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The Perfect Gig--An Owner’s Manual
I’m Bill Hicks, the fiddler, not the deceased comedian. Nonetheless,
this CD is named for a song and not for an event, not even the event
described in the song. The perfect gig is like David Byrne’s “heaven,”
and like Tom Jefferson’s “happiness.” I’ve been a fiddler all my
life, all I got is a barlow knife and a fantastic artist/musician wife,
Libby, who I gig with and pursue happiness with. I’ve been a writer
all my life too, and this CD is about my writing--my poem/songs, some of
em, too many Jerry Brown said for one CD, but oh well--and there’s nary
a fiddle on here cause I want you to know what I sound like absolutely
solo and I can’t play fiddle and guitar at once.
When I left the Red Clay Ramblers in 1981 I think I felt that my voice,
as a writer and even as a singer, was left behind. I focused on fiddling,
on my life as a father and stone mason and husband. I became “responsible,”
a serious person full of adult concerns. By 1995 Anna had grown up
into a thriving, remarkable teenager, and Libby had abandoned work in offices
as a lost cause and begun to build her artistic self in her glass work.
We continued to play music all through these years, and Libby frequently
suggested that I try writing a song again. And about 1997 or so I
did! Indeed, they poured out of me in a flood, to the point that
I’ve felt I needed to make this CD just to make it known that I am a songwriter
and singer as well as an instrumentalist. Enormous thanks are due
to Libby and to Anna, who each encouraged me over and over, who saw the
little flickering flame in my writer’s heart even when I didn’t.
 Lyrics
to Bill's original songs in The Perfect Gig
Reviews
of The Perfect Gig
"I wake up in the middle
of the night thinking of some of those songs" Charles Temple--read his
review
in the Ocracoke Observer
Jim Graves, DJ of Fayetteville's
Free Flight, 91.9 FM WFS, starts "Bill
Hicks, original Red Clay Rambler, sought-after collaborator, and all-around
NC musical treasure" - the rest
Join us at the live concert at the Cave
where much of The Perfect Gig was recorded |
For
your own copy of The Perfect Gig,
write
Bill
Hicks through the website or use our handy CD Baby link below for online
ordering with your credit card:
| Buy
the The Perfect Gig at . . . |
|
Bill's
comments:
"Last
Call" [lyrics]
After
explaining the reasons for his presence at the bar, Bud meets a spectral
drifter packing iron and a Zen frame of mind. Bud is eventually
left in the dispersing cloud of vapors which accompany the drifter's discourse,
and points to an old sheepskin coat as proof that he wasn't entirely dreaming.
"The
Perfect Gig"[lyrics]
Things
begin in Diogenic solemnity but soon evolve into a Sophoclitorial paradise
of snuggles and expresso. A tip of the
hat
to David Byrne's "Heaven" is required.
"Noir
Bubble" [lyrics]
a story-song
about a doomed romance in some flickering Noirville--Bergman meets Bogey.
"Play
'Rocky Top'" [ lyrics
]
Bill's
new live version of the original live version he did at the Cat's Cradle
in 1979 with the Blurs--this time he was wailing at the Cave, another Chapel
Hill dive, back in November last.
Bill's
notes
on the songs from the first edition CD insert |
