NAKED AND AFRAID

Folks,

You heard it here first (unless you didn’t). I’ve got a new record coming out on May 15 called “The Land That Time Forgot.” On Yep Roc Records. In fact, today’s the day we’re releasing the first single,“Marathon,” complete with a swanky video directed by Darrell Flowers and edited by Lauren Tabak which features some fancy footwork from me and Stephie as we trade punches.

Watch/stream “Marathon,” and pre-order the album here: https://ffm.to/landtimeforgot

What can I tell you? I can tell you this:

I wasn’t too pleased to learn that Jason Isbell is releasing his new record the very same day as mine.

So I sent a message to Jason and said, “I think it’s only fair that you change your release date.”

He replied and got straight to the point: “Chuck, you know I can’t do that.”

So I said, “You know Jason, I don’t know how this makes me feel. Actually I DO know how it makes me feel. It makes me feel like Amy Klobuchar. I mean I’m in the running and everything but I feel like people treat me as if I’m the person that runs the concession stand at a Little League game. I’m a serious artist, Jason!”

(As you can see, we’re on a first-name basis.)

Well, he calmed me down and reasoned, “Chuck, at least we will get people to the polls. I mean the record stores. And once they get in there they can vote however they like. It’s their country. Or their record collection as the case might be. Maybe they buy Jason Isbell, maybe they buy Chuck Klobuchar.”

That hurt a little, I won’t lie.

But on reflection I thought it sounded pretty reasonable. And reminded myself that Jason is younger and better looking and he probably knows a thing or three.

[DISCLAIMER: This interchange is as I recall it. Jason may not remember it this way. But it definitely happened.]

So, what about this new record? Rock ‘n’ roll has always been about hope and despair, falling apart and picking up the pieces, romance and heartbreak, whistling past the graveyard with a bad moon rising. And San Francisco is all of those things. A place of new beginnings and reinventing yourself married just lately to a bottomless pit of greed filled with robots with ironic haircuts.

When it came to recording, we were priced out of our home turf and ended up in a studio a few miles from the Vermont border where I could hear myself think – which was pretty f*cking scary! Recording with some rock and roll royalty who dressed like lumberjacks in a big old mansion that’s on the National Historic Register.

Musically speaking, this is a radical departure for me. I usually lean on the Rockpile by way of Highway 61 template more than Alison Krauss. But this record has a lot of acoustic energy. It’s a folk record even, in spots. All that with a heaping scoop of Stephanie Finch jump, jiving and harmonizing her way down that old fair lane.

klipschutz and I had a lot of lunches and arguments. You don’t want to know how sausage is made, I assume (though it’s actually kind of fascinating, but whatever). So what can I say about the first single “Marathon”? It’s seems kind of nostalgic. But it’s not. Once you get past the krautrock bassline and The Everly Brothers acoustics and the relentless groove of The Mission Express, it’s a song about Depression era dances with roots in the Salem Witch Trials and the anxiety of anyone today who’s short on rent again. The gig economy. Reality shows. Exploitation. Dance marathons of the Great Depression were the first reality shows. And like Pro Wrestling, blurred the line between theatre and reality. Okay, I’ll spare you any more MFA gibberish, I gotta run. I got the Discovery Channel on and Naked and Afraid is up next.

Again, watch/stream “Marathon,” and pre-order the album here: https://ffm.to/landtimeforgot

Oh, and we’ve got TOUR DATES too!

Over here and over there. Lots of them. Scroll down for more on that. Dig in with both hands.

Onwards,

-C

2/28/2020 DENVER, CO SWALLOW HILL/DANIELS HALL*

2/29/2020 FORT COLLINS, CO MAGIC RAT*

3/11/2020 TUCSON, AZ CLUB CONGRESS*

3/13/2020 AUSTIN, TX CONTINENTAL CLUB**

3/14/2020 AUSTIN, TX CONTINENTAL CLUB**

3/15/2020 FISCHER, TX DEVIL’S BACKBONE TAVERN**

3/19/2020 SPICEWOOD, TX LUCK REUNION**

3/20/2020 AUSTIN, TX LUCY’S SOUTH BY SOUTH AUSTIN FRIED CHICKEN REVIVAL**

3/21/2020 AUSTIN, TX BURGERMANIA IX AT HOTEL VEGAS**

5/2/2020 PIONEERTOWN, CA PAPPY & HARRIET’S**

5/3/2020 REDONDO BEACH, CA BEACHLIFE FESTIVAL**

5/8/2020 SEBASTOPOL, CA HOPMONK TAVERN**

5/9/2020 SACRAMENTO, CA HARLOW’S**

5/16/2020 BIG SUR, CA HIPNIC**

OVER THERE:

5/25/2020 BIRMINGHAM, ENGLAND HARE & HOUNDS **

5/26/2020 BRISTOL, ENGLAND THE FLEECE **

5/27/2020 LEEDS, ENGLAND BRUDENELL SOCIAL CLUB **

5/28/2020 GLASGOW, SCOTLAND ST LUKES **

5/29/2020 BURY, ENGLAND THE MET **

5/30/2020 SUFFOLK, ENGLAND RED ROOSTER FESTIVAL **

6/1/2020 RAALTE,NETHERLANDS BLUES & RIBS FESTIVAL ** with Drive By Truckers

6/2/2020 LEFFINGE, BELGIUM DE ZWERVER**

6/3/2020 UTRECHT, NETHERLANDS EKKO **

6/4/2020 OSLO, NORWAY LOADED FESTIVAL ** with Dandy Warhols

6/6/2020 ZARAGOZA, SPAIN OASIS CLUB ** with Lucinda Williams

6/8/2020 BARCELONA, SPAIN SALA APOLO ** with Lucinda Williams

6/12/2020 NOTTINGHAM, ENGLAND METRONOME **

6/13/2020 LONDON, ENGLAND LAFAYETTE **

CHUCK PROPHET SOLO*

CHUCK PROPHET & THE MISSION EXPRESS **

WHO LOVES MAPS?

