LOUISIANA FIRE: Mary Gauthier’s story is marked by her survival

http://www.thedailytimes.com/article/20071130/ENT/71129023

By Steve Wildsmith
of The Daily Times Staff

Once upon a time, there was a girl growing up in Louisiana who ran away from home.

Abandoned by her birth mother, raised by adoptive parents and schooled in a life of hard knocks by an adolescence of addiction, she went through a series of life changes before writing her first song at 35.

That was 10 years ago. Today, Gauthier is a celebrated singer-songwriter whose 2005 album, “Mercy Now” — her first for the Lost Highway label — wound up on the year-end “best-of” lists of numerous national critics. She’s been lauded by her peers for her amazing songwriting abilities; the legendary Bob Dylan even played her song “I Drink” on his satellite radio show, reading the lyrics over the air in a “Twilight Zone” moment that Gauthier will never forget.

Yet no matter how far she’s come from the girl who stole her parents car and disappeared into the Louisiana night at 15, she still carries her past with her. It doesn’t weigh heavy on her shoulders, but it still fits, like an old and worn jacket that always seem to turn up in the back of the closet.

She’s still asked about it, even though she’d rather talk about most anything else. And she still writes about it, even though she has five albums under her belt and an entirely new life that she’s made for herself.

“It’s made me who I am, but I don’t want to keep telling that story,” Gauthier told The Daily Times this week. “I’ve told that story enough. Now, I guess I want to present who I am today. Who I am now is totally informed by my destructive years, but those years are behind me. I can’t dwell on it. I want to look ahead.”

It’s a gray Tuesday morning, and Gauthier speaks by phone from Nashville. Her voice is hoarse and raspy; she apologizes for a bout of laryngitis (“I’m sorry it sounds like I got hit by a truck,” she says) and gathers her words carefully before answering — not wanting to waste a needless syllable.

Her songs are a lot like that. With an eye for detail, she draws on the dreams and nightmares of her past and the observations and insight she gathers in the present. The result are collections of story-songs that rival those penned by some of the most successful of her peers — Bruce Springsteen, John Prine and Dylan.

Born in 1962, Gauthier (pronounced “go-shay”) was adopted by an Italian Catholic couple in Thibodaux, La. After running away at 15, she spent the next several years in halfway houses, treatment centers and on the couches of friends. Her 18th birthday was spent behind bars, and every time she tried to straighten up, her battle with drugs and alcohol always dragged her back into the abyss.

She attended Louisiana State University as a philosophy major, but after five years, she dropped out due to drug problems and moved to Boston. There, she turned a corner — working her way up from waitress to manager at a restaurant, she secured financial backing and went to the Cambridge School of Culinary Arts.

She opened a Cajun restaurant in Boston, and on the side she began dabbling in songwriting. Her first album, “Dixie Kitchen,” was named after her restaurant. At that point, the muse demanded her full attention, and she sold her stake in the joint to finance her second album, “Drag Queens in Limousines.” Her 2002 album, “Filth and Fire,” got her noticed by the major labels, and after 2005’s “Mercy Now,” she was suddenly hailed as a brilliant new voice in Americana songwriting.

Following that up might have been daunting for some artists, but Gauthier didn’t let the acclaim for “Mercy Now” go to her head. She simply went to work on her next batch of songs, released earlier this year as the album “Between Daylight and Dark.”

“I try not to think of any of that and just try to write what’s happening now and be honest and true to what I’m going through at the current moment,” she said. “I just try to capture the moonbeams, because they’re still out there. I haven’t written my masterpiece yet, but I’m still working on it.

“I won’t know what it is until I get there, but I think I’m getting closer. Although I bet most artists feel like they never get there.”

Those other artists provide her with inspiration, she added. Guys Malcolm Holcombe and Fred Eaglesmith draw her attention for their detail, something Gauthier uses to great success in her own songs.

