While that may not sound so bad on the surface, the reality is that it means a life that's spent on the road in cheap motels, playing bars and small venues around the country, while trying to raise a family back in Austin.
Swept Away is part documentary and part concert film, as the camera follows Jon Dee around both on and off stage. There's footage of him in concert with the two versions of his band, one a trio, the other a quartet, at a couple of venues around Austin, and in the studio - Top Hat Studios - where he recorded his last CD. The initial impression of an intense, somewhat brooding, man, is lightened as the movie progresses and we get to see him with his children, but that initial undercurrent of introspection is never quite dispelled.
At one point he admits to struggling with depression for most of his life, and takes a certain rueful pride in the fact that people think his music isn't what you'd call uplifting.
Yet, you get the feeling after spending some time with him and watching him perform his music, that this is not a world weariness brought on by cynicism or being jaded because of his chosen profession. Instead it is the natural extension of a soul that struggles to express aspects of the human condition.
In one telling piece of conversation he refers to the Eastern spiritual figure Kwan-Yin, and points to a small statue of her that shows her standing upon a dragon and holding a small vial whose contents she is pouring onto the dragon. The dragon, says Jon, represents the life force upon which we all stand, and in the vial are tears, because it is human sadness that feeds the life force.
This isn't just some causal bar band player, or session musician. He's an introspective, intense, and aware person who takes the time to consider what it's like to be human and attempts to communicate that through the medium of his choice, music. One of the people interviewed in the documentary, I believe it was Katherine Cole from an Austin radio station, summed up his music by saying it was for adults. While contextually that makes sense, thematically his music deals with subject matter far removed from the usual trivial fodder of most popular music, it ends up trivializing the breadth of feeling and life experience that goes into each of his creations.
Article comments
1 - Joe McCune
At the American Music Festival in Berwyn, IL a few years back, I told Jon that he was the "Charles Bukowski of rock and roll." He responded by saying "That's the best compliment I've ever gotten." It's true.
2 - Richard Marcus
Joe
I never would have made that connection on my own, but thinking about it I think you've hit the nail on the head with that comment. Thank you very much.
Richard Marcus