For You To See The Stars

Note: What follows is a letter written to Cyndi Hoelzle, who manages Radney Foster (and also happens to be married to him.) Radney has released a CD and a book of short stories, FOR YOU TO SEE THE STARS that are companions. I recommend both highly.

Hi Cyndi,

I read the book in one sitting. I promise this note will address how much i enjoyed what i read, but wanted to share a bit of detail.

As mentioned, I attended MerleFest last week. My wife and I stay in Boone, partly because of quality of hotel, partly because we love small college towns, and mostly for the drive to and from Wilkesboro.

Saturday we sat in the sun too long on the Hillside Stage and decided to skip Sunday at MerleFest and take a long drive into the mountains. I have an outstanding sound system in a Genesis Coupe, one that I had put in by a demonic, if not possessed, audiophile in search of ideal/perfect mobile sound. 

So it was an easy decision to listen to Radney’s record, as well as a new recording by Driftwood, a band that performed Saturday on the Hillside.

Had to stop the car many times and simply be still to hear such wonderful work.

When we came to BELMONT AND SIXTH, i turned off US-19E and found some shade in a volunteer fire department parking lot. A slightly frayed American flag flapped almost in three-quarter time in a field in front of an adjacent house, and we were totally transfixed. 

My wife and I are extremely keen about politics: we loathe the current administration as much as we despise the fractious partisan bullshit that permeates our culture. Thus, with that strong bias, BELMONT AND SIXTH and ALL THAT I REQUIRE were more than just terrific songs, they were strong statements that were presented in such a way that, perhaps, both sides of the political aisle might heed the lessons that were shared. Then again, I’m not totally sure Trump’s base reads willingly. I do know they listen and watch Fox News, which is poison.

We listened to ALL I REQUIRE while driving by a mountain stream, which reminded me of my dad, who taught Shakespeare in the English department at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, or UNC. Pete, my dad, died in December of 1999, and while he didn’t make it to this century, he didn’t have to put up with Bush/Cheney and the current menace. He would have loved Obama. Pete’s main distraction was fly fishing, a realm that never hooked me as it did him. 

And while driving by that stream, I thought of some major what ifs. My dad and I had long discussions about Shakespeare. He insisted the words were meant to be read, and as I trained as an actor, and have done numerous plays by Shakespeare, and have been told that I have an affinity for speaking that verse, I insisted Shakespeare is meant to be performed. In the clear and reasonable light of day, we’re both right.

That connection during the drive carried over yesterday afternoon. We have four cats and always return from MerleFest on Monday, giving us one more day in the mountains. My wife went to pick up the cats at Mayfair Animal Hospital, which also boards animals — a perfect spot in case any of the cats have a medical issue. And while Ruth (my wife) was gone, I unpacked the car, then went to my office to open the Amazon package that waited on my porch.

It occurred to me that Radney’s CD and book were echoes of a familiar, cherished discussion, though a strong case could be made that both forms are meant to be read and heard. When Radney read from his book on the main stage on Thursday at MerleFest, I reached for my phone and ordered via Amazon, partly because I’d wished for more than a decade that some form of drama be performed on that stage during that music festival…and Radney reading fit that wish. 

Loved the gentle musical background provided by that insanely talented guitarist, who also joined Radney for the acoustic set Friday. (googled and discovered Eddie Heinzelman — that cat can play.)

We listened to Radney’s CD again coming back from MerleFest on Monday. I’d read Shari’s note about changing the title from SYCAMORE CREEK to FOR YOU TO SEE THE STARS. I loved both songs.

And when i finished the title story, it’s easy to agree that Shari was right. Such a perfect companion to the song, the story paints in vivid detail a rare experience in nature, while addressing an equally rare phenomenon that eludes many families — forgiveness for paths taken as well as those that were avoided.

One can enjoy the song. One can enjoy the story. But as Isabel points out in her story, the combination, like God, is poetry.

At that point, akin to a famished brook trout in an Avery County stream who’d pounced on a homemade fly, I was hooked. I read FOR YOU TO SEE THE STARS in one sitting, allowing the characters and their actions to work on me as a unit.

I think fiction becomes theater in that way.

Here are some observations:

Radney’s writing is lean, always to the point, crafted rather than spewed, patient instead of hurried. Reminds me of Elmore Leonard’s acute and perfect style, a writer whose major tip to others is to “leave out the parts that nobody will read."

If one was not aware that Radney had written songs, a suggestion to do so might follow. Radney stitches elements in his written stories like poignant arrangements with an arsenal of apt instruments in ways that brought to mind T-Bone Burnett’s work with CRAZY HEART.

The story ISABEL hit me hard. Partly because of my dad, and mostly because of its gentle pace that allowed the images to appear and then attach themselves to my mood. 

ANOTHER DRAGON TO SLAY felt like a Twilight Zone episode, and I could spend hours discussing why this story works so well as a warning without mentioning the key person involved. It is perfect. Not the least bit hyperbolic. And that makes it all so pathetically sad.

History has a way of repeating if no one pays attention: 1935 in Berlin can easily be 2019 in Houston, or Dallas, or Palm Beach, or wherever illusion has thwarted fact.

That’s one of the great powers of fiction. A character can tell us truth that we might not accept from a “living person.” Too bad.

i expected SYCAMORE CREEK to be one hell of a story. I was not disappointed. The details about music and guitars were wonderful, and I wished I could listen to Radney and his friends talk about music in the ways that musicians do when they gather. And then hear them play. 

The details in the song GREATEST SHOW ON EARTH are some of my favorite lines, and that writing reminds me very much of Guy Clark, who often latched onto real “things” and nudged those things into an imaginary, but precise realm.

A CD, like a film, has a designated length of time. One can stop and start, but the running time never changes. A book of stories is more like baseball … you’ll be done when you’re done, and if you have to go to extra innings to do so, so be it.

What a terrific concept to have a CD and a book of stories stand on stage together.

The combination becomes script and soundtrack to a film in one’s own imagination.

Maybe an actual film is the logical next step … that Radney craft his stories with his music, while using the camera to weave in images that those words and music amplify, a trifecta of expression, which has its own truth.

Secrets and wisdom lurk in the details, and while it is such a cliche that it will always be true, love is the answer.

All the best to you both.

Mark