“I’m all over the map; I don’t really listen to a certain style,” she said. “I’m looking for someone that speaks my language, and that shifts a lot. I love poets, especially songwriter-poets. I like word people. Somebody like Bruce Springsteen is great, and he has the added touch of being commercial.

“For me, I can’t go there. I don’t even know what commercial success means. It’s just outside of my reference ability. I don’t know how to write hits. If something accidentally happens, I’ll be thrilled, but I can’t try to do it. I just don’t know how, even though I wish I did.”

It helps, she added, to get airplay on stations like WDVX-FM. The grassroots station, broadcasting out of Knoxville, will host Gauthier on Tuesday as part of the “Blue Plate Special,” a lunch-time program that’s broadcast live and taped in front of studio audience. It’s free to attend; just show up at noon and enjoy the show.

“I did WDVX about a year ago, and it was great,” she said. “It’s just an awesome little station; only it’s not so little anymore. They’ve come full circle, and they’re vital to artists like myself. I don’t what people like me would do without them.”

So far, Gauthier is already looking ahead to her next album. She’s not in any hurry; there’s no timetable, and the only requirement for going into the studio, she said, is having the right songs.

“I’ve got four for the follow-up, and once I get 10, I’ll go make another record — I just don’t know how long it’ll take to get there,” she said.

No doubt, it’ll be another work of art. The subject matter won’t be that different — as with most of her work, it’s about people trying to make a connection — but it will be painted in a way that gives the listener a new perspective on whatever insight Gauthier has gleaned from her turbulent life.

“I’m a survivor, and I’ve managed to make it through a lot of really challenging things,” she said. “God gave me the gift of words, so I’m able to give voice to those things and hopefully make something beautiful that one wouldn’t think of as beautiful. I think I’m an artist, and maybe I’m good at what you would call junkyard art.”

Stephen King ranks year’s best music

The Associated Press 

NEW YORK—Stephen King’s taste in music is more eclectic than scary. The best-selling author reveals his seven picks for the “best albums of the year” in Entertainment Weekly’s Dec. 7 issue.

“In truth, your Uncle Stevie was disappointed with this year’s new music, very disappointed indeed, and his year-end list reflects that,” King writes. “I could only find seven albums I wanted to mention …”

His No. 1 pick is Steve Earle’s “Washington Square Serenade,” followed by Wilco’s “Sky Blue Sky,” Mika’s “Life in Cartoon Motion” and Lyle Lovett and His Large Band’s “It’s Not Big It’s Large.”

Of Lovett’s album, King says: “This is a terrific Texas swing album, but of course not everybody likes Texas swing (or even knows what it is). What makes it special is Lovett’s vermouth-dry vocals and his equally dry wit.”

King’s fifth choice is Ozzy Osbourne’s “Black Rain”—”finest heavy metal record of the year; a true speaker-buster”—followed by John Fogerty’s “Revival” and Southern Culture on the Skids’ “Countrypolitan Favorites.”

Indie Video – YARN – Angel in Woodstock

An afternoon with Doug Sahm

Ah, I wish that I’d been able to write that title prior to 1999. Truth of the matter is I didn’t truly didn’t ‘know’ about or appreciate Sahm’s musical genius until after it was too late to be able to experience it first hand. My only contact I’d had with his music prior to his death was via the Texas Tornados via Freddy Fender. NewWest Records, as part of their Live in Austin series, has released to DVD the recording of Doug Sahm made in 1975 at the Armadillo World Headquarters and goes along way to preserving Sahm’s contributions to music. Sahm’s stage persona and his obvious love for music is clearly evident throughout. The music is barely regulated as it escapes from his every pore. Well worth any music lover’s effort in including it in their home video collection.

Below is a TCB review of Sahm’s “Return of Wayne Douglas” album which we brought to the attention of our reader’s back in 2002. Annie did an amazing job on it so we thought we’d share it again here…. 

