Lyricist/poet/novelist Joe Henry of Colorado has established himself as one of that state's (and the nation's) most valuable resources of inspiring words. He has been honored by the Colorado Council on the Arts and Governor Roy Romer with the Governor's Award for Excellence in the Arts, and by the National Wildlife Federation with a National Conservation Achievement Award. Henry is currently preparing for the premiere and a month-long run at The Denver Center for the Performing Arts, one of the nation's most prestigious stages, of his Prelude to Lime Creek.
The work is a theatrical production combining readings of excerpts from his novel in progress, Lime Creek, with performances of new songs cowritten by Joe and Gary Burr, ASCAP's 1995 Country Songwriter of the Year. The work was conceived by and stars film and television actor Anthony Zerbe, a friend and admirer of Henry's, who has done extensive dramatic readings from Lime Creek for a number of years. Performing the Prelude to Lime Creek songs is singer/guitarist and ASCAP songwriter Greg Barnhill.
Joe Henry is a unique figure in the music world, a truly rugged adventurer and individualist who paints breathtaking natural landscapes with his lyrics. His enduring collaboration with fellow Coloradoan and ASCAP member John Denver has yielded some of Denver's most memorable recordings, including "Windsong," "Cool an' Green an' Shady," "The Wings That Fly Us Home" and "A Baby Just Like You." Henry's other songwriting partners and vocalist interpreters are a diverse group, from singer songwriters like Peter Yarrow, Guy Clark and Mickey Newbury to Hollywood composers Bill Conti, Lee Holdridge and Steve Dorff, to country and pop music stars Emmylou Harris, Steve Wariner, Donna Fargo, Roberta Flack, Bobby Darin, Frank Sinatra and Ashford & Simpson.
Another frequent Henry collaborator is John Jarvis, who provided music for Joe's most recorded song, "The Flower That Shattered the Stone" and his anthemic new "The Flame," written to commemorate the 1996 Olympics and recorded by Trisha Yearwood.
The life that created Joe Henry the songwriter has been anything but run of the mill. The ex-professional hockey player and prizefighter has spent most of his years, as he puts it, "working in the weather," on construction sites, cattle ranches and merchant vessels around the world. His entry into the lyric writing field came about by chance and not design -- listening to a friend casually play a new melody on the guitar caused Joe to visualize a set of lyrics. As acquaintances began taking notice of his abilities, they urged him to try to market his work, and by 1969 he was in New York, working construction and training as a pro boxer. At the same time, Joe hooked up with a publisher who placed one of his songs, "Brown Arms in Houston" with a top psychedelic-era band from Boston called Orpheus.
Joe recalls waking up after emergency surgery to repair his nose after his first (and last) pro fight and being handed a full page Billboard ad for the single. "My boxing career ended the same hour that my professional music career began. That was a big day in my life," says Henry. "Brown Arms in Houston" became a Northeast regional Number One hit.
For the past 13 years, Henry has devoted the major part of the year to traveling to Los Angeles, Nashville and New York to pursue songwriting, reserving his winters for working on Lime Creek, which he thinks is finally nearing completion. Increased anticipation for the book is sure to result from the production of Prelude to Lime Creek.
Anthony Zerbe offers his analysis of what makes Joe's work so vital: "It's very original in the sense that it is Joe's heart. It's very American, rough-edged and it ricochets. It's not stylish and it's not svelte but has force and a very natural profundity -- all his metaphors are drawn from nature." Composer Gary Burr, who is new to writing for the theater but has enjoyed massive commercial success, reveals that, though each song was written to support or refer to the narrative readings, "We wanted each song we wrote to be a potential hit on the radio. I really think Joe has a wonderful gift with words and it was not hard to come up with the songs that captured that spirit."
Prelude to Lime Creek begins previews at The Denver Center for the Performing Arts on May 9 and opens May 16. A compact disc of the songs, as sung by Gary Burr, will be available for sale at the theater.
Source: http://www.ascap.com/playback/1996/april/joe-henry.html
