Terry Allen (artist)

Last updated
Terry Allen
Terry allen 2010.jpg
Terry Allen at the 2010 Texas Book Festival
Background information
Born (1943-05-07) May 7, 1943 (age 80)
Wichita, Kansas
Genres
Occupation(s)
Instrument(s)
  • Vocals
  • piano
  • guitar
Years active1965–present
Terry Allen in Dallas, 2018 TerryAllenDallas2018.jpg
Terry Allen in Dallas, 2018

Terry Allen (born May 7, 1943) [1] is an American singer-songwriter and visual artist from Lubbock, Texas. Allen's musical career spans several albums in the Texas country and outlaw country genres, and his visual art includes painting, conceptual art, performance, and sculpture, with a number of notable bronze sculptures installed publicly in various cities throughout the United States. He currently lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Contents

Allen has recorded twelve albums of original songs, including the landmark releases Juarez (1975) and Lubbock (On Everything) (1979). His song "Amarillo Highway" has been covered by Bobby Bare, Sturgill Simpson and Robert Earl Keen. Other artists who have recorded Allen's songs include Guy Clark, Little Feat, David Byrne, Doug Sahm, Ricky Nelson, and Lucinda Williams. [2] Rolling Stone magazine describes his catalog, reaching back to Juarez as "..uniformly eccentric and uncompromising, savage and beautiful, literate and guttural." [3]

Allen also works with a wide variety of media including musical and theatrical performances, sculpture, painting, drawing and video, and installations which incorporate any and all of these media. His work has been shown throughout the United States and internationally. [4]

Early life

He was born in Wichita, Kansas, United States. [1] Allen's father was Fletcher ("Sled") Allen (August 23, 1886 in West Plains, Missouri – October 16, 1959 in Lubbock, Texas) a catcher in 1910 for the St. Louis Browns, who continued his career as a player-manager in the Texas League. [5]

Allen attended Monterey High School [6] in Lubbock, Texas. His contemporaries at Monterey High School included Butch Hancock, Jimmie Dale Gilmore, Joe Ely, Jo Harvey Allen and Jo Carol Pierce. Trained as an architect, he received a B.F.A. from the Chouinard Art Institute in 1966. [7] After briefly teaching at his alma mater (1968-1969) and the University of California, Berkeley (1971), Allen served on the faculty of the California State University, Fresno as a guest lecturer (1971-1973), associate professor (1974-1977) and professor (1978-1979) of art before resigning his appointment to pursue other opportunities. [7] His art has been supported by three National Endowment for the Arts grants and a prestigious Guggenheim Fellowship. His work Trees [8] (the music, literary and third trees) is installed on the campus of the University of California, San Diego as part of the Stuart Collection. His artwork has been featured at the L.A. Louver art gallery in Venice, California.

Visual artist

His works are represented in the collections of many international museums including the New York Museum of Modern Art, the Detroit Institute of Arts, the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City, the San Diego Museum of Contemporary Art, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art, Espace Lyonnais d'Art Contemporain, Musée Saint-Pierre, Lyon, France, the Houston Museum of Fine Arts, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, The Contemporary Austin, the Dallas Museum of Art, the Art Museum of Southeast Texas, and the Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art.

Kansas City, Missouri is home to both his controversial public sculpture "Modern Communication" [9] as well as The Belger Collection [10] [11] which features Terry Allen as one of their seven "core artists".

Music

Allen first learned to play piano from his mother, Pauline Pierce Allen, a professional musician. [12] In 1962, while in high school, he wrote his first song, "Red Bird", [13] which he would go on to perform live on Shindig! in 1965, [14] and record for his 1980 album Smokin' the Dummy .

