Tim Hardin

Subject: RE: Tim Hardin
From: bankley
Date: 20 Feb 08 - 12:26 PM

yeah he was quite fixated with Lenny Bruce, in a lot of ways......another genius..... and the final 4 letter word for Lenny was 'DEAD'.....

Subject: RE: Tim Hardin
From: The Mole Catcher's Apprentice (inactive)
Date: 20 Feb 08 - 11:51 AM

Tim Hardin's death was very much over-shadowed by the death of John Lennon, as they both came about at the same time. Yes, I would agree that Hardin did slowly kill himself His heroin addiction had taken control of his life by the time his last album, Tim Hardin 9, was released in 1973

Subject: RE: Tim Hardin
From: PoppaGator
Date: 20 Feb 08 - 11:46 AM

Sorry if I was incorrect in using the word "suicide" ~ I must have picked it up from something I've read within the last few days, either in this thread or in something linked from this thread.

I do not actually remember the event at the time it happened. I was not as active and enthusiastic Tim Hardin fan as I had been a decade or so earlier, and was probably among the many members of the general public to be so overwhelmed at John Lennon's murder and the subsequent media orgy as to miss the news of Tim's demise.

In any event, many observers seem to agree that Tim Hardin spent much of his adult life "killing himself by degrees." The final blow may have been accidental ~ I really don't know the details ~ but I can see how some writers, perhaps unfairly, would characterize Tim Hardin as a person who did himself in.

Subject: RE: Tim Hardin
From: GUEST,harvey andrews
Date: 20 Feb 08 - 06:06 AM

Thanks Tunesmith! I was beginning to doubt my own veracity, and as I'm writing a book about this period in my musical life, that's something I don't want to start doing!

Subject: RE: Tim Hardin
From: NormanD
Date: 20 Feb 08 - 04:40 AM

PoppaG - did Tim suicide? Unless you mean that his many years of substance misuse were "suicidal" I thought that he died from causes related to a wrecked health (I hesitate to use the expression 'natural causes', if you see what I mean). I thought that he was relatively 'clean' around his last days / months. There is a live recording he did, called "The Homecoming Concert", shortly before he died. He was on great form. I think you can dig out this semi-official album (I don't know its precise status).

There is a TH Yahoogroup that people might be interested in. If you check out TH on wikipedia it gives you the link there. It's run by a big fan from Holland (where TH was, and still is, popular) and gives links to an excellent guitar tab site of many of his songs. Harvey's memories of that concert would be greatly appreciated there. One of the group's regular contributors is his former wife, Susan (she who came from "...Baltimore").

There was a good BBC Radio 2 documentary on TH a couple of years ago. I'd be glad to share once I've worked out a way of transferring it back from my iPod to computer to burn a copy (OK, I know there's probably a "how to" thread somewhere on Mudcat!).

norman

Subject: RE: Tim Hardin
From: Tunesmith
Date: 20 Feb 08 - 01:45 AM

Harvey: I've re-read your first post - carefully, this time - and it must have been a different show. If you had been the support, I would have recalled that as I'm a big admirer of your music.

Subject: RE: Tim Hardin
From: GUEST,harvey andrews
Date: 19 Feb 08 - 06:01 PM

Well, that's strange. Were we at the same night? There wasn't a piano that I recall.

Subject: RE: Tim Hardin
From: Tunesmith
Date: 19 Feb 08 - 04:03 PM

Harvey,I have a different memories of that night in Liverpool. At the start of his performance Tim stated that he considered himself to be an improviser, and that if anyone in the audience was expecting him to faithfully reproduce his recorded versions of songs then they would be disappointed. He mentioned this again a couple of times during his performance. And, then, towards the end of the show, he noticed people leaving. "There you go", said Tim, " people don't understand what I'm trying to do and they're going!". "No", shouts back one person, "we're just leaving to catch last buses". Tim looked at the man and said " Hey, man, this sort of thing happens to me at matinees!" I thought he was great. Sang great, played both the guitar and piano great. He did seem a bit spaced out, but it didn't hurt his performance. A great artist.

