to Dylan.

I was especially pleased to find this book because its title immediately took me back more than 50 years to January 1973. I was in my final year at Teacher Training College. It was during final teaching practice, and I should have been studying, but me and three friends went to Tenby for the weekend. We visited nearby Laugharne and Dylan’s house which was called The Boathouse. It was a weekend that I’ve never forgotten. Anyway, I thought the book was a bargain for £4.00, So I paid the lady and made my way back to the bus stop. I read a few of the poems on my way home and liked them very much indeed. You can’t detect any influence of her genius father in the words, there is no imagery like ‘starless and bible black’, instead the words are simple and sparse, as if unnecessary words have been thrown away. They have a kind of Zen-like simplicity. The poems actually reminded me slightly of another poet I admire called Gary Snyder.

When I got home I looked up Aeronwy on Wikipedia and found out that she sadly passed away in 2009 aged 66. Finding this book today was a reminder to me of how much I used to enjoy book hunting for rare editions. I had my own little online bookshop; I don’t think I made any money out of it but found some very nice books. On the bus on the way home I resolved to get back into my book dealing because everyone needs a hobby and an interest don’t they, especially when you are my age and have lots of spare time. I’ll let you know when I find some more interesting books. Cheers.

PS, I added a video of Van Morrison singing For Mr Thomas below if you want to hear it.

Van Morrison - For Mr. Thomas

More Than A Whisper, Celebrating the Music of Nanci Griffith.

It has rained here for days on end, but I have been quite content to stay indoors with my books and music. Today I thought I would tell you about a wonderful album of music that arrived here yesterday. It is called More Than A Whisper, Celebrating the Music of Nanci Griffith. A few days ago a good friend of mine sent me a link to a song by Steve Earle called It’s A Hard Life Wherever You Go. As you know, I am a big fan of Steve and I immediately loved this song, and the sentiment behind it. It also had an Irish feel with the uilleann pipe playing of Ivan Goff and mentions of Belfast. I decided I needed to hear the whole album, especially when I saw that it was packed with songs by some of my favourite artists. I ordered it online and it arrived 48 hours later.

Nanci & John Prine.

The cover has a nice photo of Nanci composing one of her songs. In the sleeve notes Mary Gauthier writes an eloquent tribute to Nanci. Mary also sings the title track which is superb with a wonderful string arrangement. You may remember I wrote a piece about Mary when I bought her album Mercy Now a few years ago. (See below for a video of Nanci’s original version) The opening track is You Can’t Go Home Again. I expect Nanci got the song title from a book by Thomas Wolfe. Sarah Jarosz sings the song and as well as her vocals I love the pedal steel guitar playing of Larry Campbell. As you probably know Nanci died just over two years ago, only a year after another much missed singer, her good friend John Prine. John sings one of my favourite Nanci songs Love At The Five & Dime. It is a duet with Kelsey Waldon who I didn’t know anything about until yesterday, but I love her voice. 

Billy Strings & Molly Tuttle perform the next song Listen To The Radio. It is only the two of them on guitar and vocals, but the guitar picking is sublime. No wonder he is called Billy Strings. Emmylou Harris is one of my all-time favourite singers and she sings Love Wore A Halo (Back Before The War) The fiddle playing and accordion are great. Trouble In The Fields is an emotional sad song by Lyle Lovett & Kathy Mattea which tells the story of a couple who have to sell their John Deere tractor and do its work themselves. John Steinbeck would have liked this song!. I don’t know anything about Brandy Clark, but I should do after hearing her sing Gulf Coast Highway. I do know Shawn Colvin who sings Outbound Plane because I have her album A Few Small Repairs. I see that Nanci wrote this song with Tom Russell, another great singer-songwriter. 

I definitely haven’t heard of Ida Mae before who perform Radio Fragile. It has an experimental sound with keyboards, synthesizers and percussion. Late Night Grande Hotel features Aaron Lee Tasjan on piano and vocals, and I see Patty Griffin sings harmony vocals. The sound of a car driving away announces the arrival of Ford Econoline by Todd Snider. Willie Nelson’s granddaughter Raelyn Nelson can be heard on backing vocals. The wonderful Iris Dement plays piano and sings Banks Of The Pontchartrain. This excellent album is brought to a soulful climax by The War & Treaty singing Nanci’s best-known song From a Distance written by Julie Gold. I think I have heard this album about five times now and I can honestly say that I have enjoyed hearing every single song. If you like Americana style music I think you will enjoy it as well. It is a fitting tribute to a much-loved great singer and songwriter.

nanci griffith-more than a whisper

10,000 Maniacs - Hey Jack Kerouac

The Scripture Of The Golden Eternity

'I have lots of things to teach you now, in case we ever meet, concerning the message that was transmitted to me under a pine tree in North Carolina on a cold winter moonlit night. It said that Nothing Ever Happened, so don't worry. It's all like a dream. Everything is ecstasy, inside. We just don't know it because of our thinking-minds. But in our true blissful essence of mind is known that everything is alright forever and forever and forever. Close your eyes, let your hands and nerve-ends drop, stop breathing for 3 seconds, listen to the silence inside the illusion of the world, and you will remember the lesson you forgot, which was taught in immense milky way soft cloud innumerable worlds long ago and not even at all. It is all one vast awakened thing. I call it the golden eternity. It is perfect. We were never really born; we will never really die. It has nothing to do with the imaginary idea of a personal self, other selves, many selves everywhere: Self is only an idea, a mortal idea. That which passes into everything is one thing. It's a dream already ended. There's nothing to be afraid of and nothing to be glad about. I know this from staring at mountains months on end. They never show any expression, they are like empty space. Do you think the emptiness of space will ever crumble away? Mountains will crumble, but the emptiness of space, which is the one universal essence of mind, the vast awakenerhood, empty and awake, will never crumble away because it was never born.' 

~Jack Kerouac