David Lynn Jones: here in our hearts, too
David Lynn Jones
(Image from MySpace.com)
On December 9th last year, I posted a blog entry on David Lynn Jones that is still receiving visits and comments from time to time.
Two commenters posted there just yesterday, one named "Di" from Tennessee and the other named "Larry Saidman" from Vancouver, B.C., Canada.
More surprising was the event recorded on my site meter of a visitor from Moscow, Russia! This Russian visitor was arrived by Google while searching for David Lynn's album Mixed Emotions and stayed for only about three minutes. Just rushin' through, I reckon, but thanks to this rushin' Russian for visiting, even if briefly, and I hope that my site proved informative.
But to get back to yesterday's commenters...
Larry Saidman, who has visited and commented previously, expressed interest in a 'bootleg' CD that I have of David Lynn Jones singing gospel songs. I came into possession of this priceless CD through my brother Tim Hodges, who first mentioned it prior to my trip back home to the Arkansas Ozarks early this year:
I have a CD that you need to listen to when you visit. David Lynn, Chuck Young, Eddie Howard, Jerry Bone, and Jimmy Everett play gospel hymns and record with an open mic. No takes, no redos, etc. Pure gold.While I was home visiting Tim, who now lives with his family in our grandparents' old Salem homestead, we drank a few beers and listened to David Lynn Jones sing gospel. I enjoyed the CD so much that Tim generously offered it to me, so I now possess one of the only two or three CD copies of David Lynn singing gospel.
How did Tim come to possess the CD? I can't tell the entire story, for it involves personal details, but the short version is that David Lynn had abandoned his music for a while and left his own recording studio, 'The Alamo,' as it was. Tim's son, Justin Hodges, was dating David Lynn's daughter at the time, and while visiting her at the tiny Bexar, Arkansas town where 'The Alamo' is located, he learned that David Lynn's wife was planning to clean the studio out. She told him to go through a box of old CDs, cassettes, and spools and take what he wanted. He found on one of the spools a tape labeled "gospel" and decided to see what it offered, so he took it home with him but forgot about it for a while. One day, while going through his things, Justin noticed the neglected tape and decided to listen, but when he put it onto a tape player, it got stuck and somehow came entirely unspooled. Frustrated, he was about to throw the whole mess away . . . but upon reflecting that the tape had been labeled, he decided to try again. So, he spent over an hour manually respooling the tape, put it on the tape player again, and listened as David Lynn Jones began singing "There is a Name I Love to Hear," followed by about eight other gospel songs. Justin liked the tape so much that he made a CD and gave a copy to his father, Tim . . . who gave it to me.
Larry Saidman, learning of this CD, expressed the hope that David Lynn himself will eventually release it for the public:
I'm curious to know what would be on a "Gospel" album he would make. Certainly most of his songs have that Gospel flavour and they're filled with religious imagery. But is the CD you have filled with original or traditional material? (I can't imagine it being standard "pop" Gospel--it would have to be something with an edge, I would think).I replied:
Larry, the gospel songs that David Lynn sings on the CD are traditional -- except for Kristofferson's "Why Me, Lord?" (the only one of these songs that he fails to do justice to, by the way).As I was posting that reply, the other commenter, Di, visited and provided a link to David Lynn's My Space site:
I wouldn't say that David Lynn gives the songs an edgy quality, but the richness of his voice gives them a special fullness, and he sometimes does some interesting things with the rhythm and tune -- plus, the performance is all acoustic, which can be quite special.
The CD dates from about 2000 or so, but he's been through a lot since then, so I imagine that anything that he might do now would be rather different.
David does have a my space page and I listen to him every day, you can visit it.I visited the site immediately and heard David Lynn sing a song that he wrote in 1985 and that Willie Nelson sang in 1986 on The Promised Land and Randy Travis in 1988 on Old 8x10: "Here in My Heart":
If I'd have been all you ever wantedIt's a lovely song. Go and listen...
