Husky Burnette Invades Maryville, TN And The Daily Times Wrote About It

Husky Burnette Invades Maryville, TN And The Daily Times Wrote About It

View this article on The Daily Times

"Brian “Husky” Burnette tried his luck at a number of occupations when he was a younger man. He went to a vocational high school, and a couple of years after graduation, he joined a carpenter’s union. He went to college for a little bit. He even was grandfathered into a sheet metal workers’ union because of his family, but none of them fit quite as right as a guitar does in his hands.

Get A Van, Hit The Road And Thank Yourself Someday - Road Tales With Husky Burnette

Yattie and Husky following the road less traveled

Keep up with all things Husky Burnette on Facebook

Buy his latest album, Tales From East End Blvd.

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For musicians that tour around the regions, countries and the world, the road is a crazy place. There are lows and highs both, but if you have the right mindset and do it for the right reasons, it can be pretty damn magical and rewarding. 

Life on the road can be very satisfying. It can be the Devil and your worst nightmare as well. Regardless of how it ends up on any given night, there's just something about getting out there and playing your music for people that nothing else can compare to. 

 

When I was young I heard the word "tour" and thought of Led Zeppelin and the likes, playing huge arenas on huge stages with huge record deals and huge crowds. Once I started playing out, I did a few out of town shows in Tennessee and Georgia while playing with Roger Alan Wade, nothing major. 

Carolina Still - Original House From Album Cover Illustration

Carolina Still's album cover location shot for their album cover - The Color Of Rust

This is the original old farm house from the Carolina Still album, The Color Of Rust, which was painted for a process video. We released this album last spring and it continues to kick in new doors and the band is growing their reputation as one of the best live bands around.

Find out about all that is Carolina Still

Henry Rollins Postulates On Songwriting

Henry Rollins writing about songwriting from American Songwriter

Link to article on American Songwriter

"Recently, I watched a brief interview with Iggy Pop from the early 1980s that I found online. He was talking about his soon-to-be-released autobiography I Need More. He said something that really stuck with me. He postulated that rock and roll is a solution to tragedy and that bands were desperately trying to solve the tragedy in their lives by making music.

It occurred to me that this was probably the only reason I ever wrote any song. I was trying to make myself feel better. I was trying to alleviate pain. For me, it’s always been the Blues.

I always wrote from and for myself. I would never assume to know anyone else’s life. I figured it was the only way I could be honest. Any lyric I wrote that would potentially be put to music, would eventually find itself on the stage. What I had written, no matter what anyone else thought of it, would ultimately have to hold so much truth for me, that I would be willing to fight for it, which sometimes was the case.

My first several years as a touring and recording musician found me more often than not, in environments less than desirable. Working conditions were often challenging and the audience could be depended on to be volatile and quite capable of showing their displeasure with the band’s repertoire.

Frequently, these grievances were expressed vocally, which is fine, but often their protestations had a physical component. They always seemed to target the singer. I was the unfortunate recipient of punches, kicks, projectiles, lit cigars and cigarettes, saliva, urine and the occasional utilized menstrual napkin. The lyrics had to be strong.

I think whatever purpose someone writes a song for, expression, financial gain, is all fine. Songwriting doesn’t need to have any rules. This is perhaps one of the reasons the form has endured and will continue to do so. No matter how corny a song can be, no matter how cringe worthy, it could very well be someone’s personal anthem.

The idea that a lyric had to have a “purpose” never meant anything to me. That puts some imagined burden on the songwriter, which can lead to a heightened sense of self-importance, something I have done my level best to avoid at all costs. There was a lot of that in the Punk Rock. Lyrics were often held to a high degree of scrutiny for their political correctness and anti-establishment quotient, lest they be too happy or shiny. In a genre that was supposed to be so do-what-you-want, the thought police were telling you how it was supposed to be.

Many years ago, I was in a band called Black Flag. The two principal song writers, Greg Ginn and Chuck Dukowski, were hugely influential and inspirational to me. They wrote some excellent songs. Dukowski with his apocalyptic/Orwellian/Huxleyesque aggro dark future world outlook and Greg Ginn’s fiercely personal and naked expression gave me quite a bit to consider and draw from. They compelled me to put it all out there without fear of consequence.

I have recorded and released many songs over the years. I have written far more lyrics than I have ever recorded. For one album I made in 1996, I wrote damn near one hundred sets of lyrics. It became quite an obsessive form of writing for me. The worse I felt, about things, the more I would write. I have not looked at any of them since the recording sessions concluded. I tend to move on and start from scratch. This practice of overwriting stayed with me until I stopped writing songs.

In 2001, suddenly, I no longer thought lyrically. It was as if I had never written a song in my life. It was like a switch had been thrown and it was no longer something I did.

In 2003, I did a tour that featured old songs. The single purpose of this tour was to raise money for a group of young men languishing in Arkansas prisons for murders they did not commit, called the West Memphis Three. We went from Arizona to Japan and raised substantial funds for them. In 2006, at the behest of the guitarist from a previous line up, I went out with my bandmates of nearly a decade before for a brief tour. We played old music. Looking back, it was probably not the thing to do.

Since then, I do the occasional song onstage at a benefit but I have not written a lyric for well over ten years or more. The form feels so foreign to me, it’s as if I never wrote a single one.

