This is not an easy column to write. I recently went to two music shows where members of past favorite acts of mine played… and, frankly, they probably shouldn’t have.
As both I mature, and the musicians whose work I enjoy age, there can come a time when, as performers, they hit a point of diminishing returns. And it may be time for them to take a final bow.
There are many reasons why this isn’t easy for musical artists. It isn’t an simple decision to retire for those who musicians that haven’t had large-scale success. It’s not generally a profession in which they earn a pension or tote up enough funds in a 401K retirement account to stop playing and live with some security and comfort in their senior years. They are also often less apt to have paid enough into Social Security to get the maximal amount in their monthly payments, as they work as independent contractors. If they largely played small venues, like clubs, they were usually paid in cash.
A recent show I went to by singer-songwriter Tom Russell (who’s in fine form at age 75) featured guest sets by Jimmie Dale Gilmore, Butch Hancock and (finest of the night) Rosie Flores. And Augie Meyers, 82, keyboard and accordion player with the Sir Douglas Quintet and Texas Tornados, pioneer of the Vox Continental electronic organ that was almost a trademark of 1960s pop and rock. His short solo set was sadly lackluster and downbeat. I wondered if maybe it was time for him to hang it up.
A few days later, I went to see Billy Bremner, guitarist and singer with the late 1970s English rock’n’roll outfit Rockpile, alongside Dave Edmunds and Nick Lowe, and at the time my favorite band that I saw play a dozen times, all of them wonderful, energetic shows. A smart and crafty electric guitarist and singer with a keening tenor voice, he was a masterful component of one of the genuinely greatest rock bands ever, especially live in concert, but also on solo albums by Edmunds and Lowe and the one longplayer they cut as Rockpile. On a good night, they handily challenged the Rolling Stones for the title of world’s greatest rock’n’roll band.
Bremner, in his day, could rip off scorching guitar solos and sang with with feisty elan. Now 78 years old and living in Sweden, he was either trading in on his history or paying tribute to it with what is said to be his last US tour as Billy Bremner’s Rockpiles backed by three quite competent Swedish players. But the magic of a genuine combo generated by Rockpile was nowhere to be heard; Bremner’s playing, once so dynamic, was fumbled, sloppy and weak, and his singing rather strained. They also brought Meyers up as a guest on accordion to sing a few songs, underscoring my earlier impression on his slide downward from musical greatness. I was saddened to witness such a mundane show.
But even when musical artists do call it a day, it’s not as simple as it looks at first glance. I was impressed when main singer and songwriter of another favorite band, Brian Henneman of The Bottle Rockets, announced his retirement from music last year at 50 years old, not letting music totally rule his life, and bowing out on a musical high note (read: their entire run). But when I mentioned this on a Facebook thread, my friend Eric Ambel, who produced many of the band’s albums, pointed out that Henneman’s retirement announcement blindsided the rest of the band, who suddenly lost their longtime jobs and incomes. Oops!
Retiring from a musical career with dignity can be done. I just wrote a press release for folk-pop star Janis Ian, who this year issued what she says is her final album of new material, and a quite wonderful one at that, “The Light at the End of the Line.” Ian was also in the midst of a farewell tour that she had to cancel when she caught a throat virus that resulted in vocal cord scarring that leaves her unable to sing as skillfully and emotively as she once did. Hence she won’t be able to even play occasional shows or guest appearances as a singer.
But Ian, wise as she is from a music career that’s had its major ups and downs since she emerged in 1967 with her pointed and poetic hit song, “Society’s Child,” about interracial dating (not just a hot-button issue. Janis calls the change “rewiring” rather than retiring; she still has scads of unreleased material to continue issuing on her own indie label, Rude Girl Records, through which she has super-served her fans as a canny small businessperson since the early 1990s. And she’s forged an impressive and varied career as a writer of prose, even won a Best Spoken Word grammy for the audiobook of her autobiography (up against President Bill Clinton, First Lady Michelle Obama, Rachel Maddow and Ellen DeGeneres. (Quips Ian, “I kept thinking there’s got to be a punchline there … an ex-president, the First Lady and three lesbians walk into a bar …”)
She’ll be fine. And looks forward to even being bored.
As for those musical artists and players who don’t have the means for a soft landing into being a senior, here in the city where I live, Austin, Texas, there’s an exemplary model for how music lovers and fellow musicians can help aging talents in need. It’s a non-profit called HOME (a.k.a. Housing Opportunities for Musicians and Entertainers,with an all-woman board that includes noted ATX artists like Marcia Ball and Carolyn Wonderland), which provides housing assistance for those players and artists over 55.
They’ve given so much to us, it’s only fitting that we give back to them.
Populist Picks
Book: “Society’s Child” by Janis Ian – Speaking of her above, Ian tells her unique life story with winning honesty, wise acceptance and a good bit of humor. Which are qualities that helped her get through the rigors and weirdness of being a teen folk-pop star, near bankruptcy due to sleazy associates, and a career with its fair share of ups and downs. Among the many music star memoirs and autobiographies, this is a shining gem.
Album: “Co-Starring Too” by Ray Wylie Hubbard – The man known to fans as the “Wylie Lama” pulls off a rather rare feat with his second disc in a row filled with guests, like Steve Earle, Ann Wilson of Heart, Willie Nelson, Ringo Starr and a bunch of his Texas music compatriots that works wonderfully, proving himself yet again a country-rock icon whose collaborations only enhance his appeal and artistry.
Rob Patterson is a music and entertainment writer in Austin, Texas. Email robpatterson054@gmail.com.
From The Progressive Populist, March 1, 2023
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