I wonder how much better I'd be
And I know you think it's over
'Cause you're so far away
But darlin' you're still here with me.
And I will hold you always
No matter how far we're apart
You could be anywhere in the world, tonight
But I'd still have you here in my heart.
I don't try to forget you, I don't cry over regrets
And I always know right where you are
So I'll be happy just to hold you
Here in my heart
Till I have you back in my arms.
And I will hold you always
No matter how far we're apart
You could be anywhere in the world, tonight
But I'd still have you here in my heart.
You could be anywhere in the world, tonight
I'd still have you here in my heart.
Labels: Arkansas, David Lynn Jones, Music, Outlaw Country, Ozark Mountains
posted by Horace Jeffery Hodges @ 3:45 AM
49 comments
49 Comments:
My faith has been restored.
Thank you Lynn.
Herschel D
Thanks, Herschel. I wonder if this recording was recent.
I'm assuming that this is the real David Lynn Jones. Actually, I can't easily tell from the photo, for the face is obscured and looks a bit older (naturally enough), but the voice, if also older and somewhat thinner, sounds enough like David Lynn's for me to accept as genuine.
I guess that you thought so, too.
Jeffery Hodges
* * *
If you read from the earlier post my final comment from Tierra Del Fuego I think you'll understand how handy a satellite uplinked laptop truly is.
My Spanish may be a bit rusty.
HD
Your Spanish was surprisingly easy for me to read. I hope that no spicey, peppery posts follow...
Jeffery Hodges
* * *
Promise.
HD
If you can speak 'frankly' on this...
Jeffery Hodges
* * *
Jeff and H,
I sang with David Lynn in the choir at the Viola Baptist Church back when the kids were young and John was the pastor there. Many times have listened to his cassette and maybe I can find it around here. His daughters, Ashley and Lee Allison, were close friends of Jake. Have many times heard him sing gospel in person, at church and the most moving time was when he sang at the funeral of a close friend. An original. I'm glad to know that he is still singing somewhere. I feel like life has handed him plenty on his platter.
Jeanie
Oh, also have a beer link for you
here
http://green.msn.com/galleries/photos/photos.aspx?gid=205>1=45002
Well, it didn't light up. you can figure it out though being a college prof. It's about organic summer beers, and the oatmeal one sounds especially juicy or malty or whatever.
Jeanie, thanks for the anecdote about David Lynn . . . and the beer link. Or beer address. An address will only act as a link when a special code is used.
Jeffery Hodges
* * *
Jeffery, with your interest in race and religion, I'm wondering if you ever listened to David Lynn Jones song called "The Land of Ala" from his "Mixed Emotions" CD. I'm curious what you think of it. Is it a diatribe against Islam or a questioning of where Christianity has taken us. Or is it both. Or is he simply saying that the need of each to defeat the other makes the religious message irrelevant? Here are the lyrics:
"And so the DJ plays one last request
As the eagle flies from his satin nest into the sun.
It's a bluebird day in the Holy Land and the future lies in the shaking hands of the waitin' guns.
On every mountain near and far away
Every soldier's mother kneels to pray."
CHORUS
"But over in the land of Ala everything is beautiful tonight."
It's the sacred East against the wicked West
And your God's bigger but mine is best
Well that's one to one.
I tell ya' you pray to yours and I"ll pray to mine
And we can kill these children in double time just for fun.
I see the joker taking his photographs, well the jokes on you now 'cause nobody's laughin.
repeat Chorus
"Do you comprehendy can you understand?
Don't you think this little game has gotten out of hand somehow?
It was a beautiful dream in the beginning my friend but it's been swept away in the sacred winds and it's all gone now.
If all we needed was a place to dream
Somewhere along the way we've lost the meaning."
(repeat chorus)
-Larry Saidman.
