{"id":24480,"date":"2026-01-04T07:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-01-04T07:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/aata.dev\/?p=24480"},"modified":"2026-01-11T09:02:04","modified_gmt":"2026-01-11T09:02:04","slug":"january-4th-2026-songwriters-invisible-angels-by-peter-pearson-norman-warwick","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/aata.dev\/index.php\/2026\/01\/04\/january-4th-2026-songwriters-invisible-angels-by-peter-pearson-norman-warwick\/","title":{"rendered":"January 4th 2026 Songwriters & Invisible Angels by Peter Pearson & Norman Warwick"},"content":{"rendered":"
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SIDETRACKS AND DETOURS<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

WISH A HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL OUR READERS<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n

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Norman Warwick: writer<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

Sunday 4th<\/sup> January 2026<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Part 1 of a new series<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Songwriters and Invisible Angels<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

created and written by<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Peter Pearson & Norman Warwick<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Peter Pearson. Americana correspondent <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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CONTENTS<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n

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SONGWRITERS<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Going Driftless by Peter Pearson<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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INVISIBLE ANGELS<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Burning Fingertips by Norman Warwick<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

songwriter logo<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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SONGWRITERS: Chapter 1<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

GREG BROWN GOING DRIFTLESS<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

by Peter Pearson<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Greg Brown<\/strong> (left)<\/strong> is probably better known by his fellow Americana \/ roots singer songwriters than by their supporters in the States. Outside the States he is probably almost unknown, except possibly in Holland.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I mention Holland<\/strong> because americana music and artists are very popular there. Many USA artists tour Holland<\/strong> without visiting the UK or the rest of Europe. Chip Taylor’s<\/strong> fan club is located there, he regularly performs there and his memoir and CD was titled Songs From A Dutch Tour<\/strong>. Other fairly obscure USA americana artists  are very popular in Holland. Artists such as David Olney, Eric Taylor<\/strong> and Tim Grimn<\/strong> have always had it on their tour schedule.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Brown<\/strong> played Whelan’s, Dublin<\/strong> in 2015 and Northern Ireland in 2015: both for the first time in his career. He stopped off at Italy on the same tour. However, I can find no evidence of him appearing anywhere  here in mainland UK. For the most part he has maintained a low profile outside of his home state of Iowa, where he and his wife, singer songwriter Iris Dement (right)<\/strong> are roots music royalty. So, how did I first hear of him? Well his name has cropped up over the years in music magazines, (of which I am an avid reader) but I probably first heard the name of Greg Brown<\/strong>  via many of the more famous names in the folk\/roots genre who have covered his songs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You may have heard his music without knowing it via Shawn Colvin’s<\/strong> cover of  0ne Cool Remove<\/strong>, or Willie Nelson and Carlos Santana<\/strong> duetting on They All Went to Mexico<\/strong>. There are many more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Greg Brown<\/strong> was born and raised in Iowa in 1949.His mother played the electric guitar, his grandfather, played the banjo, his grandmother was a poet, and his father was a Pentecostal preacher. As the family moved between churches (and even denominations), Greg became exposed to all types of music;  gospel and hymns, classical, hillbilly, rock and roll, country, and blues. At six he took up the pump organ and at twelve he learned the basics of guitar from his mother, who was also an English teacher\u2014so books and poetry were always around the house.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From an early age he wanted to become a musician and got his first break opening for folk singer Eric Anderson<\/strong>, who took a shine to him and invited him to New York City to play the coffee shops in Greenwich Village. <\/strong>Like so many before and after him, it was here that he learned his trade.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It wasn’t long however before homesickness drew him back to Iowa where he gigged around as part of a duo  In 1974, they played a live set at a Rockford, Illinois<\/strong> club that was recorded for an album, Hacklebarney,<\/strong> which sunk without a trace.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 \u201cIt wasn\u2019t very good,\u201d<\/em><\/strong> he said, \u201cbut that was OK, because not very many people heard it.\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

He recorded a couple of albums on his own (44 & 66 <\/strong>and The Iowa Waltz<\/strong>), which failed to impress the major labels but brought him to the attention of the national radio show, A Prairie Home Companion<\/strong>, and paved the way for national touring.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was around this time, the early eighties, that he came into contact with a local promoter, Bob Feldman.<\/strong> Together they established their own record label, Red House Records<\/strong>, which has become a legendary highly regarded folk roots label, releasing nearly all of Greg’s 27 albums over a 30 year period.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Greg Brown<\/strong> has a gravelly baritone voice, (so deep you can imagine him singing Old Man River<\/strong>), a powerful and idiosyncratic stage presence (in live performances he will often break into a scat  mid song) and a catalogue laced with poetic, storytelling songs that have been widely covered by more famous names. His music is best described as a mix of old school blues, country, and folk.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Asked to describe his musical profile he says,   “the term I really like, which is never used anymore,  but I think it describes people like me, is songster.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The songsters were what a lot of people think of as the old country blues guys. They recorded country blues but they did a real variety of songs. That’s what I think I am: a songster.”<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

