Terry Allen: The forgotten folk musician who inspired Kurt Vile
Sadly, many incredibly influential artists have been unfairly written out of the history books. A litany of musicians don’t receive the credit or attention they deserve; there are worlds of folk, rock and blues leaders especially that the general public might not know about. For Kurt Vile, there is one forgotten artist in particular that he passionately demands more praise for.
When sharing his five favourite albums of all time, Vile picked out Terry Allen’s Juarez. Released in 1975, Juarez was the debut album of an unlikely country and folk up-and-comer.
Born in Kansas, Allen’s life took many paths. Becoming a kind of master of all trades, he got a degree in architecture, worked as a visual artist and casually learned music at home, thanks to his professional pianist mother. Unlike Bob Dylan’s or Woody Guthrie’s stories, Allen didn’t have a singular drive. Music wasn’t his end goal; he just happened to love it.
After learning piano from his mum as a child, Allen began casually writing his own music in high school. His first-ever song, ‘Red Bird’, ended up being recorded for an album in 1980, with the musician paying homage to the younger version of himself who first fell for country music.
Interestingly, Allen doesn’t play the guitar despite country music being a genre that is dominated and defined by the instrument. It’s the arena of rich acoustic riffs, steel slide licks and intricate picking patterns. However, Allen was a piano player, and he wouldn’t let his instrument of choice keep him from the sound and style he loved.
Juarez is unique in that way, being a country album without the instrument primarily associated with the genre. This is what captured Vile’s heart. Despite being a highly influential guitarist in both his solo endeavours and his previous work with The War On Drugs, it’s Allen’s refusal to conform that inspires him. “He’s multidimensional because he’s an outsider, country artist, but he plays piano and his lyrics are incredible,” Vile told Spin, “And he just rams the delivery home very confidently.”
Initially, Vile was struck by the album’s cover. He remarked: “This is his first album, and you should see the album cover: It’s him smoking this cigarette, looking so cool.” Once the seed of intrigue was planted, Vile was invested, calling the record “a gateway drug into Terry Allen”.
Juarez is viewed by some as one of the great concept albums, but Allen never quite got the same level of hype or attention as his country contemporaries. Nevertheless, he released 12 more albums, all with the same signature piano-played country, and as a result, Allen gathered a cult following.
Vile is a dedicated member of that following, even fostering a personal connection with the artist. “We’ve been pen pals for a few years, but I went to Santa Fe where he lives and I performed with him and his son, Bukka Allen,” he told Spin.
“We played a show together and then we performed together and I sat in on ‘What Of Alicia’. His band is called The Panhandle Mystery Band, and it contains Charlie Sexton, who’s played with Bob Dylan, but it’s a revolving cast of characters,” Vile recalls. “I got to play with them too, so I feel like now I’m an auxiliary member of The Panhandle Mystery Band. We really hit it off.”
To Vile, Allen sits in the lineage of the biggest names in country music, saying, “I connect to people like John Prine, Willy Nelson, all the country greats, and I’d say Terry is finally somebody I’ve become friends with through music and he’s also a legend.”
Clearly a huge fan of the influential musician, Vile can’t hide his outright admiration and love for Allen as he adds, “It just makes me high to think that I have anything to do with him. Those are the kind of people that keep me going.”
Listen to Juarez below.
