Live At the Austin Outhouse

Blaze an Townes best ones outta Austin so far!!

Thanks John Prine. Blaze Foley and his story, just became one of my all time favorites.

I was at the Austin Outhouse those two nights. My friend, Lost John Casner did the recording and production. Blaze had wanted to get a good deal of his catalogue on tape. Before it could released Blaze was murder while defending an older friend of his who was beaten by his grown son. The album was released to pay for Blaze's funeral arrangements. This is my favorite of all the recordings Blaze made. It is straight to the heart Blaze, with him on guitar, and his world weary voice bringing life to his powerful lyrics.

I can't say I even like country music, that being said, WOW. Mr. Foley does not have the greatest voice, what he does have is a voice that touches a piece of your soul. The lyrics are fantastic, and the simple guitar is poignant. Glad I ran onto this. Love Clay Pigeons and Picture Cards Can't Picture You. Too bad this man is no longer around.

I became familiar with the name Blaze Foley because Merle Haggard recorded his "If I Could Only Fly" a couple times. Only recently did I check out the songwriter himself. The raw sincerity in his voice and his talent for putting words into heartfelt songs is truly awesome. What a shame his time on Earth was so short...no telling how far he could have gone with his genious.

My introduction to Blaze Foley came via a college radio station. A guy from Austin was telling the DJ about an artist who had been dead for more than 10 years and this album "Live at the Austin Outhouse" was being released. The interview was spell binding, Blaze had never formally recorded any of his material but was well known in the Austin music scene and had died a tragic death at a relatively young age. That evening I finally found the disc online and ordered it. The depth and richness of the lyrics and melodies totally blew me away. The fact that this album was recorded in a bar and not a studio , I think, adds to the auditory texture of the album and if you were to read Blaze's bio one would realize that Blaze was in his element with a drink and a guitar. Every track on this album is outstanding, they range from the comical, "Officer Norris" and "Election Day", to the melancholy, "Our Little Town" and "Faded Loves and Memories". Unfortunately the 30 second clip doesn't do any of the songs justice and doesn't really give you the richness of the melodies or of the storytelling that was Blaze's trademark. If your looking for a Texas legend of the singer/songwriter ilk, you've found him. Buy this album, you won't regret it. It's a cracker.