Widely acclaimed as one of today's finest narrative songwriters, Shindell has a rare gift for using detail to illuminate his characters'motivations and actions without ever getting mired in minutiae. Not Far Now's nine new compositions (complimented by a pair of outside songs) are haunting vignettes that exist vividly beyond the song that documents them. Shindell gives the listener a window into these lives, but their story continues long after the window is shut. "Time deposits me, the character I'm writing about, and a listener there at the first line," he observes. "Then, at the end of the song, at the end of the last line, life and time go on. The song happens in between those two moments."
The songs on Not Far Now are among Shindell's most cinematic and provocative, constructing scenarios in a voice that is notably free from moralizing, judgment, or conclusion. Opener Parasol Ants is a notable example, presenting a snapshot of a fallen small-time criminal, knocked to the ground within inches of a row of ants carrying chunks of green leaves over their heads. The thug is at once powerless in his own world and all-powerful in the ants.
State of the Union, a tale of an addict's journey into and out of sobriety with George W. Bush's annual congressional address as the backdrop, has been part of Shindell's live sets for several years now. Boldly unsentimental, it is an unglamorous glimpse into the day-to-day struggle that divides renewal and relapse, rendered by Shindell with unflinching clarity and honesty. Elsewhere, he crafts evocative tales of crooked developers ("One Man's Arkansas"), assumes the role a lovelorn street performer anxious to overcome physical and social barriers ("Juggler Out In Traffic"), and offers a stark, knowing reading of the late and much-missed Dave Carter's postmodern spiritual "The Mountain."
Nine years ago, New Jersey native and longtime New York resident Richard Shindell left home, relocating his family to Buenos Aires, Argentina. "Argentina feels like home now. Despite its many dysfunctions, the place and its people really get under your skin," he explains. "Some of the subject matter of the songs on Not Far Now is rooted in my experience of the local context. For example, 'Mariana's Table' is about a woman who sells empanadas to the truckers in a town called Brandsen, in the Province of Buenos Aires. 'Balloon Man' deals with a guy in our neighborhood here in Buenos Aires."
Before he moved, Shindell firmly established himself as a leading light on the American folk circuit, via a compelling series of albums of original songs (beginning with 1992's Sparrow Point), the live Courier (2002), and 2007's Vuelta. The Wall Street Journal proclaimed him "a master of subtle narrative," while Jon Pareles wrote in the New York Times that, in Shindell's songs, "The tone is reflective, but the dilemmas and disappointments couldn't be more vivid." Shindell toured tireless behind each of his albums, building a dedicated following among both listeners and his fellow artists, leading to an offer to tour with Joan Baez and the formation of Cry Cry Cry, the all-star trio of Shindell, Dar Williams, and Lucy Kaplansky, who released an eponymous album in 1998 and toured regularly through 2000. Kaplansky contributes vocals to Not Far Now, and other guests on the project include bassist Viktor Krauss, venerable session drummer Steve Holley (Dar Williams, Joe Cocker, Elton John, Wings), keyboardist David Sancious, and vocalist and violinist Sara Milonovich, among others. Shindell plays an array of stringed instruments, including acoustic, electric, and twelve-string guitars, electric bass, percussion, piano, and bouzouki, which is featured prominently on many of Not Far Now's tracks. "I've been playing a lot of bouzouki," he says. "As the Irish discovered as well, it's a great instrument for accompanying the human voice. It also produces a very persistent, driving kind of sound, which I find generates a certain energy in an arrangement." The instrument is most strikingly used as an accompaniment on a powerful version of Cuban revolutionary songwriter Silvio Rodriguez's "Que Hago Ahora."
Of all the themes and characters investigated on Not Far Now, a surprising favorite emerges: "Get Up Clara," a soliloquy delivered by a weary traveler to his mule as he wanders rootlessly through the backroads, set in the later days of the Roman Empire. The song's appeal is obvious, Shindell insists. "Of the eleven songs on this record," Shindell reflects, "there are three that have shown up pretty regularly in my live sets during the past year or two. People seem to like 'Clara' the most, as do I. This is perhaps explained by the fact that Clara is a mule, and people generally like songs about mules."
That nice easy mark at the edge of the park
Was a slam dunk if ever I saw one
I don't know what happened, I just let it go by
I guess maybe out of respect
This old town is my home, and I'm not so far gone
That I don't feel like anyone else
And it didn't seem right to add to the wrong
I decided to get me some help
If not know then when? I said to myself,
Over and over again
Make it right, get free, get rid of the junk
I've heard it can happen that way
I went down to the clinic on a hundred and tenth
And got on the methadone program
I waited on line every morning at nine
For my little white cup, my reprieve
It was going OK, I was feeling alright
I even got back with my daughter
I lost a few friends, who were anything but
And just took it one day at time
If not now then when, I kept asking myself
Over and over again
Make it right, get free, get rid of the junk
They say it can happen that way
I can't say for sure how it all fell apart
One thing just led to another
Next thing I knew I had stolen a car
I was flying straight up to the Bronx
Must've lost the old touch, I blew through a toll
They caught me just outside of Rye
Sporting all that remained of my new-found resolve
A shirt that said NYPD
Some shred of my soul could almost believe
That the Lord sent those cruisers for me
Make it right, get free, get rid of the junk
But it don't always happen that way
At the half-way house we're all sitting around
Watching the State of the Union
And I'm rolling that stone right back up the hill
Watching out for the shit coming down
The President's up there grining that grin
Thinking he's some kind of John Wayne
We're howling and jeering all his talk about shooting
And drilling our way out of this
If not now then when, I'll keep asking myself
Over and over again
Make it right? Get free? Get rid of the junk?
That nice easy mark at the edge of the park
Was a slam dunk if ever I saw one
I don't know what happened, I just let it go by
I guess maybe out of respect
This old town is my home, and I'm not so far gone
That I don't feel like anyone else
And it didn't seem right to add to the wrong
I decided to get me some help
If not know then when? I said to myself,
Over and over again
Make it right, get free, get rid of the junk
I've heard it can happen that way
I went down to the clinic on a hundred and tenth
And got on the methadone program
I waited on line every morning at nine
For my little white cup, my reprieve
It was going OK, I was feeling alright
I even got back with my daughter
I lost a few friends, who were anything but
And just took it one day at time
If not now then when, I kept asking myself
Over and over again
Make it right, get free, get rid of the junk
They say it can happen that way
I can't say for sure how it all fell apart
One thing just led to another
Next thing I knew I had stolen a car
I was flying straight up to the Bronx
Must've lost the old touch, I blew through a toll
They caught me just outside of Rye
Sporting all that remained of my new-found resolve
A shirt that said NYPD
Some shred of my soul could almost believe
That the Lord sent those cruisers for me
Make it right, get free, get rid of the junk
But it don't always happen that way
Richard Shindell - Not Far Now
