“All the songs have an acoustic guitar on them, somewhere. I also took a bit more time with this one. With all my other records, we sort of blocked out some time and did them in a couple of weeks, but this one kind of stretched over two or three months.”
In terms of subject matter, Blue Nightfall adheres closely to the road themes for which LaFave is well-known. Along with the aforementioned “Gotta Ramble”, the most overt reference to the open road is the Kerouac tribute “Bohemian Cowboy Blues”. In keeping with the cool-jazz sound that was part of Kerouac’s milieu, the song pulses with a swing shuffle and features lots of improvisational piano runs, courtesy of Lorkovic.
“I’m such as fan of the Beat writers,” LaFave says. “I did a lot of the words to that song stream-of-consciousness. I always love reading On The Road, and of course I always knew it was Highway 6 that Kerouac took. I’ve gone as far as to kind of retrace the route, sometimes, when I’m driving in that part of the country.”
Other standouts include the boogie-rocker “Music From The Motor Court” and an anthemic ballad titled “Shining On Through” that sounds as if it could have sprung from the Bruce Springsteen songbook. “I had been doing that song with my bass player and drummer, and it had more of a simple little folk sound to it,” LaFave says. “And I think, at first, it kind of freaked them out when I said it’s going to have more of a Springsteen, anthem-type sound. I went back and fooled with that song a lot, and got it to where I wanted it, and kind of split the difference between the acoustic sound and the anthemic sound.”
The luxury of having more time to record afforded LaFave the chance to be more adventurous with other arrangements as well. One such instance was “Sweet Sweet Love”, a beautifully understated ballad centered on a swirling organ sound coupled with acoustic baritone guitar and accordion.
“I recorded the song, and there was just something I really didn’t like about it,” LaFave says. “Even the guys in the band were saying, ‘You know, something just doesn’t sound right.’ We had the [other instruments], but it just wasn’t working. Finally I just decided I was going to try something different. So I went to my local music store, where the owner is a really good friend, and found this effects pedal called the Pog. I played around with it and finally figured out how to curve the EQ where it sounded kind of like a B-3 organ, or a carnival organ. That’s an electric guitar being played through it. It produced this real organic sound.”
Lyrically, as is the case with much of Blue Nightfall, “Sweet Sweet Love” distills a common sentiment down to its essence. The song also derives power from economy of words and an unvarnished clarity. Spend any time at all with LaFave’s songs, in fact, and you come away with a renewed sense of music as a communal experience, as something that has the power to erase cynicism and elevate the better parts of ourselves.
In keeping with that spirit of optimism, LaFave believes the tradition of the troubadour is vibrant and flourishing.
“There’s something to the power of these little grass roots movements,” he says. “It’s all part of this music where we travel town-to-town, still, and a lot of people still sleep on their friends’ couches when they’re between gigs. They’re the real troubadours.
“It’s funny, all the various levels of it. Some are literally hitchhiking from town-to-town, doing these house concerts that are really big now. I’ve done a few of those over the last few years, and they’re actually some of the most rewarding gigs you could ever do. Butch Hancock once said to me, ‘Jimmy, we sell dozens of records to discriminating listeners in small pockets of good taste.’ And I thought, ‘Yeah, you’re right.’ There’s such a beauty to that. I hope it doesn’t get lost.”
Russell Hall lives in Anderson, South Carolina, where he’s been writing about music for the past twelve years. He, too, is an avid fan of the Beat writers, and is currently reading Windblown World: The Journals Of Jack Kerouac 1947-1954. He also watches the film Paris, Texas at least a couple times a year.
