Last week I wrote a piece on Bleu Edmondson. Readers from Galleywinter.com, another site dedicated to Americana and Red Dirt music took exception to what I said. Let me rephrase that. They raised hell over it. Yelled, cried and complained. One guy even issued a wolf ticket. Some have known Blue for quite a while, and insured me that I had missed on him.

They’re right. Partially.

I’ve met Blue only a handful of times, first when he did a short set with Ray Wylie Hubbard on KNBT’s Roots and Branches show, then again at Gruene Hall for a quick word, and finally at Jack’s Patio, Bar and Grill in San Antonio where he did an acoustical show along with Mike from Back Porch Mary. I’ve watched him perform perhaps four or five times aside from these.

One of the rules where correctness in writing is concerned is to leave yourself out of the story. I’ve always had a problem with correctness. I think when critiquing writing and music, the rule is horseshit. Why? Because both are interactive experiences. It’s not only what the writer or the singer says that matters, but also the message received by the listener. Words delivered to nothing but the air around fall, lifeless, worthless, dead and stinking to the ground. It’s only when listeners hear and relate to experiences in their own lives that words have value.

Words matter. Songs matter.

And if words don’t tear at your heart… I have no time to waste.

When I write about a performer, I offer an interpretation of what they say. In some cases, I get the opportunity to sit down and really get to know a performer; in others I must glean what I can, watching and listening from a distance. Most of what I wrote on Bleu was shaded by my last encounter with him and his music. I believe what proceeds from a man’s mouth reflects his heart. I also believe booze is a liar, a thief and a mocker. Words uttered while drunk can be total bullshit. So some of the things I wrote about Bleu are liable to be off.

Bleu wrote to tell me that he was OK with what I said and that he understood what these others don’t. But he also assured me that I had caught him at less than his best. From the uproar of those that have known him longer, I know he is a more complex person than I portrayed. He is certainly loved by many. One reader pointed out that Bleu is like almost any twenty something year-old in Texas.

Yes, and no.

Here’s what I missed, even in the first draft of this piece, which tended to be an argument to prove I was right in the first place. In order to find this, I had to think back to some of the earlier shows I had seen. Bleu loves life, his home. Listen to his version of Dallas. Have you ever seen Dallas from a DC-9 at night? Or Southland, where he describes his attachment to the home of his youth and the traditions he holds dear, the joy of a romp in the hay with a young lover. Not only does he love his home and his country, he has an infectious way of sharing that love with others. At his core, Bleu seems a genuinely good person.

But he’s not one-dimensional. Bleu is smarter than his peers. He’s gifted. Others will work hard to get what he has and won’t find it, no many how many hours they devote to the task. It’s beyond them. He’s in the spotlight. His behavior influences others more than most ever can or will. So he’s not only partying and having a good time but also trying to understand why he parties, why we do what we do, and he’s describing what he discovers. Not just the fun parts, but also the pain derived and some of the scars he has picked up along the way. Most people hear only what they want to hear, like how great life must be great as a rock star…

Fifty Dollars and a Flask of Crown captures the joy a young man feels when headed to town on a Friday night with a pocket full of money and a flask of whiskey. It’s a high-energy song, an anthem for young Texas headed out to have a good time.

And then, in the next breath, Bleu says, don’t you know everybody’s got a story? Might be a little better than yours. Have you ever bled for the price of glory, what the hell are you living for? You sit and listen to the music but you don’t hear the song. This old world spins a little faster and the band plays on…

Travelin Man, ride as far as I can stand, my mama cries for the life I lead. I need a beer but it’s too far away from here…

You never ever met a man like me. I’m not the guy you think you found. I am asking you, please reconsider. Finish your drink, turn around. Cause you don’t know me, you don’t know me, I’m no good…

Bleu describes failed loves. How he got out of the way so his lover could move on, find a Good Thing. Did Bleu find a good thing? (I’m asking. I don’t know.) I guarantee it hurt like hell each and every time he turned away. Listen and tell me I’m wrong.

I Got Drunk and I fell down. Spend my whole life staring through a beer.

Got drunk alone instead. If you ask me I would smile. And we could sit and talk a while. But there’s just too much to hide, got nothing left inside, I’m just a little bit crazy. Catch me cause I’m falling. Phone rings no ones calling, This whiskey running down my chin…

Well I’ve done hit rock bottom. My time is at hand. Cause I lost my job, the bills are getting bigger, crying baby, about to lose my mind, hundred dollar habit, ain’t got a penny, woman ran off with a friend of mine, can’t keep a job, too fucked up, DHS about to take my kids, got to get well, keep getting sicker, sitting in the parking lot, my finger on the trigger.

Brandon Ryder wrote Finger on the Trigger. Bleu owns it. In the same way Waylon Jennings owns many songs written by Bill Jo Shaver. He sang them. He owned them.

Bleu doesn’t have kids. He hasn’t lost his job. He has no gun in hand. But metaphorically he describes the territory he inhabited at some point and it scares the hell out of me. Because he goes back there each and every time he sings it. A gun can be a glass of whiskey, too much smoke, or some other form of self-destructive behavior. I feel this song more than I hear it.

Bleu cuts out his heart on stage and holds it up for the rest of us, raw and bleeding. While not all his songs are factual, Bleu is non-fiction. He’s real. As real as the ground on which you stand, the air you breathe, the love we all seek and so often fail to find. Open you ears and listen. Open your heart. Feel the music. Feel the song.

Otherwise it ain’t worth shit. Might as well be Nashville.

Don’t worry. Bleu is hunting his own redemption. When he finds it, it won’t be in a bottle of whiskey or a pack of smokes. He’s made of good stuff. He has dabbled with things that have damaged him. I hear this in his voice, in his songs.

You do too, and that’s what scares you.

Have you heard Resurrection? Now there’s a song.

I did inhale.