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152-522: Thomas Alan Waits (born December 7, 1949) is an American musician, composer, songwriter, and actor. His lyrics often focus on society's underworld and are delivered in his trademark deep, gravelly voice. He began in the folk scene during the 1970s, but his music since the 1980s has reflected the influence of such diverse genres as rock , Delta blues , opera , vaudeville , cabaret , funk , hip hop and experimental techniques verging on industrial music . Per The Wall Street Journal , Waits “has composed

304-517: A "very middle-class" upbringing and "a pretty normal childhood". He attended Jordan Elementary School, where he was bullied. There, he learned to play the bugle and guitar . His father taught him to play the ukulele . During the summers, he visited maternal relatives in Gridley and Marysville . He later recalled that it was an uncle's raspy, gravelly timbre that inspired his own singing voice. In 1959, his parents separated and his father moved away from

456-470: A Capella and instrumentally accompanied, is at the heart of the tradition. Early spirituals framed Christian beliefs within native practices and were heavily influenced by the music and rhythms of Africa." Spirituals are prominent, and often use a call and response pattern. "Gospel developed after the Civil War (1861-65). It relied on biblical text for much of its direction, and the use of metaphors and imagery

608-599: A European tour, there making television appearances and press interviews; in Austria he was the subject of a short documentary. From there, he flew to Australia for his first tour of that country before returning to Los Angeles in May. Waits was dissatisfied with Elektra-Asylum, who he felt had lost interest in him as an artist in favor of their more commercially successful acts like the Eagles , Linda Ronstadt , Carly Simon and Queen . After

760-514: A G-String", a female stripper joined him onstage. He began 1977 by touring Japan for the first time. Back in Los Angeles, he encountered various problems. One female fan, recently escaped from a mental health institution in Illinois , began stalking him and lurking outside his Tropicana apartment. In May 1977, Waits and close friend Chuck E. Weiss were arrested for fighting with police officers in

912-546: A Hooker in Minneapolis’ and ‘Red Shoes by the Drugstore,’ his writing became ever more vivid, compact, and complex." From the album, Waits's first single, a cover of "Somewhere" from West Side Story , was released, but it failed to chart. For his Blue Valentine tour, Waits assembled a new band; he also had a gas station built as a set for his performances. His support act on the tour was Leon Redbone . In April, he embarked on

1064-779: A beginning of the divergence of country music from traditional folk music. Their recordings of such songs as " Wabash Cannonball " (1932), " Will the Circle Be Unbroken " (1935), " Wildwood Flower " (1928), and " Keep on the Sunny Side " (1928) made them country standards. Country and bluegrass artists such as Loretta Lynn , Roy Acuff , Dolly Parton , Earl Scruggs , Chet Atkins , and Don Reno were heavily influenced by traditional Appalachian music. Artists such as Bob Dylan , Jerry Garcia , and Bruce Springsteen have performed Appalachian songs or rewritten versions of Appalachian songs. Cajun music , an emblematic music of Louisiana ,

1216-555: A benefit performance to raise funds for the legal defense of his friend Don Hyde, who had been charged with distributing LSD . He wrote "Walk Away" and "The Fall of Troy" for the soundtrack of Dead Man Walking (1995) and "Little Drop of Poison" for The End of Violence (1997). In 1998, Island released Beautiful Maladies , a compilation of 23 Waits tracks from his albums with the company, selected by Waits himself. After his contract with Island expired, Waits decided not to try to renew it, particularly as Blackwell had resigned from

1368-408: A body of work that’s at least comparable to any songwriter’s in pop today. A keen, sensitive and sympathetic chronicler of the adrift and downtrodden, Mr. Waits creates three-dimensional characters who, even in their confusion and despair, are capable of insight and startling points of view. Their stories are accompanied by music that’s unlike any other in pop history.” Tom Waits was born and raised in

1520-577: A boy's sense of wonder with the world. A legend in Rainville since he burned his house down and took off for the Big Time. Reviews were generally positive. He had initially considered a run in New York City but decided against it. The songs from the show were recorded for his ninth studio album, Franks Wild Years , and released by Island in 1987. NME ranked Franks Wild Years fifth on its list of albums of

1672-998: A brief appearance as a plainclothes cop in The Two Jakes (1990) and played a disabled war veteran in Terry Gilliam 's The Fisher King (1991). He had a cameo in Steve Rash 's Queens Logic (1991) and played a pilot-for-hire in Héctor Babenco 's At Play in the Fields of the Lord (1991). He appeared as himself fishing with John Lurie on Fishing with John . He was Renfield in Coppola's Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992). Waits starred as Earl Piggot, an alcoholic limousine driver, in Robert Altman 's Short Cuts (1993). Hoskyns said that this "may be

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1824-476: A circus strongman, and Angelo Rossitto , a dwarf. Jon Parles of GQ wrote that "On Swordfishtrombones , Waits has made a breakthrough – he’s found music as evocative as his words. Waits’s grumble of a voice now bounces off a peculiar assortment of horns and percussion and organ and keyboards, as if he’d led a Salvation Army band into a broken-down Hong Kong disco. It’s as if he’s shifted from monologues to screenplays.” According to David Smay, Swordfishtrombones

1976-559: A coffee shop. They were charged with two counts of disturbing the peace but were acquitted after the defense produced eight witnesses who refuted the police officers' account of the incident. In response, Waits sued the Los Angeles Police Department and five years later was awarded $ 7,500 in damages. In July and August 1977, he recorded his fourth studio album, Foreign Affairs ; Bob Alcivar had been employed as its arranger . The album included "I Never Talk to Strangers",

2128-399: A composer who created his own instruments out of everyday materials. Waits began to use images rather than moods or characters as the basis for his songs. I like to imagine how it feels for the object to become music. Imagine you're the lid to a fifty-gallon drum. That's your job. You work at that. That's your whole life. Then one day I find you and I say, "We're gonna drill a hole in you, run

2280-506: A door, and slammed the door behind him, and on the door it said, I swear to God, 'KEEP OUT. This room is for entertainers ONLY.' And I knew, at that moment, that I had to get into show business as soon as possible." He recalls: "I first saw James Brown in 1962 at an outdoor theatre in San Diego and it was indescribable ... it was like putting a finger in a light socket ... It was really like seeing mass at St. Patrick's Cathedral on Christmas." By

2432-462: A drunken piano player in Stallone's Paradise Alley (1978). With Paul Hampton , Waits also began writing a movie musical, although this project never came to fruition. Another project he began at this time was a book about entertainers of the past whom he admired. In July 1978, Waits began the recording sessions for Blue Valentine . Part way through the sessions, he replaced his musicians to create

2584-596: A duet with Midler, with whom he was still in an intermittent relationship. She appeared with him at the Troubadour to sing the song; the next day he repaid the favor by performing at a gay rights benefit at the Hollywood Bowl that Midler was involved with. Foreign Affairs was not as well received by critics as its predecessor, and unlike Small Change failed to make the Billboard Top 100 album chart. That year, he began

2736-539: A friendship; Waits called Jarmusch "Dr. Sullen", while Jarmusch called Waits "The Prince of Melancholy". Waits had devised a musical, Franks Wild Years , loosely based on "Frank's Wild Years" from Swordfishtrombones . In late 1985, he reached an agreement that the play would be performed by the Steppenwolf Theatre Company in Chicago 's Briar Street Theatre Waits starred as Frank, who he described as Quite

