CALVIN RUSSELL
A Man in Full
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As usual, I spent a lot of time with my friend Speedy Sparks, the Godfather of the Austin music scene. He played bass with Doug Sahm, and with any new band any time he was asked for it ,provided that they could rock.Thanks to him, I mat Roky Erickson, The Leroi Brothers, Ted Roddy and many other Austin bands. The night before I left for LA, Speedy took me to the birthday party of a friend of his, Ike Ritter,a retired musician. It was a great night, in one of those neat Austin suburbian houses. Most of the musicians I knew were there, When everybody was full with BBq ribs and beer, they started plugging the guitars on the amps, and a great rocking night started. After several hours of jamming , a guy arrived, with his guitar, and plugged it. . Nobody seemed to care much about him .They had already left the stage area for a beer, so he had to play solo. I was intrigued by this guy who didn't look like anybody else; he had an unusual and intense look, didn't smile much, and was wearing a bettered little hat. I tried to remember if I had seen him in a club before, but no, I definitely hadn't. As he seemed to be different ,I stayed close to the little stage. He only played two songs. I was thrilled. He did not sound like anybody else . His songs were much more personal than the standard texan rock I had heard all night. After he finished, I wanted to know more,and I introduced myself . He told me his name, Calvin Russell . He had been writing and singing for many years, but he was totally disillusioned about music, as nobody cared about what he did. He had released an album on Line Records, in Germany, but it only sold a few hundred copies.He had never been able to find a label in Austin nor anywhere else in the States. I told him how impressed I was with his performance, and that I was sure he could find an audience in France.I was so enthusiastic he looked very surprised. Finally, he told me that he had recorded an album a while ago, in which he had put his last money,but it had been rejected everywhere.Fortunately, he had a tape in his guitar case and gave it to me. I told him I would call him as soon as I would be back in Paris,but I am pretty sure he didn't believe it. He was thinking of looking fora plumber job , as there was no hope for him in the music business. Next morning,as soon as I was on th plane, I listened to his tape. I was immediately caught ."Crack in time" literally bewitched me. There were lots of great songs on that tape. And that voice ! I knew something had to happen with this guy.He definitely was somebody else. I called him the day I was back in Paris, told him I wanted to release his album at once,and that he would have to come to France a few months later (at that time, I had no idea if there would be any interest at all in his music, which was far from the punk, alternative and new wave stuff which were popular then,but I felt so strongly about it,I was sure it could not fail ) "Crack in time" was a surprise both for the french medias and public. Who was that middle aged man, with this mean look and this strange hat ? He sure was not a beginner, you could see wrinkles on his face, but he came out of nowhere .The reactions to the album were unanimous ; a great songwriter was born. This was the beginning of a great adventure, with six studio and two live albums, hundreds of concerts all over Europe, and a wonderful love story with the french audiences. What happened was competely unusual; there were lots of great US sonfgwriters, who worked very hard to conquer the european market, some of them supported by major companies, but the audience choosed Calvin, that obscure guy with no history, with his battered hat and those incredibly intense blue eyes. He had the songs,but most of all, he was a genuine guy . He had nothing to do with those sunburnt californian rock stars or these Nashville guys with their big hats and their pink cheeks. He was talented, natural , simple and sincere, and the public could feel it. They not only loved his music, they loved the man and they were right. Within a year, he was a star. The second album, "Songs from the fourth world" was a huge success and "Crossroads", he wonderful Saylor White song, was a hit. Just after we started working togther, I told him he would sing one day at the Olympia in Paris, that legendary Music Hall where all his idols, Edith Piaf, the Beatles , The Stones had sung. He probably thought I was a dreamer, but the dream came true. In 1993, He sung in a sold out Olympia, with his old friend Rich Minus as a guest. It was an unforgetable night.. For nearly fifteen years, Calvin has constantly toured Europe and recorded successful albums. He has been adopted by France . One might think that with such a huge success overseas, America might take a look at him and realise it was about itme to give him a chance. No way. The Austin medias wrote long articles about Calvin. None of them cared about his music.The only question they asked was: "that dude, Calvin Russell, who is totally unknown in his home town has become the most popular texan artist in France. How i s this possible ? " If they had made the effort of listening to his albums, they would have got the answer. Hopefully, some of them will get hold of this anthology, which covers more than 10 years of Calvin's career, and , who knows, one or two of them will agree with the great Jim Dickinson, who literally fell in love with Calvin's music the minute they started working together, and consider him as one of the major american songwriters. Anyway, you, the public, don't need to be told. You already know Calvin is a great man. Enjoy Patrick Mathe |
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CD 1-A Crack
in time - 4'35 |
DVD videoclips A crack
in time I gave my
soul to you |
