TROY CAMPBELL BIOGRAPHY
Those who've followed Troy Campbell through his evolution over the
years, from the punk-wired Highwaymen, to Americana-drenched Loose
Diamonds, and now three albums into a stellar solo career, have always
known he's a restless soul. It's written in his songs, which flit
between a jumpy, let's-blow-this-town urgency, and more sorrowful
expressions of longing, hope, idealism. And it's there in his
remarkable voice, a uniquely expressive instrument comfortable with
everything from jagged murder ballads to four-on-the-floor Chuck Berry
rockers to candlelit love songs.
But now that restlessness finds new harmony in Campbell's life: Rather
than sit on his hands as the new century dawned, Campbell reinvented
himself, emerging as one of Austin's most promising filmmakers, a sharp
mind delving into the spot where music, culture and film converge, a
mover and shaker with a passion for his subjects.
Campbell first produced A Place to Dance, a documentary short about New
Orleans big-band maestro Pat Barberot, which won the audience award for
best documentary at the 2004 Austin Film Festival. Meanwhile, with his
partner/animator Dano Johnson, he launched Collection Agency Films,
exploring his love for storytelling in great clips covering Texas
gubernatorial candidate Kinky Friedman, songwriter du jour Ray Wylie
Hubbard, and others. More recently, Campbell's put his camera to good
use filming something near and dear to the heart of any Texas rock 'n'
roller--the astonishing return to live performance of psychedelic
legend Roky Erickson.
None of which really preps us for Long in the Sun, Campbell's
extraordinary new album. With roots maven Gurf Morlix (producer of a
veritable who's who of American music, from Lucinda Williams to Butch
Hancock) at the helm again, Long in the Sun is easily Campbell's most
assured and most invitingly intimate effort yet, a panoramic collection
with an intent eye on human interconnections, motivations, emotions.
Perhaps the most immediately striking element of Long in the Sun is
Campbell's gorgeous, magisterial way with a melody. From the beguiling
chorus of the opening cut, "Famous," to "Lovers," which, with its
sparkling guitar lines and sunny tune, is nothing if not an update of
the classic Buddy Holly & the Crickets' sound, the songs are a bedrock
merging of country, folk, and pop with the simple elegance of early
rock 'n' roll. The shimmering "I'll Let You Know" positively glows,
Campbell cradling the song like a newborn baby, and Morlix unspooling
gorgeous guitar texture in the best David Lindley tradition. "Over and
over, I find new hope . . . ," Campbell sings.
Which is not to say Long in the Sun doesn't have its share of darkness.
Campbell leans into a bluesy cover of Woody Guthrie's "Along in the Sun
& the Rain" with knowing gusto, letting the painful yowls and
between-the-lines nuances tell the story. The foreboding march "Killing
Time in Texas," co-written with Morlix, is the kind of harrowing ballad
that could've been penned by Townes Van Zandt, and with its
backdrop--meth-addicted mid-America--it's likely to resonate more than
most folks care to admit. "The Oklahoma speedway will only make you
mean," Campbell intones.
Campbell’s been defining his own element, and writing eloquently from
that experience, from the time his international genetics blessed him
with what he jokingly calls “that un-American Indian look, exotic white
trash from Ohio.” Despite the cultural strains of his parents’ marriage
(“he brought her from Korea to Kentucky to show what really poor people
looked like,” Troy says with a laugh), both of them instilled the love
of music from his earliest memories. When he’d take road trips in his
dad’s coal truck, they’d listen to Elvis and George Jones on the radio
and play Red Sovine on the truckstop jukebox. Back home, he’d sing with
his mother, who favored the likes of Sam Cooke, Freddy Fender, even
Bobby Darin, the sort of distinctive crooners who inspired Campbell to
develop a voice all his own.
Like so many among his generation, Campbell responded to the alarm of
the ‘70s punk-rock revolution, embracing the emotional urgency of the
Ramones and the Clash, seeing every touring band that passed through
nearby Dayton. Among them were the True Believers from Austin, Texas,
fronted by Alejandro Escovedo and his brother, Javier. Flying the
do-it-yourself flag of inspired amateurism, Alejandro encouraged Troy
and his brother Mike to form a band and said he’d let them open for his
band, even though they had no musical experience.
Playing with enough passion to offset their lack of instrumental
proficiency, the Campbells quickly developed the Highwaymen into one of
the most promising bands from the Dayton area. From the start, Troy
found it easier to write material than try to play someone else’s.
Winning a radio station’s battle of the bands gave them studio time to
record their 1986 debut EP. The four-song, self-titled release served
as a calling card for the touring band, who quickly lived up to their
name, opening for the likes of the True Believers and Green on Red.
In 1989, the brothers Campbell followed Alejandro all the way back to
Austin, a creative hothouse filled with kindred musical spirits. Fusing
rootsy heartland strains with punk energy, the band found it’s spark
renewed through Austin guitarist Scrappy Jud Newcomb, who played like
Keith Richards to Troy’s Gram Parsons. After changing their name to
Loose Diamonds (from a song by Jo Carol Pierce, whose acclaimed Austin
tribute album Troy co-produced). the band became a national favorite.
They conquered clubs one by one, with the intensity of their live
performances recalling Austin hero Joe Ely or even Bruce Springsteen
(who proclaimed himself a fan of the band’s “wide-open sound,” while
calling Troy “a rare voice”).
Though 1993’s Burning Daylight debut won NAIRD’s award as the year’s
best indie rock CD, and 1996’s Fresco Fiasco was listed among that
year’s 10 undiscovered gems by the New York Times, deals with
financially-plagued Austin labels and years of hard touring eventually
ground Loose Diamonds down. Campbell and Newcomb retained a creative
friendship (co-writing the title track to 2002's American Breakdown)
that keeps the possibility alive for a band reunion, while both
continue to pursue separate musical paths.
While American Breakdown represented a kind of traumatic reconnection
(with himself, with history, etc.) following the Diamonds' late-90s
breakup and the willful experimentalism of 1999's Man vs.
Beast--resulting in songs both harrowing (the title track) and elegiac
("World Without Tears")--Long in the Sun is the work of one of
America's best songwriters operating from a place of strength, open to
all that comes his way, and pushing himself and his songs to new
heights. Amen.
-Luke Torn
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