There is a reason I do not go out on the road in the warmer months to “play the hits” (a dubious phrase in my case), to anyone who would show up. For me, it is resting on past achievements. Most of the tours I went on were wars and the songs were battle hymns. I must respect that. I take my do’s and don’ts from at least two people. Miles Davis, who never looked back and really didn’t care what you thought of what he did. He was only there to serve the music. Ian MacKaye, who was in one successful band after another; Teen Idles, Minor Threat, Embrace, Fugazi and now The Evens. Ian never does old material. Ever. He only goes in one direction.

I should not be afforded the opportunity to submit work to this publication. I am, in fact, not a songwriter, a lyricist or an artist. Never once in my life have I had an artistic twitch or convulsion. I have written and published over twenty-five books. Doesn’t make me a writer. (I own the freakin’ company.)

What I am, is furious. I am a perpetually angry person. This needs to go somewhere. I don’t want to blow my brains out or go to prison. So, I find a form to serve until it no longer requires my attentions and then I move onto something else. This was me and songwriting."

The Definition Of Sacrifice Video Series

As we pass through life, it's as if a seamless stream of contacts, friends and randoms weave into the fabric of our existence. Some of these connections will be around for a long time to come and some are around for only a short span of seasons. These folks might drop away as if they are passengers only going to the next stop on another journey all their own. But that is the beauty of life, as the only constant, is change.

Within the groups navigating the channels we cruise through, you may be lucky to meet a few that go above and beyond. Many of the individuals you get to know have stories to be told, that are beyond a reality you may personally know, making it feel fabricated and unbelievable. Yet these stories were lived and need to be remembered. 

Hard work, timing and talent paired together, forge individuals into true grit character. Now is the time for the men and women that signed up to put their lives on the line to be heard. Let them come into our living rooms, smart phones and office computers through narrative stories and relive what they have done for the definition of sacrifice.

A buddy of ours, Chris Daidone has taken on a new mission. He is well known for his automotive photography and now he is documenting the characters who have been the protectors of our country. 

Find out more information and get in touch with Chris if you know of individuals that want to tell their story:

info@thedefinitionofsacrifice.com

Check out Definition of Sacrifice on Facebook



The Definition Of Sacrifice - Helping Combat Veterans Heal By Telling Their Story from The Definiton Of Sacrifice on Vimeo.

I Ain’t Got No Body, A Spooklights Tale

If you dig the music of Stevie Tombstone, stay tuned for more updates as he posts them from his travels and anecdotes on life. Stevie has an archive full of stories from a good number of years as traveling musician. He will be adding context, photos and time lines to help flesh out his journeys.

Link over to Stevie Tombstone for more stories

"Its funny how some songs get their start and this one has quite a history. When I was a child my Grandmother on my Moms side used to sing us to sleep when we stayed in the mountains of North Carolina.

Popular culture and folk culture were surrounding us in every way. One of the songs she sang was taken from spooklight story and a little bit of popular song at the time {I’m just a Gigolo}. She told us the tale of the conductor/brakeman who had lost his head and searched for it forever on the railroad tracks. She said that the lights in the night was his lantern searching for his head in the dark. We would surely stay in bed and hurry to sleep when she sang out “I aint got no body ,no body seems to care for me”. I somehow felt sad for him instead of in fear. I always pulled for the underdog.

Years later while forming the band the Tombstones I concocted a song out of her melody and tale not knowing it would follow me the rest of my life. It appeared on the compilation Make the City Grovel in its Dust,the EP Grave Matter,the EP Preachin Prayin Guitar Playin and later on Twang from the Grave.

One night after opening for the Lords of the New Church in Atlanta I crossed paths with frontman Stiv Bator.There was a mixup backstage and Brian James had accidentally taken my telecaster. When I entered their dressing room to retrieve it I discovered I had crashed and impromptu birthday party for Stiv. His Mum had flown in for the occasion.I ran to the van and grabbed a copy of Preachin Prayin as a birthday gift ,presentedit and got my tele back after a few drinks and cake. Stiv like the EP so much he recorded a version of Nobody for his project with Johnny Thunders and Dee Dee Ramone the Whores of Babylon. I had no idea until quite some time later when a good friend and fan alerted me .

It was quiet a shock and honor and Stiv had since passed away. So thats the story of how a little lullaby form childhood turned into a punk “hand me down” ballad.

Here’s a good source for info on the Gurdon Lights from ABOUT.COM this is perhaps the closest approximation that fits her story. “This ghost light has been seen by hundreds of witnesses who live near or travel to the area around this small Arkansas town about 75 miles south of Little Rock. Seen along a stretch of railroad tracks, this light is also explained with the “headless brakeman” legend. Because of its remote location (you have to hike about 2-1/2 miles off the road to the spot where it can be seen) auto headlights have been eliminated as a possible cause. Those who have seen it say it is usually white or blue in color, and sometimes orange. One distinguishing feature is that it has a distinctive border to it.”"

The Coffin Maker

Every year, Americans bury enough metal in the ground to rebuild the Golden Gate Bridge, says Vashon Island coffin maker Marcus Daly. His simple, handcrafted wooden coffins are an economical and environmentally friendly burial alternative. But Daly believes a coffin's most important feature is that it can be carried. Here's why.

I need your help. This video is a finalist in Smithsonian's "In Motion" video contest. If you enjoyed this piece, please vote for it here: smithsonianmag.com/inmotion/. Thank you!

Special thanks to Marcus Daly of Marian Caskets. mariancaskets.com
Original music by Jesse Solomon Clark. agentsdelfuturo.com
Produced by Visual Contact visualcontact.com.

The Coffinmaker from Dan McComb on Vimeo.