Acoustic Spotlight
Archives
Chuck Pyle
Part
II
by Gary Knighting
On December 12, 1997, the Black Rose Acoustic Society presents Chuck Pyle in concert, with an opening set by our own Black Rose. Tickets are $8 for members and $12 for non-members, and will be available at open stages, or call Gary Knighting in Colorado Springs at 536-9482 or e-mail gknighting@codenet.net. It’s going to be an extraordinary evening — don’t miss it.
And now for Part 2 of the Acoustic Spotlight begun in our last issue:
So where were we? Oh, yeah — Chuck Pyle is a genius, but modest about it. (If you missed our last issue, take our word for it for now, and find out for yourself at the concert.)
Chuck has four CD’s out so far, Step By Step, Drifter’s Wind, Endless Sky, and the live album Camel Rock. Stop reading this, and go buy them all and listen to them. Right now. Go ahead, we’ll wait...
Now that you’re back, you know that each one shows Chuck’s talent as an individual performer (occasionally with a little help from a friend). We heard that his new CD, currently in production was going to be somewhat different, so we asked him about it.
"This album has got a rhythm section on it of unbelievable accomplishment, he replied. "All of them have played with the 'greats'. And it's just a piece of art. I can see it. The instrumentation is like a painting. It's a huge jump in artistic maturity. If I may be so wildly bold as to say I'm an artist, it is the most artistic piece I've ever done. Because there's not just guitar and vocal, or a little bit of harmony, or a little bit of this and that – it's a full production.
"It has some old songs on it, and duets with some of the people that have recorded them. [At the time of this writing, the guest artists include Richard Thompson, John Gorka, Jackson Browne, Jerry Jeff Walker, Tim and Mollie O’Brien, Tish Hinojosa, and Guy Clark. — Ed.] So in that way it's kind of a recap. Then there are going to be five brand new songs, never before recorded.
"And if they grab hold, then fine. And if they don't, well, I waited before for my big break and it never came, so I went on without it. And I'll go on without it this time, if it comes to that. Whatever happens is fine. But I'll have made an album I can be really proud of. In fact, I think the title song, ‘Keeping Time By the River,’ is my favorite song that I’ve written, at least for right now."
Singer, songwriter, guitarist. Sounds to us like a full plate, but for Chuck it’s only the beginning. For example, last December he premiered his one-man theatre piece, Zen Gallon Hat (A One Fact Play). And the one fact? "Some things must be believed to be seen. The piece is a dialog between a Zen master and an old cowboy."
That reminded us of something else we were curious about. Some years back, a newspaper reporter hung the moniker "The Zen Cowboy" on Chuck, and it stuck with him. So we asked if there wasn’t something contradictory about that.
"No, not at all. In fact, that’s what my theatre piece is about. Living a hard life forty miles down a dirt road or in a monastery somewhere knocks the rough edges off, and there’s a wisdom that comes from that. For example, a Zen master might say, ‘We are one universal mind, expressing in form, looking back upon ourselves with a trillion pairs of eyes.’ And the old cowboy would say, ‘We’re all just each other with different faces.’ Or the cowboy would say, ‘Life’s a trail, not a camp,’ and the master would say, ‘There is no place where we arrive at which we may remain.’ So they’re both just saying the same thing in different ways."
And what’s next?
"I've already started a new album beyond Keeping Time By the River. It’ll have all new songs never recorded before, and I think I've got about half the songs finished. So it'll be fast on the heels of this one. Then in '98 a Christmas album. We're doing a quote book called The Zen Cowboy Book of Wisdom. And then I'm going to do an instructional video, an instructional book, a performance video, and then I'm going to be taking a break for a year. '99 is going to be a time to rest. And then at the millennium I'll start up again. Because that'll be three albums, two videos, and two books in a year and a half. That's enough. For awhile."
Sounds like '98 is going to be a banner year for Chuck Pyle fans. We wondered what sombody with Chuck’s energy and creativity will do during a year off. "Oh, I’ll play a lot more. And I might take up another instrument — maybe the violin or the piano. I’ve often thought I’d like to buy an electric guitar and learn to play really good lead." Great, Chuck. Glad to hear you’ll be taking it easy.
It’s not unusual to be impressed by talent, charisma, and accomplishment. It’s rare to be wowed by humility in the midst of all that, but that’s exactly what happens when you meet Chuck Pyle. At one point in our conversation Chuck said of his music, "It's a means for continuous growing…a means for not being separate. A means for me to meet tons of new people along the way. And you know it's not very long that they are around me that they understand that I don't think it's very special what I do, because I believe they have the same potential within them."
That’s the real magic of Chuck Pyle’s music. When Chuck sings, you can almost hear your own voice.
