Not all is as it seems under the Ozark moon as Simon Flory unveils his video for The More You Talk (The Less I Hear), a story of a love gone bad although the video gets adventurous with an unexpected twist…I really don’t want to spoil this one but let’s just say it’s worth the wait so make sure you watch the extended ending. Great work from the team at Make Something Beautiful.
The song is taken from his new album Haul These Blues Away which is out on Feb. 26 and if this one single is anything to go by then make sure you get yourself a copy. The album was shaped by the events of the last four years, the duress of a divided country — the racial strife, authoritarianism, anti-democratic governance, worldwide rise of populism, stagnated wages, cost of living, trade wars, the collapse of the agriculture sector, and loss of many folks’ “way of life” prompted most of the material on this record. The term “blues” is about hardship and trouble — this record has plenty — but to haul them away is to offer solace and relief.
The More You Talk (The Less I Hear) starts with a strong clawhammer banjo intro although it’s not long before the Appalachian fiddle joins the set on a song that calls to mind early country music (when you could still hear the roots). This could happily sidle up alongside the likes of Carter Family, John Hartford, Gillian Welch and Ralph Stanley. It’s one helluva a track and all credit goes to Flory for not following the more well-trodden path. This is a real gem.
Simon:
Beginning with a tongue-in-cheek classic country title (parenthesis!), this song owes its genesis to The White Horse, a honky tonk in Austin where I said the title as an off-hand comment to Brennen Leigh, then she suggested I write the song. It’s the only song on the album that is completely autobiographical and also true. Details such as “under an Ozark moon” (where I lived in Arkansas), “14 by 72 feet of lies” (the actual dimensions of my old single-wide) and “when the auctioneer throws the gavel down” (I got $53 for my worldly possessions at an auction before I left town for a life on the road based out of Texas) are very specific and meant to be-sometimes the hardest truth is the most relatable. In a shortened, then prolonged refrain suggesting agitation, the song tells the story of a love gone bad, of a lover scorned for unknown reasons, the cleaving of a rural union and ultimate isolation in the city. Even the banjo’s “half barbaric twang” (a nod to the book by the same title about the banjo in popular american history and its origins in Africa) can’t offer solace to the narrator who is left to “fight with myself”. A universal idea of communication breakdown to the point of not “hearing” what someone is saying, and the empowerment to move on is a message of solidarity to all of those who fight for a better existence far from their demons-real or otherwise.
I enjoyed reading through Flory’s bio – Born in rural Indiana shortly after his family moved “west” from southern Virginia to start a livestock feed store, Simon Flory’s music is suffused with the elements of his childhood – days spent in the fields, church sings, gravel roads, and genuine mule drawn molasses….
After earning a degree in creative writing and theatre from DePauw University, Flory moved to Chicago and founded the country band Merle The Mule while working as a multi-instrumentalist in an old time duo with teacher Ed Tverdek, and as an employee at the Old Town School of Folk Music. In 2008 he moved to the Ozarks of Arkansas where he worked regionally in bluegrass and gospel groups. He also met and worked with his mentor and friend, the late Donny Catron of the legendary bluegrass band The Tennessee Gentlemen.
Read more about Flory on his website but I wanted to include the last para which outlined his other likes – gardening, trail running, Larry Brown, the Chihuahuan Desert, the incomparable love and support of his partner Anita and their dog Chisos, family recipes, tackling metric verse, discovering old films and new vinyl, native plants of Texas, used paperback books, Earl Hines, mules, a nice hat, a decent pair of boots, and an old soft denim shirt to name a few other things.
If new to you then make sure you follow.
Website: https://simonflory.com/
Photo Credit: Brook Burris