Hope everyone enjoyed their holidays.

First off, in case it got past you, I filmed a travel show for Southwest Air and Luck Reunion. A kind of Anthony Bourdain styled show where you can ride shotgun with me and Aaron Lee Tasjan through the backstreets of San Francisco. The Luck Reunion team are brilliant. This ain’t some insidious internet trash. There are real production values. I think you’ll enjoy it.

https://southwest.fm/sites-and-sounds/episode-3/

Now that I’ve got some portion of your attention, I’ve got gigs coming up, and without you there it wouldn’t quite seem right. For now though, allow me to fire up this Trader Joe’s Candle, dim the lights and put on this Miles Davis record [“Lift To The Scaffold” - my go-to Miles jam]. Oh the sweetness of doing nothing!

Things got quiet for a second there, I know. No New Year’s Eve show with the Mission Express. No annual dip down to The Crêpe Place in Santa Cruz. Someone even accused us of hanging it up. That’s how rumors get started. Here’s how they get stopped. I’m not even hanging up my clothes. They’re in a neat stack on a chair. (Don’t make me text you a photo.) What’s the point in hanging them up? End of rumor!

This is it. We’re here, just you and me. Together. Chillaxing, if I may coin a term - right after I find my Time Machine. And no, you don’t have to press one for an operator. Let’s reflect on the crazy ass year that 2019 was, shall we? Can we say anything good about it? Can we say anything good, like period? Or locate the gold-plated silver lining about the future? Well, I’ve got my own reasons to feel a little bit hopeful. Such as my new record coming down the pike. Soon we’ll have a release date and everything. And if that isn’t a better tomorrow, for ourselves, and the children of the world, I don’t know what is.

I also look forward to going out and playing the gigs mentioned above, some SOLO, and some with the Steph and the boys. (Check out my crazy asterisk and pound sign system below. I’m patenting the app as we speak.) I’ll even be taking songs off the new album out for a spin. Dare I say I’m feeling lucky? (Didn’t I just say it?)

And then there’s my great good fortune to be playing some gigs with the mighty Mission Express. The greatest lineup I’ve ever played with out there on the hillbilly highway. And I’m still managing to get lost in it. Not lost lost. Chet Baker lost. Lost in the music.

At Christmas my niece said, “Hey, remember when uncle Chuck had a flip phone? He he he he.” (I was just trying to get some sympathy from my dumb family.) Well, as my friends and bandmates know, I’ve sure got a jesusPhone now. With the GPS it’s a whole new Mayan ballgame out there. Even though I still keep a roadmap stashed in the door of the Econoline, I don’t get it out much. And besides, as Teenage Rob Douglas said, “Bro, I think you’ve got a map phobia.” Incidentally, Rob loved maps. LOVED. MAPS. Another purist weirdo. Hey, I’m a purist weirdo too! Some of my favorite bands still gather around one microphone. But step away from that roadmap and give my GPS a shot, will ya, Rob?

I’m hoping you received this newsletter. Sometimes even I receive it and I’ve subscribed like twice. Under different names. I can’t say why. If you can’t find the newsletter, check your spam folder. And please mark the address as ‘not spam.’ (Who exactly am I speaking to? If you can’t find the newsletter, you’re not reading this. Sorry, I think I have an eggnog hangover.)

Yours,

-CP

1/9/2020 LOS ANGELES CA HOTEL CAFE***

1/17/2020 HOUSTON TX THE HEIGHTS THEATER#

1/18/2020 DALLAS TX THE KESSLER THEATER#

1/19/2020 OKLAHOMA CITY OK THE BLUE DOOR*

1/22/2020 EASTON MD STOLZ LISTENING ROOM*

1/23/2020 BALTIMORE MD CREATIVE ALLIANCE AT THE PATTERSON*

1/24/2020 STATEN ISLAND NY HEFFERNAN’S HOUSE CONCERT*

1/25/2020 MONTCLAIR NJ OUTPOST IN THE BURBS*

1/26/2020 WASHINGTON DC THREE DOG SOUND HOUSE CONCERT*

1/28/2020 COLUMBUS OH NATALIE’S GRANDVIEW*

1/29/2020 PITTSBURGH PA CLUB CAFE*

1/30/2020 HARRISBURG PA NOTE WINE BAR*

1/31/2020 SELLERSVILLE PA SELLERSVILLE THEATER*

2/1/2020 VIENNA VA JAMMIN JAVA*

2/28/2020 DENVER CO SWALLOW HILL/DANIELS HALL*

2/29/2020 FORT COLLINS CO MAGIC RAT*

3/13/2020 AUSTIN TX CONTINENTAL CLUB**

3/14/2020 AUSTIN TX CONTINENTAL CLUB**

CHUCK PROPHET SOLO*

CHUCK PROPHET SOLO - CO-BILL WITH JOSH ROUSE #

CHUCK PROPHET SOLO - SUPPORT TO JESSE MALIN ***

CHUCK PROPHET & THE MISSION EXPRESS **