Bring Back Shuffletown
How come no one has ever heard of Shuffletown? I'm all the time mentioning it to music people as a record that had a big influence on me in the early 90s when I was struggling to find my voice as an acoustic musician after years of playing fast, hard, and loud, but I rarely meet anyone who even knows Joe Henry, let alone this great album.
It was originally released in 1990, but I didn't get it until 92 or 93 when a good friend gave me a cassette copy. Even thenI couldn't find the CD in the local record stores. And of course this was pre-Internet (at least in the shopping sense).
Evocative of The Trinity Sessions, Shuffletown was recorded live to 2-track tape and produced by T Bone Burnett. The sparse arrangements with instruments like mandolin and violin and muted trumpet draw you into the room and into the beautiful melodies in a way that make the words almost superfluous. But the lyrics are, by and large, pretty great too. Though occasionally vague, they're mostly vivid and compelling without being overly artsy or hifalutin. Shuffletown is easily in my top 10 or so records of the 1990s.
And yet the CD is out of print and I've lost my cassette copy! On the Internet, I can choose among a handful of used copies in varying conditions for about $30 (after shipping), or I can step up to a "collectible" copy pushing $50. There's no (legal) digital source anywhere that I can find. Pandora, Rhapsody, Last.fm . . . . Forget it. Every other Joe Henry album I can listen to on these services or order new, but not my favorite! So what gives?
It reminds me of when we bought a five-speed station wagon several years ago. We had to pay top dollar because it was such a rare car. Then when we tried to trade it in, the same dealer low-balled us because it was such an unusual car. Jeez.
(I know: don't tell me about specialized demand and how time-sensitivity creates an over-supply of exactly one when you've got an odd-ball item you need to move. I'm not looking for rational explanations; I want sympathy!)
4 comments:
Have you gone down to Little Five to see if Wax and Fax has it? I hate that it's out of print because now I want to give it a listen. I had a similar situation with the first Traveling Wilburys album (before they re-released it), but a friend of mine saved a copy for me at the used CD store he managed and it only cost me $5 as opposed to the typical ebay price of about $60.
Keep the faith! :^)
I didn't see it at Criminal Records (where I had a gift card from a gig I played next door at Aurora), but I haven't mounted a full-scale bin hunt. I'm more about whining than taking action!
Patrick! There you are. I had no idea you were back into blogging. Got your fan sign-up and I reciprocated. I'll look for Shuffletown for you. It's in the back of my mind but haven't come up with it yet.
I'll stick this site of yours in my blogroll
Well, Bud Buckley, as I live and breathe! It's good to see you again. Thanks for the blogrollin', man.
I see that your new CD is doing really well and that you're winning awards and getting the recognition you deserve and all that, so good on ya, mate!
Let me know when you're going to tour up this way!
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