Right Here in the Middle of this Mary Karr Summer

~Post by Julie W.

It just so happens that I’m in the midst of a Mary Karr summer. Two nights ago I read the last page of Lit, and before that I swallowed Cherry whole. (Liar’s Club still awaits; yes, I read them out of order, but hey, we had a discount copy of Cherry on the shelf and I dove in all willy-nilly and I have no regrets.) What took me so long to read these books? I’m a quiet David Foster Wallace fanatic, you would think their love affair would have sent me scampering after every tidbit I could get (but then I’m not that kind of fanatic, either, preferring the work to the persona in virtually every case of author fan-dom. But still!)

Who knows why it took me these years to pick up the books, but Lord knows I’ve been saving everyone within shouting distance the same wasted time. I’ve recommended Mary Karr’s memoirs to the cashier at Whole Foods, fellow booksellers, and to you, kind readers. She has a no-nonsense attitude that I like in a writer, particularly one who is telling her own story with all of its dark and light bits laid out plain as day, from her mother’s breakdowns when she was a child to her own drug and alcohol abuse to a totally unexpected, totally transforming spiritual relationship with God. Just jump on the train with her and go (her narrative voice really won’t let you do anything else).

So imagine how delighted I was when one of my bookselling cohorts, Scott M., clued me in to Kin, the new album Karr put together with the one and only Rodney Crowell.

Rodney Crowell’s visit to BookPeople for Chinaberry Sidewalks was one of the first events I saw here at the store (I’m a transplant from the far east coast). My father’s a musician who taught me well, so I knew who I was seeing, but there’s knowing and then there’s feeling and what I felt standing up on our second floor that night snapping pictures to text to my father was – 1) I’d made one hell of a correct decision by moving to Austin to work at BookPeople; and 2) I was one lucky duck to be witnessing one of the great American singer/songwriters pick out songs on his guitar in one of those once-in-a-lifetime performances that sits you down and clutches your little heart good and tight. I’m a fool for a good country and western song, and Crowell turns them out in spades. He also turned out one beautiful memoir with Chinaberry Sidewalks, and you would do yourself well to pick up this tale of his parents and his Texas youth.

Now, because this universe sometimes delivers the greatest gifts, Rodney Crowell has shaped his skillful, soulful melodies and harmonies around the words of one Miss Mary Karr to create one of the most original albums I’ve heard in a long time. So much of Karr’s life suits a country western song (no surprise for a Texas girl who grew up with a mother who kept a pistol in her pocket book). It’s also no surprise a poet like Karr would find a project writing song lyrics and that those lyrics would be so good. Listening to Kin, I felt like a secret insider knowing all the stories behind the songs. There’s a bang up, blow out song Momma’s On a Roll that sings out the wild lifestyle her mother and father lived (and that she survived) when Karr was a girl, matching the rollicking ups and downs of that life with a fast moving, knee thumping belt of music. The songs on this album are covered by some of my favorite artists – Lucinda Williams, Emmy Lou Harris, Rosanne Cash, of course Crowell himself. Kin is this gem that has dropped down right in the middle of my summer and I invite you to let it fall down in the middle of yours, too.

But first, read the books: Liar’s Club; Cherry; Lit; Chinaberry Sidewalks. Then listen to the album (Waterloo Records will sell it to you). And then enjoy a lovely little musical literary loop, and be glad.