Andrew Duhon’s debut album, “Songs I Wrote Before I Knew You” was released January 30th. The album was produced by Grammy award winning producer/engineer, Trina Shoemaker (Sheryl Crow, Emmylou Harris, Queens of the Stone Age, Whiskeytown). The CD will be available through several outlets including Itunes, rhapsody, Amazon Mp3, CD baby, as well as local New Orleans music stores. The CD release was held at d.b.a. on Frenchmen St. in New Orleans on Friday, January 30th.

8/21/10

Time In A Bottle

I played in Fairhope, Alabama last night, my small town home away from home, in front of a mix of old familiar friends and new faces all of whom seemed to be interested in what the kid behind the microphone had to sing about. I played plenty of new songs, the old stuff, and snuck a cover or two in for my own entertainment. I mentioned casually that the next song I’d play was a Jim Croce song. A woman at the bar clapped excitedly and exclaimed, “Thank you! He was a personal friend of mine!” I smiled to humor the statement but thought it to be a stretch at best. It was not, after all, the first time someone at a bar told me they knew Jim Croce personally after I played one of his songs. I finished up the first set and headed to the bar for a drink at an open spot that happened to be next to the woman who’d clapped for the Croce cover. She started by complementing my writing, which I genuinely appreciated, and always delineate from the more vague complement on the “great voice” or “show” or “set”. Her complement was on the writing and its “believability”. I could tell she was a true listener of songs, which naturally made me curious about her Croce comment. She explained that she had met him in San Francisco and they had become good friends. She mentioned “He and Ingrid” whom I knew to be his wife as well as “he and Maury“ whom I knew to be Jim’s guitarist. After such references, I relinquished my skepticism. There was a sparkle in her eye rather than a chip on her shoulder as she told me about standing in her kitchen with Jim, his genuine personality, his easy manner and sense of humor. It was no stretch to my imagination of Jim Croce. His kind-hearted, witty songs and memorable pictures of him smiling or laughing made me believe inherently that he was a kind person. It was that as much as his thick curly brown hair, which always made me feel akin to him in a way. As she spoke of his humor, she added that his only fear that he’d mentioned to her was his fear of flying, and what a heartbreaking shame it was that he’d died in that plane crash. She told me that I was the second person she’d come across that was truly carrying on his songs and his type of art in a genuine, believable way. That was powerful to me. Jim Croce died at 30 just as his career was beginning to make headway. That is the shame of the matter. The beauty is that his art is still around. The beauty is that I bought a Jim Croce record one week before from a shop in Fairhope just two blocks away from the bar where I had a conversation with that old friend of Jim’s. I’ll certainly listen to that record and all of Jim’s music with more kindred spirit. It is easy to forget the humanity that existed and created the songs that we know. None of the songs were always there. It took a person or group of people to decide to create that song, to perform that song, to record that song. In Jim’s case, I believe those songs were written an recorded by a person who’s character I would have found quite agreeable, and I’d be willing to bet when I listen again to his records, I’ll be able to just about hear him smile.

To continue reading, visit Andrew's journal here.

No flash player!

It looks like you don't have flash player installed. Click here to go to Macromedia download page.

Sep 4 7:00 PM
Brownstone's (solo)
Hattiesburg, MS

Sep 8 8:00 PM
Gennaro's with Ernie Vincent
New Orleans, LA

Sep 15 9:00 PM
Albert and Pearl Bar (Softly Softly event)
London, UK

Sep 17 9:00 PM
The Chase
Malvern, UK

Sep 18 3:00 PM
Night and Day Cafe (solo)
Manchester, UK

Sep 20 9:00 PM
Pivo Pivo
Glasgow, UK

Sep 21 8:00 PM
The Tunnels
Aberdeen, Scotland

Sep 23 8:00 PM
The Star
Glasgow, UK