Rodney Crowell found a special peace during the seven years he wrote his just-released book “Chinaberry Sidewalks.” Crowell said that though the book is filled with many emotionally turbulent and physically violent remembrances from his East Texas childhood, writing it was almost calming.
“I loved the work environment process,” said Crowell of the solitude in which he worked. “I’m a monk. I thrive in the singularity of the experience. The process was a continual peeling away, revision, revision, revision, revision.”
Now Crowell will immerse himself in the opposite environment as he tours, mixing stories from the book with songs from his extensive catalog, which includes such hits as “Leaving Louisiana in the Broad Daylight” (made famous by the Oak Ridge Boys) and “Till I Gain Control Again” (popularized by Emmylou Harris).
“I thrive in that environment too,” he said of touring. “I can really tell people the stories behind some of that music.”
Crowell characterizes his life as one that doesn’t necessarily lend itself to curiosity among the public. Yet he knew his childhood in hardscrabble Texas would win an audience, with anecdotes that range from barroom fights to hot-as-a-powder-keg home parties his parents hosted.
Although he doesn’t discuss them in interviews or name drop, it’s a fair bet that many also want to know more about the man who grew up in poverty yet went on to professional renown including a place in the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame. Indeed the story of the ex-husband of Rosanne Cash and friend of legendary performers including Townes Van Zandt, Guy Clark and Steve Winwood is one of the most enticing beat-the-odds tales in quite a while.
Though Crowell has new music out on his Web site, he has opted not to put a new album out at this point.
“I will do a new album, but we have to figure out how to space it so we’re not demanding too much from people,” he said. “The music will come hopefully sometime this year. We will find the right time.”
For now, his focus is his catalog of songs combined with his book. Crowell said that while he sometimes felt pangs of guilt when writing the extremely personal stories, he said his parents were supportive of his use of some of their more explicit stories in his songwriting.
“I’ve said to people, ‘If we were standing in this room right now and sending my 18-year-old mother and 19-year-old father out into the world, we’d both say they’d never make it,” he said. “That’s what makes this story so compelling.”