Subject: RE: Tim Hardin
From: GUEST,harvey andrews
Date: 19 Feb 08 - 02:14 PM

In the early 70's I supported Tim Hardin at a concert in a hotel in, I think, Liverpool. I was playing with my partner Graham Cooper at the time and we were both big fans. Tim was very small I remember, but friendly, and signed a photo for me which I still have. We did the first half to a full house and had a great gig. After the interval it was Hardin.
Now I'd never seen what drugs could do to someone till that night. He came out and settled on a chair, seemingly oblivious to the audience and began to go through his songs. Graham and I were absolutely transfixed. It's hard to explain, but it was as though he were writing the song there and then. It was nothing like the records we had. It was singing and performance that came from somewhere beyond anything I hd ever seen.
He never said a word between songs and never raised his head. The audience grew restless and after three or four songs people began to leave. I felt like grabbing them and saying "Don't go, you'll never hear the like again."
By the time he finished the audience left was about 25% of those who had started the evening.
Graham and I went over the night in the car going home and I think we both agreed we had seen something transcendant, but we both thought that no one could live for long in the place Hardin had been that night, and that it was not the place for us.
It was genius, but at such a high a price we thought. But we wouldn't have missed it for the world.

Subject: RE: Tim Hardin
From: Big Al Whittle
Date: 19 Feb 08 - 01:33 PM

Yeh possibly my memory has shot it, like everything else. Sorry to have inconvenienced you.

Subject: RE: Tim Hardin
From: bankley
Date: 19 Feb 08 - 01:22 PM

Hey Papa G. T.H.'s Woodstock version of 'Carpenter' is on youtube.., despite some sound problems, he held the crowd.... not exactly a small room gig....

appreciate your input...

Subject: RE: Tim Hardin
From: The Mole Catcher's Apprentice (inactive)
Date: 19 Feb 08 - 01:12 PM

Tim Hardin's popularity was capitalized on as early as 1967 with the release of This is Tim Hardin - on Atco. The tracks were demos recorded in 1963 and 1964 and not released at the time because, I believe, Atco didn't think there was any commercial potentiality (to quote Frank Zappa :-D).

Charlotte (making inquiries)

Subject: RE: Tim Hardin
From: PoppaGator
Date: 19 Feb 08 - 01:05 PM

Thanks to Norman for the website link. There's more Tim Hardin material available out there than I would have thought (although much of the stuff is vinyl-only).

I also found it interesting to be reminded that his suicide occurred at about the same time as John Lennon's murder, and so was very much overshadowed. Sales of the "memorial" album released to commemorate (and/or capitalize upon) Tim's passing were apparently impacted by the public's failure to even notice his absense at a time when a much more prominent musican's death was dominating the news.

I was particularly surprised to see that video of one song featuring Tim live at Woodstock is available. I'd love to see it. I had completely forgotten that he was on the bill for that event, and it's a shame that none of his performance was included in the film or in any compilation recording.

After perusing the website's long and presumably complete list of Tim Hardin recordings, I'm even more convinced than I was at first that WLD's memory must be playing tricks on him, and that whoever included some mediocre banjo playing on a live double album has to have been someone else. Tim Hardin played guitar and, less frequently, piano, on his recordings ~ never banjo (nor mandolin, fiddle, or anything else).

Subject: RE: Tim Hardin
From: The Mole Catcher's Apprentice (inactive)
Date: 19 Feb 08 - 12:58 PM

"As far as I know he did release a live album in 1968, though this was a single LP"

Tim Hardin 3 Live in Concert - 1968 (Verve Forecast FTS 3049)

Is available on CD - released 2006

Tim Hardin 3

Subject: RE: Tim Hardin
From: NormanD
Date: 19 Feb 08 - 12:45 PM

Sorry for querying your memories, weelittledrummer, but the live double album by TH is one I haven't come across. As far as I know he did release a live album in 1968, though this was a single LP, and didn't have the song "Foggy Mountain Breakdown" on it. Maybe it was a concert bootleg? If so, he wouldn't have had any control over the final tracklisting. A lot of players seem to pick up the banjo for a song or so - Gillian Welch and kd lang, as recent examples I can think of.

There's a decent website on TH here

Subject: RE: Tim Hardin
From: Big Al Whittle
Date: 19 Feb 08 - 11:57 AM

For a while, in my youth, I lived in this flat in London. I was skint, so I couldn't go out, but there was a pile of records which nobody liked.

Browsing through, I came to this live double album of Tim Hardin - gigging some big hall in New York. And I chiefly remember a track of Foggy Mountain Breakdown. he was obviously quite a decent banjo player, but really just above floorsinger level. If you put something like that down on record you're gonna be compared to Scruggs -obviously - but also all those peole who can REALLY play.

