There\u2019s this curious phenomenon in Americana music, the genre where country, folk, storytelling and rock \u2018n\u2019 roll blend together.<\/p>\n
It goes like this: Someone writes great songs, and records them and performs them, but somehow never catches on with a mass audience.<\/p>\n
Other artists record the same songs, often with very similar arrangements, and sell millions of records.<\/p>\n
Jim Lauderdale knows the steely gaze of this musical black hole. With more than 40 professional years under his belt, and dozens of tunes turned into hits by the likes of country stars George Strait, Blake Shelton, Lucinda Williams, Old Crow Medicine Show, Gary Allan, the Dixie Chicks, Mark Chestnutt, Patty Loveless, Vince Gill and even Elvis Costello, the North Carolina native has never had a hit under his own name. He\u2019s about to release his 40th album.<\/p>\n
Lauderdale, 69, is playing two shows Friday at the Jack Kerouac House in St. Petersburg. Each performance in the small residential home at 5169 10th Avenue N. seats 60.<\/p>\n
\u201cSuccess for me is when I finish a song,\u201d Lauderdale tells the Catalyst. \u201cIf I\u2019m happy with it. And when I go into the studio with it, and it turns out good, the next step is if others enjoy it. Just the act of creating music, and then playing it for an audience \u2013 no matter what the size is, and connecting with people.\u201d<\/p>\n
In mid-August, he\u2019ll fly to Norway to join Emmylou Harris\u2019 \u201cEuropean Farewell Tour.\u201d She asked Lauderdale to be her opening act, playing solo, through Sept. 6.<\/p>\n
Then it\u2019s back to Nashville and his band, the Game Changers. They\u2019ve got tour dates booked.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve had just as good of a time playing for a handful of people, or after a gig or a festival at a late night jam, than the pressure, sometimes, of playing in a real big place,\u201d he explains. \u201cWhich has its thrill to it as well.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s a lot of ups and downs in this process, in the life of a writer and singer-songwriter on the road. But you gotta take the bad with the good.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lauderdale thinks back to his 20s, when he was writing and playing hard, scrapping for that elusive record deal, and he said to a friend, \u201cI just need a break. I just want to make it.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou HAVE made it,\u201d she told him. \u201cYou can write songs, and play them for your family and friends.\u201d Lauderdale scoffed. \u201cYou don\u2019t understand,\u201d he whined.<\/p>\n
Many years and numerous failed record deals later, he says, \u201cit kind of sank in, and now I tell aspiring writers that that is success, when you can create something, and you might only play it at a jam session, or for some friends or whatever \u2026 success is relative.\u201d<\/p>\n
He has performed duets with George Jones, Ralph Stanley, Trish Yearwood, Dar Williams and his longtime friend and musical fellow traveler, Buddy Miller. He wrote with the Grateful Dead\u2019s Robert Hunter, and made an album with jam band favorites Donna the Buffalo.<\/p>\n
Said George Strait: \u201cJim Lauderdale is a consummate entertainer, a sharp dressed man as well, a terrific songwriter and a great singer.\u201d<\/p>\n
One thing he\u2019s steadfastly refused to do is stick to a formula, even if it results in positive attention. Jim Lauderdale is an artist faithful to the muse.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy records kinda go where the mood strikes me, or where I get the inspiration \u2013 \u2018I want to do a bluegrass record, and I want to do a traditional-sounding country record, and a kinda country, a little more rockin\u2019 record\u2019 \u2013 all that kind of stuff.\u201d<\/p>\n
And even though he\u2019s a little nervous that Emmylou Harris\u2019 European audiences will grow impatient waiting for her to appear, he has faith in himself, and the courage of his convictions.<\/p>\n
\u201cI just want the songs to be as good as possible, and my vocal to be as good as possible on the record,\u201d Lauderdale says.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd playing solo is a good way to know and convey what the songs are, outside of the record, if they stand up and work in a solo situation. And I really like playing solo a lot.\u201d<\/p>\n
Friday\u2019s performances are at 6 and 9 p.m. Find tickets at this link<\/a>, and this link<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"There\u2019s this curious phenomenon in Americana music, the genre where country, folk, storytelling and rock \u2018n\u2019 roll blend…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":363131,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[202,204,203,199,201,200],"class_list":["post-363130","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-st-petersburg","tag-st-pete","tag-st-pete-headlines","tag-st-pete-news","tag-st-petersburg","tag-st-petersburg-headlines","tag-st-petersburg-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/363130","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=363130"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/363130\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/363131"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=363130"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=363130"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=363130"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}