As to the creation of those songs he remarks. “They feel to me like presents, to tell you the truth; the songs do. Obviously, I love music and songwriting and I’m into it. I listen to a lot of music, read a lot of books and I love language and music; all that stuff. I mean I’m into it; I work. But, the songs themselves, I don’t really know where they come from or how they happen. They feel like gifts, really.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The lines in the songs reflect his love of literary figures such as Walt Whitman<\/strong> and Thomas Hardy<\/strong> and beat poets such as Gary Snyder<\/strong> and Lawrence Ferlinghetti<\/strong>, of whom he says “I like that guy. I think I learned a lot about the free and flowing use of language by reading his poems when I was younger.”<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2003 I attended a Joan Baez<\/strong> concert in which she previewed songs from her new album, Dark Chords On A Big Guitar<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Up to that point I knew almost nothing about Greg Brown but was much taken by the two songs which she introduced as written by him; Sleeper<\/strong> and  Rexroth’s Daughter<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The album title is taken from a line in the latters lyrics. I resolved to track down his albums and in particular his then most recent 2000 album Covenant,<\/strong> which contains the song Rexroth’s Daughter.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Twenty five years after release the album has come to be regarded as Greg Brown’s<\/strong> masterpiece and Rexroth’s Daughter<\/strong> the song which has come to define his artistic talent. In the brilliantly poetic lyrics Brown tells us he’s “looking For Rexroth’s daughter”,<\/em> who in the final lyric is a “friend of a friend of mine”<\/em>. Along the way in the lyric “Clouds roll in from Nebraska, dark chords on a big guitar\u2019 <\/em>is used as part of the backdrop to his quest.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Kenneth Rexroth<\/strong> (1905-1982, right<\/strong>) was a beat poet who actually had two daughters and was brought up in Brown’s Iowa. Brown<\/strong> has never revealed the meaning behind the mysterious lyrics. Some have suggested that its about getting in touch with his muse.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The famously grumpy and outspoken Rexroth<\/strong> is said to have remarked to a critic attempting to analyse his poem set to Eric Satie’s classical music piece Gymnopedie<\/strong>“Its a love song you idiot”. Maybe that is just what it is!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Whilst some of Gregg\u00b4s studio albums after Covenant <\/strong>are a little difficult to get to grips with, the lead- in material is not.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 1985 he released In the Dark With You,<\/strong> an acoustic classic. In 1986, he set poems of William Blake\u2019s Songs of Innocence and of Experience<\/strong> to music on a critically acclaimed album of the same name.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One Big Town<\/strong>  (1989) earned him his first Indie Award for Adult Contemporary Album of the Year, as well as a rave review in Rolling Stone.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

