Southpaw Jones

$13.99

Southpaw’s dark side found its way onto digital audio and into the hands of consumers on August 10, 2000.  This page will serve to further explore this masterpiece of pensive solitude.
Vital Stats

• Tracks - 9
• Total Length - 48 minutes
• Release Date - August 10, 2000
• Recording Time - 49 hours (including sleep, meals, etc.)
• Studio - The Eggplant Company’s backyard deck
• Instrumentation - Vocals, Guitar, Harmonica
• Guests - Only the suburban Nashville wildlife
• Price per copy - $13.99 US
• Most popular singles - Slab of Pie, Freshly-Picked Flower, Everything’s Gonna Work Out

Two-minute clips

• At a Phone Booth
• Freshly-Picked Flower
• Missing Something
• Everything’s Gonna Work Out

Southpaw’s Commentary

• Overview

  Ani Difranco sings, “People used to make records, as in a record of an event, the event of people playing music in a room.” This is like that, but with only one person and no room! “We recorded these songs on Nathan Whitehead’s porch between June 30, 8 AM and July 3, 7 AM.” That’s all I’ll give away from the album’s rather wordy (as usual) liner notes, but I would like to add some thoughts on the project as a whole:

  I may very well spend my career saying, “You’ve got me all wrong.” One in the Door, One in the Grave was such a statement. You see, I’m very cautious and sensitive when it comes to people’s perceptions of me, especially as an artist. After the release of the Starter Kit, I felt like I had…how-do-you-say…painted myself into a corner of cuteness. Don’t get me wrong, I was and am very proud of my debut. It had its share of honest, personal material, too. But when the people of folkweb.com categorized the CD under “Funny Songs,” I realized it was not presenting a complete picture of ol’ Southpaw.

  The songs on this second disc represent the kind I write when left to my own devices. When I’m not thinking about performing or getting attention or entertaining, I tend to lean toward the dark side. That’s not to say that my more upbeat, happy, fun-loving songs are forced…they just take more juice from north of the eyebrows, if you know what I’m sayin’.

  The songs that comprise Door/Grave are generally smooth, natural, quickly-written compositions. They are the works of which I am most proud. Whereas White Boy Blues, Communist Girlfriend, andAntique Mallderive from observing the world and making clever connections between its parts, the majority of these nine songs found their origins within. Isn’t that neat?

• 1] When I Die

  Another misunderstood satire, this song is about the paralyzing nature of fear. The narrator has a phobia of passing away in the nude, and the very thought of it keeps him from living a vibrant, effective life. It doesn’t fit in too well with the feel of the remaining songs, so I brilliantly placed it first on the CD. Oops.

• 2] Living Off Interest

  I could have made this into a more humorous number with Wall Street references and financial puns, but it ended up being one of those annoyingly honest songs. I wrote it in college when I had alot on my mind and to-do list. It seemed the more active I became, the more girls were able to distract me. Ironic, that.

  I wanted to paint a picture in the first verse of a guy walking toward a girl without even knowing it. Sort of a drawn in, hypnotized, tractor beam, orbital thing. He’s so awestruck in his steps that he first thinks she’s floating to him instead. I’m not sure I made that entirely clear. Oh, well. I guess I sort of redeemed myself with “I don’t recall your lovely name.” He may not know the actual word, but he’s certain it’s beautiful…I like that.

  Like several of my tunes, Interest has just one line that ruins the whole mood…you know, the one about getting “bored with you someday.” When I play this live, especially in front of new crowds, I really hate having to spit that phrase out. It’s such an agent of deflation. A buzz-bringer-downer. Then again, it’s that tinge of honesty that not only sets the song apart, but also shines a spotlight on infatuation’s fleeting nature. Hey, it’s not rocket science.

  And there’s something to be said for “…now it’s safe to say…” If you’re like me, and you’ve never had a long-long-term relationship, you have to make the most of those initial bursts of attraction and excitement. It’s like, all that matters is that I’m totally into you RIGHT NOW! I can’t guarantee anything else, and why should I apologize for that? Besides, what good is passion without a little clock-watching desperation thrown in?

• 3] At a Phone Booth

  I like to confuse listeners with almost-autobiographical songs. The fun part is trying to figure out which parts are the real me. I have definitely had my struggles with the overall theme of fearing the adult world and job market. Who hasn’t?

• 4] Slab of Pie

  I wrote this in high school. I don’t know how or why, but it just came out. This is one of the very few songs from that era that I’m not embarrassed to perform.

• 5] Nice to Stop

  Ah, the pains of young adulthood revisited. I chose the word “nice” because it is a common adjective in the world of grown-ups. Not spectacular, not ecstatic, just “nice.”

• 6] Freshly-Picked Flower

  My proudest moment thus far as a songwriter. Sure it’s too long. Sure it’ll never be on the radio. But it’s mine, and it’s my most honest piece of musical output. Hear it and love it, or you ain’t no fan o’ mine.

• 7] Missing Something

  I came up with the idea for this while sifting through a used CD store which boasted an impressive inventory. I just knew that there was no way I could see it all before I left. Imagine all the great artists and values I had passed by unwittingly. I elevated my shopping woes to more philosophical concerns, and BAM, it’s a song! I like to think it encourages listeners to pursue a more alert day-to-day existence. Unfortunately, I’ve heard rumors that it encourages listeners to seek the “skip” button on their stereos.

• 8] Adjusting

  Much like “Slab of Pie,” this song is two stories of strangers followed by a more personal reaction. The second verse was inspired by a rerun of “Punky Brewster.”