(Tornado) Over the years, Texas has produced many colorful characters, and Doug Sahm certainly rates as one of the more colorful of them. Doug, born in 1941 in San Antonio, Texas, started playing music, practically from the day he was born. He was considered a prodigy on steel-guitar, mandolin and fiddle, made his radio debut at age 5 on KMAC in San Antonio, which led to 2 years of radio appearances on the Mutual network. By age 8, he became a featured player on the Louisiana Hayride radio show. He sat in on live performances by such greats as Hank Thompson, Webb Pierce and Faron Young. He performed with Hank Williams in Austin, less than 2 weeks before Hank’s death.

 By his pre-teens, he also became taken with the blues and R&B music of the artists that regularly played a club nearby his house- T-Bone Walker, Bobby “Blue” Bland, Hank Ballard, and James Brown. He listened intently to his neighbor’s 45’s of Howlin’ Wolf, Jimmy Reed and Fats Domino. As a teen, Doug was offered a regular spot on the Grand Ol’ Opry, however, his mother decided he should stay home and finish school. He released several singles on local labels starting at age 11, and during his high school years, he fronted several bands, including the Pharaohs, Dell-Kings and Markays. In 1960, he met Auggie Meyers, who had a band called the Goldens, with whom he forged a lifelong friendship.

 For several years, Doug had begged producer Huey P. Meaux (aka/Crazy Cajun) to record him. However, Huey was having success with the artists he was already working with, and wasn’t interested- until “The British Invasion” that sent “American” music sales plummeting. Huey locked himself in a hotel room with a supply of Thunderbird wine and every Beatles record he could find, determined to figure out what it was that made this music sell. He decided it was the “beat,” which he said was nothing more than a Cajun two-step. He then called up Doug, told him to write a song with a Cajun two-step beat, grow his hair long, and form a group. Doug put together a band that consisted of members of his Markays and Auggie’s Goldens. Huey gave them an “English-sounding” name, the Sir Douglas Quintet. Huey must have been on to something because in 1965, the Sir Douglas Quintet had an international hit with the song “She’s About A Mover.”

 Doug moved to San Francisco in 1966, where he stayed for 5 years, putting out several albums, before returning to Texas. Doug’s music is impossible to classify as one style or another, country, rock, blues, Western swing, Tex-Mex and polka are all in the mix of the music he’s made over the years with the various bands he played with- Sir Douglas, Doug Sahm And Band, The Last Great Texas Blues Band and the Texas Tornados. However, no matter where his path took him, while he was as comfortable opening a Grateful Dead show as he was playing what he affectionately called, his “sentimental cornpone country,” he always remained true to his Texas roots, and never strayed far from the country music he loved for too long.

 He also carried around several “aliases” that were actually nicknames picked up over the years playing in different bands. When he played steel guitar for Alvin Crow, they named him “Wayne Douglas.” By the late ’90s, Doug was thoroughly disgusted by the shallow, meaningless, saccharine, assemblyline crapola that Nashville was passing off as “country” music. It was time to pull out the big guns, bring “Wayne Douglas” back, and put out the ultimate anti-Nashville album: fill it with plenty of moaning steel, weeping fiddles and “sentimental cornpone”/honky tonk country songs, or in other words, put out an album of straightforward, traditional Texas style country music. 

 The Return Of Wayne Douglas is a bittersweet effort that accomplishes his mission. The album was released in 2000, posthumously. Sadly, this is Doug’s last recorded work, as he very unexpectedly died of a heart attack at age 58, in November of 1999, just after he finished recording these sessions.

 Doug went into the studio with longtime compadre Auggie Meyers in tow, and assembled the ace lineup of Tommy Detamore on steel & acoustic guitar, Bobby Flores on fiddle & background vocals, David Carroll on upright bass, Dan Dreeber on drums, Bill Kirchen on electric guitar, Ron Huckaby on piano, Clay Blaker on acoustic guitar & vocals, and son Shawn on background vocals.

