Ever since his days in Greensboro’s early-90s folk-grass heroes Boys of Blue Hill, Sean Hayes has had one of those voices that you remember. Seemingly fragile and shopworn, it’s a perfect match with his cross-stitch songwriting, and the resulting artifact usually comes across as something of a Southern sampler, full of color and texture.
Hayes now lives in San Francisco, and has forgone the bluegrass elements of Boys of Blue Hill for a more sophisticated brand of organic ambient folk. Since landing in San Francisco, Hayes has released three albums — 1999’s A Thousand Tiny Pieces and 2002’s Lunar Lust, among them — and written songs for critically acclaimed artists like The Be Good Tanyas, Jolie Holland and Erin McKeown.
His newest, 2003’s Alabama Chicken, also features Enzo Garcia on banjo, jaw-harp and musical saw, the aforementioned Holland on harmonies and violin, Garth Wells on bass, Dave Mihaly (Jolie Holland, Mushroom) on marimba and drums, and Will Waghorn (For Stars) on drums. So what, exactly, is an Alabama Chicken?
According to Hayes, he was traveling back from North Carolina to San Francisco when a lady friend suggested they detour a couple of days to visit Butch Anthony, an Alabama folk artist. Anthony then introduced Hayes to his fortune telling chicken, Bob Ross (no word if Ross was named after the cumulus-haired TV land-scape painter of the same name). According to Hayes, one drops “a quarter in the jar, looks the chicken in the eye, says “Boo boo woo woo doo doo’,” and soon receives a fortune inside an egg.
Whatever the story, Chicken is a subtle masterpiece. His song “Rattlesnake Charm (Dream Machine),” remixed by Mark Farina, was chosen as one of National Public Radio’s Top 50 songs of 2003.
Forget the quarters. At the rate he’s going, Hayes isn’t going to need a chicken to read his fortunes for very much longer.
Sean Hayes performs at The Evening Muse Tuesday; The Virginia Reel, The Strugglers and Burd Early open. The show starts at 9pm.
This article appears in Apr 7-13, 2004.
Midas breathe