{image1}Louisiana-bred songwriter Kevin Gordon has both mastered the art of churning, bayou-driven rock and earned a master's degree from a venerated writing school as a published poet.
This singular combination permeates his great CDs, and better yet, his live performances. Gordon plays a rare Milwaukee gig Oct. 22.
Warning: don't expect dense language or dainty poetic verse. Instead, Gordon drives listeners with greasy slide guitar, foot-stomping rock and a soulful voice of longing and urgency. And heartfelt, intelligent songs.
Gordon, 41, was born in Shreveport, La., and grew up to the east in Monroe, also in the northern part of the state. He later earned his master's degree from the prestigious University of Iowa Writers Workshop, becoming a published poet. But through the years, Gordon also played guitar, wrote songs and performed in bands. And when he reached a career crossroads, the pull of writing and playing music won out.
"It almost feels like the battle of the personalities at times," Gordon said in a telephone interview between a North Carolina gig and Nashville, his home for the last 13 years.
"For me personally, it's two entirely different things," he said, referring to poetry and songwriting. "Obviously the things you learn from poetry affect the way you make aesthetic decisions when you're editing lyrics and stuff like that for songs."
"I shy away from the colloquial habit of calling great songwriters poets and all that crap. Let's face it -- poets probably don't have nearly as much fun as I do, getting to play songs in front of people, playing in a band. Poetry is a much lonelier enterprise."
Gordon has just released a new, critically acclaimed CD, "o Come Look at the Burning," his first record in five years. His songs from earlier records have been covered by numerous artists, including Keith Richards, Levon Helm, Southside Johnny and others. His previous CD, "Down to the Well," features a stunning duet with his friend, Lucinda Williams.
The new record, featuring 10 original tunes, delves more into blues music than past albums and includes covers by Willie Dixon and Eddie Hinton. An ace guitarist, Gordon said he was influenced by great southern-bred bluesmen such as Little Walter, Muddy Waters, Mississippi Fred McDowell and Jimmy Reed.
"The great lie of the south is that there is this big cultural segregation," said Gordon, who is white. "I find that the integration of cultures is as strong as the official segregation. There were a lot of white guys listening to black radio stations and just loving that music ... I come to that music because I love it, and I can't stay away from it. I find it presents something that says a lot about the human condition."
The ideas for Gordon's songs come from events in his past, people he's met and even overheard snippets of conversation, with his regular journal entries giving birth to both songs and poems. A longtime fan of what some call "outside art," Gordon recently became a part-time dealer in the genre. One artist he got to know inspired a touching song on the new record.
"It's an aesthetic interest of mine, and it was basically a way to turn what might have been becoming an unhealthy obsession into something a little more manageable," Gordon said of the "outsider" visual art style and his side business.
In his new song, "Joe Light," Gordon writes movingly about how the late artist's pictures hang in major cities and sell for top dollar, while Light drives a $500 car, supports 10 kids and sells paintings in his yard.
"That song is about him in particular but really about the fate of a lot of these people who were enjoying a lot of popularity among folk art collectors in the mid to late '80s," Gordon said. "After they passed their prime aesthetically, all the collectors move on, and you have people dying penniless who are collected by the Smithsonian and other museums all over the world. But they're buried without a dime in their pockets."
Like his friend Light, Gordon also focuses on his own art, not commerce. Despite the pull many songwriters feel from Nashville's Music Row publishing industry, Gordon said he prefers to write for his heart, not the hit parade. "I just don't feel like that's where I am, and I refuse to chase after that lottery ticket," he said.
Gordon shares that sensibility with Milwaukee songwriter and guitarist John Sieger. The two became friends when Sieger spent a few years writing songs in Nashville.
"I love his music," Gordon said. "I think he's really incredible. And he is sorely missed in Nashville. I just think he's great. They (some people in Nashville) don't get it, and that's to his credit. Yeah, we miss them (John and his wife Linsey) quite a bit. One of my favorite things about coming to Milwaukee is getting to see John."
Despite his love for songwriting, Gordon hasn't given up on poetry. He fills his days mainly minding his music career and spending time with his two young children and wife. When he does find himself free to create something, a song or a poem, "most of the time I end up sitting there with a guitar in my hand," he said. "I don't know what that means."
"I was always more a Stones guy than a Beatles guy," he said. "The music always was for me a more rhythmic thing than an intellectual thing."
And for fans of earthy songwriting and rock-'n'-roll, Gordon's focus on music is a very fortunate thing.
Seating for Gordon's 8 p.m. Milwaukee show at Deone Jahnke Studios, Walker's Point, are limited and cost $15. Contact Jahnke at deone@deonejahnke.com.
