I am sure it happens to everyone. That moment when your commitment to your passion screams at you. However, it seems that artist kind of get it in spades. I would assume that because you are exposing your innards the vulnerability lays open such an exposure people just go nuts. I have always made a distinction between entertainers and artist. To my knowledge Elvis never recorded or performed any material he created. His was an enormous personality, and the public just ate him alive in twenty years as an entertainer. My song Entertainer deals with that. That first verse:
I don’t ride at night, suspicion is the moon’s delight.
Riches wine and pain, you sell you soul or you try in vain.
I was 21 years old, and I was already running from the spotlight. There are million of songs about being on the road, but the decision has already been made. The target is on your back.
When Jon Daniel and I got to the studio I became and artist. You’ll have to ask JD about his concept. There is one artist that seemed to torment me more than anything. Townes Van Zant was like Van Gogh to me. I opened a show at a pub in DFW for him, and we talked a bit before I went on. He was such a gentleman, but his eyes, as he said, as hard as kerosene.
They call it the crossroads, the deal with the devil or just a bargain with yourself that ‘it’ comes first. That leaves a lot of debris behind. Like love, touch, trust—you pick the word.
Hayden Hughes
Billy Bob’s newsletter 1981