2888-633: A frozen moon/ A murder of silhouette crows.' From there on the lyrics get curiouser and curiouser." Alice was ranked #2 in Metacritic 's Top 30 albums of 2002. In 2006 it was awarded a diamond certification from the Independent Music Companies Association , which indicated sales of at least 250,000 copies throughout Europe. As of 2003, Alice has sold 140,000 copies in the U.S., according to Nielsen Soundscan . All tracks written by Tom Waits and Kathleen Brennan . Adapted from

3040-411: A great fan of The Pogues and went on a Chicago pub crawl with them in 1986. The following year, he appeared as a master of ceremonies on several dates of Elvis Costello 's "Wheel of Fortune" tour. At rehearsals, Tom Waits looked like any moment he might break at the waist or his head fall off his shoulders on to the floor. I once saw a small-town idiot walking across the park, totally drunk, but he

3192-405: A guy. Grew up in a bird's eye frozen, oven-ready, rural American town where Bing , Bob , Dean , Wayne & Jerry are considered major constellations. Frank, mistakenly, thinks he can stuff himself into their shorts and present himself to an adoring world. He is a combination of Will Rogers and Mark Twain , playing accordion -- but without the wisdom they possessed. He has a poet's heart and

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3344-476: A lawsuit against Frito-Lay for using an impersonator performing "Step Right Up" in an advertisement for Doritos ; it came to court in April 1990, and Waits won the case in 1992. He received a $ 2.6 million settlement, a sum larger than his earnings from all of his previous albums combined. This earned him and Brennan reputations as tireless adversaries. In 1989, Waits began planning a collaboration with Robert Wilson ,

3496-400: A less jazz-oriented sound; for the album, he switched from a piano to an electric guitar as his main instrument. For the album's back cover, Waits used a picture of himself and Jones leaning against his car, a 1964 Ford Thunderbird , taken by Elliot Gilbert. Per Bowman, "Waits gradually began writing about junkies and prostitutes instead of skid-row drunks. In songs such as 'Christmas Card From

3648-524: A loft apartment near Union Square . Waits found New York City life frustrating, although it allowed him to meet many new musicians and artists. He befriended John Lurie of The Lounge Lizards , and the duo began sharing a music studio in the Westbeth artist-community building in Greenwich Village . He began networking in the city's arts scene, and, at a party Jean-Michel Basquiat held for Lurie, he met

3800-529: A lot of people consider 'em obsolete but hey, when I see the word obsolete I get in line." The song "Altar Boy" appears in Wilson's Alice but not on Alice ; it was later released on Waits's Orphans: Brawlers, Bawlers & Bastards (2006). Maddy Costa writes: "what Alice and Blood Money also highlight is the consistency of Waits's songwriting, and the extent to which Kathleen Brennan, his wife and co-writer of every song here, shares his vision. Through all

3952-433: A love of R&B and soul singers like Ray Charles and Wilson Pickett , as well as country music and Roy Orbison . Bob Dylan later became an inspiration; Waits placed transcriptions of Dylan's lyrics on his bedroom walls. Waits recalls: "I was fifteen and I snuck into see Lightnin' Hopkins . Amazing show. Every time he opened his mouth he had that orchestra of gold teeth, and I was devastated ... He walked through

4104-563: A middle-class family in Pomona, California . Inspired by the work of Bob Dylan and the Beat Generation , he began singing on the San Diego folk circuit. He relocated to Los Angeles in 1972, where he worked as a songwriter before signing a recording contract with Asylum Records . His first albums were the jazzy Closing Time (1973), The Heart of Saturday Night (1974) and Nighthawks at

4256-530: A morbid, sinister nightmare, one that applied the quirks of his experimental '80s classics to stunningly evocative—and often harrowing—effect ... Waits's most affecting and powerful recording, even if it isn't his most accessible." The album's closing track, "That Feel", was co-written with Keith Richards . Bone Machine won the Grammy for Best Alternative Music Album ; in response, Waits asked Jarmusch: "alternative to what ?!" Waits decided to record an album of

4408-409: A new urban landscape. I've always wanted to live here. It's a good working atmosphere for me". He considered writing a Broadway musical based on Thornton Wilder 's Our Town . A rotoscoped Waits performed "The One That Got Away" in the music video Tom Waits For No One (1979). Francis Ford Coppola asked Waits to return to Los Angeles to write a soundtrack for his forthcoming film, One from

4560-489: A partnership than a plantation ... We shook on the deal over a coffee in a truck stop. I know it's going to be an adventure." American folk music Religious music Ethnic music Charts Festivals Media Other The term American folk music encompasses numerous music genres, variously known as traditional music , traditional folk music , contemporary folk music , vernacular music, or roots music . Many traditional songs have been sung within

4712-481: A phone call with their mutual friend Chuck E. Weiss, Waits told Jones, "Chuck E.'s in love". This was the inspiration for her song " Chuck E.'s in Love ". Jones's musical career was taking off; after an appearance on Saturday Night Live , "Chuck E.'s In Love" reached number 4 in the singles chart, straining her relationship with Waits. Their relationship was further damaged by Jones's heroin addiction. Waits joined Jones for

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4864-621: A poor neighborhood known for its Hispanic and bohemian communities. He continued performing at the Troubadour and there met David Geffen , who gave Waits a recording contract with his Asylum Records . Jerry Yester was chosen to produce his first album, with the recording sessions taking place in Hollywood's Sunset Sound studios. The resulting album, Closing Time , was released in March 1973, although it attracted little attention and did not sell well. Biographer Barney Hoskyns noted that Closing Time

5016-671: A popular traditional ballad originating in England and Scotland, which immigrants introduced to the United States. The murder ballad " Pretty Polly ", indexed by another scholar of American folk music, George Malcolm Laws , is an American version of an earlier British song, "The Gosport Tragedy". The oldest surviving folk song of local Anglo-American origin is the ballad " Springfield Mountain " dating back to 1761 in Connecticut . The typical instruments played in early American folk music were

5168-572: A relationship with the singer-songwriter Rickie Lee Jones ; their work and styles influenced each other. In October 1977, he returned to touring with the Nocturnal Emissions; it was on this tour that he first began using props onstage, in this case a street lamp. Again, he found the tour exhausting. In March 1978, he embarked on his second tour of Japan. During these years, Waits sought to broaden his career beyond music. He befriended actor and director Sylvester Stallone and made his film debut as

5320-572: A reputation for signing more experimental acts, such as King Crimson , Roxy Music and Sparks . Waits did not tour to promote the album, partly because Brennan was pregnant. Although unenthusiastic about the new trend for music videos , he appeared in one for the song " In the Neighborhood ", co-directed by Haskell Wexler and Michael A. Russ . Russ also designed the Swordfishtrombones album cover, featuring an image of Waits with Lee Kolima ,

5472-501: A result instruments such as the banjo were widely adopted. However, English traditional music was still present in the Southeast with older Child ballads such as " Lord Thomas and Fair Eleanor ", " The Maid Freed from the Gallows ", " Fair Margaret and Sweet William ", " The Wife of Usher's Well ", " The Two Sisters ", and " Matty Groves " surviving alongside some English ballads also played in

5624-573: A rhythm that helped workers perform as a team. One of the oldest sea shanties sung in America may have been "Haul in the Bowline" which could date back as far as the rule of Henry VIII in the sixteenth century. Other popular shanties include " Blow the Man Down ", "Blow, Boys, Blow", "Reuben Ranzo", " Shenandoah " and "The Greenland Whale" as well as African-American shanties such as "Mobile Bay" and "I'm Goin' up

