Marshall Chapman (photo: John Partipilo/The Tennessean)
Thus far in 2010, Marshall Chapman has released an album of mostly self-penned Americana songs, written a book of profiles called They Came To Nashville, played Gwyneth Paltrow’s tour manager in major motion picture Country Strong, played concerts at clubs and theaters and written stories and essays for Garden & Gun and Nashville Arts magazines.
Oh, and the Good Ol’ Girls musical — featuring songs written by Chapman and Matraca Berg and stories by Lee Smith and Jill McCorkle — ran two months at New York’s Steinberg Center for Theater, off-Broadway.
“I’m not trying to do anything,” said Chapman, 61, sitting on the back porch at her west Nashville home. “I’m just a girl who can’t say no. I actually do everything slowly, and only one thing at a time.”
The “one at a time” deal is a guide, though, not a rule. Chapman proofread the galleys for They Came To Nashville — published through Vanderbilt University Press and Country Music Foundation Press — while sitting in a Bridgestone Arena dressing room in between scenes for Country Strong. She picked up some essay ideas in that same dressing room.
Permission
Chapman often credits musician Danny Flowers for giving her “permission” to write songs. In the early 1970s, Chapman was a Vanderbilt graduate, scuffling her way through shows at small rock clubs and earning a reputation as Nashville’s wildest female rock ’n’ roll bandleader. Flowers, who would go on to success as a singer-songwriter and as the writer of multi-genre hit “Tulsa Time,” was playing guitar for her one night.
“Danny said, ‘Marshall, you’re going to play these (expletive) joints the rest of your life if you don’t start writing songs,’” Chapman remembered. “I went home that night and started writing a song that later got recorded by (country singer) Jessi Colter.”
Many of Chapman’s early songs wound up on Me, I’m Feelin’ Free, her 1976 Epic Records solo debut. Since then, she has recorded nine studio albums and two live sets.
Her first book, 2003’s Goodbye, Little Rock and Roller, chronicled much of the interior excavation that went into the songs on those albums. They Came To Nashville profiles 15 musicians, including Kris Kristofferson, Willie Nelson, Bobby Bare, Emmylou Harris and Miranda Lambert, who logged significant time in Music City. Chapman did little in the way of asking permissions when she decided to delve into non-fiction.
“When you get old enough, you can give yourself permission,” she said.
Many of Chapman’s experiences as an interviewer were of the standard, question-and-answer variety, as she reconnected with old friends and met some new ones, and emerged with what she thinks of as an elongated love letter (“a love book”) to Nashville. But the book’s final 45 pages are a sometimes humorous, sometimes painful recollection of the days she spent on Willie Nelson’s bus, waiting for a sit-down interview that never came.
“Communicating with Willie is not like communicating with... well, with everybody else,” she said. “And in not getting the interview, my heart was broken. I hadn’t gotten what I thought I wanted, but what I actually got was a great ending for the book.”
Friends, and music
Chapman’s Big Lonesome album is also something of a love note. It is dedicated to the memory of Tim Krekel, the Louisville-based singer, songwriter and guitarist who was Chapman’s best friend in music. Krekel, a former member of Chapman’s Love Slaves band, died of cancer in June of 2009. He and Chapman were planning a duet album when he was diagnosed, three months before his death.
“When Tim was dying, the only thing comforting to me was picking up a guitar,” Chapman said. “And these songs started coming out. I feel like this album is a gift from Tim to me.”
One of the songs, “Sick of Myself,” is a co-write with Krekel that was born in an e-mail conversation. Chapman sent a rhyme-and-verse note to Krekel, saying, “I’m sick of myself, I want to be you.” Krekel typed back lines to Chapman saying he’d like to be her: “To rock with a purpose like ol’ Jerry Lee/ While wearing your soul on your rock ’n’ roll sleeve.” Krekel’s son Jason sang his father’s part on the album.
“I cried when I read Tim’s note back to me,” Chapman said. “Friends don’t see us through the same lens that we see ourselves. They’re looking through a whole different lens. Tim knew me through some years where I was really being hard on myself. I’m not as hard on myself anymore.”
Reach Peter Cooper at 615-259-8220 or pcooper@tennessean.com.
IF YOU GO
- What: Marshall Chapman interview, performance and book signing
Where: Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum (222 Fifth Ave. S., 615-416-2096)
When: 1:30 p.m. Sat., Oct. 30, (with book signing to follow at 3 p.m. in the Museum Gift Store)
Tickets: Included with Museum admission, or free to Museum members.
Info: www.countrymusichalloffame.org
Marshall Chapman facts
• Chapman was raised in Spartanburg, S.C, a city that also spawned musical notables including guitar great Hank Garland, blues man Pink Anderson, gospel singer Ira Tucker of The Dixie Hummingbirds, singer-songwriters Walter Hyatt, Champ Hood and David Ball and southern rock group The Marshall Tucker Band.
• She attended Vanderbilt University.
• Chapman began her recording career in 1976. Her first album, Me, I'm Feelin' Free, was released in 1977 on Epic Records.
• Her 1978 album, the Al Kooper-produced Jaded Virgin, was voted record of the year by Stereo Review.
• In 1987, her "Betty's Bein' Bad" was a country hit for Sawyer Brown. In 1996, that song was inducted into BMI's "Million-Air" club, signifying more than a million radio plays.
• Other Chapman songs have been recorded by Emmylou Harris, Joe Cocker, The Earl Scruggs Revue, Conway Twitty, Jimmy Buffett and many others.
• Buffett signed Chapman to his Margaritaville Records in the 1990s.
• She has opened shows for Buffett, John Prine, Jerry Lee Lewis and The Ramones.
• Her 1995 It’s About Time album was recorded live at the Tennessee State Prison for Women.
• Chapman and friend Matraca Berg contributed 14 songs to Good Ol' Girls, a musical based on the stories of Lee Smith and Jill McCorkle. In 2010, Good Ol' Girls opened off Broadway for a two-month engagement.
• In 2003, Chapman’s first book, Goodbye, Little Rock and Roller, was published through St. Martin’s Press.
• This year brings the release of a new album, Big Lonesome, and a new book, They Came To Nashville. In 2010, Chapman also acted in major motion picture Country Strong, playing the road manager of Gwyneth Paltrow’s country-singer character.