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The Avery Set - Returning to Steam
No price is too high for the privilege of owning yourself - Friedrich Nietzsche by Bo White Make no mistake. Returning to Steam is the embodiment of Chris Zehnder’s artistic vision. Music informed by personal discovery and the preservation of a youthful perspective. Through an inspired loneliness Zehnder comes face-to-face with a felt sense that his life is no longer the sum of other’s prescriptions. In this body of music, Zehnder acknowledges that he and his world have changed. The original Avery Set disbanded. Brant became Charlie and sat in with the 78s and learned full well that Whitey can sing like Waylon but he’ll never be a Honky Tonk Zero. For Chris all these Michigan memories exact their own brand of revenge, especially in those quiet Nashville moments when loneliness is his only muse. Zehnder’s music is part of an internal dialogue - a dialectical conversation with himself; to create music as a means of taking care of himself, while still giving it a universal message. Zehnder discovered both his greatest strength and his Achilles heal – that one’s search for identity can be nothing but a lonely journey. Zehnder’s legacy is more than a family name; it is the story of his elders; the heroes and the villains, the success and the failures, and the unique Bavarian individualism and self-reliance that has been handed down for generations. It’s in his blood. Yet Chris Zehnder refuses to follow those footsteps. Instead he took the fork in the road and stuck it in the rear-end of a dead chicken - well seasoned and delicious and never looking back. Sure, he could make a good living following his father’s footsteps and taking over the family business - but he wasn’t born to follow. He was born to make music. Zehnder is one of those rare people who have learned in the early phases of his journey about the inherent emptiness involved with the acquisition of wealth. This is one of the most cohesive bodies of music one is likely to hear. It is a near masterpiece with world-class writing, superb singing, overall musicality, and attention to detail in production and instrumentation. Zehnder is like a dancer that goes deep inside himself and allows his body to respond to the music in its own way. He steps outside of the circle of imperfect connections and returns to the stream of his youth. He closes his eyes and sees a world that is completely unlabeled. And the music he creates is pure and beautiful. Wandering Shoes opens with a moody cello followed by Zehnder’s circular acoustic patterns creating movement. The music and lyrics genetically spliced into an overall meaning of the song. It is a modern folk/blues shuffle that points to the glory and adventure of the road. Indeed, this kind of music is subversive because it represents freedom of thought and expression. Zehnder writes about his longing and restless spirit and a terrible sense of becoming stuck. “I roam this mighty country I stand motionless in the Great Lakes” “When I conquer you I’ll be delivered from these blues And I can throw way these wandering shoes”
Zehnder’s song repeats the theme of longing and with each repetition you can hear him going deeper inside himself - f beyond the normal and rehearsed way we conduct our lives, or sing our songs. Gotta Move is another travel song, an adventure without a road map. Spin the bottle and follow the neck. A soft whispered intro segues into a powerful electric lead trills using the bass strings for a deep-end sound that underscores the urgency in the lyric;
“Dripping Heat in a dusty room I’ve gone and burned my bridges in the wind But she’s a friend I cannot lose So I’m putting on my hat I got to Move
She don’t like it But I gotta Move
Other songs run the gamut from Hole in My Head - an irresistible country rocker with cool cat rockabilly guitar and a walking bass line – with Zehnder pioneering a new realm of Country-Emo as he almost screams the lyric; to Blown Away and Stranger – each song about different aspects of loneliness – one written from the consumptive perspective of the reptilian brain (Can I eat it? Can it eat me? Can I have sex with it?) the other evoking the sadness and longing embedded in being alone.
Take this empty seat It never stops reminding me Of the vacancy…
Stranger, Stranger Don’t walk away Lend me your ear Tell me your name Are you lonesome, lonesome In the splashy parade Thousands of eyes But not one camera linked
Equally noteworthy are two additional gems - Bible Belt – a hymnal countrty waltz cast in a baroque musical landscape, with Zehnder’s tortured faltering reading providing a powerful emotional valance to the lyrical content; and Salt Mines with guitarist Lewis serving up some tasty rockabilly, diesel fueled and bottom heavy. This is exuberant honky tonk- boogie-woogie at its rockin’ best, with a joyous tongue-in-cheek refrain guaranteed to place a smile on your face. Soul and Song is the conscience of this disc. It neatly captures Zehnder’s celebration of youth and artistic vision while he rejects those who would attempt to suppress creativity. This song has an impressive energy. This is a no nonsense Dave Edmunds and Nick Lowe stomper thrust from the rockpile with a brutal force that is both rebellious and joyous. The suit in the song represents any form of authority that stifles original music in favor of big hooks and trite devices, and sells disposable music, quickly forgotten or confused with the next big cliché. The chorus reveals Zehnder’s rebellion:
Dug my records up from the riverbed Found my guitar dusty in the tool shed Screaming like a preacher to his crowd
Two States Ago appears to be a song of travel and escape. It is. But it’s also a metaphor for internal discovery, casting fate to the wind and navigating through uncharted personal boundaries. At some level we all realize that we must face our fears in order to reduce their power over us. Zehnder’s searing vocal gives urgency to the lyric. But it is Set My Weight on Me that serves as the centerpiece, the heart and soul of Zehnder’s vision. This is a modern spiritual wrapped in a simple sepia-toned piano riff, unfettered and unadorned. Beautiful. Chris Zehnder’s masterpiece.
Time has me troubled as it starts gaining speed It demands something better than the life that I lead I trained like a soldier to fit in the mold That was cast on my body on the day I was born
So this is it. A moment of truth. Many others have come before Chris with a similar longing and a fierce independence. It’s a common irony that we find our deepest problem and fall in love with it. Aloneness is Chris’ foremost problem but it’s also his strength and his muse. He’s in that golden moment of pure awareness in which the clarity of his vision creates opportunity. And as he prepares for his show at Pit & Balcony, Chris’ mind wanders back in time. He can smell the air of the home he was born into. And return to steam. Perhaps it’s a long shot. But you never know…
In the late fifties ‘Ol Mack Vickery was performing in Pontiac playing some sweet country blues at the Drayton Inn, gaining notoriety and getting’ laid on a nightly basis. He had this phenomenal cross-eyed guitarist by the name of Wild Bill Emerson who played left handed and set his guitar on fire years before Hendrix. By the early sixties Mack Vickery and the Driving Band took the nubile and willing coeds at Michigan State University for an extended spree of Dionysian delights and debauchery. As a result, the collective GPA of the class dropped precipitously during the spring semester of ’62. The point of all this is that Vickery summoned up the courage to give up this lucrative gig in Michigan and move lock stock and barrel down to Nashville. He worked the clubs down Printers Alley, sold some songs, and eventually became a sought after writer, penning hits for Jerry Lee Lewis, George Strait, Waylon Jennings, Johnny Cash and others. Dreams can come true. |
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