5776-528: A theater director he had known throughout the 1980s. Their project was the "cowboy opera" The Black Rider . It was based on a German folk tale, the Freischütz , which had inspired Carl Maria von Weber 's opera Der Freischütz (1821). In 2004, Waits related that "Wilson is my teacher. There's nobody that's affected me that much as an artist". Waits wrote the music and, at the suggestion of Allen Ginsberg , Waits and Wilson approached William S. Burroughs to pen

5928-747: A three-piece band embarked on a U.S. tour, where he was the supporting act for more established artists. He supported Tom Rush at Washington D.C. 's The Cellar Door , Danny O'Keefe in Cambridge, Massachusetts 's Club Passim , Charlie Rich at New York City 's Max's Kansas City , Martha Reeves and the Vandellas in East Lansing, Michigan , and John P. Hammond in San Francisco . Waits returned to Los Angeles in June, feeling demoralized about his career. That month, he

6080-548: A week. In August 1980, they married at a 24-hour wedding chapel on Manchester Boulevard in Watts before honeymooning in Tralee , a town in County Kerry , Ireland, where Brennan had family. A whip and a chair. The Bible. The Book of Revelations. She grew up Catholic, you know, blood and liquor and guilt. She pulverizes me so that I don't just write the same song over and over again. Which

6232-412: A wire through you, hang you from the ceiling of the studio, bang on you with a mallet, and now you're in show business, baby!" — Waits on his unique use of instruments Waits wrote the songs for Swordfishtrombones during a two-week trip to Ireland. He recorded it at Sunset Sound studios and produced it himself; Brennan often attended the sessions and gave him advice. Swordfishtrombones abandoned

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6384-565: A young story editor named Kathleen Brennan . He composed the soundtrack for Francis Ford Coppola 's One from the Heart (1982) and made cameos in several subsequent Coppola films. In 1980, Waits married Brennan, split from his manager and record label, and moved to New York City . With Brennan's encouragement and frequent collaboration, he pursued a more eclectic and experimental sound influenced by Harry Partch and Captain Beefheart , as heard on

6536-460: Is Cheap . Rain Dogs also marked Marc Ribot 's debut as a session guitarist; he would play on many subsequent Waits albums. Jean-Baptiste Mondino directed a music video of " Downtown Train " featuring boxer Jake LaMotta . The song was subsequently covered by Patty Smyth in 1987, and later by Rod Stewart , where it reached the top five in 1990. In 1985, Rolling Stone named Waits its "Songwriter of

6688-558: Is a line spoken to Alice by the Cheshire Cat . Like many of Waits's albums since Swordfishtrombones , Alice has eclectic orchestration . Here he makes use of the Stroh violin , a violin with a horn attached to the bridge. Of the Stroh, Waits says: "they're no longer as popular as they were, but they were essential and there were probably fist fights in the orchestra pit before the Stroh. Cause now

6840-471: Is actually the only film director in Hollywood that has a conscience ... most of them are egomaniacs and money-grabbing bastards". In September, Brennan gave birth to their daughter, Kellesimone. Waits was determined to keep his family life separate from his public image and to spend as much time as possible with his daughter. With Brennan and their child, Waits moved to New York City to be closer to Brennan's parents and Island's U.S. office. They settled into

6992-513: Is also heavily influenced by Regional Mexican and Country music, while New Mexico music is much more influenced by Hispano folk and Western music . Both styles have influenced one another over the years, and incorporated American popular music styles. Folk composer and musician Robert Schmertz composed and wrote pieces related to historical events in Western Pennsylvania. Alice (Tom Waits album) The album contains most of

7144-431: Is believed to be studio recordings taken when Waits' car was broken into in late 1992. In 2002, Alice was co-released with Blood Money , an album containing songs Waits wrote for Wilson's musical Woyzeck (2000). Asked why he released Alice and Blood Money together, Waits explained: "we believe in the tunes...if you're gonna heat up the stove, there's no point in making just one pancake, right?" Waits described

7296-632: Is considered American either because it is native to the United States or because it developed there, out of foreign origins, to such a degree that it struck musicologists as something distinctly new. It is considered "roots music" because it served as the basis of music later developed in the United States , including rock and roll , rhythm and blues , and jazz . Most songs of the Colonial and Revolutionary periods originated in England, Scotland and Ireland and were brought over by early settlers. According to ethnomusicologist Bruno Nettl , American folk music

7448-417: Is considered American either because it is native to the United States or because it developed there, out of foreign origins, to such a degree that it struck musicologists as something distinctly new. It is considered "roots music" because it served as the basis of music later developed in the United States, including rock and roll , contemporary folk music, rhythm and blues , and jazz . Appalachian music

7600-589: Is notable because it "At its roots is an English folk song tradition that has been modified to suit the specific requirements of America." Therefore, many American folk songs, such as those documented by the American folklorist Francis James Child in his catalogue of ballads known as the Child Ballads , can be traced back to their pre-colonial origins in the British Isles . For example, " Barbara Allen" remains

7752-627: Is rooted in the ballads of the French-speaking Acadians of Canada . Cajun music is often mentioned in tandem with the Creole -based, Cajun -influenced zydeco form, both of Acadiana origin. These French Louisiana sounds have influenced American popular music for many decades, especially country music, and have influenced pop culture through mass media, such as television commercials. Before recorded history American Indians in this area used songs and instrumentation; music and dance remain

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7904-530: Is that we both got into the same leaky boat. Maybe the weight drags it down, because now you've two people sitting in it. Sorry, baby! But on the other hand you've also got two peoples' imagination to patch it up again. Everybody knows she's the brains behind Pa, as Dylan might have said. I'm just the figurehead. She's the one who's steering the ship." Recording of Waits's One from the Heart soundtrack began in October 1980 and continued until September 1981. A number of

8056-428: Is the courting flute. Shape-note or sacred harp singing developed in the early nineteenth century as a way for itinerant singing instructors to teach church songs in rural communities. They taught using song books that represented musical notation of tones by geometric shapes that associated a shape with a pitch. Sacred harp singing became popular in many Oklahoma rural communities, regardless of ethnicity. Later,

8208-414: Is the drum, which has been called the heartbeat of Plains Indian music. Most of that genre traces back to the hunting and warfare that was a strong part of plains culture. During the reservation period, they frequently used music to relieve boredom and despair. Neighbors gathered, exchanged and created songs and dances. This is a part of the roots of the modern intertribal powwow . Another common instrument

8360-515: Is the traditional music of the region of Appalachia in the Eastern United States. It derives from various European and African influences—including English ballads, Irish and Scottish traditional music (especially fiddle music), hymns, and African-American blues. First recorded in the 1920s, Appalachian musicians were a key influence on the early development of Old-time music , country music , and bluegrass , and were an important part of

8512-557: Is what a lot of people do, including myself. — Waits on what his wife brought to his creative process Returning to Los Angeles, Waits and Brennan moved into a Union Avenue apartment. Hoskyns noted that with Brennan, "Waits had found the stabilizing, nurturing companion he'd always wanted", and that she brought him "a sense of emotional security he had never known" before. At the same time, many of his old friends felt cut off after his marriage. Waits said of Brennan: "She rescued me. Maybe I rescued her too; that's often how it works. Upshot

8664-645: The American folk music revival and American "roots music" is that roots music seems to cover a broader range, including blues and country. Roots music developed its most expressive and varied forms in the first three decades of the 20th century. The Great Depression and the Dust Bowl were extremely important in disseminating these musical styles to the rest of the country, as Delta blues masters, itinerant honky tonk singers, and Cajun musicians spread to cities like Chicago , Los Angeles , and New York . The growth of

