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Home > Austin Music Source > Archives > 2008 > September > 19 > Entry
Notes from AMA #3: Genesis of ‘Jesus’
NASHVILLE. Hayes Carll is touring in England so he couldn’t be on hand for his mildly surprising win as Song of the Year at Thursday’s American Music Awards at the Ryman, but “She Left Me For Jesus” co-writer Brian Keane was there to “thank God” at the podium.
Cormer Austinite Keane, who moved to Nashville with girlfriend Rachel Loy about nine months ago, detailed the inspiration for “Jesus” after the show. He had been seeing Loy, who still plays bass for 54 Seconds, for a few months when she decided she wanted to live a more Christian life. “She left me for Jesus,” Keane said. “It was an easy song to write.” Keane wrote the chorus of the hilariously sacriligeous song, but couldn’t finish it, so he brought it to Carll. The two kicked around ideas one day and Carll wrote down all the good ones. “I said, ‘OK, now we gotta make it rhyme,’” Keane recalled, “but then I looked on the paper and Hayes had already done that, as he was writing the ideas down.” A true collaboration, in other words.
One of the musical highlights of the awards show was when Joe Ely, who’s like Bono in this crowd, joined rising star Ryan Bingham on “South Side of Heaven.” Bingham, who is not to be missed at ACL, is a former bullrider who’s been called “the Tom Waits of West Texas” for his raspy delivery and pinpoint lyricism. He’s the guy you’ve heard on KGSR and asked, “wow, who is that?”
It’s admirable to see just how much younger bluegrass players come out and support each other. Thursday night at the Station Inn, a legendary picker’s palace, the audience was full of players- including members of Austin’s Belleville Outfit (who’ve just signed to powerhouse Nashville agent Bobby Cudd) - to cheer on Crooked Still. The Boston band’s ingenue looks belied a wild streak, that especially came out on a cover of Bob Dylan’s “Oxford Blues.”
Nashville has its own Erik Hokkanen in Casey Driessen, an incredibly instinctive violinist whose jazz trio set at the Station Inn Thursday floored everyone, including Tommy “Ramone” Erdeyli, the last surviving original member of the punk pioneers. In recent years, Erdeyli has switched to bluegrass, playing mandolin, banjo and singing in Uncle Monk. Driessen is also a member of Abigail Washburn’s Sparrow Quartet.
Will ACL Fest offer personal port-o-johns next year, or was Charlie Walker of C3 joking? Bet on door number two, as Walker was just trying to inject some life into Thursday’s touring and festivals panel. “The demand for VIP ammenities is going up faster than anything else,” Walker said.
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