It seemed weird to me even then, that he should have been so ill advised to commit to plastic and posterity stuff that he wasn't absolutely superlative at. I thought then - that poor bugger's in a strange and lonely place. But then so was I, at the time.

Subject: RE: Tim Hardin
From: The Mole Catcher's Apprentice (inactive)
Date: 19 Feb 08 - 11:38 AM

This passed weekend I purchased (on vinyl)Tim Hardins 1 and 2 for about $10 apiece, in really good condition too.

Charlotte (record collector as well)

Subject: RE: Tim Hardin
From: GUEST, Sminky
Date: 19 Feb 08 - 07:40 AM

It appears that "If I Were a Carpenter" is on both Acoustic Routes and Heartbreak by Bert Jansch.

It's also on Bert's "BBC Radio 1 Live in Concert" album (this is the version I was talking about - with the reference to TH).

There's a pretty good BJ discography online.

Subject: RE: Tim Hardin
From: pdq
Date: 15 Feb 08 - 01:13 PM

It appears that "If I Were a Carpenter" is on both Acoustic Routes and Heartbreak by Bert Jansch.

Subject: RE: Tim Hardin
From: Big Al Whittle
Date: 15 Feb 08 - 12:35 PM

which Jansch album is that?

Subject: RE: Tim Hardin
From: GUEST, Sminky
Date: 15 Feb 08 - 12:28 PM

I would love to hear Bert Jansch's version of "Carpenter"

Norman - best track on the album, for my money. Beautiful.

Darn hard to get find a copy of that CD, though!

Subject: RE: Tim Hardin
From: NormanD
Date: 15 Feb 08 - 12:11 PM

Glad that Fred Neill gets a mention in this thread. Another contemporary of TH was Karen Dalton, a woman with an amazing voice and a life that echoed Hardin's (probably worse than his, being a woman).

I would love to hear Bert Jansch's version of "Carpenter", thanks for the tip, Sminky.

I've a feeling that TH got little or no royalties, having sold off the rights early on. He apparently disliked, if not hated, the version of "Carpenter" by The Four Tops. Even great musicians have their flaws, as he did here.

Norman [what's with all this stuff in brackets, Charlotte? ;)]

Subject: RE: Tim Hardin
From: GUEST,The Mole Catcher's Apprentice
Date: 15 Feb 08 - 11:22 AM

"you'd think every bloody folk club in England was an annexe of Cecil Sharp House"

God help us if they ever did become that

Charlotte (whose home is not an annex of Cecil Sharp House)

Subject: RE: Tim Hardin
From: GUEST, Sminky
Date: 15 Feb 08 - 11:18 AM

This thread inspired me to dig out my TH compilation CD last night. Wonderful.

On Bert Jansch's 'BBC Live in Concert' album, Bert announces that TH is 'one of my favourite singers' before launching into Carpenter.

Subject: RE: Tim Hardin
From: PoppaGator
Date: 15 Feb 08 - 10:14 AM

Tim Hardin may have been more self-consciously contemporary and less tied to older traditions than most other singer-songwriter soloists of his era.

At the time, in the US at least, he was still classified and pretty universally accepted as part of the "folk music" scene ~ certainly moreso than Bobby Darin (who straddled many different genres), and also moreso than someone like Paul Simon (who came along a little later).

I believe the fact that Hardin generally played solo, relying only on his own acoustic guitar for accompiment, was enough at the time to make him be seen and accepted as a "folk" artist. That, along with his very personal vocal style, which was decidedly "folky" in contrast to the Vegas-lounge-act approach that was still fairly mainstream at the time (and which was really Bobby Darin's first love).

I was glad to see someone mention Fred Neil, a similar artist from the same time and place and another personal favorite of mine. Both of these guys were phenomenal singers, possessed not only of great "pipes" but also the ability to convey deep emotional expression in their singing. Both could probably have been quite successful interpreting/covering traditional songs and/or songs composed by others, but both were also excellent songwriters, prolific enough to allow each one to perform original material almost exclusively.

Both died too young, too.

"There is thread on mudcat at the moment - what is being sung in folk clubs. If you believed that lot, you'd think every bloody folk club in England was an annexe of Cecil Sharp House."

