{"title":"Richard Buckner","description":"\u003cp\u003eIn 2022, Richard Buckner launched \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/richardbuckner.substack.com\/\"\u003eExtractions\u003c\/a\u003e, a newsletter that dispatches weekly digital postcards to subscribers. The first post was about “A Chance Counsel,” the opening track of Buckner’s 2004 album and Merge debut \u003ca href=\"\/products\/richard-buckner-dents-and-shells\"\u003e\u003ci\u003eDents and Shells\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e, which was reissued on white vinyl in 2019. In addition to the text recollection, there is an acoustic version of the song recorded in his attic. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFuture \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/richardbuckner.substack.com\/\"\u003eExtractions\u003c\/a\u003e will include serial-form fiction and non-fiction, as well as more unreleased music.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e+++\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThere are three kinds of American folk artists: those who sit, contented, on a back porch contemplating America’s landscape and ways; those for whom its landscape and ways are something to stand against or move boldly through; and those whose America is a shadowy, impressionistic place that moves inside of them. This [latter] is the area that the sombre-voiced Richard Buckner has been exploring since 1994. —\u003ci\u003eSylvie Simmons, The Guardian, 2004\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","products":[{"product_id":"richard-buckner-our-blood","title":"Richard Buckner - Our Blood","description":"\u003cp\u003eSince 2006’s \u003cem\u003eMeadow\u003c\/em\u003e, fans of \u003ca href=\"\/collections\/richard-buckner\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eRichard Buckner\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e have been clamoring for new material and wondering what was keeping their hero from releasing the new songs he would perform on the road. Well, it’s a long story!\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eFirst, there was the score to a film that never happened. Then there was a brief brush with the law over a headless corpse in a burned-out car that had all eyes in Buckner’s small hometown in upstate New York turned toward him and his long-suffering truck. Shortly after a move to a safer, less popular corpse dumping ground, the death of his tape machine led to yet another reboot. After Richard called in pedal steel and percussion players and put new mixes on his laptop, his new “safer” place was burglarized. Goodbye, laptop.\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eBuckner says: “Eventually, the recording machine was resuscitated and some of the material was recovered. Cracks were patched. Parts were redundantly re-invented. Commas were moved. Insinuations were re-insinuated until the last percussive breaths of those final OCD utterances were expelled like the final heaves of bile, wept-out long after the climactic drama had faded to a somber, blurry moment of truth and voilà!, the record was done, or, let us be clear, abandoned like the charred shell of a car with a nice stereo.”\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"merge records","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":52739162439991,"sku":"MRG339cd","price":14.98,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Download","offer_id":52739162472759,"sku":"MRG339digital","price":8.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0966\/3935\/3143\/files\/f30747f5c7a9f895b10358ca39bfa4932e3b5b9f_2413b888c8dde40b8507a9fd425c0fa823abd909_medium_jpg.jpg?v=1785380147"},{"product_id":"richard-buckner-meadow","title":"Richard Buckner - Meadow","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eRichard Buckner's\u003c\/strong\u003e eighth full-length soars and swells around his signature trifecta of enigmatic poetics, swirling melodies, and that voice!--a soothing drawl that's somehow road weary and buoyant all at once. The melodies are fleshed out by an all-star band: Doug Gillard (Guided By Voices, Cobra Verde), Kevin March (GBV, Those Bastard Souls, Dambuilders), J.D. Foster, and Steve Goulding (Mekons, Graham Parker, Waco Brothers). Fresh and evocative, poignant and real, it documents \"the modern age wrapped up in the frustrations and sympathies of a wanderer\" (\u003ci\u003eThe Austin Chronicle\u003c\/i\u003e).\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"merge records","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":52739162636599,"sku":"MRG279cd","price":14.98,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Download","offer_id":52739162669367,"sku":"MRG279digital","price":8.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0966\/3935\/3143\/files\/84cdf79d9049757dd070b52f3ba326002aea4dc4_90614c03e1a232b6e3596a47239151376e6a50d8_medium_jpg.jpg?v=1785380153"},{"product_id":"richard-buckner-surrounded","title":"Richard Buckner - Surrounded","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eIn the time since \u003c\/span\u003e\u003ci\u003eOur Blood\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cspan\u003e was released and after a few long tours, \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eRichard Buckner\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cspan\u003e attempted to work on writing short stories but found himself drawn back into the music room. The evidence of his time in the writer’s chair is clear in the dense, lovely prose of \u003c\/span\u003e\u003ci\u003eSurrounded\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cspan\u003e. The album’s liner notes include text-embedded lyrics, a technique Buckner employed on his earlier albums \u003c\/span\u003e\u003ci\u003eSince\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cspan\u003e and \u003c\/span\u003e\u003ci\u003eImpasse\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cspan\u003e, but this marks the first time he used the songs’ extended story to construct the album’s overall view and track sequence.