8816-524: The American folk music revival . Instruments typically used to perform Appalachian music include the banjo , American fiddle , fretted dulcimer , and guitar . Early recorded Appalachian musicians include Fiddlin' John Carson , Henry Whitter , Bascom Lamar Lunsford , the Carter Family , Clarence Ashley , Frank Proffitt , and Dock Boggs , all of whom were initially recorded in the 1920s and 1930s. Several Appalachian musicians obtained renown during

8968-563: The Coast Guard . He enrolled at Chula Vista's Southwestern Community College to study photography, for a time considering a career in the field. He continued pursuing his musical interests, taking piano lessons. He began frequenting venues around San Diego, being drawn into the city's folk scene. In 1969 he was hired as an occasional doorman for the Heritage coffeehouse, which held regular performances from folk musicians. He also began to sing at

9120-654: The Troubadour in West Hollywood. It was there, in the autumn of 1971, that Waits came to the attention of Herb Cohen , who signed him to publishing and recording contracts. The recordings that were produced under that recording agreement were eventually released in the early 1990s as The Early Years and The Early Years, Volume Two . Quitting his job at Napoleone's to concentrate on his songwriting career, in early 1972 Waits moved to an apartment in Silver Lake , Los Angeles,

9272-723: The fiddle , the guitar , the mandolin , the mouth organ , the fife , and the dulcimer , although guitars went through a significant change as the previously popular English guitar was replaced around the 1830s by the Spanish guitar . In addition to ballads, American colonials also imported numerous English country dance tunes , mainly jigs , reels , and hornpipes , which were played during community dances or contra dances . Some dance tunes as well as dances themselves were also adapted from Irish and Scottish sources. The musical collections Howe's 1000 Jigs and Reels , Ryan's Mammoth Collection , and 1000 Fiddle Tunes contain many of

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9424-409: The recording industry in the same period was also important; higher potential profits from music placed pressure on artists, songwriters, and label executives to replicate previous hit songs. This meant that musical fads, such as Hawaiian slack-key guitar , never died out completely, since a broad range of rhythms, instruments, and vocal stylings were incorporated into disparate popular genres. By

9576-532: The 1950s, forms of roots music had led to pop-oriented forms. Folk musicians like the Kingston Trio , blues-derived rock and roll and rockabilly , pop-gospel, doo wop and R&B (later secularized further as soul music ) and the Nashville sound in country music all modernized and expanded the musical palette of the country. The roots approach to music emphasizes the diversity of American musical traditions,

9728-510: The British Isles include "The Yorkshire Bite", "The Bold Soldier", " Butcher Boy ", "Katie Morey", "The Half Hitch", and " The Boston Burglar ". Locally composed, traditional New England folk songs include "Springfield Mountain", " The Jam on Gerry's Rock ", "Young Charlotte", "Peter Amberly", "Jack Haggarty, and "The Jealous Lover". The folk music of the rest of Northeastern United States , including Pennsylvania , New York , and New Jersey ,

9880-471: The British Isles, including cowboy ballads, western swing, and contemporary country and western." "Mexican immigrants began to reach Oklahoma in the 1870s, bringing beautiful canciones and corridos love songs, waltzes, and ballads along with them. Like American Indian communities, each rite of passage in Hispanic communities is accompanied by traditional music. The acoustic guitar, string bass, and violin provide

10032-631: The Dakotas , and Nebraska regional songs included " The Little Old Sod Shanty on the Claim ", "The Lane County Bachelor", "Comin' Back to Kansas", "The Dreary Black Hills", and "Dakota Land". The famous " Ballad of Jesse James ", which celebrated the titular bankrobber's life, first appeared in Springfield, Missouri . Few Child or broadside ballads have been found in the Northwestern United States as

10184-502: The Diner (1975), which reflected his lyrical interest in poverty, criminality and nightlife. He repeatedly toured the United States, Europe and Japan, and found greater critical and commercial success with Small Change (1976), Blue Valentine (1978) and Heartattack and Vine (1980). During this period, Waits entered the world of film, acting in Paradise Alley (1978), where he met

10336-438: The Heart . Waits was excited, but conflicted, by the prospect; Coppola wanted him to create music akin to his early work, a genre that he was trying to leave behind, and thus he characterized the project as an artistic "step backwards". He nevertheless returned to Los Angeles to work on the soundtrack in a room set aside for the purpose in Coppola's Hollywood studios. This style of working was new to Waits; he later recalled that he

10488-666: The Heritage; his set initially consisted largely of covers of Dylan and Red Sovine 's " Phantom 309 ". In time, he performed his own material as well, often parodies of country songs or bittersweet ballads influenced by his relationships; these included early songs " Ol' 55 " and "I Hope That I Don't Fall in Love With You". As his reputation grew, he played at other San Diego venues, supporting acts like Tim Buckley , Sonny Terry , Brownie McGhee and his friend Jack Tempchin . Aware that San Diego offered little opportunity for career progression, Waits began traveling into Los Angeles to play at

10640-446: The Mine", "The Dying Mine Brakeman", and "A Miner's Prayer" gave voice to these fears. Efforts to unionize began in the 1930s, creating tunes such as "We Shall Not Be Moved", which was a rewriting of the gospel hymn " I Shall Not Be Moved ". The use of familiar hymns made the songs easy for organizers to sing along with, and also imbued the cause with an air of righteousness. " Sixteen Tons "

10792-585: The Northeast like "Barbara Allen". Popular broadside ballads in the Southeast were "Pretty Polly", "Pretty Little Miss in the Garden", " Knoxville Girl ", " Jack Monroe ", "The Sailor Boy", "Awake, Awake You Drowsy Sleeper", "Rich Irish Lady", " The Nightingale ", " The Girl I Left Behind ", and " The Miller's Will ". Notable songs written in Appalachia include " Little Mohea ", " John Hardy ", and " Omie Wise ". Unlike in

10944-609: The Northeast, Southeastern ballads of English origins tend to be appreciably altered with their lyrics shortened and smoothed out, reducing the number of stresses per stanza. Folk songs in the Midwest largely reflected the tastes of New England and the Mid-Atlantic states. However, there were some ballads uniquely popular to the Midwest such as the broadside ballad "Mary of the Wild Moor" and

11096-524: The Performance Artist Hall of Fame, but it was the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame that recognized the great Tom Waits." In accepting the award, Waits mused, "They say that I have no hits and that I'm difficult to work with. And they say that like it's a bad thing!" Thomas Alan Waits was born on December 7, 1949, in Pomona, California . He has one older and one younger sister. His father, Jesse Frank Waits,

11248-538: The River". Cowboys songs are typically ballads that cowboys sang in the West and Southwest. The familiar " Streets of Laredo " (or "Cowboys Lament") derives from an Irish folk song of the late 18th century called " The Unfortunate Rake ", which in turn appears to have descended from the even earlier " The Bard of Armagh ". While "Streets of Laredo" uses the same melody as "The Unfortunate Rake", " St. James Infirmary Blues " adapts

11400-527: The Road Feeling Bad ", " Shady Grove ", "Katy Cline", " Ida Red ", and " Cindy ". The southern murder ballad " Poor Ellen Smith ", which recorded a murder so inflammatory its public performance had to be outlawed, was most likely written in Winston, North Carolina by one of the murderer's cellmates. Unlike the Northeast and New England, the Southeast had significant influence from African-American music and as