Larry, my brother played the song for me way back before I even met my wife, and thus no later than early 1992. At the time, I didn't catch all the lyrics, nor did I have a chance to see them, but I've thought of the song from time to time in our conflicts over the years . . . and wondered what David Lynn's message had been.
Now, that you've provided the lyrics for me, I'd say that it's critical of both sides but holds our a subdued hope for peace . . . but very subdued.
Thanks for posting that.
Jeffery Hodges
* * *
Larry,
Are you familiar with the tune that ends with,
"Daddy was a great American Hero..."
You might find your answer there.
Of course that was before all this other stuff.
HD
Herschel, I don't even know that one. Gimme a hint...
Jeffery Hodges
* * *
Oh doggone it, I may have an unreleased song too. Now I'm glad I'm living in Antarctica.
Is it humid up there?
HD
It ain't the heat; it's the humility.
Jeffery Hodges
* * *
Jeff and company,
you can see David Lynn's video for Bonnie Jean on youtube.
Jeanie
Thanks for reminding me.
Actually, I have a link to that video in my post of December 9th, 2007 -- the same post on David Lynn that I have linked to in this blog entry.
Jeffery Hodges
* * *
Herschel, the song is Tonight in America, and starts with "Frankie said his Daddy was a great American hero". It's from David Lynn Jones' first cd (Hard times on Easy Street), and just like Land of Ala, it has a conflicting and complex message--vacillating between bitterness and patriotism. That's why I find David Lynn Jones' songs so fascinating. -Larry Saidman
Thanks, Larry, I guess that I'll have to go back and listen to that song.
David Lynn is in good company with his bittersweet patriotism. Johnny Cash was the same way, on a larger-than-life scale.
Cash made an album for the American Indians and claimed to be part Cherokee. Genealogists who looked into the claim didn't find positive evidence for that, but he said that he was always told that he was part Cherokee -- and he certainly looked it!
David Lynn is also part Cherokee, as am I, and I suspect that the Indian blood accounts for some of the complex attitude toward America. In my own case, at least, I was always aware, in a personal way, that the westward movement across the continent was a displacement of other people.
Jeffery Hodges
* * *
Hello Mr. Hodges, I have been reading your threads concerning David Lynn with interest. I was searching for a way to purchase David Lynn's music for my ipod and stumbled onto your MySpace page... or site... or whatever (forgive me, I'm not all that adept in the cybersphere). Anyway, my mother is David Lynn's cousin. My grandmother (sweetest woman that ever walked the earth) was David Lynn's mother's sister. I think I saw mention of Uncle Arch in a post along the way... that would be my grandmother's brother. I remember seeing Uncle Arch dance a jig when I was a small boy. We were at a concert where Aunt Hazel (David Lynn's mother's sister) was playing piano and her husband, my Uncle Thurl Cochran was playing fiddle. Music runs rich in that family.
I live in Iowa. My grandmother, Laudine Dillinger, of Bexar married Otis Felts of Wheeling and moved to Iowa together to farm and raise their family in the 40's. However, my mother, Cassie, and my Uncle Ed spent many summers with David Lynn when they would go down to visit their kin in Arkansas. My parents took us to visit the Aunts and Uncles in Arkansas many summers too. I last visited the area fairly recently for the funeral of my beloved Aunt Opal Dillinger (married Hayden). I didn't see David Lynn, but his daughter was there and sang beautifully at the funeral.
Well, just thought I would say hi to you all.
M. Shane Klein
Iowa
P.S.
There is no reason to doubt the identity of the man in the video on myspace. That is David Lynn. (Although I see his profile says that he is 104 yrs old?!) I see you can buy music directly from the site. Of course, if there is someone out there malicious enough to try to steal his identity, I guess the video and music could all be pirated. Crazy world, this cyberspace.
Thank you, M. Shane Klein, for visiting and leaving a message.
The technical term for this site of mine is "blog," which is an abridgment of "web log."
I was just about to blog today, so I now have something to blog about.