 If the songs on The Return Of Wayne Douglas are “sentimental cornpone,” then sentimental cornpone sounds an awful lot like some pretty great traditional Texas dancehall country music. The kind that has heart and soul down to it’s very core. The kind where steel and fiddle abounds everywhere. While his speaking voice was little more than a rasp, his singing voice comes off strong, clear, soulful, and many times hits downright beautiful, dripping with Texas twang. He sings with the exuberance and honesty of a man that truly loves the music and is proud of that “sentimental cornpone” of which he sings.

 Nine of the twelve songs were written by Doug. The mid-tempo shuffle, “I Don’t Trust No One When It Comes To My Heart,” is co-written and co-sung with Clay Blaker. Two songs are covers, a beautiful, fiddle ladden take on Bob Dylan’s “Love Minus Zero/No Limit,” and Leon Payne’s “They’ll Never Take Her Love From Me,” drenched in steel and fiddle.

 He gets in his swipe at cookie cutter Nashville with the honky tonker, “Oh No! Not Another One.” In the opening line he proclaims “I’m a real country fan, son…” He goes on to describe his disgust when flipping on CMT, seeing “this young dude walkin’ across the stage like a giselle, hell I bet he’s never even heard of Lefty Frizzell…” and how Bob Wills’ fiddle “has been replaced by laser beams and smoke.”  At the same time, Austin doesn’t escape a snipe in “I Can’t Go Back To Austin.” Doug was often vocal about his displeasure at how that city was changing and becoming more and more homogenized.

 “Cowboy Peyton Place” swings with the story of the guy in love with the steel player’s wife. The Texas pride shines through on the pretty “Beautiful Texas Sunshine” with it’s flourishes of fiddle, fields of bluebonnets and other such “sentimental cornpone,” and the song he wrote while living in San Francisco, and was homesick for Texas, “Texas Me.” Doug dusts off the lovely “Dallas Alice” and delivers it with aching tenderness.

 The Return Of Wayne Douglas showcases Doug’s honky tonk roots, with a little western swing and Tex-Mex in the mix. Shuffles, barroom weepers, and a strong shot of Texas attitude are bountiful. Steel and fiddle are brought way up front in the spotlight and not relegate to being a “token” presence kept way in the background. Fortunately, Doug Sahm was granted enough time on earth to return to his roots and first love, and was able to finish this album to show Nashville what real country music is, and is really all about. Unfortunately, with his untimely passing, the world lost a truly gifted artist that no matter which path he traveled, always knew just how to keep it honest and real.  

AnnMarie Harrington Take Country Back August 2002

Songwriter reflects on return to Cheatham Street

http://www.austin360.com/arts/content/music/stories/xl/2007/11/1129xlmusic.html

By Brian T. Atkinson
SPECIAL TO THE AMERICAN-STATESMAN
Thursday, November 29, 2007

Todd Snider often corners his liveliest stories in the margins. Makes sense, then, that “Peace, Love and Anarchy” — his early 2007 outtakes collection — is, in fact, essential to Snider’s catalog. The former San Marcos resident sends the album screaming toward sunrise with the riotous “Cheatham Street Warehouse.” He’s scheduled to return to the venerable venue tonight.

Brian T. Atkinson FOR AMERICAN-STATESMANTodd Snider takes his musical influences from many Texas songwriters.

Songwriters reunion
Todd Snider will join James McMurtry, Bruce Robison and others for the ‘Songwriters Class of ’87 Reunion’ at Cheatham Street Warehouse, 119 Cheatham St. in San Marcos.
The show begins at 7:45 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 29. Advance tickets are $40. 353-3777.

XL: How important were Cheatham Street Warehouse and (owner) Kent Finlay in your development as a songwriter? Snider: Cheatham was the first place to hire me, and Kent was the first person to tell me I was good enough at songwriting to go for a living at it. Kent played me my first Prine, Kristofferson, Bobby Bare and Dylan records.How is playing there different today than it was 20 years ago?

It’s a nice reminder of how far I haven’t come, but also there’s more really pretty girls there now. Back in those days almost everybody wore a beret and played blues on a Stratocaster. This was pre-Robert Earl (Keen) boom, and way before Pat Green koozies.