11552-564: The Thalia in December 1992. In early 1993, Brennan was pregnant with Waits's third child, Sullivan. He decided to reduce his workload so as to spend more time with his children; this isolation spawned rumours that he was seriously ill or had separated from his wife. For three years, he turned down all offers to perform gigs or appear in movies. However, he made several cameos and guest appearances on albums by musicians he admired. In February 1996, he held

11704-459: The Thalia, they began working on the project in Hamburg in early 1992. Waits characterized the songs he wrote for the play as "adult songs for children, or children's songs for adults". In his lyrics, Waits drew on his increasing interest in freak shows and the physically deformed. He thought the play itself was about "repression, mental illness and obsessive, compulsive disorders". Alice premiered at

11856-474: The West Coast, getting as far as Denver . For Waits's second album, Geffen wanted a more jazz-oriented producer, selecting Bones Howe for the job. Howe recounts his first encounter with the young artist: "I told him I thought his music and lyrics had a Kerouac quality to them, and he was blown away that I knew who Jack Kerouac was. I told him I also played jazz drums and he went wild. Then I told him that when I

12008-457: The Year". Arion Berger wrote that "With Rain Dogs , he dropped his bedraggled lounge-piano act and fused outsider influences -- socialist decadence by way of Kurt Weill, pre-rock integrity from old dirty blues , the elegiac melancholy of New Orleans funeral brass -- into a singularly idiosyncratic American style...The music is bony and menacingly beautiful, the desultory electric-guitar solo as cold as

12160-450: The basic instrumentation for Mexican music, with maracas, flute, horns, or sometimes accordion filling out the sound." Other Europeans (such as Bohemians and Germans) settled in the late nineteenth century. Their social activities centered on community halls, "where local musicians played polkas and waltzes on the accordion, piano, and brass instruments." Later Asians contributed to the musical mix. "Ancient music and dance traditions from

12312-416: The best performance Waits ever gave as an actor." In 1991, Waits and his family moved to the outskirts of Sonoma . Waits's family later relocated to a secluded house near Valley Ford after a bypass road was built near to their first Sonoma County house. Also in 1991, 13 of Waits's 1971 pre-Asylum Records recordings were released for the first time on the first volume of Tom Waits: The Early Years . Waits

12464-606: The blues tradition developed, with roots in and parallels to sacred music. By the early 20th century, jazz developed, born from a "blend of ragtime, gospel, and blues" "Anglo-Scots-Irish music traditions gained a place in Oklahoma after the Land Run of 1889. Because of its size and portability, the fiddle was the core of early Oklahoma Anglo music, but other instruments such as the guitar, mandolin, banjo, and steel guitar were added later. Various Oklahoma music traditions trace their roots to

12616-422: The company. He signed to a smaller record label, Anti- , recently launched as an offshoot of the punk -label Epitaph Records . He described the company as "a friendly place". The president of Anti-, Andy Kaulkin , said the label was "blown away that Tom would even consider us. We are huge fans." Waits himself praised the label: "Epitaph is a label run by and for artists and musicians, where it feels much more like

12768-459: The compilation Orphans: Brawlers, Bawlers & Bastards (2006), the live album Glitter and Doom Live (2009) and Bad as Me (2011). Waits has influenced many artists and gained an international cult following . His songs have been covered by Bruce Springsteen , Tori Amos , Rod Stewart and the Ramones and he has written songs for Johnny Cash and Norah Jones , among others. In 2011, he

12920-424: The core of ceremonial and social activities. "Stomp dance" remains at its core, a "call and response" form; instrumentation is provided by rattles or shackles worn on the legs of women. "Other southeastern nations have their own complexes of sacred and social songs, including those for animal dances and friendship dances, and songs that accompany stickball games. Central to the music of the southern Plains Indians

13072-419: The cover brought him and because he felt appreciated by a songwriter he admired. While on the set of One from the Heart , Waits encountered Kathleen Brennan , a young Irish-American woman working as an assistant story editor. The two had previously met while Waits was filming Paradise Alley . Waits would later describe this encounter with Brennan as "love at first sight"; they were engaged to be married within

13224-410: The dance tunes Americans and their colonial predecessors danced to for nearly two centuries. Popular dances that rose to prominence in America in the nineteenth century, which could be set to traditional dance tunes, were quadrilles , mazurkas , barn dances , redowas , marches , and polkas . " Soldier's Joy " is an example of a typical British fiddle tune. In New England , one of the areas with

13376-499: The danger of precarious stacks of logs stories high that could topple. "The Jam on Gerry's Rocks" was one such song that described this terrifying phenomenon. "The Lumberjack's Alphabet" was a high spirited song and favorite of these workers. "The Lineman's Hymn" is told from the perspective of a dying lineman who fell from a pole, and warns the listener to be careful lest he suffer the same fate. Many roots musicians do not consider themselves folk musicians. The main difference between

13528-504: The documentary Streetwise , about homeless youth in Seattle; it was another influence on the subjects of his next album. Rain Dogs was recorded at the RCA Studios in mid 1985. Musically, Waits called the album "kind of an interaction between Appalachia and Nigeria". Keith Richards played on several tracks; Richards later acknowledged Waits's encouragement of his debut solo album, Talk

13680-684: The documented folk songs in the area are usually work songs connected to relatively recent folk experiences within the mining , lumber , and other industries of the nineteenth and twentieth century. Similar to the Northwest, older traditional ballads were far less common in the Southwest , with only "Barbara Allen" and "Lord Randal" being regional favorites. Popular local songs and ballads were, among others, "Texas Rangers", " The Yellow Rose of Texas ", "Joe Bowers", " Sweet Betsy from Pike ", "Ho for California!", and " Buffalo Skinners ". Some songs entered

13832-423: The door to legitimizing a wider range of vernacular music in the field of American folk music scholarship, in later years it has been criticized for not being a strictly scientific historical endeavor. Lomax himself admitted, "I have violated the ethics of ballad-gatherers, in a few instances, by selecting and putting together what seems to be the best lines from different versions, all telling the same story...Frankly

13984-638: The earliest history of colonization as well as the highest percentage of settlement by ethnic English people , numerous English ballads survived within American folk music into the twentieth century. These include older popular ballads such as " Lord Randall ", " The Golden Vanity ", The Elfin Knight , The Gypsy Davy , " Lady Isabel and the Elf-Knight ", "Barbara Allen", Lord Bateman , The House Carpenter , The Farmer's Curst Wife , Lord Lovel , and Henry Martin . Later broadside ballads imported into New England from

14136-486: The early 1990s he took part in several charitable causes. In 1990 he contributed a song to the HIV/AIDS benefit album Red Hot + Blue and later appeared at a Wiltern Theater fundraising show for the victims of the 1992 Los Angeles riots . In August 1992, Waits released his tenth studio album, Bone Machine . Waits wanted to explore "more machinery sounds" with the album, reflecting his interest in industrial music . It

14288-505: The experience was tough and that he was drinking too much alcohol. In May, he embarked on his first tour of Europe, performing in London , Amsterdam , Brussels and Copenhagen . On his return to Los Angeles, he joined his friend Chuck E. Weiss , moving into the Tropicana motel in West Hollywood, which had an established reputation in rock music circles. Visitors noted his two-room apartment there

