by Anonymous

"Blaze Foley" 1984





















Blaze Foley was an obscure and virtually unheard of singer-songwriter from Austin ,TX who like so many others managed to fall between the cracks of the big business music machine. However Blaze was always devoted to his craft and lived the life of a vagrant often living at various friends houses writing songs. His professional career seemed to be plagued by faulty labels , lost or destroyed master tapes, limited pressings, even so far as to have the F.B.I seize the master tapes to his first album, which Blaze's mentions in this live record. Even though the general public didn't really know Blaze some very talented singer-songwriters of that day did, like Guy Clark and Townes Van Zandt. It's no wonder Townes and Blaze were friends because Blaze often reminds me of a more country version of Townes. They shared a lot in common musically and in the way they lived, they both lead the lives of outlaw vagrants surrounded by larger than life tales, and both had an underground cult status although Townes being allot more well known. Townes and Blaze used to play shows at The Outhouse in Austin,Texas together and were very good friends. Blaze and Townes were such good friends, that Blaze left him his guitar which was in pawn at the time when he died, and Townes actually had to have Blaze's body exhumed to retrieve the pawn ticket buried with Blaze in his only good suite to get the guitar. After Blaze's death in 1989 Townes Van Zandt wrote "Blaze's Blue" on Blaze's guitar a song for his unfortunate friend. The record is essentially a live set, recorded by John Casner in December 1988 @ The Outhouse in Austin,TX, 2 months before Blaze Foley was shot and killed. Recorded at the Outhouse in Austin, Texas this record capture the man in his own home town 2 months before the tragedy and contains a broad spectrum of his material. Blaze Foley could be a genuine sweet heart, drunk, political, and extremely funny all of which is covered in this set. Blaze had a knack for simplifying things to what he sometimes refereed to as "Hill Billy" versions of real life emotions and issues. This was all part of Blaze's charm he was real, honest, and uninhibited when it came to his music. To learn more about Blaze Foley visit http://www.blazefoley.net/ they are even releasing a documentary on his life in the near future.

DL