Do you ever wish you still lived around here (Snider lives in Nashville these days)?

Sometimes I do. I miss Oregon, too. I’ve lived a lot of places and hope to live in more. But I still cherish Austin and San Marcos and also look back on those towns with enormous gratitude.

Other than Jerry Jeff (Walker) and Townes (Van Zandt), which Texas songwriters influenced you the most? Kris (Kristofferson), Guy (Clark), Robert Earl (Keen), Willis Alan Ramsay, James McMurtry, Lyle Lovett, Nanci Griffith, Billy Joe (Shaver), Delbert (McClinton), (Fabulous) T-birds, Al Barlow, Aaron Allan and, of course, Kent (Finlay). Speaking of Texas artists, what do you think of Cross Canadian Ragweed’s cover of your “I Believe You”? It’s their new single. I love (them). I was honored. I talk to Cody (Canada) a lot, and I like the lyrics he writes. We went to different schools together.Do you have a favorite of those who have covered your songs?

Having Jerry Jeff Walker do “Alright Guy” was my favorite cut because I had dreamed of hearing him sing a song of mine since I was 18.

Politics and religion have been particularly present in your past couple of albums. What do you hope to accomplish? I love to tour and arrange songs. I know that every time I’m honest about how I feel about something in a way that rhymes enough to be a song, I get to arrange it and record it and go play it live. That’s my motivation. It only really works when you open your heart, which is sometimes fun and sometimes not.When writing a song, how important to you is maintaining a sense of humor — both when dealing with serious topics and more lighthearted material?

I try to maintain a sense of humor always, but it’s harder to do when it’s important. So, I hope to laugh, but don’t expect to. My motto in life is “crank it, we’re doomed.” I think that may be the name of my new album, too.

EMI threat to music trade bodies

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21999892/

By Joshua Chaffin in New York

Terra Firma’s drive to cut costs at EMI, the troubled record company it acquired in May for nearly $5bn (£2.4bn), is now hitting the music industry’s trade organisations.

Earlier this month, Guy Hands, Terra Firma’s chief executive, sent letters to members of the industry’s two largest trade groups – the Recording Industry Association of America and the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry – threatening to cut EMI’s annual funding commitment by half, according to people familiar with the matter.

One scenario proposed, say those close to the issue, would be to merge the IFPI with the London-based British Phonographic Industry. 

EMI contributes about $25m a year to the groups, a person close to the company said, and believes the groups represent another instance of record industry waste.

Such cuts would save EMI and other record companies several million dollars a year. But they would also saddle each company with greater responsibility to lobby regulators and police pirates, among other crucial tasks.

Mr Hands was travelling on Tuesday, and not available to comment. He and his advisers have been exploring a range of cost-cutting initiatives to shore up EMI at a time when it and other major record companies are suffering through a collapse in compact disc sales.

A Conversation With Billy Joe Shaver On Life, God, Love And The Shooting

http://www.kxan.com/Global/story.asp?S=7418812&nav=menu73_2_5

Limos and bodyguards: This isn’t how Billy Joe Shaver usually rolls.

Sixty-eight-year-old Shaver is a natural-born poet from Waco, oblivious to fancy things and fame.

The singer-songwriter is a true Texas original and is best known for writing lyrics for the likes of Willie, Waylon, Elvis and of course himself.

Most recently, however, Shaver has made headlines for a shooting outside a saloon near Waco in April. The district attorney’s office in McLennan County is reviewing the case.

Shaver showed up by himself at the elite Circle Grill Restaurant in Waco for an exclusive intimate chat to reveal much about himself and God, love and the infamous shooting.

“When you are threatened, and you feel someone else is gonna do the same thing to you, do it first to them,” Shaver says.

To understand the trouble Shaver is in today, it is important to know his troubled past, sadder than any country song.