14440-488: The experiments that began with 1983's Swordfishtrombones , Waits has maintained a distinct musical voice, an idiosyncratic way of yoking sounds together. Alice' s mournful ballads all seem to be haunted by ghosts of albums past...he and Brennan share with Lewis Carroll a linguistic playfulness, a delight in choppy syntax and warped juxtapositions. The first lines of Alice's title track set the tone: 'It's dreamy weather we're on/ You wave your crooked wand/ Along an icy pond/ With

14592-490: The family home, a traumatic experience for the 10-year-old Waits. Alma took her children and relocated to Chula Vista , a middle-class suburb of San Diego . Jesse visited the family there, taking his children on trips to Tijuana . In nearby Southeast San Diego , Waits attended O'Farrell Community School , where he fronted a school band, the Systems, which he described as "white kids trying to get that Motown sound." He developed

14744-457: The filmmaker Jim Jarmusch . Starting in the mid-80s, Kurt Weill became an important influence on Waits's work. Bowman writes that "Waits had become interested in Weill’s late-1920s and 1930s musical-theater works... Weill’s slightly off-kilter, stylized cabaret approach to melody, rhythm, orchestration, and musical narrative permeated much of Waits’s subsequent work.” Waits did the soundtrack for

14896-484: The first leg of her European tour, but then ended his relationship with her. Her grief at the breakup was channeled into the 1981 album Pirates . In September, Waits moved to Crenshaw Boulevard to be closer to his father, before deciding to relocate to New York City. He initially lived in the Chelsea Hotel before renting an apartment on West 26th Street. On arriving in the city, he told a reporter that he "just needed

15048-412: The folk revival of the 1950s and 1960s, including Jean Ritchie , Roscoe Holcomb , Ola Belle Reed , Lily May Ledford , and Doc Watson . The Carter Family was a traditional American folk music group that recorded between 1927 and 1956. Their music had a profound impact on bluegrass , country , Southern Gospel , pop and rock musicians . They were the first vocal group to become country music stars;

15200-491: The folk tradition through the flourishing American popular music industry. One such popular song that became a folk tune was " Old Dan Tucker " written by Dan Emmett . Spirituals have their origins in white American ministers appropriating European folk melodies and setting them to religious lyrics, creating uniquely American folk hymns. African Americans adopted this religious folk music, adding their own style and themes such as slavery and emancipation. "Sacred music, both

15352-686: The frontier such as the famous " Home on the Range " written in Kansas in 1873 by Brewster Higley and Dan Kelly. "The Old Chisholm Trail" too was a distinctly American ballad tied to the experiences of cowboys on the long treks on the Chisholm Trail . Following the Civil War, cowboys became popular as characters in novels and in Wild West shows. The first movie western was The Great Train Robbery , filmed in 1903. At

15504-582: The genealogy of creative lineages and communities, and the innovative contributions of musicians working in these traditions today. In recent years roots music has been the focus of popular media programs such as Garrison Keillor 's public radio program, A Prairie Home Companion and the feature film by the same name. American traditional music is also called roots music. Roots music is a broad category of music including bluegrass , country music , gospel , old time music , jug bands , Appalachian folk , blues , Cajun and Native American music . The music

15656-553: The headline act before touring the East Coast; in New York City he met and befriended Bette Midler , with whom he had a sporadic affair. Back in Los Angeles, Cohen suggested Waits produce a live album . To this end, he performed two shows at the Record Plant Studio in front of a small invited audience to recreate the atmosphere of a jazz club . Again produced and engineered by Howe (as all his future Asylum releases would be), it

15808-414: The height of this romanticizing of the American cowboy, John Lomax published his preeminent work, Cowboy Songs and Other Frontier Ballads. This work was acclaimed in both academic and popular readership and helped to expand the scope of what constituted folk music, as previous scholarship focused on songs with European ballad ancestry, such as with the Child Ballads . While Cowboy Songs may have opened

15960-498: The hostility from Zappa's fans. Waits joined Zappa's tour in Ontario , but like Dalton found the audiences hostile; while on stage he was jeered at and pelted with fruit. Although he liked the Mothers of Invention, he was intimidated by Zappa himself. Waits moved from Silver Lake to Echo Park , spending much of his time in downtown Los Angeles . In early 1974, he continued to perform around

16112-548: The insufficient and inequitable pay scale and poverty that ensued. The logging industry began in New England to satisfy the needs of ship building. Later, the advent of the transcontinental railroad made it possible to harvest the forests of the Pacific Northwest, with the industry reaching a peak from 1870 to 1900. The hardships for loggers included a struggle with natural forces, unpredictable outdoor working conditions, and

16264-573: The jazz sound characteristic of his earlier work; it was his first album not to feature a saxophone and his first to feature the marimba . When the album was finished, he took it to Asylum, but they declined to release it. Waits wanted to leave the label; in his view, "They liked dropping my name in terms of me being a 'prestige' artist, but when it came down to it they didn't invest a whole lot in me in terms of faith". Chris Blackwell of Island Records learned of Waits's dissatisfaction and approached him, offering to release Swordfishtrombones ; Island had

16416-567: The locally produced ballads namely "The Little Brown Bulls", "Fuller and Warren", " Charles Guiteau ", "Canady-I-O", and "Paul Jones". Many folk songs were also produced that were unique specifically to the Great Lakes region , evoking the area's nautical culture. These include "It's me for the Inland Lakes", "Loss of the Persian ", and "The Buffalo Whore". Farther west in states like Iowa , Kansas ,

16568-491: The loose trilogy Swordfishtrombones (1983), Rain Dogs (1985) and Franks Wild Years (1987). Waits starred in Jim Jarmusch 's Down by Law (1986), lent his voice to his Mystery Train (1989), composed the soundtrack for his Night on Earth (1991) and appeared in his Coffee and Cigarettes (2003). He collaborated with Robert Wilson and William S. Burroughs on the "cowboy opera" The Black Rider (1990),

16720-402: The lyrics. They flew to Kansas to meet with Burroughs, who agreed to join the project. Waits traveled to Hamburg < germany, in May 1989 to work on the project, and was later joined there by Burroughs. The Black Rider debuted in Hamburg's Thalia Theater in March 1990. On completing its run at the Thalia, the play went on an international tour, with a second run of performances occurring in

16872-609: The mainstream Hollywood map as a character actor". In Fall 1987, Waits and his family left New York and returned to Los Angeles, settling on Union Avenue. He appeared as a hitman in Robert Dornhelm 's Cold Feet and lent his voice to Jarmusch's Mystery Train . Although Waits had provided a voice-over for a 1981 television advert for Butcher's Blend dog food, he objected to musicians letting companies use their songs in advertising; he said that "artists who take money for ads poison and pervert their songs". In November 1988, he brought

17024-417: The men, women, and children employed within. Strikes began in the 1830s and 1840s, led by the young women who made up three-quarters of the work force, and earned about half of their male coworkers. The song "A Factory Girl" tells of a young woman, dissatisfied with her occupation, leaving the mill to become a wife. Dave McCarn wrote songs in protest of the textile mill such as "Cotton Mill Colic", which lamented

17176-687: The mid-2000s. In June 1989, Waits travelled to London to play a Punch and Judy puppeteer in Ann Guedes's film Bearskin: An Urban Fairytale . He proceeded to Ireland, where he was joined by Brennan and spent time with her family. In December 1989, he began a stint as Curly, a mobster's son, at the Los Angeles Theater Center production of Thomas Babe 's play Demon Wine . Over the next four years, he made seven film appearances. He nevertheless repeatedly told press that he did not see himself as an actor, but only as someone who did some acting. He made

