![]() While it might be a challenge to guess the date of origin of many of these recordings on the basis of musical style, I Don’t Wanna (1966) comes across as pointedly of its time, with satirical lyrics about napalm, Uncle Sam, and CIA-backed coups. Other previously unreleased works include the garage punk protest music of Henry Flynt and the Insurrections’ I Don’t Wanna (recorded in 1966 but first released in 2004) miscellaneous experiments for wild, unhinged solo voice (the “Central Park Transverse Vocal” series from 1963), freeform alto saxophone, and overdriven electric slide guitar with wordless vocals (recordings from 1963 to 1971, collected and released in 2002 on Raga Electric) the mellower, groove-oriented ensemble performances of “contemporary cowboy raga” (Flynt’s description) on Graduation and Other New Country and Blues Music (recorded in the late 70s, first released in 2001) as well as numerous releases of Flynt’s ecstatically charged amplified violin and tamboura music from the 1970s and 1980s. On a number of these, echo is employed well in excess of the comparatively judicious, benchmark use associated with Sam Phillips’s productions from Sun Studio.Ĭover of Henry Flynt's Back Porch Hillbilly Blues Volume 1 CD (Locust Music)īack Porch Hillbilly Blues proves to be only one of a number of musical destinations in Henry Flynt’s recently revealed itinerary. These solo fiddle workouts appear in memorable recordings that combine Flynt’s inventive playing with abrasive amplified timbres, occasionally plunging a performance into a Mammoth Cave of reverb. In particular, his exuberant solo fiddle tunes such as “White Lightning” and “Informal Hillbilly Jive” cry out for accompaniment, for some kind of musical response to drive their headlong tempos toward even greater abandon. The affecting down-home music of Back Porch Hillbilly Blues differs in the number of participants, if not necessarily in feel, from the “Social Music” volume of Harry Smith’s Anthology of American of Folk Music.įlynt’s avant-garde hillbilly music comes across as a movement consisting of a single practitioner it is and it isn’t social music. Within three years, three American independent record labels had released ten compact discs featuring hours upon hours of archival recordings of Flynt’s music.ĭescriptions of Flynt’s recordings often hinge upon words like “personal,” “informal,” and “solitary.” These terms are especially apropos of the two volumes of Back Porch Hillbilly Blues (recorded in the early and middle 1960s, but first released in 2002), home quality solo recordings for violin, ukulele, guitar, and occasional vocal accompaniment, in which Flynt’s voice veers between the extremely nasal, high-lonesome wail of “Sky Turned Red” and the gentle, wordless moan of “Blue Sky, Highway and Tyme.” The greatest incongruity with these pieces is not their meeting of avant-garde and hillbilly styles so much as the fact that these spirited, soulful performances are unaccompanied by other musicians. ![]() ![]() And then, at the century’s turn, the floodwall gave. With the single exception of a cassette released in 1986 in an edition of 350 copies by Cologne’s Edition Hundertmark, Henry Flynt’s music didn’t see commercial release until the 21st century. Insert for Henry Flynt's You Are My Everlovin/Celestial Power cassette (Edition Hundertmark). Yet here he was, 20 years after hanging up his fiddle, discussing his musical trajectory, his education – like that of Henry Adams or Flaubert’s Frederic Moreau, it led to disillusionment – and the role that music played in it. It may be misleading to persist in describing Flynt as a violinist and composer, as by his own account he had given up performing music in 1984. Don’t worry if you missed Flynt’s appearance at the time of the live broadcast on WFMU of Jersey City, New Jersey – it was immediately posted on UbuWeb as a three hour mp3 file with a playlist detailing the names of the tracks that appeared in the broadcast. He was the guest of Kenny G ( the other Kenny G, not the smooth jazz star), also known as Kenneth Goldsmith – radio host, conceptual poet, and founder of the online archive UbuWeb. On 26 February, 2004, the 63 year old violinist, composer, philosopher, and writer Henry Flynt made a rare appearance on the radio.
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