His 1990 album, Down In There<\/strong>, contains some fine material.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Worrisome Years<\/strong> and it\u00b4s opening track,  If I Had Known<\/strong>,  are worth the album cost on their own.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The  1992 studio album Dream Caf\u00e9<\/strong> contains some great songs, including the other Baez<\/strong> cover, Sleeper<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Later in this series I will feature the late Bill Morrissey<\/strong>, another little known and neglected singer songwriter who was a friend and contemporary of Brown<\/strong>. The two recorded Friend Of Mine<\/strong>, an acoustic duet album in 1993. It’s an acoustic album of rock and roll and blues covers with some original versions. It was nominated for a Grammy<\/strong> and they toured the album together, spending their free time indulging in their shared hobby of fishing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Poet Game<\/em><\/strong>, received critical acclaim and significant airplay in the States and features the beautiful ballad, Lately<\/strong>, together with the much covered title track.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Slant 6 Mind<\/strong>,  released in 1997, received a 1998 Grammy<\/strong> nomination. It features the excellent song, Spring And All<\/strong>, covered by Mary Chapin Carpenter<\/strong> on the Brown tribute album, Going Driftless.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Slant 6,<\/strong> like so many more of Greg’s albums, features long time friend, sideman guitarist and sometime producer, Bo Ramsey,<\/strong> who also moonlights in Lucinda Williams<\/strong>‘s band.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His music and vocal delivery is something of an acquired taste. It has taken me a long time to appreciate some of his later works but there are points of entry.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Covenant <\/strong>is one, as is Dream Cafe<\/strong> but perhaps the best starting point is the 2002 all female songwriter tribute album, Going Driftless<\/strong>. It features such luminaries as Mary Chapin Carpenter, Gillian Welch, wife-Iris Dement, Lucinda Williams and his daughters Pieta, Zoe<\/strong> and Constie Brown<\/strong>. The album, for which royalties go to the breast cancer fund, kicks off with an exquisite Lucinda Williams<\/strong> version of Lately<\/strong> and contains most of his best songs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was around 2002 that Greg encountered soon to be third wife, Iris Dement, at a Colorado folk festival where she was about to take the stage with John Prine<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Greg<\/strong> recalls the incident in an interview for Little Village Music Magazine, <\/strong>saying \u201cIris was standing there with a paper plate having her supper, and she looked at me and said, Here, you finish this, and she just handed me her plate. Well, you just don\u2019t do that, really, unless you\u2019re gonna marry somebody. Even I \u2014 who\u2019s pretty thick about those sorts of things \u2014 understood exactly what was going on. I took that paper plate, and within a few months we were married.\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, they don\u2019t sing together; either onstage or in the studio. He says, “Iris tells me she just can\u2019t sing with me. It\u2019s simple, really. She told me she likes my voice, but I never sing anything the same way twice. I\u2019m incapable of it. And she can\u2019t deal with it. She can duet, with, say, John Prine,<\/em><\/strong> because he\u2019s sings pretty consistently, but that\u2019s not my strong suit. So, just as Iris and I go out and tour separately, we also don\u2019t perform together.”<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Greg<\/strong> has released several live albums. One that I would recommend is his 2004 release, In The Hills Of California<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The 32 song double CD release album consists of acoustic live performances over a six year period at the Kate Wolf Festival in northern California.<\/strong> Whilst the performances were recorded at different times you would not notice it. It runs as if it were a single performance with an interval.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Amongst the stellar list of accompanying musicians is Kate Wolf’s<\/strong> guitarist, Nina Gerber<\/strong>. The album opens with a spoken verse setting the tone from Beat Poet Gary Snyder<\/strong>, titled  For All<\/strong>. “Ah to be alive on a mid-September morn<\/em>“<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The album then segues into Brown’s secular spiritual composition, Wash My Eyes<\/strong>. The whole album has a relaxed feel to it making you feel that he were sitting playing on the living room couch. As well as featuring  some of his finest compositions there are covers of Kate Wolf<\/strong>‘s Tequilla And Me<\/strong>, Lennon and McCartney’s<\/strong>  Don’t Let Me Down<\/strong> and Smokey Robinson’s-You Really Got a Hold On Me<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The more I have explored Greg Brown<\/strong>\u00b4s  catalogue the more I have become appreciative of his later works.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Freak Flag 2,<\/strong> released in 2011, is an album that has grown on me with repeated listening, with its own  interesting back story.\u00b4<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When he started work on what would be his 24th album, it was with some trepidation. \u201cI wasn\u2019t sure for a while that I would do any more recording,\u201d<\/em><\/strong> he confessed in an interview, \u201cthe business is in shambles. But I thought well, hey\u2014maybe it would be good to put another one out\u2014tender songs for these harsh times.\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

He entered the studio with long-time production and sideman Bo Ramsey<\/strong> to record his first all-digital album. As fate would have it, a lightning strike destroyed the studio and most of the recordings before they could be backed up. Around the same time, Bob Feldman,<\/strong> his long time partner at Red House Records<\/strong> died, resulting in a move to a new record label, Yep Roc.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Relocating to a new studio he wrote a batch of new songs, saving only the title track from the originals. This is my personal favourite.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Anyone familiar with wife, Iris Dement<\/strong>‘s version of Let The Mystery Be might have some difficulty recognising Greg<\/strong>‘s version on this album.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The song, Flat Stuff<\/strong>, is slow to the point of being almost spoken but it seems to work, not least given the help of a signature guitar solo from Mark Knopfler. Following release, the album received critical acclaim with some saying it was one of his finest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Given all this, why isn’t Greg Brown<\/strong>  more well known? Even in the somewhat niche folk roots singer songwriter world, he was a somewhat enigmatic figure. Well, he has avoided Nashville and only recorded for a niche indie record label. Whilst in his early years he has featured on national radio, people have short memories. Rather than extensively tour the national and international circuit he has tended to stay put in Iowa playing at local venues such as The Mill Restaurant <\/strong>and performance space. It was here before a crowd of probably no more than 100 that he recorded his only DVD,  Last Night At The Mill<\/strong>,  in 2003 . It marked the 40th anniversary and closing of the popular venue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Brown <\/strong>and his four-man band perform two songs about the place, (Down At The Mill<\/strong> and Good Night Ol\u2019 Mill<\/strong>),  and a local figure briefly visits the stage to read an Ode To The Mill<\/strong>. The facility\u2019s co-owner, whom Brown mentions in one of the songs, even joins in on harmonica.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2019,coinciding with the Covid pandemic, Greg Brown<\/strong> officially retired from touring and performing-though not writing. He played a few local and benefit gigs up to 2023 after the pandemic, but no more since.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He has not however been entirely inactive following retirement. In 2024 he  published a Songbook\/Autobiographical Memoir, Ring Around The Moon<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Greg Brown<\/strong> still writes poetry and the occasional song but that’s it as far as music goes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You’ll find him now on streaming sites including Spotify and Youtube.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n

