Blaze Foley - Sittin' by the Road [Blue]

Blaze Foley's Sittin' by the Road gathers the late Texas songwriter's earliest recordings, pressed here on blue vinyl.

Captured in the mid-1970s on the reel-to-reel machine he carried between Texas and rural Georgia, these twelve songs date from his so-called tree house days, long before he became an Austin legend. When he was killed in 1989, he was barely known outside the city's songwriting circles. Since then his songs have been recorded by John Prine, Merle Haggard, Lyle Lovett and Willie Nelson, and this collection, first issued in 2010, shows where it all began.

The recordings are simple and unadorned, but the craft is already there. "Clay Pigeons" is the standout, a gentle, aching song about starting over, and "If I Could Only Fly" reveals the tender, heartbroken side that made him a songwriter's songwriter.

There's a playful streak too, starting with "Big Cheeseburgers & Good French Fries," and elsewhere he shows how early he could cut to the bone. Three of these songs, the title track among them, appear on no other recording, which makes this collection essential for anyone tracing his story.

For admirers of Townes Van Zandt and outlaw country, this is an intimate, often moving glimpse of an artist finding his voice. Hearing these songs this close feels like sitting across the room from him.