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Saturday, April 12, 2014

JESSE WINCHESTER (R.I.P. 1944-2014)

I am so saddened to hear this awful news. Jesse Winchester meant a great deal to me and his ‘Third Down 110 to go’ from ‘72 meant a great deal to me too. I bought it when it came out over here the first album by him I would buy but not the last and as seminal albums go [IMHO there isn't a duff track filler on it!] and affect us it was a beaut. ‘Isn’t That So’ and ‘Dangerous Fun’ and ‘Defying Gravity’ a favourite especially when finding others cover it too (it was used in a TV film with Tommy Lee Jones called ‘The Executioner’s Song’ where he played Gary Gilmore and it was used over the credits at the end which I found most affecting sung by the legendary Waylon Jennings and it took me an age to find it by him but my understanding is that it’s a Jesse original) . . . . .sorry rambling here but going to put some Jesse on the jukebox and mourn his passing.
Sad day
I for one will miss him . . . . . .

April 12, 2014 – 9:11 am

Big O informs me - Jesse Winchester, whose “blend of folk, blues and country… embodies the spirit of American music,” died on April 11, 2014. He was 69 and had been battling cancer. His manager, Keith Case, told NPR that Winchester died Friday morning in Charlottesville, VA, where he lived.
NPR Music also noted the following: “Winchester ranks among the elite group of singer-songwriters who can captivate an audience with just his words, his voice and an acoustic guitar. The musician is revered by everyone from James Taylor and Lyle Lovett to Rodney Crowell and Emmylou Harris. Winchester even famously brought a tear to Neko Case’s eye after performing ‘Sham-A-Ling-Dong-Ding’ on Elvis Costello’s Spectacle program, which he also performs in this set.”
Winchester’s career was dramatically affected by his decision to leave the US rather than face the draft during the Vietnam War. As World Cafe has written: “Winchester was on track for a successful performing career, but his status as a Vietnam War draft-evader prevented him from touring and gaining a footing in the US. He opted to move north to Montreal in 1967, and developed a strong Canadian following while touring there. Winchester released seven albums in the 1970s and early ’80s, culminating with the Top 40 hit ‘Say What’ in 1981.”
Winchester, like hundreds of thousands of other anti-war protesters who left the country or otherwise avoided the draft, was able to return to the US after President Carter granted them unconditional pardons on his first day in office - Jan. 21, 1977.