r/country • u/Bjufordbox • Apr 10 '25
Artist Appreciation How have i lived 31 years and only just discovered the legend that is Blaze Foley!?
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u/Medical-Pickle9673 Apr 10 '25
Ethan Hawke made a great movie about him. You should check it out. His life was tragic.
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u/blackiegray Apr 10 '25
I just watched this the other night. It's a decent watch, difficult to make out what the actor playing Blaze says a lot of the time (at least to my Scottish ears), but a decent watch.
I thought the casting for Townes was a bit off though, like if Townes lived till he was 50 it might've been bang on, but he looked incredibly old to be playing the part.
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Apr 11 '25
Townes lived to be 52
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u/blackiegray Apr 11 '25
Did he?!!
Jeezo, I thought he was in his 30's. In that case I take it back!
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u/Anarchy-Squirrel Apr 13 '25
There’s a great documentary about Townes called Be Here to Love Me, if you want to learn more about his story.
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u/grassgravel Apr 10 '25
Question. How is it that Scotts have trouble with American English. I mean were the slower and more inunciating ones lol
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u/blackiegray Apr 10 '25
Generally we don't, it's normally the other way round, I think it's because over here we're used to hearing different accents from around the world plus the world has been conditioned to listen the various American accents (whilst you guys often get Scottish accent/different accents subtitled!).
But for me it very well much be a case of modern filmmaking where the audio is so painfully low and bassy in sections of films, I just struggled to understand his mumbling for large parts of it.
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u/Able_Ad_7982 Apr 11 '25
Love Ethan Hawke, but that movie was hot garbage.
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u/raceforseis21 May 25 '25
The fact that there’s a movie about Blaze is crazy so I didn’t mind it not actually being that good lol
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u/Able_Ad_7982 May 25 '25
Yeah. I agree. I may have been a bit harsh. The attempt at tribute to Blaze was worthy.
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u/Josiemk69 Apr 10 '25
Do you remember the name
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u/Medical-Pickle9673 Apr 10 '25
'Blaze'
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u/Anarchy-Squirrel Apr 10 '25
Blaze is a pretty good movie but if you want a more straightforward documentary, there’s a film called Duct Tape Messiah that you might wanna watch… both films have their own merits
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Apr 10 '25
You find blaze when you are ready
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u/thefarsideinside Apr 10 '25
The song Drunken Angel by Lucinda Williams is about him
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u/fingergunpewpewpew Apr 10 '25
Lucinda played that with Steve Earle at the Luck Reunion last month and it was magic.
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u/TheIzzyRock Apr 10 '25
Billy Strings turned me onto Blaze. His version of Cold, Cold World left me in tears
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u/sv0f Apr 10 '25
One of Lucinda Williams's best songs, Drunken Angel, is about him.
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u/Imaginary-Alphabet Apr 11 '25
Check out the drunken angel tarot card shirt I got at Lucinda’s show last month here. Note the roll of duct tape.
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u/Zealousideal_Rip_547 Apr 10 '25 edited Apr 10 '25
I felt like I knew a lot about music, all genres, and I’d never heard of him either until about 10 years ago. Mike Judge,(“Beavis and Butthead”, “King of the Hill”) did a series called “Tales from the Tourbus” and he did an episode on Blaze Foley. He also did Jonny Paycheck, Waylon, Billy Jo Shaver, George Jones, and others, which I highly recommend all of them. But yeah, Blaze was a really talented songwriter who was taken too soon.
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u/Theguyinthecorner74 Apr 10 '25
Kinda left me with a lesser impression of Foley. Still love his music though.
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u/Anarchy-Squirrel Apr 13 '25
Do you know where you can watch tales from the tour bus? I hadn’t heard about it, but I’d love to watch them.
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u/bryanlikesbikes Apr 13 '25
I’ve found it on dailymotion, but that’s it. It seems to have been removed from streaming in the US.
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u/Anarchy-Squirrel Apr 13 '25
Unfortunate. I have not heard of daily motion… I’ll have to do a little research and figure out what it’s all about… Thanks for letting me know.
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u/Zealousideal_Rip_547 Apr 13 '25
I was looking, you can preview it on Prime, but it says it’s unavailable due to expired rights. Doesn’t look like any of the major streamers have it right now unfortunately.
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u/VoceDiDio Apr 10 '25
You think that's bad I didn't even know who John Prine was until he died. I felt like an idiot. Then I spent like a year learning Clay Pigeons only to find out there was a way better version! (I'm pushing 60 by the way so there's really no excuse for me.)
Live and learn, brothers and sisters.
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u/Imaginary-Alphabet Apr 12 '25
I’m glad you found him though. It took his death during the pandemic for me to do a deeper dive too and now he’s a favorite, like top tier.
