“A fool doth think he is wise, but a wise man knows himself to be a fool.”
- William Shakespeare/As You Like It
I didn't want February to get away without recognizing that it is the 37th anniversary month of Texas singer/songwriter/troubadour, Blaze Foley. Foley was shot and killed on February 1, 1989 in Austin, TX. He was 39.
Blaze Foley was a lot of things, probably best captured by the godmother of Americana music, Lucinda Williams, in her song about him, Drunken Angel:
Followers would cling to you
Hang around just to meet you
Some threw roses at your feet
And watched you pass out on the street
Some kind of savior singing the blues
A derelict in your duct taped shoes.
Ethan Hawke directed a movie about him in 2018. Blaze.
He wrote a song called Clay Pigeons. It's one of those songs that speaks to the forlornness that we feel at times. People love the song. It touches something that we feel but can't name. That's what the great songs do.
John Prine very rarely recorded other artist's songs. Why would he need to? But he recorded Clay Pigeons. That says all that needs to be said.