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INVISIBLE ANGELS:   Chapter 1<\/strong>b<\/p>\n\n\n\n

MICKEY NEWBURY: BURNING FINGERTIPS<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

an interview replayed by Norman Warwick<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The interview I conducted three decades ago with Mickey Newbury<\/strong>, writer of great songs, at York Barbican felt spell-binding and revealing to me. I therefore revise here the article, first  published in a small press magazines in the UK in the nineteen nineties,  here in Sidetracks And Detours<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Anyone who still doubts that Elvis Presley<\/strong>  really was The King should take a look at the endless list of great songwriters who shamelessly pitched material in Presley\u00b4s direction, knowing that anything he decided to record would become heard far and wide and would very probably also become a source of regular royalties. How ironic then that for one such writer on my playlists having Elvis cover one of his compositions would become more of a millstone around his neck than a milestone in his career. American Trilogy<\/em> gave Elvis a massive, career-reviving hit that also became a fixture in his live performances, with the song and late singer remaining indelibly associated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For its writer, Mickey Newbury<\/strong> , however, American Trilogy<\/em>, (right)<\/strong> had been a one off project, totally untypical of the rest of his catalogue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Indeed, although credited as its composer, Newbury <\/strong>was happy to relate that what he had actually done was collate three \u00b4traditional\u00b4 American songs (belonging in the public domain) into the massive ballad now so familiar to us all. The staggering success of Presley\u00b4s recording could not lessen the writer\u00b4s resolve to continue composing material in his own uniquely sensitive style.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Newbury<\/strong> had been around a while, listening to Hank Williams, Willie Nelson<\/strong> and Townes Van Zandt<\/strong> and that music mogul and public alike exhorted him to transpose other American classics such as Shenendoah<\/em> <\/strong>mattered little to him. He would keep on keeping on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nevertheless, Mickey Newbury<\/strong> took four different songs simultaneously into the charts for R and B, Country, Easy Listening and Pop.  Little wonder, then, that artists as diverse as Jerry Lee Lewis, Ray Charles, Lyn Anderson<\/strong> and Kenny Rogers<\/strong> as well as Andy Williams<\/em> (left)<\/em><\/strong> were amongst countless singers covering his work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He made albums of his own, but desp\u00ecte having what I rate as one of the truest, and most accurate voices in country music, he made little impact with the either the RCA<\/strong> or Mercury<\/strong> record labels until the eventual re-packaging of the It Looks Like Rain<\/em><\/strong> album became something of a collectors\u00b4 item. Even after Presley<\/strong>\u00b4s 1972 hit with American Trilogy<\/em><\/strong>, Newbury<\/strong> continued throughout the decade to release albums not only to critical acclaim but also, sadly, to public indifference.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Don Gibson<\/strong> (right)<\/em><\/strong> scored with Funny, Familiar, Forgotten Feelings,<\/em><\/strong> as later would Tom Jones<\/strong> in the UK. Another composition from this period was not only a massive success at the time but so also was I Just Dropped In To See What Condition My Condition Was In.<\/u><\/em> In fact, the song become a perennial novelty song, (as almost every year since, it has been included on one compilation album or another), when recorded by Kenny Rogers And The First Edition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Later compositions would also become country standards such as San Francisco Mabel Joy<\/strong> and She Even Woke Me Up To Say Goodbye,<\/strong> though for me Newbury\u2019s<\/strong> own renditions will always remain the definitive recordings. There were further recordings on the Elektra<\/strong> label with Live At Montezuma Hall <\/strong>perfectly illustrating that he deserved fame as a performer as well a writer. His remarkable off the wall banter with the audience oddly counterpoints a collection of what Johnny Cash<\/strong> sang of as \u2018Newbury pain songs\u2019 in The Highwaymen<\/strong> recording of Songs That Made A Difference<\/strong>. Here Cash<\/strong> places Mickey Newbury <\/strong>in the illustrious company of Steve Goodman, Kris Kristofferson<\/strong> and Bob Dylan as their generations\u2019 most important commentators.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Newbury<\/strong> has, since his military days, visited Britain only infrequently and sadly a music tour scheduled in 1992 had to be cancelled due to a family bereavement. I had a feeling then that my last chance to see Mickey Newbury<\/strong> in concert was gone, but some time later, Wally Whyton,<\/strong> on his BBC Radio 2 country music programme made an important announcement about a forthcoming visit to the UK by Don Williams<\/strong> (left)<\/em><\/strong> . The support act on this tour, listed on all its pre-publicity simply as \u00b4plus support\u00b4,<\/em><\/strong> was to be none other than Mickey Newbury<\/strong>!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Whyton<\/strong> even spoke to Williams<\/strong> via a trans-Atlantic phone link and Williams sounded excited, as only he can (!?) at the prospects for the trip and was effusive in his praise of the pure talent known as Mickey Newbury.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I thankfully caught the first leg of this tour, for I always held great respect for Newbury<\/strong>\u00b4s writing and vocal abilities. However, I was also greatly intrigued to hear not only whether he had new material, but also how he might re-tread his earlier paths.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some years previously, on an independent label, in what was then a daring and innovative move, Newbury <\/strong>had taken some of his best loved songs like Cortelia Clark<\/strong> and San Francisco Mabel Joy and re-laid them in a spacious, ethereal bed of new-age music that elevated, for me, both the musical format and even his songs. Mickey Newbury\u00b4s music even today still reminds us of the fearless musical pioneer he always was.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By this time, though, I had read Roland Barth and had interviewed some incredible songwriters and made my own interpretations of some of their comments and advice. I began to take on board some of those comments and realised I could form my own interpretations of what phrases such as \u00b4when writing a song we must intend it for light years of travel.\u00b4,<\/em> and I pondered at length on Barth\u00b4s \u00b4death of author\u00b4<\/em> theories.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I was always taken by references to songs as being invisible angels<\/em> who bring aphorisms of inspiration to those willing to receive them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When I\u00b4m listening to music familiar or new to me I often take a line or simply a \u00b4feeling\u00b4 of how important the song has become to me. I heard those invisible angels in several songs by Mickey Newbury<\/strong>, including Cortelia Clark<\/strong> and others about \u00b4star-crossed lovers\u00b4.<\/em> Actually, I could maybe even make an argument that An American Trilogy might be a message from an invisible angel, especially when we look at USA poli8tics today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But with the indifference and disrespect too often typical of a British country audience his five song set was met with scarcely polite applause by the very few who had left the heaving theatre bars. Sitting bathed in a single-spot, Mickey<\/strong>\u00b4s all black clothing merging into the surrounding darkness, his voice soared achingly across the void, \u2013 and I cried again, as I had for years and years, \u2013 over San Francisco Mabel Joy !<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