In 1975, Allen released his debut art-country album, Juarez , which is considered "one of the greatest concept albums of all time" according to PopMatters. [15] Rolling Stone later called it an "outlaw classic". [16]

Allen's 1979 follow up was the groundbreaking Lubbock (On Everything). The songwriter's deeply moving and satirical lyrics capture his complex memory of growing up in his hometown of Lubbock. According to AllMusic, Lubbock (On Everything) is "one of the finest country albums of all time" and a progenitor of the alt-country movement. [17] One of the songs, "New Delhi Freight Train", was first recorded by Little Feat and appears on their 1977 album Time Loves a Hero . [18] Guy Clark said of the song, "It's such an interesting piece of work. It’s really fun to play. The music, it’s really nice. But it's the juxtaposition of the song." [19]

In 1980, Allen released Smokin' the Dummy , recorded with the Panhandle Mystery Band. [1]

His 1983 album Bloodlines includes one of his better-known songs, "Gimme a Ride to Heaven Boy", the tale of a driver who picks up a hitchhiker on the road one night who claims to be Jesus Christ. [20]

In 1986, Allen collaborated with director David Byrne on the soundtrack for the film True Stories .

Over the following decade (1985-1995), Allen released a series of albums with avant-garde elements, as companions to visual art, theatrical and musical projects – Pedal Steal , Amerasia and Chippy (the latter also the soundtrack of a stage play in collaboration with Joe Ely, Butch Hancock, Robert Earl Keen and Wayne Hancock).

In 1996, he released the country album Human Remains , which features guests including David Byrne, Joe Ely, Charlie and Will Sexton and Lucinda Williams. [21]

In 2007, Allen appeared on the track "Ghost of Travelin' Jones" on Ryan Bingham's album Mescalito .

Allen's 2013 album Bottom of the World features "Queenie's Song", inspired by the death of his dog and co-written with Guy Clark.

Discography

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Waylon Jennings</span> American country musician (1937–2002)

Waylon Arnold Jennings was an American singer, songwriter, musician, and actor. He is considered one of the pioneers of the outlaw movement in country music.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jimmie Dale Gilmore</span> American country singer

Jimmie Dale Gilmore is an American country singer-songwriter currently living in Austin, Texas.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rothko Chapel</span> United States historic place

The Rothko Chapel is a non-denominational chapel in Houston, Texas, founded by John and Dominique de Menil. The interior serves not only as a chapel, but also as a major work of modern art: on its walls are fourteen paintings by Mark Rothko in varying hues of black. The shape of the building—an octagon inscribed in a Greek cross—and the design of the chapel were largely influenced by the artist. The chapel sits two miles southwest of downtown in the Montrose neighborhood, situated between the building housing the Menil Collection and the Chapel of Saint Basil on the campus of the University of Saint Thomas. About 110,000 people visit the chapel each year.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lloyd Maines</span> Musical artist

Lloyd Wayne Maines is an American country music record producer, musician and songwriter. He was inducted into the Austin City Limits Hall of Fame as one of the first three members, the other two being Willie Nelson and Stevie Ray Vaughan. He is the father of Natalie Maines who is best known as the lead singer of The Chicks.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wayne Hancock</span> American singer-songwriter

Thomas Wayne Hancock III better known as Wayne "The Train" Hancock, is an American singer-songwriter. Known as "The King of Juke Joint Swing," his performances incorporate jazz, blues, western swing, country and rockabilly, styles of music that he began listening to as a kid. His influences include Jimmie Rodgers, Glenn Miller, Tommy Dorsey, Hank Thompson, Hank Williams and Hank Snow because they were all in his parents' record collection.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cub Koda</span> American musician (1948–2000)

Michael John "Cub" Koda was an American rock and roll musician, songwriter, and critic. Rolling Stone magazine considered him best known for writing the song "Smokin' in the Boys Room", recorded by his band Brownsville Station, which reached number 3 on the 1974 Billboard chart.

Lubbock is a city in Texas.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Joe Ely</span> American singer-songwriter

Joe Ely is an American singer, songwriter and guitarist. He was "one of the main movers" of Austin, Texas's progressive country scene in the 1970s and '80s.

The Belger Arts Center (BAC) is a non-profit organization located in Kansas City, Missouri. It houses a fine art collection and also holds exhibitions of various art.