• 9] Everything is Gonna Work Out

  A shot of idealism to close out the disc. This is a song about the necessity, not believeability, of hope.

• Underview

  “Studio, shmudio!” we said as we looked at the songs that fill this disc. I was about to leave Nashville, and I wanted to record all these dark coming-of-age songs before I left. I ended up on a backporch in suburban Nashville, going through the nine tracks at different points during the night. The effect, including crickets chirping, dogs barking, and eventually morning birds singing, is quite beautiful, if I do say so myself.

Reviews

• independentsongwriter.com

  3 Star Rating

  If you got together one night with your best songwriting buddy, you might come up with a CD that sounds like this gem from Southpaw Jones. It’s not obnoxious, nor does it exude a “good-ole-boy” quality. It’s a decent collection of tunes written and performed by a guy who enjoys sharing his thoughts with the world. What a nice way to end the day.

• Performing SongwriterSeptember/October 2001 issue

  DIY (Do-It-Yourself) Top 12 Picks
  Reviews by Clay Steakley
  as seen in Performing Songwriter magazine Volume 9, Issue 56, September/October 2001
  Clay Steakley is a Nashville-based writer and musician. He contributes reviews and features to several publications, plays bass, and performs session and live sideman duties for various artists.

  Southpaw Jones
  One in the Door, One in the Grave
  Produced by Southpaw Jones & Nathan Whitehead

  Southpaw Jones’ songs are at once political, personal, serious, lucid, and muddled. His CD One in the Door, One in the Grave is simple, beautiful, and truthful. Recorded on a friend’s porch over a few nights and mornings, the only sounds that grace the record other than Jones’ guitar, voice, and harmonica are the scraping of crickets, passing cars, dogs, and other incidental additions that happened to sneak onto the tape. The importance of the cricket can’t be underestimated. That sound, combined with the hushed strumming of the five-string guitar and Jones’ half-whispered vocals, create a collection of songs so intimate that, by the third track, you feel like you’re sitting on that porch listening to Jones try his songs out on you.

  The actual texts of the songs are straight-forward and barely adorned with imagery or metaphor. Instead, Jones goes straight for the story, for the message, for the emotion. Whether he’s discussing the state of contemporary culture, anxiety over his future, or the trade of a free piece of pie for confession, Jones stays honest and personal.

• Dick Patnaude, Las Cruces, New Mexico

  Dick’s Picks: Music Reviews by Rockin’ Daddy-o Dick Patnaude
  7 cyl. (on the V-8 cylinder scale)
  Chuck Jones stopped in ‘Cruces for about an hour last summer on his way west from Nashville - long enough to leave me with his first disc, “The Southpaw Jones Starter Kit,” and said he’d be back. True to his word, he returned a few weeks ago to play a 3-hour gig at Spirit Winds Cafe and promote his latest ‘quirk folk’ offerings. This new disc is remarkable (self-evident, eh? This review would constitute ‘remarks.’) - this critter was recorded on a 4-track rig on someone’s front porch in rural Tennessee. Listen for the passing cars, dogs barking, screen door opening, etc. The material is somewhat darker than that on his first disc, but if it’s kinda sad, it’s fantastically so. The lonely songs are really lonely, and the lost/unrequited love songs will tear your heart out.

  Power tracks include: “Freshly-Picked Flower,” “Slab of Pie,” and “Living off Interest.”

  (sic) magazine
  February 2001
  Las Cruces, New Mexico

• Jett Black

  yep. okay. so, today, I received in the mail an album entitled:
  “One in the Door, One in the Grave” by Southpaw Jones

  And I want to share a little something with you from the introduction into this booklet of verses that reflect the words that the songs sing out… in addressing the listener about the music in general and particularly referencing a song Southpaw Jones calls “Freshly Picked Flower”, Southpaw writes:

  Dear listener,

  I really do have a picture of a young woman holding a freshly-picked flower. I’m not a good enough writer to make up that kind of…uh..stuff. To this day, I don’t know what compelled her to get out of my car just to grab that beautiful blossom. And I don’t know how, as an amateur photographer at best, I was able to capture that moment so well. Just one of those lucky cosmic moments, I guess. It certainly wasn’t the only picture I took of her that day, not by a long shot. you see, I was completely enamoured with her.

  Occasionally, as the song goes, I dust off that picture. It reminds me how sunny that afternoon was, and how much fun we packed in before nightfall drove us home. This was long before our first kiss, mind you, yet long after I had fallen in love with her. I remember how giddy I was then. I recall her spirit, light and unchained. I visualize her incredible smile.

  Then I remember that this picture is all I have left of her. And when I’m finished feeling all warm and sentimental, one prevailing thought lingers in my head and in my heart: The very instant one holds a thing as one’s own, that thing begins to die. This rang true for her flower, whose final resting place was my glove compartment, its wilted petals prophesying the dissolution of her feelings for me. So it is with love. So it is with life. Someone, anyone, prove me wrong.

  and then (turn the page) Southpaw Jones presses on to tell us more about life and how more of the music on “One in the Door, One in the Grave” may help you reflect upon your own life, and all that rot. All in all a very good explanation of the title of the cd, and some of the songs appearing on the album and most certainly a very fine medium of speaking personally to the Listener who buys this album, or receives it for any sort of promotional considerations.

  In general, Southpaw jones will surprise you with how light-heartedly he takes controversial / serious subject matter and makes it Fun for your consumption.

  So, for whom this music may consume, I whole-heartedly recommend picking up a copy (or three) of any music by SouthPaw Jones.

  Jett Black
  Vancouver, Washington
  www.NocturnalMovements.net

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