Up this morning with Eleanor, listening to a friend of mine on the "radio," Nat Hussey. I've got his whole discography on shuffle. Thinking of Nat because he's on his way out to Matinicus Island -- a little bit of rock and soil 20 miles off the coast of Maine. Lawyer, songwriter, father -- on his way out with his wife and 3 kids to take a stab at a new kind of living. Maybe by now he's got a job as a stern man in a lobster boat -- that was one of his options, and he had a boat lined up. He stopped by a couple weeks ago to drop off a banjo on a kind of long-term loan. "Just don't sell it or give it away without asking."
Nat is just about my favorite songwriter anywhere. When I think of Nat's songs, I think of splitting wood. You can go at it with a little wedge and a hammer, tonking away at a piece over and over -- knocking the wood off the block and re-setting it up over and over until you've got it split right down the middle. Nat's more about heft and swing -- he's one of those guys who sends the two halves flying off the block and has a new piece of wood up there before they've stopped rolling. The wood splits along the grain and tells a story that's half about the tree and half about the axe. That's Nat's songwriting. I'm looking forward to another cord of songs from Matinicus.
The stayings and goings of a Songwriter in Maine
