Jesse Winchester (musician)

Jesse Winchester at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival (2011)

James Ridout Winchester (born May 17, 1944 in Bossier City , Louisiana , † April 11, 2014 in Charlottesville , Virginia ) was an American musician, songwriter and producer, who is mainly to be assigned to the fields of country and folk .

Life

Jesse Winchester was born in 1944 to a professional soldier in Bossier City, Louisiana, across from Shreveport on the Red River . His parents moved frequently; so Winchester grew up in northern Mississippi and in Memphis , Tennessee . He learned to play the piano at an early age and sang in the church choir. But after discovering both country music and rhythm and blues for himself, he was drawn to the guitar, which brought him to several rock 'n' roll bands during his high school years . He attended Williams College in Williamstown , Massachusetts . In 1965 he began studying German and philosophy in Munich. There he received the news in 1967 that he had been called up for military service, which at that time was mostly synonymous with serving in the Vietnam War . Winchester refused to be called up and - like some 50,000 Americans in total - avoided arrest by fleeing to Canada. So he became the most prominent objector of the Vietnam War in the music world.

From then on, Winchester lived in Montreal and quickly got in touch with the local music scene. He wrote songs and played in a French-Canadian rock band - which is why the Canadian musician Robbie Robertson of The Band became aware of him. He made contact with Dylan's sponsor Albert Grossman . So Robertson was able to produce Winchester's debut album in 1969, which was released the following year. Most of the songs showed wistful glances at their lost homeland, the southern United States. The successful mixture of light pathos, a certain lack of words, humor, irony and catchy melodies ensured that Winchester was mainly noticed in music circles. With Biloxi , Brand New Tennessee Waltz and Yankee Lady , the debut contained three tracks, which from then on were repeatedly covered .

Winchester released records on a regular basis throughout the 1970s. Because of the arrest warrant that still exists in the USA, Winchester was unable to distribute his songs there. After all, this was done by the musicians who recorded his songs - including Jimmy Buffett , Joan Baez , Anne Murray , the Everly Brothers , Jerry Jeff Walker , Fairport Convention , Tim Hardin , Emmylou Harris , Ronnie Hawkins , Nicolette Larson , Tom Rush and Wilson Pickett . Incidentally, at her concerts, Joan Baez never forgot to mention the political dimension when she played Winchester songs: that there was an important American songwriter sitting in exile in Canada because he refused to become a soldier. Jesse Winchester's songs were also reenacted in the following decades, such as Reba McEntire , Elvis Costello , Wynona Judd and Jimmie Dale Gilmore ; however, he is known to the American public more politically than musically. This is not least due to Joan Baez, who repeatedly mentioned his situation, especially on Bob Dylan's legendary Rolling Thunder Revue .

In 1973, Winchester became a Canadian citizen, married, and eventually fathered three children. Also in 1973, Winchester opened a recording studio. There, in addition to his skill as a songwriter, he also demonstrated his qualities as an accompanist and producer. In 1977 President Jimmy Carter issued an amnesty for anyone who escaped being called to the Vietnam War. That finally gave Winchester the opportunity to tour the USA for the first time and thus perhaps still achieve the popularity that was prevented. He also recorded records in the US, but the material wasn't as strong as it had been in previous years; the great success did not materialize. Somewhat popular was his song Step by Step from 1976 in 2002 , which was used in the final credits of the last episode of the first season of the television series The Wire .

It wasn't until 2002, after he was divorced, that Jesse Winchester moved back to the US; he remarried and eventually moved to Charlottesville, Virginia. He moved his studio to Cordova , Tennessee.

In 1990 Winchester was nominated for the Juno Award for Best Country Singer, and in 2007 he received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers .

Jesse Winchester continued to tour regularly until he was diagnosed with esophageal cancer in 2011. Then he canceled all concert dates and went to medical treatment. After the doctors had released him as cured, Winchester announced in the same year that he would give concerts again next spring. He did that too; a concert in London, Ontario had been scheduled the day after his death .

Discography

Studio albums

year	title	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChartsChart placements (Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes)	Remarks
		US
1972	Third down, 110 to go	US193 (5 weeks) US	First published: 1972
1977	Nothing but a breeze	US115 (16 weeks) US	First published: 1977
1978	A touch on the rainy side	US156 (7 weeks) US	First published: 1978
1981	Talk Memphis	US188 (2 weeks) US	First publication: 1981

More publishments:

• 1970: Jesse Winchester
• 1974: Learn to Love It
• 1976: Let the Rough Side Drag
• 1977: Live at the Bijou Cafe
• 1988: Humor Me
• 1989: The Best of
• 1999: Anthology
• 1999: Gentleman of Leisure
• 2001: Live from Mountain Stage
• 2005: Live
• 2009: Love Filling Station
• 2014: A Reasonable Amount of Trouble

Singles

year	Title album	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChartsChart placements (Year, title, album , rankings, weeks, awards, notes)	Remarks
		US
1977	Nothing but a Breeze Nothing but a Breeze	US86 (3 weeks) US	First published: 1977
1981	Say What Talk Memphis	US32 (12 weeks) US	First publication: 1981

Web links

Commons : Jesse Winchester  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Literature by and about Jesse Winchester in the catalog of the German National Library
• Jesse Winchester in the Internet Movie Database (English)
• Jesse Winchester at Discogs (English)
• Jesse Winchester Official Website
• Jesse Winchester at last.fm
• Jesse Winchester on allmusic.com

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Jesse Winchester Celebrated Singer-Songwriter, Dies at Age 69 at cmt.com
2. ↑ ^{a b c} Jesse Winchester ( Memento of the original from April 13, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Biography on musicline.de 
3. ↑ ^{a b} Jesse Winchester - biography on musiklexikon.jfaro.com ( Memento from May 4, 2011 in the Internet Archive )
4. ↑ Biography on allmusic.com
5. ↑ ^{a b c} Interview report on thespec.com
6. ↑ Winchester's recording studio on the official website ( memento of the original from June 1, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
7. ↑ List of used music in The Wire
8. ↑ Winchester's Studio on companies.fm (English)
9. ↑ Report on the award ( Memento of the original from August 11, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
10. ↑ ^{a b} Self-statement ( memento of the original from June 1, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. on the official homepage  
11. ↑ Jesse Winchester ( Memento of the original from April 13, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Tour dates on the homepage  
12. ↑ ^{a b} Chart sources: US