Jesse Winchester - Songwriter Laureate

We sat in our RV in Austin crying at the news that having triumphed over laryngeal/esophageal cancer he succumbed to bladder cancer  today 4/11/14 and we listened to an NPR interview just after Love Filling Station came out, hearing his honest and humble story of growing up Protestant and Catholic, loving languages, moving to Montreal the world’s  2^nd largest French speaking city, to avoid the Viet Nam draft because it was smart ,while those who went were courageous and in his words courageous trumps smart. Played guitar in lounges, “Shadow of Your Smile”, left Les Astraunauts because the manager’s gimmick was to have them wear tights and football helmets…he wrote his first song “The Brand New Tennessee Waltz” and then all the rest…never trying to set the world afire, just be slow and steady and true, traditional and classical in the best songwriting senses. He met Cyndy , the “goddess in human form” and moved to Nashville and then West Virginia…ten years between albums due to a balance between laziness and perfectionism…and he sang “Shame about Him”, and the oh so sweet “Sham a lam a ding” …He was just the most poetic, elegant ,  evocative ,poignant, delightful  songwriter and performer- every song a gift so exquisitely wrapped and presented.

 We had seen him on so many venues- from the Orpheum return from Canada with full band, to   a tiny circle on the Boston booze cruise while Jonathan Edwards headlined , to folk clubs(The Narrows, Blackburn Tavern with Guy Clark)  and festivals and 3 times on the road where we met Cyndy at the concert with Clair Larkin in Maryland in fall 2008, then on Frick Island after he came back from throat Ca, then most recently at the Sellarsville Theater Pa, in November 2013 … always wonderful, always  moving us to laughter and tears from Rhumba Man to revived Twigs and Seeds to “Wave Bye-Bye” …”we always sail in circles so there’s no need to cry”…but we do out of gratitude and sadness for his Cyndy and that at 69 he should have had another 20-30 years of sharing his gifts…We will always listen and remember.