Check my blog for July 20, 2008.
Jeffery Hodges
* * *
Don't expect anyone to be too interested in my comment,,,but wanted to leave one anyway once I stumbled across this web page. My husband and I were curious last night if there were any photos of Lynn on the internet, and WOW did we find stuff! I think it's amazing that fans are still concerned with him and his music! Joe, my husband, is a native of Viola. He and his brother Terry have visited the Alamo countless times, and I always love to hear stories of what took place in that studio. Three years ago Joe met up with Perry and Angel (Lynn's daughter and son-in-law) at Enterprise church--An old country church. Literally met in the churchyard and hit it off! Today, they are playing wonderful contemporary christian music together--And have therefore named their band "Churchyard". Hopefully one day have some music recorded and out in the world for everyone else to enjoy!! We have gotten to hear stories and see pictures and watch videos of Lynn at Angel's home. Of course it was all exciting! Once when our daughter Kaleigh was about a week old (now 8) we had her at the little cafe here in town after church. Lynn and Robin were eating also, and he asked us to pass Kaleigh down to him...As he was holding her she did as all infants do and spit up, only it went into his plate of food. I was horrified..but he laughed it off, kept holding her, and graciously wiped it out of his plate and finished lunch! We bring that story up from time to time and laugh...mainly cause our daughter gets a huge kick out of it! We look forward to hearing his music online and reading these blogs! Thanks for having this web page on David Lynn Jones!!!
Tara, if your husband is a Batterton from Viola, then I know the family. I'm sure that he knows of the Hodges clan.
Thanks for visiting and leaving a comment. I am certainly interested -- as others will surely be. If you do a search for "David Lynn Jones" on this website, you'll find some other blog entries that I've posted on him.
I had an opportunity to hear his daughter Angel sing at my brother's church in Salem last February. I wish her, Perry, and your husband good luck with their music.
Jeffery Hodges
* * *
Tara, I'm adding another response, for I contacted my brother John in Salem:
"Yes, Lynn's daughter, son-in-law, Joe Batterton, & 2 other church mbrs have formed a band called "Church Yard." They have written all their music & lyrics. They are pretty good . . ."
I thought that I'd post this to let you know that John is familiar with your husband's band.
Jeffery Hodges
* * *
my name is heather and i am one of david lynns great niece's, my grandma is bonnie jean..i to found the myspace page and i called my grandma and we both listened to, uncle lynn sing. it has been a long time since we have heard that wonderful voice. i just think that is is so wonderful that he still has so many people who love him.
Heather
Heather Ann, thanks for visiting and posting a comment. I'm honored that the grandaughter of Bonnie Jean would visit my blog.
I wish that someone could persuade David Lynn to return. He has a lot of fans and friends who wish he would.
Perhaps if we keep trying...
Jeffery Hodges
* * *
Mr.Hodges..thank you for such a wonderful blog. Im getting ready to go and see my grandma and i will be sure to show her this wonderful blog..she will get a love it. we all feel the same way, he has been through alot in the past years but im hopeful. god willing he will be. i remember when i was probably 4 or 5 we all went with him on his bus to a show..it happened to be pouring rain, he was soaked but he never complained once he was just so happy to be singing for his fans. Again thank you for this wonderful blog.
Heather Ann
Heather Ann, you're welcome. By the way, if you do a search on this blog for "David Lynn Jones," you'll find a number of blog entries, some of them with a lot of comments.
On one of the entries, I used to have a link to a You Tube video of David Lynn performing "Bonnie Jean," but the video has been taken down (possibly for copyright reasons?). Now, there's only an audio at You Tube, which I've linked to somewhere.
Anyway, a search of this blog will lead you to others who wish David Lynn the best, including his old friend Jerry Bone, who now lives at Oxford, where he has his own studio, and another friend, Bobby Ray Roberts, who lives in West Plains and has a studio there.
