TURNTABLE TUESDAY - The Legacy Collection

A legacy for me is being a piece of the soundtrack of someone's life. ~ Brett Eldredge

Tim Henderson

1940-2011

I can’t remember a time where I’ve enjoyed a CD enough to want to download every track from. Being old school, I prefer an actual CD to a download but this compilation of some of Tim Henderson’s work needs to be carried with you everywhere, traveling from place to place experiencing the nuances embodied in his lyrics.

As I sat listening to the various tracks from the 6-CD The Legacy by Tim Henderson I heard a myriad of influences such as Woody Guthrie and Pete Seeger as well as his ethnic heritage. That fun, folksy frolicking tune as well as a solid storytelling ballad with at times an undercurrent of blues that helped make up the lyrical fabric of our country.

This CD collection is appropriately named ‘The Legacy Collection’ for that is what this is… Tim’s legacy for others to enjoy, to learn from and to emulate. While I’m not sure if the latter is the case, I hear his influences in other artists’ music such as Mike Blakely, Thomas Michael Riley. Gary P. Nunn and Ed Harris. A perfect example is included as a part of this boxed set with the incomparable addition of the late Allen Damson covering some of Tim's tunes on Volume 3 - woven seamlessly into this colorful quilt of Americana. The coolest thing is that I don't believe Tim set out to leave a legacy so much as he was just doing what was in that big heart - sharing what he loved with others, in hopes they would have the same passion for life. 

Whether you love a strong Irish tune, a folksy ballad or a bit of the blues, The Legacy Collection - 87 tracks  in all - offers all of this and more that while spanning times past, will live on in infamy.

Of all the quotes I’ve received this week, or read elsewhere, the following is one that fits best with this album:

“Tim had the IQ of a genius and the heart of a poet. He could discuss 500 year old European music or describe a blade of grass he saw in a West Virginia holler as a boy. These things alone would make him a pretty rare character, but he was also one of the few people you meet in life that can really make you laugh. I once heard a young lady that had just met him say in awe, 'What a beautiful man.' Indeed.” ~ Chuck Hawthorne

For the genius in the storytelling, and the warmth of his heart, I’m tipping my hat…

    

 To add this collection to your music library, click on one of the links below.

CD Baby   Amazon   

To learn more about Tim Henderson, visit his WEBSITE.

OUT OF THE CHUTE - Tim Henderson

TIM HENDERSON

2/19/1940 – 11/01/2011

Very seldom do I use the Out of the Chute to talk about someone who is no longer with us. As I listened to the music of Tim Henderson (CD collection review coming tomorrow) I realized that he is with us. Tim Henderson was a songwriter who like Towns Van Zandt, his influence lives on in many songwriters today.

In a phone call to Tim one night, Towns is quoted as saying “I just felt like talking to the best songwriter I know.” Richard Dobson referred to an endorsement from Towns Van Zandt as a ‘gold standard’.

Tim had a way of pushing boundaries with his lyrics without insulting folks. He made them think - told things like they were. “I keep trying to think of a more purely representative American Songwriter than Tim Henderson… “ ~Tom Paxton

Born in West Virginia, his lyrics reflect a lot of his Appalachian heritage, yet he could belt songs such as La Dona Maria, the Spanish dialect rolling from his tongue while he was Texas/ Americana through and through. You will also hear a Scottish influence in his vocals and lyrics, something he probably picked up as a young boy, listening to his grandmother play Scottish and Wales folk music on her mountain dulcimer. But his biggest influences, like all songwriters, came from his life. The places and people he experienced from his early years, to his military service and various jobs into adulthood all became fodder for the songs he would write. Quoting Townes, “His songs are soulful and solid, sprung from the soil of Texas. Sometimes witty, always wise. Never showy or shallow.” That’s LIFE!

Tim was honored with the Lifetime Achievement Award of the Academy of Texas Music in 2011 for his “timeless contributions to Texas music”. TMA founder, Lucky Boyd is quoted, “Any songwriter’s clinic should include a study of Henderson’s songs. As a mainstay of Texas music, Henderson will be touted as a historically significant component throughout the annals of lone star lore.”

“Tim was a joy to be around. He was always happy, always up, always joyous, always carrying around his wonderful songs which he would sing with that special passion of his anywhere, anytime. I miss him a lot.” ~W.C. Jameson

When Tim performed at the Woody Guthrie Memorial Festival in Tulsa with Pete Seeger, Pete would later remark about the ‘spiritual evocation of Texas’ Tim brought to his ballads.

Tomorrow I’ll talk about a 6-CD compilation released in 2016. Artists all across Texas came together for a tribute to a man who taught them so much through his songwriting.

In the mean time, here's a glimpse into this man's amazing talent - courtesy of TexasOutlawVideos:

Country Blessings!