During the interval Mickey<\/strong> signed autographs and posed for photographs with the relatively few fans in this mainstream audience who seemed to know, or even care, who Mickey Newbury was. As the P.A. announced that Mr Williams was about to take the stage everybody slipped back into the hall to contentedly clap along to Don\u00b4s easy listening interpretations of great writers like Patrick Alger. To be honest, Don Williams<\/strong> himself has written some good songs and has even brought country music to a wider audience, but Mickey Newbury<\/strong>, the genius, was pretty much ignored. Sometimes I despair.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Meanwhile, warning us most of what he would say was to remain off the record, Mickey Newbury<\/strong>, (left<\/strong>), held myself and Ian Johnson<\/strong>, from Stampede Promotions<\/strong> and our pal, \u00b4Record Store Joe\u00b4<\/strong> enthralled with affectionate stories about friends such as Steve Goodman (right),<\/em><\/strong> Kris Kristofferson<\/strong> and Townes Van Zandt. <\/strong>This conversation traced the roots of country music all the way back to the chain gang and press gang chants that were the songs that formed the basis of American and British folk music. This music touched on the lot of the Native American and the changing states of society over the centuries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After over an hour of the four of us trying to define \u00b4the perfect song \u00b4(the names of Townes, Stephen Foster and even Cat Stevens <\/strong>being frequently mentioned), Mickey invited me and Ian back to his dressing room for what I hoped might be a more formal interview on the record.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It had been over twenty years since his best songs had emerged, almost immediately after which he entirely quit performing, and to all intents and purpose quit recording too. How had Mickey Newbury<\/strong> and those songs changed since then, I asked him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00b4Great question. You can take petals off a rose, let them dry put and then put them in a bowl to create a fragrance in a room. So, like that rose, a song can change and yet remain the same. Is that too vague? Everyone grows and everyone changes. We remain basically who we are but hopefully we learn a little bit along the way about how to control who we are.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00b4However, one of the problems I have with my most staunch fans, is that they think I must have answers simply because I have questions. Like in Saint Cecelia,..<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Crying \u00b4I\u00b4m unfeeling,\u00b4 she turned into her shell.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I said \u00b4how can I be Jesus, I\u00b4ve just begun myself<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

