Musicians - PhotoTrice

Old School

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The Big Bend region of Texas is one of the grand American landscapes. There are only a few ways into the Bend and one runs through the town of Marathon. It has about four hundred residents, some essential services and a rather unique hotel. For travelers it’s a good place to stop for gas and coffee. In fact it is the last place to stop for anything for more than a hundred miles when heading into Big Bend National Park.

Old School

Marathon is where I met Billy Faier, sitting on the patio of my usual coffee shop playing the banjo. He was a veteran folk singer, friend of Ramblin’ Jack Elliott, traveling companion of Woodie Guthrie, contemporary of Pete Seeger and practitioner of progressive politics. He was old school in ways that are hard to imagine in the twenty-first century. Now at eighty five years old, transplanted to this faraway spot.

It was clear he was someone special from the moment I heard his music. You don’t find many musicians in those parts playing folk tunes from the forties and fifties. Given where he was in remote West Texas it was like he had beamed in from another place and time.

We talked and I listened for about half an hour as he played and told stories. He fiddled with the banjo constantly as he spoke of his experiences. He had the wry sense of humor of a literate man well met. I bought a couple of CDs and told him I’d see him next time I was out that way. Sadly he died before I got back to Marathon. It was a privilege to meet Billy Faier.

More About Billy Faier

Billy archived some of his writing and music on the website http://billyfaier.com in his later years. It is an interesting view into a nearly forgotten world of itinerant musicians and progressive politics.

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Something New

Over the last few months I’ve been teaching myself to use Adobe After Effects. My interest in creating animation began with making flip books in grade school but didn’t progress beyond that. I never dreamed that there would be tools available that would allow someone like me to actually build and publish animation. It is a wonderful technological world we live in.

This is my first attempt to combine photographs, narration and music into a video based photo essay. My idea was to create something more compelling than the usual boring digital/projector based “Here is my summer vacation” style format. As someone once said, you never know what will work until you try.

The format of a blog post is not ideal for embedding full HD video. Hopefully it is good enough to convey my idea at least to some degree.

Chance Encounter

Billy Faier - musician — Billy Faier – musician

Sometimes it is easy to forget that life is a journey full of unexpected twists. One day on a whim or boredom, I drove four hundred miles from San Antonio to the West Texas crossroads town of Marathon. I pass through Marathon once or twice a year on my way to Big Bend. It’s a good place to stop for coffee. In fact it is the last place to stop for anything for more than a hundred miles when heading into the Bend.

Sitting on the patio of my regular coffee joint was an old man playing the banjo with such eloquence that I had to sit down and listen. Funny, none of the other patrons seemed to notice him there. He was playing and singing tunes straight out of the East Coast folk scene of the 1940s and 50s. Given where he was in far West Texas it was like he had beamed in from another place and time.

That is how I made the acquaintance of Billy Faier. He was genuinely a veteran folk singer, friend of Ramblin’ Jack Elliott, traveling companion of Woodie Guthrie, contemporary of Pete Seeger and practitioner of progressive politics. He was old school in ways that are hard to comprehend for the twenty first century. Now at eighty four or eighty five years old he was transplanted to another place altogether.

We spoke for half an hour. He had a bright cheerful manner with plenty of stories which he punctuated with simply beautiful solo banjo music. I bought a couple CDs and told him I’d see him next time I was out that way. Sadly he died before I got back to Marathon. I won’t forget him anytime soon.