You'll also find some references to Grandpa Archie, one of David Lynn's uncles but who was also my step-grandfather.
Thanks again for visiting.
Jeffery Hodges
* * *
Mr. Hodges, my name is Sheldon E. Klein cousin to David Lynn and was looking for history on my family from Arkansas and ran up on this. Mr. Shane Klein is my older brother and I was very pleased to see him enter a comment earlier (him & I are the same on blog expertise) and he could have not put it any better on describing the memories we have had down in Bexter,Salem, and Mountain Home. David Lynn played for both our grandparents funerals Otis Felts & Laudine Felts in Dysart, Iowa. My grandparents would have been very proud, Laudine (our grandmother) was always asking David to sing for her everytime she would visit back in Arkansas. Like my brother said (Shane Klein), very enriched, musical family, and I believe it has been passed on to extended families like ours. Music is the one thing that is constant in our lives, second to our God, and our family in Arkansas and David Lynn knew that and knows it still. My brother and I played for our Grandpa and Grandma Felts funeral and were proud to do it, but we were even more proud David Lynn came to both and sang for them. They were great people, probably because thay came from a great area and even greater family.
P.S. I too remember Uncle Arch very well, and to include all our kin down in our second home. It is amazing how the family I knew and loved touched folkes lives the same way they touched mine and my brothers......
Mr. Sheldon E. Klein
Iowa kin
Mr. Sheldon E. Klein -- using your full name to keep you distinct from your brother -- thanks for the visit and comment.
I'm glad to hear from you and to hear more about David Lynn's extended family. Of course, we have the "Archie" connection, too.
Speaking of connections, if you want to read more posts on David Lynn or on Archie, then just conduct a search for their names on this blog (or, for some links, click on the name at the bottom of the blog entry).
A lot of us keep hoping that David Lynn will pick up his music again, but that's something that only he can decide, I guess . . . though we can try to encourage him.
Thanks again.
Jeffery Hodges
* * *
I just want to say that our entire family is so glad that people still love my Uncle Lynn the way they do. I am one of Bonnie Jean's Grandchildren and we love our Uncle, however in responce to an earlier comment on our Aunt Opal's funeral, Angel MURDERED that song... (that would be M. Shane Klein) No hard feelings amongst the family though.
Anonymous, thanks for dropping in. I hope that if enough fans, friends, and family keep calling for David Lynn to return . . . then, maybe he will.
Jeffery Hodges
* * *
Hi, all. I stumbled across this blog while searching for David Lynn artwork for my new web site. It's wonderful to learn that there are other forlorned fans in cyberspace. It's a human tragedy that he blessed us with only 4 albums. I am proud to say that I possess all 4 on original CD.
I continued to be enthralled by the man's music, and the soul that seems visible through it. I consider Mixed Emotions one of the top handful of albums of all time, and still listen to it at least once/month.
I think "Land of Ala" is a diatribe against religious wars in general. "Judgement Day" on the same album has a similar tone.
Anyone who comes into contact with him please send along Chicago's request that he return to the studio. Been waiting 14 years.
Jeff, we can all continue to hope. If you search "David Lynn Jones" on this blog, you'll find other blog entries on him.
I'll let Jerry Bone know of your wish for more from David Lynn.
Jeffery Hodges
* * *
Thank you, Jeffrey. It seems like some songwriters are destined to just flash and disappear like a shooting star. I still listen to all four of my original CDs regularly. I will continue to hope, though it seems David Lynn is enjoying his life as it is. But there MUST be 15 years worth of compositions itching to get out, no? ;-)
Tell Bone I enjoyed his piano on Mixed Emotions, the finest Folk/Rock album in the last 20 years. WRT Land of Ala, IMO it was just an lament of death and carnage waged in the name of "God" - "Your God is bigger but mine is best - that's 1 to 1"
Also, see if some fans have video of David Lynn that they can put into YouTube. I once had a VHS of a TNN performance with Jones, Bone, Ritchie Albright, Robbie Springfield, and some others. Unfortunately the tape got destroyed long before YouTube. They did some tunes from Wood, Wind & Stone.