Texas country music is a subgenre of country music from Texas. Texas country is a style of Western music and is often associated with other distinct neighboring styles, including Red Dirt from Oklahoma, the New Mexico music of New Mexico, and Tejano in Texas, all of which have influenced one another over the years, and are popular throughout Texas, the Midwest, the Southwest, and other parts of the Western United States. Texas Country is known for fusing neotraditional country with the outspoken, care-free views of outlaw country. Texas Country blends these sub-genres with a "common working man" theme and witty undertones, these often combine with a stripped down music sound.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bob Livingston (musician)</span> American singer-songwriter

Bob Livingston is an American singer-songwriter, guitarist, bass player, and a founding member of The Lost Gonzo Band. Livingston was a key figure in the Cosmic Cowboy, progressive country and outlaw country movements that distinguished the Austin, Texas music scene in the 1970s. Over the years, Bob Livingston has gained a reputation as a band leader, solo artist, session musician and sideman in folk, Americana and country music. He has toured without stop for 47 years, and is one of the most experienced and world traveled musicians in all of Texas music. Livingston's CD, Gypsy Alibi, released by New Wilderness Records in 2011, won the "Album of the Year" at the Texas Music Awards. In January 2016, Livingston was inducted into the Texas Music Legends Hall of Fame in 2016 and into the West Texas Music Walk of Fame in 2018. Howlin' Dog Records released Livingston's latest CD, Up The Flatland Stairs, January 10, 2018.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Terri Hendrix</span> American singer-songwriter

Terri Ann Hendrix is an American singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and independent artist who has been writing and performing an eclectic mix of Americana genre, encompassing folk, pop, country, blues, and jazz, since 1990. Since 1988 Hendrix has been based in and near San Marcos, Texas, living as of 2017 in nearby Martindale, after growing up in San Antonio, Texas.

Christopher B. "Stubb" Stubblefield, Sr. was an American barbecue restaurateur, music patron and a Barbecue Hall of Famer, known for his barbecue sauces, rubs and marinades distributed by Stubb's Legendary Kitchen, Inc.

<i>Lubbock (On Everything)</i> 1979 studio album by Terry Allen

Lubbock (On Everything) is a 1979 double album by Texas singer, songwriter and piano player Terry Allen, released on Fate Records. It was reissued on compact disc in 1995 by Sugar Hill Records. and reissued again on CD and LP in October 2016 by Paradise of Bachelors. The 2016 LP reissue comes with a high quality 28 page LP booklet.

<i>Smokin the Dummy/Bloodlines</i> 1980 studio album by Terry Allen

Smokin' the Dummy and Bloodlines are two albums released by Terry Allen in 1980 and 1983, respectively. The albums have been recently reissued on a single compact disc on Sugar Hill Records. The album features The Panhandle Mystery Band, Terry's backing band.

Jo Harvey Allen is an American writer, actress, and artist.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sled Allen</span> American baseball player and manager

Fletcher Manson "Sled" Allen was a professional baseball catcher and manager. Allen was also a sports promoter after retiring from baseball. Allen played a total of nine seasons in professional baseball, including a part of one in Major League Baseball with the St. Louis Browns (1910). Over his major league career, Allen batted .130 with three hits in 14 games played. Allen also played in the minor leagues with the Class-C Enid Railroaders (1908–1909), the Class-A Louisville Colonels (1910) and the Class-B Houston Buffaloes (1912–1916). During his minor league career, Allen compiled a .210 batting average with 465 hits, 63 doubles, 15 triples and five home runs in 748 games. Allen was a manager in the minor leagues for the Class-B Houston Buffaloes (1911), the Class-D Ranger Nitros (1921), the Class-D Lubbock Hubbers (1923) and the Class-A Amarillo Texans (1928). Allen is the father of country music singer Terry Allen.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lone Star Brewing Company</span> Brewery in Texas, US