to find my own way back?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

At times, I think I know me well.\u00b4<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Or I could have said I think I know<\/em><\/strong> you well.  Everybody says I think this is true or I know that is true. But what I\u00b4m saying there, is three or four things at the same time.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00b4I think I know<\/em> me wel<\/em>l.\u00b4<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

But at other times a stranger is standing where my body fell.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00b4Blessed be the heavenly, to hell with all the rest<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Her salvation is her virtue<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

But her sin is her emptiness.\u00b4<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Because if you avoid the world, and avoid facing yourself, then what virtue is there in that?\u00b4<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

So does he learn something about Mickey Newbury<\/strong>, I wonder, with every song he writes?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00b4Absolutely. My song is my priest and my psychiatrist, always has been. I used to write a song and think it was completed. Now I know a song is never completed.\u00b4<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00b4I write spontaneously, Norman, and you\u00b4re a writer, so you know what I\u00b4m talking about, that things come out of the subconscious mind that are infinitely better than what comes out of the conscious mind, which only retains 15% of its input anyway. There are several layers of sub-consciousness for greater powers. You know you can try to explain this to someone but there is no way in hell you can make them understand. It\u00b4s like I can take this fully lit cigarette and stub it out against the tips of my fingers <\/em><\/strong>(he does so as we watch and wonder when he will start screaming!) and you ask \u00b4is it hot?\u00b4 or you think I must have control of my mind over matter. Nope, I don\u00b4t have that control but I have played guitar almost all my life and my body, in self-defence, has built up dead tissue on the pads of my fingers, which we call calluses, so I don\u00b4t feel that cigarette. Now the same thing can happen to you spiritually or emotionally. You can choose to build up those calluses to keep from feeling pain, but the trouble is then that you don\u00b4t feel anything at all, so you have to make a choice. Do I feel the pain and peel away the calluses, or do I leave them, to protect me from the pain? Writing songs is like peeling off all that hardened skin.<\/em><\/strong><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nevertheless, I had to ask this man, who had chain-smoked throughout the interview, how he copes with the pain he must undergo in writing them. His writing is so searching, his questions so unanswerable at times, that his heart must surely break each time he writes a new song.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The conversation moved on and rued the fact that I hadn\u00b4t asked whether he had ever shied away from a writing a \u00b4difficult\u00b4 song for fear of those burning finger.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We were left to assume that he had built up a similar protection around his heart when writing those songs from his soul.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Newbury<\/strong> went on to explain, in stream of consciousness fashion, about the spirit world, the energy of sound waves and civilisations in the world of space and of how songwriters have to tap on to such intelligence-carrying radio frequencies, in a convoluted dialogue that seemed to echo John Stewart\u00b4s<\/strong> assertion that all songwriters are \u00b4radio receivers\u00b4 who simply transmit the songs they receive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mickey <\/strong>continues, \u00b4Its amazing how many times I\u00b4ve met with writers with whom I have had no previous contact, only to discover we have been writing on the same subjects. Whether this is because of some input or forces external, I don\u00b4t know. However, I would believe in those external forces because we know of early or remote civilisations who had no awareness of or contact with each other who nevertheless produced similar arts.\u00b4<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This talk seems to simultaneously remind both Ian and Mickey<\/strong> of one of Newbury\u00b4s<\/strong> songs called Bless Us All<\/strong>, off the Dusty Tracks<\/strong> collection, and somewhat disconcertingly given the nature of the conversation, they begin to recite its lines in unrehearsed unison.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00b4Blessed dreamers, always searching,<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

their eyes wide open, seeking an answer,<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

huddled with their backs turned on the others,<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

their gain is their loss<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

for now they have no questions.\u00b4<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, via a somewhat circuitous route, Mickey Newbury <\/strong>has returned  us to his opening thoughtthat songs are not answers but are questions. I ask him what then is the \u00b4obligation\u00b4 of a songwriter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00b4The duty of a songwriter is first of all to rid himself of whatever is inside, because the process of song writing is a catharsis. He is forced to be a songwriter for himself.  Now, if he writes something that goes against his grain, because if he sees his image as something other than what he is then he is not able to admit what he is, which all of us are afraid to try.\u00b4<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00b4So he will reject things. It\u00b4s like leaving food in a refrigerator which gets old and spoils everything else in there. So, you write everything you feel inside you and then you analyse it to see whether it is of positive or negative nature. The songwriter\u00b4s obligation then is the intellectual one of determining whether the song he has written will help someone or hurt someone. Now, I wrote a suicide song one time, and it was a great song,\u2026but it made my mother cry so I promised her that it would never be heard and I would just forget it, even though it was a great song\u2026. And I can\u00b4t, I won\u00b4t, remember it and I haven\u00b4t played it to this day.\u00b4<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