Thanks for the note. I'll check the blog from time to time for news.
Professor, Thanks for the visit and promise to visit again. You can find other posts on David Lynn Jones through the search function on this blog.
I'll send Jerry Bone an email.
Jeffery Hodges
* * *
Professor, I received an answer for you from Mr. Jerry Bone:
"I appreciated the message and I wish I could say I was the one playing all the fine piano parts but that was my good friend RP Harrell . . . . I'm holding down the low notes on bass guitar . . . Peace my friend, Bone"
That's it from Bone.
Jeffery Hodges
* * *
Thanks, Jeffrey. I realized after I e-mailed that it was RP and not Jerry that was on the piano. But the entire band was great ;-)
Thanks for forwarding. I just knew there was a DLJ underground fan club somewhere in cyberspace. I am glad to have found it.
Happy to be of service, Professor.
But if you do a "Jerry Bone" search on this blog, you'll find a link to his My Space site, where you can contact him more directly.
(By the way, my given name has an unusual "-ery" ending.)
Jeffery Hodges
* * *
Hi my names Jamie and I'm putting on a benefit concert for the late Mark Sallings who was a member of David lynns band. and David lynn jones is scheduled to appear on june 13th (a saturday night) at the avenue theatre in west Plains MO.tickets go onsale june the 1st at 10am at west plains music store,and range from 10.00 to 25.00we would love to have all of lynn's fans out to see him.
the concert for mark sallings mentioned in the above comment will be june 13th 2009, at the avenue theatre in west Plains MO.
i just wanted to confirm this is a 2009 date!
Thanks, Jamie. I'll try to call people's attention to this.
Jeffery Hodges
* * *
Mr. Hodges, I currently live around the town Mr. Jones lives in. Through a friend I know of Mr. Jones personal struggles he has went through this year. I truly hope Jesus will draw Mr. Jones close to him, bless him and heal him spiritually and physically from all the damage others have inflicted on him. Mr. Hodges I couldn't help but notice your from the Salem area and have expertise in Gnosticism, are you a true born again Christian, or do you put your faith in paigen beliefs. Do you believe "humans are divine souls trapped in a material world created by an imperfect god" and in dualism "good and evil being two co-equal divine forces" I know that there are alot of paigen worshipers in and around Salem, Ar. I was just hoping you believed and was taught the truth, and had a good upbringing. - anonymous
Anonymous, I'm not a Gnostic. That's just something that I studied as a scholar. Don't worry, I'm pretty orthodox.
As for pagans in and around Salem, I know nothing of them . . . but I've been gone since 1975.
I'm sure that David Lynn will appreciate your prayers. Thanks for commenting.
Jeffery Hodges
* * *
I am sorry to hear that David Lynn has been damaged by others. Hopefully all will come out well and he can bless us all with some more music.
Professor, if you click "David Lynn Jones" under "Labels" at the bottom of the blog entry (just above the comments), you'll find nearly all of my blog entries on David Lynn, and you can read about the ID theft that certainly damaged him.
Jeffery Hodges
* * *
I spent yesterday's round trip commute to work listening to _Mixed Emotions_ all the way through, after not hearing it for several months. The experience prompted me to come to this blog and thank everyone involved with this masterpiece - David Lynn, Bone, Ritchie, RP, Robbie, and all the rest. If you are reading this, your work lives on 20 years later
I hope that they see your comment.
Jeffery Hodges
* * *
Talked to Jones a month or so ago and he said he is working on some acoustic stuff with his wife (says he recently found out she was a pretty good percussioninst) Looking forword to hearing some of that stuff
Thanks for the update. We're all looking forward to new music from Jones.
Jeffery Hodges
* * *
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