17328-454: The primary source of fuel in the United States by the 1880s, beating out wood, with usage peaking in 1910. Coal camps were made up of a largely Irish and Welsh demographic, which is evident in the structure of coal mining songs. Coal mining was fraught with danger that was unmitigated by morally indifferent mining companies. Explosions and cave-ins were a constant fear, as were black lung disease and pneumoconiosis. Songs such as "Don't Go Down in

17480-468: The rattle of marimbas in 'Clap Hands.' The evocative, elliptical rhymes describe scenes and characters with poetic precision but use atmosphere, not narrative, to connect them." NME named Rain Dogs the best album of the year. In September 1985, his son Casey was born. Waits assembled a band and went on tour, kicking it off in Scotland in October before proceeding around Europe and then the U.S. He changed

17632-478: The rudiments of Anglo-American folk song, British country dancing and European harmony, and adapting them to West African patterns." Alan Lomax in The Folk Songs of North America states, "The slaves, brought to the United States from many parts of Africa, continued to dance and make music as their ancestors had done…. In the United States tribes were mixed and African languages and ceremonies were forbidden, and

17784-480: The same family or folk group for generations, and sometimes trace back to such origins as the British Isles , Mainland Europe , or Africa . Musician Mike Seeger once famously commented that the definition of American folk music is "...all the music that fits between the cracks." American folk music is a broad category of music including bluegrass , gospel , old time music , jug bands , Appalachian folk , blues , Cajun and Native American music . The music

17936-476: The setlist for each performance; most of the songs chosen were from his two Island albums. Returning to the U.S., he traveled to New Orleans to act in Jarmusch's Down by Law . Jarmusch wrote Down by Law with Waits and Lurie in mind. The film opened and closed with songs from Rain Dogs . Jarmusch noted that "Tom and I have a kindred aesthetic. An interest in unambitious people, marginal people." The pair developed

18088-417: The slaves filled the cultural vacuum by acquiring the rudiments of Anglo-American folk song, British country dancing, and European harmony, and adapting them to West African patterns. Lomax, after maintaining that "whatever they sang was intensely functional," catalogs these songs as "spirituals, reels, work songs, ballads and blues." Sea shanties functioned to lighten the burden of routine tasks and provide

18240-720: The slaves had in common was the desire to dance, sing and play what musical instruments could be assembled. Eileen Southern in The Music of Black Americans: A History lists about a dozen and a half African-American "folksong types". These are "boat songs, corn songs, cowboy songs, dance songs, freedom songs, harvest songs, parodies of spirituals, pattyroller songs, prison songs, railroad songs, satirical songs, shout songs, spirituals, stevedore songs, story songs, war songs, woodcutter songs, and work songs." Because slaves were forbidden to perform African ceremonies or use African languages, "the slaves filled this cultural vacuum by acquiring

18392-464: The songs for which were released on the album The Black Rider . Waits and Wilson collaborated again on Alice (2002) and Woyzeck (2000). Bone Machine (1992) and Mule Variations (1999) won Grammys for Best Alternative Music Album and Best Contemporary Folk Album , respectively. In 2002, the songs from Alice and Wozzeck were recorded and released on the albums Alice and Blood Money . Waits went on to release Real Gone (2004),

18544-450: The songs on Alice as "adult songs for children, or children's songs for adults. It's a maelstrom or fever-dream, a tone poem, with torch songs and waltzes...an odyssey in dream logic and nonsense." The songs draw on Waits' interest in circus performers; "Poor Edward" is about Edward Mordake and "Table Top Joe" is about Johnny Eck . The lyrics reference the Alice books; "We're All Mad Here"

18696-703: The songs written for Alice , directed by Wilson at the Thalia Theatre in Hamburg in 1992. Alice is about Lewis Carroll 's obsession with Alice Liddell , the inspiration for Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (1865) and Through the Looking-Glass (1871). The play has since been performed in various theatres around the world. The songs had been released as a bootleg in several different versions called The Alice Demos many years before its official release. The source

18848-466: The songs written for The Black Rider , and did so at Los Angeles's Sunset Sound Factory . The Black Rider was released in the fall of 1993. Waits and Wilson decided to collaborate again, this time on an operatic treatment of Lewis Carroll 's relationship with Alice Liddell , who had provided the inspiration for Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass . Again scheduled to premier at

19000-512: The story to a different tune. This illustrates how folk songs can change in the retelling and appear in a variety of versions. Similarly the popular cowboy song " Bury Me Not on the Lone Prairie , about a dying cowboy begging not to be buried alone in the wilderness, is based on an earlier poem, "The Ocean Burial". Similarly, the popular song "Buffalo Skinners" is based on the earlier lumberjack tune "Canaday-I-O". Other songs originated wholly on

19152-567: The temples and courts of China, India, and Indonesia are preserved in Asian communities throughout the state, and popular song genres are continually layered on to these classical music forms" Tejano and New Mexico music , heard throughout the American Southwest and South Texas , is rooted in the musics of the Native American and Hispanic/Latino communities of the regions. Tejano music

19304-459: The time he was studying at Hilltop High School , he later related, he was "kind of an amateur juvenile delinquent," interested in "malicious mischief" and breaking the law. He later described himself as a "rebel against the rebels", eschewing the hippie subculture which was growing in popularity for the 1950s Beat generation , especially Jack Kerouac , Allen Ginsberg and William S. Burroughs . In 1968, at age 18, he dropped out of high school. He

19456-431: The tracks were recorded as duets with Crystal Gayle ; Waits had initially planned to duet with Midler but she proved unavailable. The film was released in 1982, to largely poor reviews. Waits makes a small cameo as a trumpet player in a crowd scene. Waits's soundtrack album was released by Columbia Records in 1982. Waits had misgivings about the album, thinking it over-produced. Humphries thought that working with Coppola

19608-466: The volume is meant to be popular." One of the most popular railroad folk songs in American history was The Ballad of Casey Jones , a song about a train conductor who sacrificed himself to prevent a collision. The "Ballad of John Henry " is about an African-American folk hero said to have worked as a "steel-driving man". The earliest known coal mine was in Richmond Virginia in 1750. Coal became

19760-480: The word-jazz of ‘Pasties and a G-String,’ and the tour-de-force tenor-sax-accompanied hucksterism of ‘ Step Right Up .’” He received growing press attention, being profiled in Newsweek , Time , Vogue and The New Yorker ; he had begun to accrue a cult following . He went on tour to promote the new album, backed by the Nocturnal Emissions ( Frank Vicari , Chip White and Fitz Jenkins). In reference to "Pasties and

19912-448: The year. The album was Waits's first collaboration with David Hidalgo , who played accordion on "Cold, Cold Ground" and "Train Song". After its release, Waits toured North America and Europe, his last full tour for two decades. Two of these performances were the basis for Chris Blum's concert film Big Time (1988). Waits continued interacting and working with other artists he admired. He was

20064-521: Was "broadly in step with the singer-songwriter school of the early 1970s"; Waits had wanted to create a piano-led jazz album although Yester had pushed its sound in a more folk-oriented direction. Buckley covered "Martha" on his album Sefronia later that year. An Eagles recording of "Ol' 55" on their album On the Border brought Waits further money and recognition, although he regarded their version as "a little antiseptic". To promote his debut, Waits and

20216-452: Was "so insecure when I started ... I was sweating buckets". Waits was nominated for the 1982 Academy Award for Original Music Score . Waits still contractually owed Elektra-Asylum another album, so took a break from Coppola's project to write an album that he initially called White Spades . He recorded the album in June; it was released in September as Heartattack and Vine . The album

