Arts & Entertainment
Cindy Lee Berryhill Never Folds
Berryhill, Singer/Songwriter, Plays at the Fairfield Theatre Company Sept. 13
Cindy Lee Berryhill, one of this country's treasured singer/songwriters, also would have made a great poker player. Fate, that cruel dealer, has given her some really bad cards in the past 10 years. And somehow, by staying cool, not folding, she's managed to improve her hand and stay in the game. Proof of her winning ways? She plays the Fairfield Theatre Company on Sept. 13. A few years back, that would have been unthinkable.
"My last record, 'Beloved Stranger,' came out about three years ago," said Ms. Berryhill, from her native California. "I've got a new one about 60 percent recorded. Right now, though, all I can think about is playing live. Not too long ago, I wasn't sure if that was ever really going to happen again."
Those of you in rock circles may know the tale. Ms. Berryhill's life partner, and father to her son, Paul Williams, is possibly the most revered music writer in the country. Not only did Williams help found "Crawdaddy," the first real rock magazine, he's written definitive, detailed books about Bob Dylan's songwriting, while editing other works and acting as literary executor for sci-fi legend, Philip K. Dick.
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Williams and Berryhill met in the '90s, fell in love, planned to marry, had a son, Alexander. Then, one of those weird cards got thrown their way.
"Around 1992, Paul had a serious spill from his bicycle. Serious enough to have an operation and have five centimeters removed from his brain. Incredibly, he made a full recovery. He was back writing, editing, checking in with the Philip K. Dick people. But around 2004, something began to seem wrong. There would be days Paul would sleep 15 hours. He was having trouble remembering stuff. And he seemed less and less interested in music, which was his life's blood," Berryhill said.
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It turns out the then 50-something Williams, had, indeed, recovered from the surgery. However, his head injury had triggered an early onset of Alzheimer's Disease.
"You can imagine how this impacted my life, not to mention my music making and touring," said Berryhill, whose string of four-star albums, including "Garage Orchestra," stretches back to 1987. "I was trying to take care of Paul and my infant son. Oh, and teach guitar, which is my 'day' job. You can just imagine."
Without belaboring this heartrending and just plain exhausting situation, Berryhill explains that she finally got Mr. Williams into a nursing home, began writing and recording again and, gambler-like, is still at the table, holding better cards, awaiting the next deal.
"Of course, I've had incredible support, too. Not only from Paul's fans, who made contributions toward his care, but my musician buddies who checked in, encouraged me to keep recording, stuff like that."
Berryhill mentions songwriters like Peter Case, former Blaster's guitarist Dave Alvin, and especially, ex-X frontman, John Doe.
"John would call constantly, ask me how I was and keep saying, 'Okay, we've got to get you into the studio real soon.' Lots of cool people have rallied around me."
It's unsurprising. Ms. Berryhill's music, a strange, lovely amalgam of early 20th Century pop, streaked with trace elements of country and Americana, has attracted some very famous fans. One of them, mythic songwriter, arranger and Beach Boys collaborator, Van Dyke Parks, had this to say about Ms. Berryhill's weird and wondrous art.
"A woman of Cindy Lee's capacity as a lyricist is unique," Parks said. "Her insight and raw ability to articulate the human dilemma and articulate it in short order is peerless. Yet, she delivers her truth serum with a coating of consolation and spasmodic amusement. She deserves a berth in any Hall of Fame, for the humanities she brings to the usual vanities of song-writing. Her costly creativity has endured in works with a shelf-life that extends far beyond the norm of pop pablum. Fair to say, that's due to her depth perception. Somehow I get the impression she knows her legacy will outlive her."
When she plays at the Fairfield Theatre Company, another iconoclastic songwriter, Stan Ridgway, will be headlining. Berryhill's changing luck is also embodied in the ex Wall Of Voodoo leader.
"I had some dates lined up on the East Coast, when I noticed that Stan was going to be in some of those towns at the same time. I talked to him and he was really cool about having me join him on the bill."
Facing the future rather fearlessly, Berryhill is working on that new record. One she hopes to have out "sometime" in 2011.
"I have four really good tracks that I did for Warners [in 1999] and a couple of things I've done on my own. I still need to raise completion funds to do a couple more songs. But, still, compared to where I was a few years ago, that's not the worst problem to have. All in all," said this sharp card player, "I've been a pretty lucky person."
INFO: Cindy Lee Berryhill will be appearing at the Fairfield Theatre Company on Sept. 13, with Stan Ridgway. Tickets are $35. Doors open at 7 p.m. For more info, call 203 259-1036. If you're interested in contributing toward Paul Williams' care, go to www.paulwilliams.com. To become a fan/friend of Cindy's, you can find her on Facebook.
