It is so hard to wait, especially when you know something really big is right around the corner. Not that this wasn't a whole lifetime in the making, but when the finish line gets close it has to be excruciating! Gurf Morlix released his new album yesterday, Blaze Foley's 113th Wet Dream. It pays homage to Blaze, with whom he played over 20 years ago before Gurf became a ubiquitous Americana MVP. They met in 1976 when Gurf played a show in Austin, having left the chill of his native Buffalo, NY after high school. That night, Blaze invited Gurf to his first gig, which spawned a friendship for the next few years, as the two iconoclasts became runnin' buddies.
Blaze Foley was a brilliant songwriter but tragically flawed character. He was murdered in 1989 at the age of 39. Gurf's album is being released in conjunction with the debut of the documentary, Blaze Foley: Duct Tape Messiah a movie about Blaze's life, itself 12 years in the making. A few years back Gurf contributed liner notes for a European Blaze Foley tribute CD, and we quote them here:
“Blaze Foley – soulful, passionate singer songwriter. Champion of the downtrodden. Friend of the working Girl. Truth seeker. Atmospheric disturbance. Tender caring person with a big ol' bag of deep-rooted troubles stuffed down into one of his pockets. Blaze could cut right through the bullshit, or he could be the cause of it. The funniest person I ever met, and also the most tragic.”
Gurf will be touring in conjunction with film screenings, which will be followed by a set of Gurf playing Blaze's songs. Here he is from the Threadgill's stage, during our Music Fog showcase from SXSW 2010, with the song that closes out the new album, "Cold Cold World."
- Jessie Scott
