{"id":12027,"date":"2017-01-02T05:30:07","date_gmt":"2017-01-02T10:30:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/?p=12027"},"modified":"2017-01-02T08:14:58","modified_gmt":"2017-01-02T13:14:58","slug":"wes-tirey-in-print-and-on-record","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/2017\/01\/02\/wes-tirey-in-print-and-on-record\/","title":{"rendered":"Wes Tirey: In Print and On Record"},"content":{"rendered":"

Last fall, Bob Dylan<\/strong> won the 2016 Nobel Prize for Literature. That news is a reminder that, at their best, music and the printed word can be two sides of the same creative coin. Black Mountain-based singer-songwriter Wes Tirey<\/strong> subscribes to that idea. Tirey recently celebrated the release of a book of his lyrics as well as his new album, Black Wind,<\/em> with a show in Asheville, North Carolina.<\/p>\n

\"wes_tirey\"<\/p>\n

\u201cSimplicity is, at least subconsciously, some kind of songwriting principle,\u201d says singer-songwriter Tirey. \u201cThat might be the trajectory that most songwriters are on: reaching a point of achieving simple material.\u201d Tirey stresses that simplicity and complexity need not be mutually exclusive; in fact the lyrics to the six songs on Black Wind<\/i> are at once evocative and open-ended. \u201cOnce you write [a song] and put it out there, your own artistic interpretation just remains your own,\u201d he says. \u201cBut when you’re sharing it with other people, it becomes something else.\u201d<\/p>\n

In tandem with the release of Black Wind<\/i>, Tirey is publishing a book \u2013 more a chapbook, he says \u2013 of selected lyrics. The collection showcases some of Black Wind<\/i>‘s song lyrics, plus words from songs on his earlier cassette-only releases. And though Tirey’s lyrics hold their own on the printed page, he doesn’t consider them as poetry. \u201cSongs are meant to be sung,\u201d he believes. \u201cAnd I think songs are ingested differently than poetic material.\u201d<\/p>\n

Speaking of poetry, Allen Ginsberg<\/strong> was a proponent of the credo, \u201cfirst thought, best thought\u201d as an approach to writing. Tirey doesn’t agree. \u201c’First thought, best thought’ is a dangerous thought,\u201d he chuckles. He thinks the idea is \u201csomething of a myth, more of a romantic idea that this divine stream of artistic thought is elevated above spending time working on the material.\u201d He places great value on taking time to craft word and lyrics. \u201cSure,\u201d he says, \u201cI can get a verse that comes together in a minute. But then the rest of song may take three weeks.\u201d<\/p>\n