And somehow it seemed that Mickey Newbury<\/strong> had answered my un-asked question.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Black clothed, grey haired and pale faced, Newbury\u00b4s body \u00b4carries the reminders of every blow that laid him down\u00b4 but tonight is convinced he has pneumonia. However, he remained fiery and vibrant, and few interviewees have ever given such insightful and provocative responses to my questions. So, as the Don Williams<\/strong> encores fade away, and the tour bus driver revs impatiently on the pedal, we draw the interview to a conclusion with me askingMickey whether he applies all this criteria to his current song-writing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00b4Absolutely. I\u00b4ve been writing all these years, even since I retired in a way, until I was ready to start performing again, because the only way my songs are going to be heard is if I perform them, because they\u00b4re too long for others and not commercial.\u00b4<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fearful that one of his real heroes may never record again Ian Johnson<\/strong> seeks reassurance that there is a recording deal on the horizon. He breathes a sigh of relief at Newbury<\/strong>\u00b4s twinkle-eyed, nudge nudge affirmation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00b4Yeah,\u2026 and I\u00b4ve got nine years of songs ready. I\u00b4m probably better prepared than I ever was.\u00b4<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ian <\/strong>closed the conversation by asking just why, apparently so abruptly, had Mickey<\/strong> \u00b4retired\u00b4 from the music industry eighteen years earlier?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00b4To raise my children properly. All my friends who stayed in the business screwed up one way or another, and being a songwriter, family man and father don\u00b4t mix. Now my kids are nearly all grown I\u00b4m proud of them and I\u00b4m ready to go again.\u00b4<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In my opinion, he wrote some of the saddest songs we\u00b4ve heard, and yet their effect on the listener can be oddly uplifting,\u2026. Cortelia Clark, San Francisco Mabel Joy <\/strong>and so many others, are songs of integrity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sadly, though, the tremendously exciting prospect of him recording new material never came to fruition because Mickey <\/strong>died only six months after sounding so confident about the future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nevertheless, a whole constellation of country music\u00b4s star interpreters have since taken the opportunity to acknowledge the debt country music owes him and the likes of Gretchen Peters<\/strong>, herself the wonderful writer of Bus To St, Cloud<\/strong>, have covered Mickey\u00b4s<\/strong> songs even since his death.. So those readers unfamiliar with his work, steel yourselves to listen to something that although at first you might not recognise as \u00b4country\u00b4 (or Americana) you will quickly realise that Mickey Newbury wrote across the past, present and future of Americana music.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, other than the man himself, the finest interpreter I have heard of what Willie Nelson<\/strong> called, in one of his own compositions, \u00b4Newbury pain-songs<\/em>\u00b4, is a lady called Kasey Jones<\/strong>. She took on Mickey\u00b4s<\/em><\/strong> songs and recorded them in a husky, jazzy, bluesy voice and adopted as her own some of his greatest songs from the soul. Her 2006 self-released album in tribute to Mickey Newbury<\/strong> was very positively reviewed by David McPherson in American Standard Time.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n

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With a voice that wavers with eternal beauty from a bygone era, Kacey Jones<\/strong> uses her powerful pipes to pay homage to her favuorite songwriter, and one of America\u2019s greats: Mickey Newbury<\/strong>.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

While Jones<\/strong> is best known as a comedienne and has a gift for making people laugh, she also has a sensitive side. Her 15 renditions of Newbury<\/strong>\u2019s songs here are sure to make you cry with their sorrow. Newbury was a legendary Nashville songwriter, and Jones helps preserve the late songsmith\u2019s memory. The disc opens with the tender Song Of Sorrow<\/strong> and from this blissful beginning Jones takes the listener on a journey of Newbury<\/strong>\u2019s poetic nuances as her delicate delivery gives one time to soak in each and every word of this gifted songwriter, while concurrently admiring Jones\u2019 vocals.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Newbury<\/em><\/strong>\u2019s songs possess a soul that comes alive when the words are sung, and luckily for music lovers, Jones<\/strong>\u2019 tribute captures this soul and ensures it stays alive just a wee bit longer. From the tender Lie \u00b4To Me Darlin’ <\/strong>to the touching and dreamy Goodnight,<\/strong> the passionate poems Newbury <\/strong>created are recreated by Jones<\/strong> with the same drips of soul to ensure they are not forgotten and remain an integral part of the American songbook.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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SONGWRITERS & INVISIBLE ANGELS<\/strong> CHAPTER 1<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

tracks specially recommended for readers of<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