I think that the content of thread is a kind of self-fulfilling prophecy. Steadfast traditionalists would seem to be more likely to submit their set lists to it than others. I briefly considered posting a response of my own, but didn't do it because I'm not in the UK and my repertoire is so different from what the OP was looking for as to be irrelevant to that discussion.

What I play could best be described as 1960's American folk-scene nostalgia, including traditional country blues (mostly John Hurt), some Dylan songs and other similar "contemporary folk" from 30-40 years ago (including a few Tim Hardin songs, of course), and a lot of borderline pop/folk, country/folk, and folk/rock, etc. If I like a song well enough to learn it, and assuming that I can find a way to present it with my acoustic guitar and my solo voice, I'll give it a go.

I have no prejudice against newer material, but I'm a slower learner than I used to be, and I have an existing 60s-70s "frozen in time" repertoire because I was an active full-time performer back then, before taking a few decades off to slave away at a day job and raise a family...

Subject: RE: Tim Hardin
From: Big Al Whittle
Date: 15 Feb 08 - 04:38 AM

Its not that one is obsessed. It is just the way the English scene IS.....

This last weekend I was at the Folkus Lancashire weekend at Clitheroe organised by Alan Bell and his wonderful committee. I had a wonderful weekend - really enjoyed every minute.

However when it came to sessions. The pro's went one way sat in the little bar by themselves - going into ever more convoluted jiggy reel stuff. The ordinary punters who had come there to learn a bit about folk music sat in the lounge playing their 60's Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell et al stuff.

The whole situation whacks you on the nose every day. There is thread on mudcat at the moment - what is being sung in folk clubs. If you believed that lot, you'd think every bloody folk club in England was an annexe of Cecil Sharp House.

Comparisons are odious, but Tim left a bigger mark on the English folkscene many pillars of the establishment.

Subject: RE: Tim Hardin
From: NormanD
Date: 15 Feb 08 - 03:59 AM

I agree that Tim Hardin toured the UK extensively, and even lived (and recorded) here for a while. However, the argument above re. "but was he folk?" seems to have moved off of him him and was going back to the same old same old that some people can never seem to reconcile. And these arguments have become tiresome, to me at least.

If a discussion should come up here about, say, any other non-British singer-songwriter who toured the UK, are we going to have to go through the same "debate"? TH has been dead for 27 years now, yet he's apparently still a conduit for worn-out discussions.

Maybe TH's post-humous influence on later writers/performers is greater than I appreciate. I'll avoid using the word "folk" and stick to "acoustic" to describe him, but you can hear his sparse echo in so many others' work - Ron Sexsmith, for one example.

Subject: RE: Tim Hardin
From: Big Al Whittle
Date: 15 Feb 08 - 03:17 AM

the controversy isn't tired. it rages precisely because Tim toured this country (England) extensively and his work was revered by other powerful presences on the scene - Derek Brimstone, Ralph McTell, Roger Brooks.

His influence even second hand on writers like myself was profound. the magnitude of his achievement was what made many of us question the rolling tide of unquestioning traddy conformity and wonder if there wasn't some way writing folksongs that didn't involve jigs, reels and finger in the ear stuff - all of which were all emptying the folk clubs.

Subject: RE: Tim Hardin
From: Peace
Date: 14 Feb 08 - 08:56 PM

"PS: I apologize for starting things off on the wrong foot by mentioning that tired old folk/not-folk controversy back in the second message in this thread."

IMO, there is no apology needed, PG. There are folks who don't care for anything beyond their purview. In the words of NormanD above . . . .

Subject: RE: Tim Hardin
From: pdq
Date: 14 Feb 08 - 08:39 PM

I doubt that there was really a rift between Bobby Darin and Tim Hardin. In fact, they sort of traded songs, with Hardin doing "Simple Song of Freedom" and Darin doing "If I Were a Carpenter" Darin worked with Jim (aka Rodger) McGuin in 1963, and much of his later work would have to be called Folk-rock. He also grew a large beard at one time and hung with a politically active group. Drugs, anti-war and civil rights. In short, he was part of the 60s.

Subject: RE: Tim Hardin
From: bankley
Date: 14 Feb 08 - 07:55 PM

Steven Stills once told me that his two favorite singers were Tim Hardin and Fred Neil..... I listened to 'Bird on a Wire' again today after many years.... I can see why... golden pipes..