“My mother, my father beat her up real bad, and I was inside her belly, and he left her for dead,” Shaver says. “She woke up. She was all right. I was inside of her, and I guess I came out a little early. She told my kinfolk, ‘If it’s a boy, I’m gone,’ cause my daddy, cause she hated him so much and cowboy boots, which is what I’m wearing, and that’s what she got stomped with.”

The violence that entered his life never left.

“I’d been a full-blown drug addict, alcoholic, womanizer, everything you can think of,” the musician says.

The sadness never left, though, making him the songwriter he is today.

Divorced from his second wife, Shaver says he’s tried to right all the wrongs.

“When I wrote ‘Ole Chunk of Coal,’ I got born again, so I got to make the same mistakes over again, but I’m not as bad now,” Shaver says. “I know they are mistakes.”

Yet the spiritual leader to Kinky Friedman whistles by the graveyard, jumping back and forth from the bottle to the Bible, finding trouble in between.

On March 31, Shaver was at Papa Joe’s Saloon in Lorena when he shot Billy Coker in the mouth. Shaver said the incident was a matter of self defense, explaining that Coker threatened him with a knife.

“That was probably code of the West, don’t know,” Shaver says. “I never aimed a gun at anybody. My pistol has never even been fired. I never expected to have to fire.”

Coker’s family in Waco declined an interview to discuss that night. No one at the bar said much, either.

The police complaint said a witness heard Shaver tell Coker, “Tell me you are sorry,” and, “Nobody tells me to shut up. Where do you want it?” He then reportedly fired his pistol.

Eight months later, no indictment has been issued, but Shaver understands he could be charged with aggravated assault and sentenced up to 20 years in prison.

Shaver said he has considered apologizing to Coker but has not run into him yet.

“I hope to someday, so I can tell him I’m sorry it was him instead of me,” Shaver says. “I kinda wished it had been me now for all the misery I’ve been through. I’m sure he’s had his, but I’m catching it all.”

“Do you want to let go of that ‘bad boy’ image?” asked KXAN Austin News’ Michelle Valles.

“I try not to do anything wrong, but every now and then I do, I don’t intend to,” Shaver replies. “I’ve had all these experiences. I’ve been able to dodge a lot of bullets, and so I got Jesus in my heart.”

Is the law on his side, though?

“That’s up to judicial system, which I actually believe in, Shaver said.

KXAN Austin News will keep you posted if, or when, the case goes to the grand jury.

Bloodshot Signs Justin Earle

Bloodshot Records is pleased to announce a multi-album, world-wide agreement with Justin Townes Earle. His debut full-length album, The Good Life is slated to hit stores in Spring 2008. Justin will make appearances at SXSW and tour with The Felice Brothers in March and April.

With Justin Townes Earle’s pedigree comes mixed blessings. As the son of legendary singer/songwriter Steve Earle, high expectations are the name of the game; but he’s shown that he is up to the task, crafting stark portraits with elements of acoustic blues and folk. After a misspent youth in bluegrass/ragtime combo The Swindlers and the louder, more rocking The Distributors, the 25-year-old cleaned up his act, dropped his self-destructive habits and began to focus on songcraft. With inspirations as diverse as Townes Van Zandt (he was named in honor of the elder Earle’s hero), The Replacements, Ray Charles and The Pogues, Justin forged his own brand of American roots music. His self-released EP Yuma received great notice in Nashville Scene, Leo Weekly, The Bohemian, Twangville and others, attracting the attention of Bloodshot Records. Look for Yuma to become available in wide release through Bloodshot soon.

The Good Life is produced by RS Field, who has made his mark on critically acclaimed albums by Billy Joe Shaver, Sonny Landreth, Webb Wilder and Buddy Guy. Recording is underway at House of David studios, the legendary room that has hosted sessions with George Jones, Yo La Tengo, Elvis Presley, Neil Young and countless others. Joining Earle in the studio are a cast of all-star players including longtime cohort Cory Yountes (Bobby Bare, Jr) on banjo and mandolin, pedal steel player master Pete Finney (Dixie Chicks, Patty Lovelace), bassist Bryn Davies (Patty Griffin, Guy Clark), drummer Bryan Owings (Buddy Miller, Shelby Lynne), keyboardist Skylar Wilson and fiddle player Josh Hedley.

