Times Record News from Wichita Falls, Texas • 50

Times November 15 1991 Ro fun Pirates of the Mississippi enjoying their tour PhotoFile off condo roofs in Aspen to car crashes had 13 wrecks and totaled three cars the first year I had a driver's from women's hairdos do big-haired girls have that surfing-pipeline thing sticking up on the front of their to Naomi Judd's illness been touring with them for nearly a year and I have never seen Naomi He talks too about Southern roots and about how tough it is to explain that feeling to people who feel it gotta tell you we bring out a Rebel flag on he said "and not about slavery or the Civil War or racism or anything but The man is on a roll and as the minutes tick by it becomes clear that "on a is pretty much where he and fellow Pirates Rich Alves Jimmy Lowe Dean Townson and Pat Severs stay "Everything we do is McCorvey said and his tone is conspiratorial probably shouldn't tell you this but what the hell we even had a name they wouldn't let us use The Cloggers back when we were playing the VFW in Smyrna (Ga) this group of cloggers would come in every Friday night and dance for hours and they always had these big grins on their faces So we decided we were gonna be The Cloggers and we were going to say if anybody asked us why you ever seen one that And that friends and neighbors sums up The Pirates' By Jean Prescott Knight-Rldder Newspapers The name sounds like something a bunch of rascally kids might paint on their clubhouse And that perfectly suits Pirates of the Mississippi five musicians whose aim in life is play for as many people as we can "Records are said Pirates lead vocalist-guitarist-co-songwriter Bill McCorvey gotta make and sell records And a lot of people will say 'Well we have to go out on tour to promote this Man we'd rather tour than make Which means the Pirates have been pretty happy for the past 12 months on the road touring with The Judds their farewell tour but it's kind of the Pirates Hello Tour" said McCorvey "We've been out for about year" he said "and where you get it the live thing In our show now we're doing songs that have never been on any album because they told us the songs weren't country In 1991 "country" covers a multitude of virtues and sins but McCorvey doesn't hold with pigeonholing music guy from Amsterdam (Holland) came to interview us during Fan Fair this year" he said "and he told us our record was No 1 on a pop station there Yeah pop Can you believe it?" It's hard to know what's hype and what isn't when talking with a madman whose conversation ricochets from postcollege jobs shoveled snow How the band came to be is another story of rascals planning an adventure and I had written some songs and we were rehearsing in Jimmy's McCorvey remembered "so we figured we'd better cut it off about 10 because of the neighbors you The neighbors showed up anyway but not to complain So the guys looked around for a hall or a club where even more friends and neighbors could turn out to listen And they played the gigs for free because "you can't charge kinfolks a said McCorvey "Suddenly it turned into this big thing with record-company people coming around and 300 folks outside trying to get in guess if you act like you he philosophized come looking for Making infectious music may have something to do with it too Both the self-titled debut album and the new one the have an edge that comes from "just going in and doing "We cut 20 or so songs in a McCorvey explained "We do the writing before we get there and then we rehearse a little bit but we basically just move in and play an extended gig in the studio just a band just a band And we enjoy off" Pirates of the Mieeiselppi single-minded philosophy: Just have fun The band may be new its first major-label LP having showed up only just last year But these guys have been playing together since 1984 and they've all been around Nashville lots longer than that To paraphrase McCorvey they're not as young as they look He and Alves were songwriters "You get up in the morning go to the office sit down and write McCorvey explained "It was like any other job and I'll tell you I was kind of lazy doing that" Steel-player Severs was a sought-after session musician Lowe and his drums had left the road for more traditional employment and bassist Townson was working in a field light years from music ly "They wanted my music to be classifiable and get on the radio "Finally they told me my voice hurt ears which hurt me So happy where I am now I've made nine albums all different and proud of them Griffith's style on her new album Night Grand is sort of moody She does some heartbreak songs but also an upbeat Julie Gold song "I wanted this album to capture the atmosphere of the she said "Like an early Tom Waits album" That raises the intriguing idea of Griffith and Waits singing together: a voice that's all highs with a voice that's all lows She'd like to do it she said And maybe by next summer she'll have time Nanci Griffith says this is her last big tour Folk singer By David Hinckley New York Dally Naws NEW YORK This is the last all-night waltz says Nanci Griffith The singer whose charming short-stories-in-song have built her a loyal following among folk country and pop fans says her current world tour which continues through June will be the last time she does the road on this scale Now singers say this all tfye time But if she means it a loss because Griffith's gentle songs about friendships and lost love and true pleasures are the kind of thing that fans count on hearing every so often think this will be the last world tour" said Griffith who was in New York for a performance this week "At the age of 37 1 feel like I'm 92 I'm looking forward to my gray years" Well that's a little dramatic But she would like to try some acting she said and maybe write music for the movies She has two novels that haven't been published The record-and-tour cycle simply eats up all her time A cutback in touring would not reflect she said any dissatisfaction with music even though she never has scored that one major hit record Her biggest radio hits have come when her music is sung by others like when Kathy Mattea did "Love at the Five and but she says she has no artistic regrets In fact she said things have been fine since she left MCA's country division in Nashville and moved to the pop division "I was the token integrity artist in Nashville" she said half-joking-.