By SoDak
In the
mid-to-late 1990s, a friend gave me Jimmy LaFave’s Buffalo Return to the Plains. I was struck by his emotive, raspy
voice. It was clear he was very talented and had a keen social conscious, based
on his lyrics. Nevertheless, it took several years for me to warm up to his
records. Once I did, I could not get enough.
LaFave was a regular
at Woody Guthrie Folk Festival and was one of the individuals involved in establishing
Red Dirt music, generally associated with a group of Americana musicians from
Oklahoma and Texas. He was also obsessed with Bob Dylan. He was well respected
among fellow folk-country musicians, but he never received broad public
attention.
My favorite
records by him are Blue Nightfall (2005),
Cimarron Manifesto (2007), and Depending on the Distance (2012). Blue Nightfall is a beautiful, moody,
reflective record. I love driving at dusk, while listening to the title track,
as I drift down the road. His slower songs are very calming, giving a sense of
comfort, like sharing an evening with a dear friend.
A couple weeks
ago, I did a search to see if he was touring only to learn that he died in May
from a rare form of cancer. He remained active in the music community until the
end. I hope that more people became fans of the wonderful music that he
created.
What a great song.
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