SIDETRACKS AND DETOURS <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

by Peter Pearson and Norman Warwick <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

side one <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

selected by Peter Pearson, Americana Correspondent<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n

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From Covenant album all songs written and performed by Greg Brown unless stated<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00b4Cept You And Me Babe <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rexroth\u00b4s Daughter<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Real Good Friend<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Blues Go Walking<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Waiting On You <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Living in a Prayer<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dream City<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lullabye<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Blue Car<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Walking Daddy<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pretty One More Time <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wedding Chant<\/p>\n\n\n\n

from Worrisome Years album all songs written and performed by Grege Brown<\/strong> unless stated<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

If I Had Known <\/p>\n\n\n\n

from Friend Of Mine album by Brown & Morrisey Brown & Bill Morrisey all songs written and performed by Greg Brown unless stated<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

from The Poet Game Album all songs written and performed by Greg Brown<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lately (also check for several covers of this song)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

from Slant 6 Mind album Spring and All with all songs written and performed by Greg Brown<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Spring And All Joan Baez <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Copies of Going Driftless<\/strong>, a tribute album to Greg\u00b4s work by a plethora of excellent artists, and his live album, In The Hills Of California<\/strong>, might be a little harder to find these days but your search would be well rewarded.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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<\/p>\n\n\n\n

side two <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

selected by Norman Warwick, (below left) biographer and freelance journalist<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n

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from Frisco Mabel Joy album<\/strong> all songs written \/ arranged and performed by Mickey Newbury<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

American Trilogy<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Frisco Mabel Joy<\/p>\n\n\n\n

American Trology performed by Elvis Presley <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Shenandoah<\/p>\n\n\n\n

from the Dusty Tracks album all songs written and performed by Mickey Newbury<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cortelia Clark<\/p>\n\n\n\n

from the album Kacey Jones sings the songs of Mickey Newbury<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Song Of Sorrow<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lie To Me Darlin<\/p>\n\n\n\n

GoodNight <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Spotify create radio mixes which place your search request in a playlist of like minded, like soundinartists, and as I browsed through that for this article I found myslef nodding my approval as i saw the names of the likes of Warren Zevon, Justin Townes Earle and John Hiatt all included in the Mickey Newbury Radio Mix alongside Little Feat, Tom Rush and Jackson Browne<\/p>\n\n\n\n

SONGWRITERS AND INVISIBLE ANGELS<\/strong> CHAPTER 1<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

GOING DRIFTLESS WITH BURNING FINGERTIPS <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n

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<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Peter and Norm<\/strong> coninues with eight more quarterly chapters still to come.. We will also publish several  occasional  editions of Sidetracks  & Detours<\/strong>,  as well as Pass It On Listings<\/strong>, throughout the year, and of course will inform you of publication schedules for Songwriters & Invisible Angels<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Send your article on a word document attachment to normanwarwick55@gmail.com<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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to be published on SUNDAY 1ST February<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Festive Fare And Festivals<\/strong>: A Huge Success<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Edited by Norman Warwick<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

comprehensive coverasge of the 42 Internatioanl Canary Islands Classical Music Festival<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

&<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Conciertosde Yaiza Naturaleza Sonara <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

featuring<\/p>\n\n\n\n

an exlusive interview with <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Duo Opus 22<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

&<\/p>\n\n\n\n

a full review of live performance by<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lula Mora<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

SIDETRACKS AND DETOURS WISH A HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL OUR READERS Sunday 4th January 2026 Part 1 of a new series Songwriters and Invisible Angels created and written by Peter Pearson & Norman Warwick Peter Pearson. Americana correspondent CONTENTS SONGWRITERS Going Driftless by Peter Pearson INVISIBLE ANGELS Burning Fingertips by Norman Warwick songwriter logo […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":24703,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-24480","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorised"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/aata.dev\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24480","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/aata.dev\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/aata.dev\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aata.dev\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aata.dev\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24480"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/aata.dev\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24480\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24925,"href":"https:\/\/aata.dev\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24480\/revisions\/24925"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aata.dev\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24703"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/aata.dev\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24480"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aata.dev\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24480"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aata.dev\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24480"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}