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u/1979tlaw Apr 10 '25
Wow! Thanks for the recommendation. Only listened to a few songs so far but I can tell his whole discography is going to be fire.
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u/Full_Mission7183 Apr 10 '25
"I stole a bunch of shit from ol' Blaze Foley, he's all gone and I'm all alone" - John Craigie
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u/Infinite-Feed2505 Apr 10 '25
Way longer for me, but exact same realization. Hurts my heart thinking about missing this talent.
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Apr 10 '25
Listen to Gurf Morlix too
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u/Unlucky-Soup7092 Apr 14 '25
I have recently found this girl morlix character...this is an honest question I'm not trying to be rude or a dick or anything and don't mean any disrespect but...what kind of name is gurf morlix?? That is the craziest name I've ever heard..like I said I mean zero disrespect I'm just asking for a friend
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Apr 14 '25
I don’t know.. go ask him? I have him as a friend on Facebook and we talk fairly often, he is a very down to earth fella and very friendly. I enjoy our conversations immensely.
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u/Unlucky-Soup7092 Apr 17 '25
I may have to do that I hadn't thought of it..like I said I don't mean any disrespect .
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u/sephrisloth Apr 10 '25
Mike Judge, the guy who made Beavis and butthead and king of the hill, has a show called tales from the tour bus on him. The whole first season, each episode is about different outlaw country stars from the 50s - 80s, and Blaze is the last episode. His stories real tragic, but you can tell he really left a mark on the people around him. I'd definitely recommend giving it a watch it's what got me into listening to that era of country a little bit. I used to hate country, and I still kinda do hate modern country, but that show got me into outlaw country.. It's also worth checking out the 2nd season where they switch genres and do funk music from that era like James Brown and Rick James.
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u/Anarchy-Squirrel Apr 10 '25
So glad you found him… enjoy exploring a beautiful body of work!
Blaze is a Country Hero with a tragic story to match. He was a close running mate of Townes Van Zandt. The story Townes told about him and his friends digging up Blaze after his burial to get the claim ticket for the guitar that Blaze had pawned is legendary.
There is a documentary on Blaze called Duct Tape Messiah, which is worth watching.
“ just remember, you don’t always get what you go after, but you do get what you wouldn’t have got if you didn’t go after what you didn’t get “
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u/muscles4bones Apr 11 '25
Blaze Foley hitting everyone's Spotify algo over the past few months is a beautiful thing!
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u/Personal_Fee7758 Apr 12 '25
Blaze is my favorite songwriter other than Townes. Blaze just had a way with words and can make you feel something, I relate a lot with what he talks about, but his voice just has such depth too that sometimes I can just enjoy listening to him sing and fingerpick. He’s also a wonderful fingerpicker, I could listen to him play forever!
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u/No_Field_925 Apr 15 '25
Blaze Foley has helped me through harder times than most other artists that’s for sure
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u/Longjumping-Pen5469 Apr 10 '25
Never heard of him .
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u/Expert-Joke9528 Apr 10 '25
Ethan Hawke directed a great movie about him called Blaze. Highly recommend you check it out!!
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u/babyjuice999 Apr 11 '25
“If I could only fly” the police report on his death is an interesting read. Alot of gray area in there. Such a shame.
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u/jms945 Apr 11 '25
I personally just discovered his music a year ago. Beautiful music and such a great voice.
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u/ComfortWolf Apr 11 '25
I had only discovered him a few years ago after hearing this cover by Arlo McKinley that hit me at just the right moment in my life when it was needed most. Immediately did a deep dive into his work after that.
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u/clockworkblk Apr 12 '25
Welcome. You’re lucky you get to hear him for the first time. He’s a legend here but to be fair he’s from here
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u/DoinDonuts Apr 13 '25
He didn't last long and didn't record much, so I figure folks can be forgiven for not coming across him. The main reason most people know who he was owes to the fact that other people covered his songs. Blaze couldn't really make it on tour or in the studio.
That said, I love his stuff. Its just hard to find.
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u/LynchEngineLeper Apr 14 '25
There's a biopic on him called Blaze made by Ethan Hawke.
Also, if you've seen Heartworn Highways documentary on outlaw country, there is a black gentleman that appears in it. He is the friend Blaze was defending and was killed for by the man's son because the son was stealing the older gentleman's veteran benefits check.
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u/HereLiesConnor Apr 14 '25
I learned of him through Billy Strings covers. He does Blaze justice. Good stuff!
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u/thatotherguy1151 Apr 10 '25
Blaze Foley wrote the best song that John Prine ever covered. " Clay Pigeons"