Jesse Winchester, Musician And Muse To Icons, Dies At 69
AUDIE CORNISH, HOST:
Singer-songwriter Jesse Winchester died this morning. The 69-year-old had been battling cancer. He's known for his '70s songs like the "Brand New Tennessee Waltz." NPR's Mandalit del Barco has an appreciation.
MANDALIT DEL BARCO, BYLINE: Jesse Winchester was born in Louisiana and grew up in Memphis. He played guitar and listened to R&B and doo-wop. After college, he planned on becoming a lawyer. But in 1967, he got his draft notice. Instead of going to war in Vietnam, he fled to Canada. In Montreal, Winchester began writing music and singing, always looking back to his roots in the American South.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "BRAND NEW TENNESSEE WALTZ")
BARCO: Winchester released his first album, produced by Robbie Robertson of The Band. Music critics hailed him as the next Bob Dylan, but he was not able to perform in the U.S. because of his draft status. He told NPR in 1986 that he was always somewhat ambivalent about performing anyway.
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(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "BILOXI")
BOB MEHR: From just a pure visceral level, his voice was, you know, gentle and beautiful and powerful.
BARCO: Memphis music journalist Bob Mehr says Winchester is considered very much a Southern writer.
MEHR: Rodney Crowell, who was a friend and admirer of his, I think he said that Jesse's songs combined the gravity of William Faulkner and the levity of Flannery O'Conner. You know, there was a kind of southerness to it, a humor and wistfulness, you know, all the sort of great elements of what we consider kind of Southern writing, not just Southern songwriting.
BARCO: Winchester's songs were revered and recorded by the likes of Wilson Pickett, the Everly Brothers, Joan Baez and Bob Dylan. Winchester always considered himself a songwriter first.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED BROADCAST)
BARCO: Jesse Winchester returned to the U.S. in 1977 after President Jimmy Carter pardoned the Vietnam era draft exiles. His music enjoyed a revival in more recent years. In one of his last performances on TV, Winchester paid a soulful homage to the old doo-wop songs he loved.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "SHAM-A-LING-DONG-DING")
BARCO: Winchester brought the audience and the show's host, Elvis Costello, to tears. Mandalit del Barco, NPR News.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "SHAM-A-LING-DONG-DING")
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