20368-621: Was "the record where Tom Waits radically reinvented himself and reshaped the musical landscape." NME named it the second best album of the year. In 1989, Spin magazine named it the second greatest album of all time. In 1983, Waits appeared in three more Coppola films: as Benny, a philosopher running a billboard store in Rumble Fish ; as Buck Merrill in The Outsiders ; and as the maître'd in The Cotton Club . He later said that "Coppola

20520-459: Was a Texas native of Scots-Irish descent, and his mother, Alma Fern (née Johnson), hailed from Oregon and had Norwegian ancestry. Alma, a regular church-goer, managed the household. Jesse taught Spanish at a local school and was an alcoholic; Waits later related that his father was "a tough one, always an outsider." They lived at 318 North Pickering Avenue in Whittier, California . He recalled having

20672-399: Was a millionaire and it turned out I had, like, twenty bucks." Waits credited Brennan with introducing him to much new music, most notably Captain Beefheart , a key influence on the direction in which he wanted to take his music. He later said that "once you've heard Beefheart it's hard to wash him out of your clothes. It stains, like coffee or blood." She also introduced him to Harry Partch ,

20824-490: Was an avid watcher of Alfred Hitchcock Presents and The Twilight Zone . Another influence was the comedian Lenny Bruce . Waits worked at Napoleone's pizza restaurant in National City, California , and both there and at a local diner developed an interest in the lives of the patrons, writing down phrases and snippets of dialogue he overheard. He worked in the forestry service as a fireman for three years and served with

20976-664: Was an important move in Waits's career: it "led directly to Waits moving from cult (i.e. largely unknown) artiste to center-stage." Newly married and with his Elektra-Asylum contract completed, Waits decided that it was time to artistically reinvent himself. He wanted to move away from using Howe as his producer, although the two parted on good terms. With Brennan's help, he began the process of firing Cohen as his manager, with him and Brennan taking on managerial responsibilities themselves. He came to believe that Cohen had been swindling him out of much of his earnings, later relating that "I thought I

21128-523: Was angered at this, describing many of his early demos as "baby pictures" that he would not want released. A second volume with 13 more recordings from 1971 was released in 1993. In April 1992, Waits released the soundtrack album to Jarmusch's Night on Earth . Largely instrumental, it had been recorded at the Prairie Sun studio in Cotati . In 1992, Waits quit drinking alcohol and joined Alcoholics Anonymous . In

21280-496: Was common. Gospel is a "joyful noise," sometimes accompanied by instrumentation and almost always punctuated by hand clapping, toe tapping, and body movement." When African slaves were brought to the Americas husbands were separated from wives and parents from their children. Also the many tribes that the slaves were from were broken up and the ensuing slave communities that were set up were constituted by every possible mixture. What

21432-519: Was critically well received and was his first release to break into the Billboard Top 100 Album List , peaking at 89. Per Bowman, Small Change "made it clear that Waits had evolved into a master storyteller, reflecting the influence of crime-noir writers such as Dashiell Hammett and John D. MacDonald . Arguably his first masterpiece, the album featured exquisite piano ballads such as ' Tom Traubert's Blues ' and ‘ The Piano Has Been Drinking (Not Me) ,’

21584-445: Was far more widely reviewed than Closing Time had been. Waits himself later dismissed the album as "very ill-formed, but I was trying". After recording The Heart of Saturday Night , Waits reluctantly agreed to tour with Zappa again, but once more faced strong audience hostility. The kudos of having supported Zappa's tour nevertheless bolstered his image in the music industry and helped his career. In October 1974, he first performed as

21736-463: Was heavily cluttered. Waits told the Los Angeles Times that "You almost have to create situations in order to write about them, so I live in a constant state of self-imposed poverty". In July 1976, Waits recorded Small Change , again produced by Howe. He recalled it as a seminal episode in his development as a songwriter, the point when he became "completely confident in the craft". The album

21888-617: Was holding an ice-cream, staggering, but also concentrating on not allowing the ice-cream to fall. I felt there was something similar to Tom. — Jack Nicholson , Waits's co-star in Ironweed In 1986, he took a small part in Candy Mountain , as millionaire golf enthusiast Al Silk. He costarred in Hector Babenco 's Ironweed , as Rudy the Kraut. Hoskyns noted that Ironweed put Waits "on

22040-586: Was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame . Introducing him, Neil Young said: "This next man is indescribable, and I'm here to describe him. He's sort of a performer, singer, actor, magician, spirit guide, changeling... I think it's great that the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame has recognized this immense talent. Could have been the Motion Picture Hall of Fame, could have been the Blues Hall of Fame, could have been

22192-452: Was more guitar-based and had, according to Humphries, "a harder R&B edge" than any of its predecessors. It again broke into the Top 100 Album Chart, peaking at number 96. Reviews were generally good. Hoskyns called it "one of Waits's pinnacle achievements" as an album. One of its tracks, " Jersey Girl ", was subsequently recorded by Bruce Springsteen . Waits was grateful, both for the revenue that

22344-490: Was recorded in an old storage room at Prairie Sun. Waits recalled: "I found a great room to work in, it's just a cement floor and a hot water heater. Okay, we'll do it here. It's got some good echo." Eight of the album's tracks were co-written with Brennan. The cover was co-designed by Waits and Jesse Dylan . Jarmusch and Dylan directed videos for "I Don't Wanna Grow Up", and "Goin' Out West", respectively. Critic Steve Huey called it "perhaps Tom Waits's most cohesive album ...

22496-499: Was released as Nighthawks at the Diner in October 1975. The album cover and title were inspired by Edward Hopper 's Nighthawks (1942). He followed this with a week's residency at the Reno Sweeney nightclub, an off-Broadway–style club in New York City. In December he appeared on the PBS concert show Soundstage . From March to May 1976, he toured the U.S., telling interviewers that

22648-573: Was similar to that of New England, aside from a marked influence from the high numbers of non-British immigrants, such as the Germans , Dutch , and Swiss . In the Southeastern United States , popular local folk songs included " Sourwood Mountain ", "Charming Betsy", "Fly Around My Pretty Little Miss", " Buffalo Gals ", " Arkansas Traveler ", " Turkey in the Straw ", " Old Joe Clark ", " Going Down

22800-484: Was the cover star of free music magazine Music World . He began composing songs for his second album, and attended the Venice Poetry Workshop to try out this new material in front of an audience. Although Waits was eager to record this new material, Cohen instead convinced him to take over as a support act for Frank Zappa 's the Mothers of Invention after previous support act Kathy Dalton pulled out due to

22952-425: Was working for Norman Granz , Norman had found these tapes of Kerouac reading his poetry from The Beat Generation in a hotel room. I told Waits I'd make him a copy. That sealed it." Recording sessions for The Heart of Saturday Night took place at Wally Heider's Studio 3 on Cahuenga Boulevard in Hollywood in April and May, with Waits conceptualizing the album as a sequence of songs about U.S. nightlife. The album

23104-477: Was written in 1946 by Merle Travis about the plight of coal miners and life in company towns . Travis also penned " Dark as a Dungeon ", which was most notably performed by Johnny Cash . While American colonists had long spun and wove homemade textiles, a burgeoning industry began to appear at the end of the eighteenth century in New England and later in the southern states. Working conditions in textile mills were bleak, with extremely long hours and meager pay for

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