Gary Heffern's new album 'Consolation' now available on CDON.com!
Check out Gary's new video 'La La Land'. Video credits: directing, cinematography and production
Janne Huotari / Wolf Productions
Liner notes from 'Consolation':
"There’s an Elvis Costello song called 'Man Out of Time' and that title is always one I’ve thought applicable to Gary Heffern. His voice, his pensive songs, and his outsized personality suggest a simpler and earlier era. Like the struggling men and women in the short stories of Raymond Carver, or the figures sitting at diner stools in the paintings of Edward Hopper, the characters in Heffern’s songs exist in a noir-ish netherworld of an uncertain time but one that surely is not ours. They drift and struggle in a place where the simple concept of consolation exists as a salvation.
Heffern is a songwriter’s songwriter, which is one of the reasons his work has always commanded so much respect from other musicians. Many stellar names contribute to Consolation including musicians from such noteworthy bands as the Screaming Trees, Young Fresh Fellows, Love Battery, Walkabouts, Built to Spill, Motels, Mad Season, and Tuatara, among others. Even when Heffern is singing with Alejandro Escovedo or Mark Lanegan, both of whom take vocal turns here, these collaborations come off as a further explorations of the Heffern’s worldview.
Nine of the thirteen songs here are Heffern originals but even the four covers have a melancholy. On 'All His Children' Heffern takes a forgotten song from the over-looked film 'Sometimes a Great Notion', and turns it into an anthem of longing. Considering that Heffern’s voice is at times reminiscent of both Johnny Cash and Nick Cave, it is no surprise to see him take on a Merle Travis song, or to take a refrain from Gram Parsons. Still, Heffern’s cover of Bruce Springsteen’s 'Growin’ Up' is such a re-imagining that it now sounds like it came off Nebraska rather than Springsteen’s 1973 debut.
In Heffern’s own songs there is a constant struggle between darkness and light, between failed dreams and reckless prayer, between a world where all hope is lost and one where a consoling friend offers a sliver of deliverance. Even on a song as haunting as '(I Am Your) Destroyer', which sounds like Iggy Pop could have written it, there is still a core of sweetness among the ruins. 'That’s the Beauty (Of the Little Things in Life)' truly rings with a ghost: It was written in Seattle’s Comet Tavern on the very night that Gits’ singer Mia Zapata went missing (and later turned up murdered). Not only a remarkable time piece, 'That’s the Beauty' demonstrates Heffern’s skill at creating a story arc that celebrates the fragility of life at the same time it bemoans it. It’s the kind of re-framing that is uniquely Gary Heffern and part of what makes Consolation a career-defining album.
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Comments on Jesse and his works are welcomed.
"The test of the integrity of a poem, or any work of art, may be, simply: does it lead, in the end, to freedom, or does it merely expand the arena of confinement? A voice from the outside, truly, is what we need to hear. Even a single word. Even something that is not a word, but suggests such a word."
Hi Gary Heffern! Eddie's CD, "Wanna Go Back" is available now on Amazon, and ! Eddie hand picked and performs new versions of 12 classic hits that were all songs that he loved playing as a kid when he was growing up!!!
wow , its been a long time !!!! do you remember me at all . We
exchanged comments way back when. I recently got a camcorder and have
been putting together videos for my songs , THis is my first ,
"Another Successful Breakfast"
Im amazed at how it came out, of course im pretty easily entertained ,
hi, how are you doing? i wanted to stop by your page and let you know what has been going on in my life.....the new album i just finished with charlie sexton in austin is available for pre-sale by clicking the banner at the top of my page.....i just left wisconsin and landed in the south east....lots of great things are happening.....we just shot a new video in nashville, it is the single from the album .......hope you will check out both.....here is the link to the video....let me know what you think about it if you get a chance to watch it.....
...choose your freedom...art by Jutta Gabriel
…please click on the pic and vote for…”…choose your freedom…”…only one vote…no login…give me ten stars please…thank’s…wish you a funny wednesday…with much love and peace…xoxox…LG Jutta
this is just a quick note to let you know that this is the last chance to get a physical copy of my first album "Pretty Boys and Ugly Girls".
I'm going to release my new album this fall (subscribe to my blog if you want to be informed!) and the first one will then be only available as a download version.
So if you prefer a proper CD - like I do! - a record you can really hold in your hands, with all the artwork and stuff - this is your chance! :-)
Grab your hard copy of "Pretty Boys and Ugly Girls" now on CD Baby while stocks last!
Online Now!