Subject: RE: Tim Hardin
From: Big Al Whittle
Date: 14 Feb 08 - 12:20 PM

The story in Goldman's Lenny Bruce biog, I seem to remember was that Lenny stole Tim Hardin's girlfriend - Fay Dunaway. Something like that. Could have been vice versa.

In the Red Balloon song, Derek Brimstone reckoned the - 'it stole the lovelight from my eyes' - was a reference to the heroin addiction making him impotent.

Subject: RE: Tim Hardin
From: PoppaGator
Date: 14 Feb 08 - 12:13 PM

PS: I apologize for starting things off on the wrong foot by mentioning that tired old folk/not-folk controversy back in the second message in this thread.

Subject: RE: Tim Hardin
From: PoppaGator
Date: 14 Feb 08 - 11:59 AM

Bobby Darin was a very versatile talent, probably underappreciated during his lifetime. Among the earlier artists he was able to "channel," in addition to Tim Hardin, Old Blue Eyes, and the Killer, was the great Louis "Satchmo" Armstrong, whose recording of "Mack the Knife" is very similar to the cover version that Bobby Darin made into such a huge hit.

Back to Tim Hardin, true romantic, master songwriter, and phenomenally expressive singer...

Subject: RE: Tim Hardin
From: Rasener
Date: 14 Feb 08 - 11:51 AM

Agreed Tunesmith. Darin to me was a very gifted singer, who seemed to be able to lend his hand to any sort of song.

Subject: RE: Tim Hardin
From: GUEST,Tunesmith
Date: 14 Feb 08 - 11:46 AM

Darin's version was, of course, a rip-off of Tim's version. Tim, himself, was irritated by Darin's plagerism - although he probably welcomed the songwriting revenue he received! Darin, infact, didn't really have his own style. He was - at different times, Jerry Lee Lewis, Frank Sinatra, a teenpop balladier and, of course, Tim Hardin. I saw Bobby back in 1960(?), and thought he was terrific!

Subject: RE: Tim Hardin
From: Rasener
Date: 14 Feb 08 - 11:37 AM

I happen to like Bobby Darins version of "If I was a carpenter". It is such a beautiful version. I still play that song regularly. It never bores me.

Subject: RE: Tim Hardin
From: GUEST,The Mole Catcher's Apprentice
Date: 14 Feb 08 - 11:17 AM

"these tired arguments."

same old same old all...Deja Vu all over again...give it a rest for gawdsakes. Tim Hardin was and is a fine song writer and a fine performer, as I'm led to believe (being a bit too young to have ever seen him myself. This pigeon- holing of musician does get to the point of obsessiveness. Just listen to the his music simply for the sake of it, you might be pleasantly surprised.

Charlotte (a closed mind is a terrible thing)

Subject: RE: Tim Hardin
From: NormanD
Date: 14 Feb 08 - 07:06 AM

Let's get back to Tim Hardin.

His music is a lot more refreshing than these tired arguments.

Norman

Subject: RE: Tim Hardin
From: Big Al Whittle
Date: 14 Feb 08 - 05:36 AM

Tell us about the big move, as you say - sounds like something that should have found its way into the tradition.

Subject: RE: Tim Hardin
From: Big Al Whittle
Date: 14 Feb 08 - 04:22 AM

Of course as far as the GREAT scheme of things goes, it doesn't matter if Tim's efforts were folk music. Nobody, except the compulsive obsessives of this world, really needs the universe classifying and tabulating.

The point is that there exists this genus of human being who (lacking talent themselves) worm their way onto committtees of folk festivals and become Radio presenters and journalists - and use their predjudices to block the careers of artists who find Tim Hardin more inspiring as a songwriter than Ewan MacColl.

Bloody pathetic, but that's what most of these Brit arguments about folkmusic boil down to. The muzzling of a few mad dogs who have wrought havoc amongst a generation of artists.

Subject: RE: Tim Hardin
From: NormanD
Date: 13 Feb 08 - 07:37 PM

"Red Balloon", as far as I can make out, is a song about scoring and using smack: "hidden in the red balloon/was the pinning of my eyes". Tim Hardin was a wonderful writer and singer. His first two Verve albums, "TH 1 and 2" still stand as classics, contemporary sounding even after forty plus years. TH's big problem was one of creative burn out after those first few great albums. He never realised his full artistic potential - sadly, he had to live with the consequences of his lifestyle (substance misuse) which made him very inconsistent as a performer.

