Muddy Shoes

On Sunday, April 19th, I took a musical tour that began in Greenville, Mississippi, and ended in Los Angeles.  My guide on this journey was Richard Haxton, a singer-songwriter and performance artist. 

Haxton, born in Greenville and the son of a famous local musician, is himself a near-legendary fixture on the LA music scene.  He conducted his tour from the intimate stage of 'The Silo' performance space, located out in the horselands of Sunland, and no more perfect setting could have been arranged.  There was no distance between Haxton and the capacity crowd, who were drawn into his story as if it was their own.

Haxton sang and accompanied himself on guitar and piano, using his original songs to take the audience through the stages of a musical life.  From growing up a white man in the homeland of the blues, through a mystical road trip which started east but finished with a turn towards Hollywood, to an eventual musical residence in LA.  Along the way we were introduced to Haxton's alter-ego 'Guil-T' - a mockingly self-proclaimed 'Prince of Ark-LA-Miss', to 'Mississippi Slick' - a smooth-talking southern player, to 'Major' - a traditional bluesman cum agent, and to other lively characters, including a desperate LA-style corporate music shill and a chainsaw-wielding lumberjack anxious for a drink.  While we didn't make it to 'Hawkstown', Haxton's latest and most experimental musical abode, we had a rich and eventful road trip well worth the price of the ride.

Richard Haxton called his one-man show 'Mud On My Shoes'.  Cosseted in the audience my factual shoes may have remained dry and mud-free, but my spirit was knee deep in wonderful Mississippi goo right along with my new on-stage acquaintances.