Blaze Foley was a country singer songwriter, highly regarded in the outlaw scene. His life was creative, colourful and sadly cut short when he was shot and killed while attempting to defend an elderly friend’s welfare cheque.
After a rather splendid burger combo at A&W, Susan and I made our way through swirling flurries to the tiny City Cinema where we watched a poignant biopic detailing the mostly low points of this fascinating man’s time on earth. Directed by Ethan Hawke and co-written by Sybil, Blaze’s long-suffering wife and muse, his story is told with tenderness affection. Scenes of his adult life - living with artists in a treehouse, touring bars and clubs and meeting record industry men - are interwoven between reconstructed bar room gigs and a radio interview with Townes Van Zandt.
His songs of life and love, sung in a low voice over acoustic guitar, emerge from a haze of drink, drugs, chaos, poverty and sheer bad luck. Yet despite a troubled and trouble-making existence, Blaze’s essential gentleness shines through in a movie that is filmed and acted in a style sympathetic to the singer’s values and legacy.
Not much remains today of Blaze’s musical output although he is known to have recorded three albums. The master tape of the first album was confiscated by the DEA when the executive producer was caught in a drugs bust. The second album was stolen from his station wagon. The third album "Wanted More Dead Than Alive" went missing when he died. All of which seems sadly fitting.
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