I certainly do not want to get into a big discussion here about substance misuse and artistic limitation. Suffice to say, TH lost out, his friends and family may well have lost out, and the world of music lost out.

Some of his great songs - "Carpenter", "Hang On To A Dream", "Misty Roses", etc., clock in at about TWO MINUTES each. They're haunting and sparse and beautifully constructed. They may not have been written as "folk songs", but they will probably become so. They will still be sung even after people have forgotten all about the man who wrote them.

Subject: RE: Tim Hardin
From: GUEST,Joseph de Culver City
Date: 13 Feb 08 - 04:49 PM

Wow, you really touched on a lodestone. Tim Hardin was a superb songwriter and soulful singer. He had the ability to create songs with a core of mystery and wonder. I find myself wondering what his songs are 'really' about even 40 years on. 'Red Balloon' and 'Shiloh Town' are representative examples.

Despite the fact that he was 'successful' in his time, I find his music and, especially his singing to be seriously underrated. Like other truly original artists, you always got the feeling at one of his shows that anything, and I mean anything, could happen.

Subject: RE: Tim Hardin
From: Peace
Date: 13 Feb 08 - 04:44 PM

I met him a few times in NYC. He was a wonderful writer and singer. He had the magic of wedding words and melodies to create songs that spoke to people and still do. I don't really care whether or not he was folk. He was a great songwriter, and that's a good enough calling for anyone.

Subject: RE: Tim Hardin
From: GUEST,The Mole Catcher's Apprentice
Date: 13 Feb 08 - 04:37 PM

well thanks for that bit of sociological information, you live and learn.

Charlotte (long ago passed her "chick" days)

Subject: RE: Tim Hardin
From: Wesley S
Date: 13 Feb 08 - 04:00 PM

Way back when it was still allright to call women "chicks" Tim Hardins "If I were a Carpenter" was the last song a lot of us guys would sing sing before we made our "Big Move" on a new chick. A lot of owe Tim Hardin - it usually worked. And when it didn't you knew it was time to move on.

Subject: RE: Tim Hardin
From: GUEST,guest bankley
Date: 13 Feb 08 - 03:07 PM

the above was from me on a different rig....

Subject: RE: Tim Hardin
From: GUEST,The Mole Catcher's Apprentice
Date: 13 Feb 08 - 03:07 PM

his Reason to Believe is, I think, one of most covered of contemporary songs, Rod Stewart's version being the most well known.

Charlotte (every picture tells a story)

Subject: RE: Tim Hardin
From: GUEST
Date: 13 Feb 08 - 03:03 PM

Tim is one of the best singers that I've ever heard live.... I lent him a guitar once for a gig that he was playing in Montreal. He was riding light across the border so he showed up with no instrument. I brought a Gibson flat-top along which he liked... but complained that I didn't use metal fingerpicks and that it was becoming a dying art for the guitar.... anyhow, he played solo, did a few songs on an upright piano as well.... now the interesting thing is, he had a lot of verses to his songs that were never recorded.... he did a 20 min. version of 'Carpenter' with all these fine verses that nobody had heard... maybe he made some up on the spot... but he was that kind of artist.. and incidentally, he wasn't high on anything or junked out at this time.... I kept his set list that he taped to the 6-string as a souvenir for awhile.... plus all the little dings that he put on the surface with that thumbpick..... glad he didn't have metal fingerpicks after all or there would have been a pile of splinters on that stage.... but it was special to just hang out with him backstage, listen to him warm up, he was a hard player in many ways, complicated person.... he released 'Bird on a Wire' about a year later... a beautiful effort... and as I said 'what a singer'

Subject: RE: Tim Hardin
From: Big Al Whittle
Date: 13 Feb 08 - 02:55 PM

The late Johnny Speight once said, the trouble with creative writing classes is that they are full of people who couldn't string two words together slagging off George Bernard Shaw.

Similar thing. The kind of people who say Tim Hardin wasn't folk music are just ignorant. They simply haven't thought deeply enough about the nature of folk music. For them its just a bag of stylistic tricks to which they are personally committed

The Lady Came from Baltimore is one of the best outlaw ballads ever written. Okay, so it wasn't written about contemporary events, but half the 1798 Irish rebel songs weren't either.

Another thing he talks about brilliantly in his songs, is our generation's preoccupation with drugs.

I think Tim made quite a few wrong calls in his career, but its easy to to say how to do the drive if you're never likely to be in the driving seat.