MP3 Compton Maddux - Feet of Clay
Guitar-driven country/rock with Fogerty-esque vocals.
11 MP3 Songs
COUNTRY: Country Rock, ROCK: Americana
Details:
Guitar-driven country/rock with Fogerty-esque vocals.
Lyrically rich songs are graced by guest performances by Richie Havens, John Leventhal (Sean Colvin and Marc Cohen), Jeff Golub (Rod Stuart), Lucy Kaplansky, Jim Lauderdale, Kenny Kosek, Billy Ward and the late great Bobby Chouinard.
The power of music-- Music in the house. Classical, show, jazz, folk. . . Soundtracks/ From Russia With Love and Hatari. Big boozy parties. . . and this guy at the piano. . Handsome Jimmy. He could play it all. Took requests from a highball glass. Playing the the Hawaiin War Chant. The rumble in the jungle. This was New Canaan but they would all dance like they''d been drink''in Love Potion # 9. And Handsome Jimmy with the women around him like bees around honey. . well that clinched it. That''s who I wanted to be. . . that is if I couldn''t be 007-- James Bond. And then the bands. . I''d here it in the night coming off the top of this hill and I''d go to where the sound was coming from and there they were. . the Earles. . . playing the Ventures and the Kingsmen. This was money for nothing. This is the magnet that draws you in. . . easy money and endless chicks digging your close to the surface emotional musk. Like my singing teacher said. . singing a song and using your voice. . . it''s a mating call. How my dad met my mom. . saw her singing at the Roosevelt. Rufus saw Marzone. Wow. A star is born. Me! What a story!
So that''s my story. . mostly about the pursuit of pleasure. Which is why we all play and play and play. . cause it feels so good. Even without the money. Why making this record was such a gift. . got to do it My Way. And the art of the solo. . that''s key/ being able to do it alone just in case you find yourself there without resources. . that'' the blues. Came up through the folk era. saw Jose Feliciano, Dave Van Ronk, Spyder John Koerner at the Mooncusser Coffee House in Martha''s Vinyard in 1964. Soingle guys who lit the room just like Handsome Jimmy. My guitar playing was repertoire driven. . the Kingston Trio, the Weavers, the Limelighters. . You had to be ready to play the Hootenanny. . Whole famillies sitting around and singing together. Maybe that was the last time that America sang together. The closest white people got to gospel. People believed that there was truth out there. It was awe-inspiring. All right/ just plain awesome.
Like alot of songwriters. . I cut my teeth on poetry. Projective verse. Whitman, cummings and then Creeley, Merwin, Dorn, and Olson. The idea of poetry is to take language to a new place. . the idea of music was to show you the new place. The two things just go together. I was fast with words like some guys are good with a guns or their hands. More than once singing my death song kept me from getting hurt too bad. 68-72 I as in a band called Gasoline. "For What It''s Worth", "Five to One" and "Liv''in In the USA" then myfirst experience with corporate downsizing. I was cut from one of the largest bands in the world. The new team was the "Outerspace Band " and they had a new guy who played guitar and wrote his own songs. This was the new ticket. So back to guitar and it took years. Penning my first tunes. . That''s the Way It Is and "If You Find" . Europe. Tunisia. I became Elvis of the Desert. Picked up in N. Africa by AID to play bicultural centers by Jon Crockett, cultural attache to Tunis. Compton went international
Returning stateside I lived with three blondes in Cambridge, Mass. Low on cash and common sense. I got tapped at last by the very bnd that had retired me. Batting relief for and 5 year road weary veteran. I began to evolve or at least reinvent myself. Solo gigs in Beantown with the nefarious Red Greene-- a wildly contradictory singer/songwriter . Watched the incredible Pat Mcgloughlin play solo at the Plough and Stars on Mass. Ave. Shades of Handsome Jimmy. Wrote great songs and played his ass off. I played the Cantab Lounge on Central Square upstairs while George Throughgood was blowing out eardrums with Bad to the Bone downstairs. Saw Muddy Waters at Pauls Mall. When I came off the road my girlfriend (the one shared my bed with) had run off with a sailor. So i managed to get hit by a car. Got alot of money for my kneecap/ took guitar lessons, Aikido and rebuilt a 55 Chevy convertible.
By winter 77 I was in New york. Lived in storefront for 6 monthes while I got my bearings. Never got my bearings. But did alot of recording nad playing clubs. . TRAX. jp''s, the Bitter End, Kenny''s Castways, SNAFU''s---Dr. G''s where asbestos was falling from the ceiling above the stage. And lo it came to pass that I was spending Money to play. But now my buddy mentor had a new plan--Project Trobador/ I would use my Elvis of the Desert chops and proceed to sign up for the epic journey division for the next seven years-- played American style music in Guatamala, Ecuador, Belize, Kenya, Dominican Republic, Japan and finally China. I wrote Twisting In China.
At the same time I began to hook into the songwriter scene in New York City. I played a place called Downtime and the Sun Mountain Cafe down on 3rd street. I had this amazing piece of luck or is it synchronicity an was seen and heard by a guy named Stan from Holland. He left a note behind the bar. He made this album a reality. Feet of Clay / because it''s all about mortality. . how we use this time on earth. And more coincidence this album is out simultaneously with the first Outerspace Band CD-- Rocket. The song Backhoe off of that album is getting airplay in Maine and Connecticut. Feet of Clay is available on CD Baby @CD Baby. com.
Hey--Am I handsome Johnny yet? Handsome for sure! Is my son gonna'' be creep''in down the stairs to see and my friends dans''in around the guitar man? It''s so wild. And it''s all true. Cross my heart. You can''t make this kind of thing up.
Presently finishing a new album that should be done by May 2004/ DIRT SIMPLE.....this features Allison Cornell on fiddle, Bill Ruhl on hammer dulcimer and Gary Solomon on stand-up bass/ Yrz trolly on harmonica and vocals and accoustic guitar. You can listen to cuts from that album at https://www.tradebit.com