New Mailing address for review submissions for TCB

Review submissions can be mailed to:

TCB

PO Box 768

Wimberley Texas

78676

Those who have submitted to the Canada address need not fear – the packages are being redirected.

Newest ‘King of the Bobs’ crowned Dylan contest

http://www.timesargus.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071125/NEWS02/711250407/1003/NEWS02

Montpelier’s fourth annual “Dylan Wannabe” contest has evolved from a sweaty, high-energy jam to a fundraiser in a formal setting with only a hint of the usual antics.

Two traditions – the music of Bob Dylan and the YMCA – were celebrated Saturday night in the City Hall Arts Center as 19 area musicians vied for the prize.

Gabe Halberg, 35, of Plainfield took first place and was dubbed “King of the Bobs” for his version of “Visions of Johanna.”

A professional tabla player with the world fusion music group 35th Parallel, Halberg pulled out his guitar for the second year in a row to become Bob. Last year Halberg took second place.

Event organizers sold 350 tickets to fill each chair in the vast room.

New this year was a $10 cover charge to benefit the creation of a central Vermont YMCA, refreshments for sale, and a long walk from the front row to the stage.

Contenders ranged in age from 15 to 65 and came from as far away as Newport and New York’s Hudson Valley.

Before the show, performers milled around the side of the stage waiting nervously for the playing to begin.

“If I can play half as good as I look, I think I’ll do OK,” said Mark Richards, 45, of Beacon, N.Y. “I’m gonna try and play ‘Tangled Up In Blue.'”

Richards explained the impact of Dylan: “If at least one or two of his songs don’t move you, then you must be dead.”

“I am a big fan,” Richards added. “He’s been a lyrical genius and during his time he wrote songs on target with the politics and culture.”

A returning contender, Anna Beerworth, 19, of Milton, wowed the crowd with her very own interpretation of “Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right,” while most of the contestants were men playing Dylan straight with drawl and harp-blowing intact.

Beerworth, a student at the University of Vermont, took second place for her performance.

Another returning contender, third-time “Bob Dylan” Charlie Barasch, 57, was a fan of the upscale venue for the contest.

“I think it’s great,” Barasch said. “It certainly is good for the audience.”

“King of the Bobs” Halberg agreed that the arts center was an improvement over the venue of the previous two years, the Unitarian Church basement.

“I liked the informal nature of last year’s, but I think everyone was more comfortable tonight,” he said. “It had a better sound system; it was just better all around.”

Bill Carroll, 48, of Newport, engaged the audience with his version of “Man Gave Names To All The Animals” and took third place for his performance.

The original creator of the event, Patrick Mullikin, passed the event on to friend and YMCA board member Michelle Leno of East Montpelier this year after he decided he wouldn’t do it a fourth year.

Four years ago Mullikin started the contest to get people into his record store, Riverwalk Records, then located next to the empty storefront where the contest was first held.

Mullikin no longer owns the store but kept up the event because of its popularity.

Leno is working to create a YMCA in the Montpelier area, “just to have a central Vermont community facility that would promote good health and activities,” and when she learned Mullikin wasn’t planning to organize the contest again, he encouraged her to take it on as a fundraiser, she said.

Six judges included 13-year-old Aaron Gould-Kavet, Barre’s Mayor Thom Lauzon and WGDR radio station manager, Greg Hooker.

One thing that did remain the same, each of the players was introduced as “Bob Dylan.”

“That’s amazing that people are willing to pay to come to this,” Mullikin said. “Last year it was free and packed. This year it’s packed and it costs $10. It made no sense to do it as a private citizen. I think the fact this is a fundraiser is 99 percent of why people showed up.”