The Lone Star Brewery, built in 1884, was the first large mechanized brewery in Texas. Adolphus Busch, of Anheuser-Busch, founded it along with a group of San Antonio businessmen. The castle-like building which was once its brewery now houses the San Antonio Museum of Art. Lone Star beer was the company's main brand. The beer is still marketed as "The National Beer of Texas." The Lone Star name is now owned by Pabst Brewing Company. Production of Lone Star is currently contracted out to Miller Brewing Company in Fort Worth. The Lone Star name is used in the Philippines under license to Asia Brewery for a brand of light beer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Buddy Holly Center</span> Music museum and art gallery in Lubbock, Texas

The Buddy Holly Center is a performance and visual arts center in Lubbock, Texas, dedicated to Buddy Holly as well as the music of Lubbock and West Texas more broadly. The building in which it is located opened as the city's Fort Worth and Denver South Plains Railway depot in 1928. In 1996, the City of Lubbock obtained a sizable collection of Holly-related artifacts from his estate, and the next year it purchased the former depot. In 1999, the new Buddy Holly Center opened as the home of the newly acquired Buddy Holly collection as well as a replacement for the city's Fine Arts Center, which had been established in 1984.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Joe Ely discography</span>

Joe Ely is an American singer-songwriter. His discography consists of 16 studio albums, 6 live albums, 20 singles, 13 compilations, 1 studio EP, and 6 music videos. In addition, he has been a performer on numerous albums by other artists.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Colin Larkin, ed. (1993). The Guinness Who's Who of Country Music (First ed.). Guinness Publishing. p. 17. ISBN   0-85112-726-6.
  2. ↑ "Biography of Terry Allen / Artist / Songwriter". Terryallenartmusic.com. Retrieved 2018-05-26.
  3. ↑ "TERRY ALLEN". Paradise of Bachelors. 2016-02-05. Retrieved 2018-05-26.
  4. ↑ "Terry Allen / Artist / Songwriter". Terryallenartmusic.com. Retrieved 2018-05-26.
  5. ↑ "Sled Allen Stats". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved August 4, 2021.
  6. ↑ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2009-10-27. Retrieved 2009-10-25.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  7. 1 2 "Terry Allen Biography" (PDF). LA Louver. Retrieved November 10, 2017.
  8. ↑ "The Stuart Collection". Stuartcollection.ucsd.edu. Retrieved August 4, 2021.
  9. ↑ "Controversial statue finds new home near police headquarters | the Kansas City Star the Kansas City Star". www.kansascity.com. Archived from the original on 22 January 2015. Retrieved 13 January 2022.
  10. ↑ "Belger Arts - KC,MO". Belgearts.org. Retrieved August 4, 2021.
  11. ↑ "Modern Day Renaissance Man Terry Allen's "Tables and Angels" at the Belger". Kcur.org. 7 July 2010. Retrieved August 4, 2021.
  12. ↑ "Tale of a Tale Spinner" . Retrieved 2018-05-29.
  13. ↑ "Terry Allen: Crossing The Horizon". TJ Music Magazine. Retrieved 2018-05-29.
  14. ↑ "Terry Allen (from LoneStarMusic Magazine, Jan/Feb 2013)". SkanseLand: The Richard Skanse Archives. 2014-02-17. Retrieved 2018-05-29.
  15. ↑ "Terry Allen: Juarez". PopMatters. 2004-04-20. Retrieved 2018-05-29.
  16. ↑ "Terry Allen Resurrects Iconic Concept Album 'Juarez'". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 2018-05-29.
  17. ↑ "Lubbock (On Everything) - Terry Allen | Songs, Reviews, Credits | AllMusic". AllMusic. Retrieved 2018-05-29.
  18. ↑ "New Delhi Freight Train - Little Feat | Song Info | AllMusic". AllMusic. Retrieved 2018-05-29.
  19. ↑ "Terry Allen: Crossing The Horizon". TJ Music Magazine. Retrieved 2018-05-27.
  20. ↑ "Terry Allen inhabits his art". statesman. Retrieved 2018-05-30.
  21. ↑ "Sugar Hill Records - The Best in Roots Music". 2007-05-26. Archived from the original on 2007-05-26. Retrieved 2018-05-29.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)

Further reading

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.