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThrowing out the “tricks and trades” of his previous efforts, Buckner hunkered down at home and chose a few unfamiliar pieces of gear—a Suzuki QChord electronic autoharp and an Electro-Harmonix POG2 pedal—to create basic tracks and open up more sonic possibilities. “The best outcomes happen sometimes when I’m unfamiliar with the tool that I’m using (imagine MacGyver wearing a dog cone).”\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThe now-infamous process of recording and re-recording \u003c\/span\u003e\u003ci\u003eOur Blood\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cspan\u003e left him a bit gun-shy, so this time, Buckner decided to get each song out of his house as soon as it was finished to avoid the contamination of over-thinking. After hearing an interview with famed producer Tucker Martine, Buckner found a destination for his songs: “Tucker understood the urgency in me to tie the whole thing up before I fell into the same trap that I’d had finishing \u003c\/span\u003e\u003ci\u003eOur Blood\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cspan\u003e and was generous enough to move other commitments around to fit \u003c\/span\u003e\u003ci\u003eSurrounded\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cspan\u003e in. When I had finally finished \u003c\/span\u003e\u003ci\u003eOur Blood\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cspan\u003e, I felt like I’d just survived a stroll through a mine field. With \u003c\/span\u003e\u003ci\u003eSurrounded\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cspan\u003e, it was more of a sensation that I’d successfully organized a messy desk.”\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eLP includes a coupon for a full download.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"merge records","offers":[{"title":"LP","offer_id":52739168633143,"sku":"MRG499LP","price":21.98,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"CD","offer_id":52739168665911,"sku":"MRG499CD","price":14.98,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Download","offer_id":52739168600375,"sku":"MRG499digital","price":8.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0966\/3935\/3143\/files\/b2176c7abb76c22db3214a25ccad1d83e8675418_8c2e480c2958ec661969c86b9561845f9bcd127c_medium_jpg.jpg?v=1785380358"},{"product_id":"richard-buckner-willow-b-w-lost","title":"Richard Buckner - \"Willow\" b\/w \"Lost\"","description":"\u003cp\u003eTwo new tracks from \u003ca href=\"\/collections\/richard-buckner\"\u003eRichard Buckner's\u003c\/a\u003e \u003ci\u003eOur Blood\u003c\/i\u003e sessions! Comes with an exclusive bonus download of \"Candy-O\", a cover by The Cars.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"merge records","offers":[{"title":"Download","offer_id":52739181347127,"sku":"MRG443digital","price":1.98,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0966\/3935\/3143\/files\/77bacbb68569d5dece47b2fe5e3a2a82ed316708_8fb9cc345ba0c291a94bbe07023a01607ff8940f_medium_jpg.jpg?v=1785380740"},{"product_id":"richard-buckner-bloomed-reissue","title":"Richard Buckner - Bloomed (Reissue)","description":"\u003cp\u003eThe March entry in our 25th anniversary reissue series is \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eBloomed\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e, the 1994 debut album from \u003cb\u003eRichard Buckner\u003c\/b\u003e. The album will be remastered and released on CD and 180-gram vinyl. Both formats will include a CD containing 11 bonus tracks of radio sessions, live performances, and original recordings of songs that appeared on future releases.\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eSpin\u003c\/i\u003e magazine described Buckner as “equal parts Bay Area bohemian and dust bowl traditionalist” and named \u003ci\u003eBloomed\u003c\/i\u003e one of its best albums of 1994, while Pitchfork wrote, “It’s a traditional outsider-country record in the lineage of Townes Van Zandt. Buckner’s voice is all honey and oak, his guitar style elaborately twanging, his constant subject matter heartache.”\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eRichard Buckner provides some background on the album:\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\u003cblockquote\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"4\"\u003eBloomed was originally (erroneously?) released on an unnamable German label in 1994. I was living in San Francisco at the time, having just moved out of a residential hotel and into the 1906 hilltop prefab that adorns the cover. At the time, I was heading a band called The Doubters. We were playing high profile events such as The Covered Wagon Saloon’s Musical Barstools, but weren’t making much headway. We had been turned down consistently every year by SXSW, but I was somehow finagled in as an unannounced guest onto an already unofficial SXSW showcase created by Butch Hancock at his gallery in downtown Austin. There, I met up again with Lloyd Maines, who agreed to produce my first record.\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"4\"\u003eMaines and I met in Lubbock, TX, a few months later, where we worked with Lubbock musicians in a small recording studio walled in wooden shingles Sharpied with bible passages from various church groups that also enjoyed working there. It was 112°F the morning I arrived under the suspicious (Californians are merely B-grade yankees) gaze of downtown’s Buddy Holly statue. That first night there, it hailed so hard that heaven’s angry pellets were storming in under my motel door. It only let up for a few moments that first night, allowing me to run across the street to get a butter burger and fries to go. We finished four days later and I flew back to San Francisco, dismembered the band, and embarked on a tour that would last about 20 years (or a few days, if you count what I actually remember).\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"4\"\u003eNothing’s changed. I’m still dodging the sky and busking to strangers.\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\u003c\/blockquote\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont color=\"red\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThe CD packaged with LP contains bonus tracks only, and the download coupon contains a full download of \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003eBloomed\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan\u003e. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"merge records","offers":[{"title":"LP","offer_id":52739187573047,"sku":"MRG355LP","price":24.98,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"CD","offer_id":52739187540279,"sku":"MRG355CD","price":16.98,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Download","offer_id":52739187507511,"sku":"MRG355digital","price":8.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0966\/3935\/3143\/files\/93e07eb0fe5246687b3979c5d2e8f5d2f8c182aa_d38c6ec617931abfded47adde8df6b5904ed86f6_medium_jpg.jpg?v=1785380932"},{"product_id":"richard-buckner-the-hill-reissue","title":"Richard Buckner - The Hill (Reissue)","description":"\u003cp\u003eOn the 100th anniversary of Edgar Lee Masters’ \u003ci\u003eSpoon River Anthology\u003c\/i\u003e, Merge is reissuing the epic it inspired: \u003ca href=\"\/collections\/richard-buckner\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eRichard Buckner\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e’s \u003ci\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThe Hill\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Hill\u003c\/i\u003e started in 1996 in an old garage that had been converted to The Ranch Olancha Motel, a dusty place near the mouth of Death Valley, between Lone Pine and Dunmovin, California. Buckner, who was en route to Tucson, Arizona, to record what would become \u003ci\u003eDevotion \u0026amp; Doubt\u003c\/i\u003e, stayed a week in a room with no phone, no television, carrying his guitar, a four-track recorder, and a copy of Masters’ \u003ci\u003eSpoon River Anthology\u003c\/i\u003e. He tinkered with a few of the book’s poems, put them on a cassette, and forgot about it until an acquaintance discovered it in his truck four years later. Beset with writer’s block and looking for a distraction, Buckner would find in the tape the spur he needed.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eRecorded in Edmonton, Alberta, and Tucson, \u003ci\u003eThe Hill\u003c\/i\u003e converts \u003ci\u003eSpoon River\u003c\/i\u003e poems to music. You’d wonder why a poet in his own right would feel the need to sample another’s work. But Masters’ book of poetry tells much the same story Buckner is accustomed to, the kind of story that makes him distinct among storytellers.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eEach page of \u003ci\u003eSpoon River Anthology\u003c\/i\u003e reads as a final, postmortem dictum of a different deceased resident—more than 250 of them now passed—in the fictional Midwestern town of Spoon River. The epitaphs are important for Buckner because, in death, these people strip the breathing city of its dishonesty. Each one, from Reuben Pantier to Elizabeth Childers to Oscar Hummel, is no longer concerned with whispers and pointed fingers that are often the consequence of a life laid bare for all to see. They’re unleashing themselves, without fallacy or attachment.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eBuckner chooses 18 of these confessions, each given a unique rendering. Backed by Calexico’s Joey Burns and John Convertino and surveyed with Buckner’s unflagging vocal desperation, Spoon River’s residents come back to life. Like so much of his career, Buckner disappeared into Spoon River and returns to us with its story.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"merge records","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":52739193209143,"sku":"MRG356cd","price":13.98,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Download","offer_id":52739193176375,"sku":"MRG356digital","price":8.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0966\/3935\/3143\/files\/3d72c0675207a436d61f60a2e2f72cd5ecf49b69_a9e6856d30a9503a3c7efb0cf80edaad886344dc_medium_jpg.jpg?v=1785381040"},{"product_id":"richard-buckner-impasse-reissue","title":"Richard Buckner - Impasse (Reissue)","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eRelease highlights:\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\u003cul\u003e\r\n\u003cli\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePressed on vinyl for the first time to commemorate the album's 15th anniversary \u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\r\n\u003cli\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eLP includes full download of the album plus 4 rare bonus tracks\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\r\n\u003cli\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eLP features full-color heavyweight inner sleeve with printed lyrics\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\r\n\u003cli\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAudio newly remastered by Jon Marshall Smith\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\r\n\u003cli\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eFree shipping on all U.S. orders! \u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\r\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\r\n\u003cp style=\"text-align: center;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e* * *\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eTo commemorate the 15th anniversary of its release, \u003ca href=\"\/collections\/richard-buckner\"\u003e\u003cb\u003eRichard Buckner\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e’s 2002 album \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eImpasse\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e has been reissued on CD and LP—its first-ever appearance on vinyl. Newly remastered by Jon Marshall Smith, the vinyl reissue also includes a download of four rare bonus tracks.\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eDuring the gestation of \u003ci\u003eImpasse, \u003c\/i\u003eRichard Buckner was stuck. But, with perseverance, what began as one of his most troubled recording attempts ended as one of his best and most pivotal—a capstone for his wayfaring early period before he planted roots with Merge. The words are entrancingly cryptic, as if their simplicity conceals unfathomable depths. The music is sparse, almost whispered at times, like a secret. The title gives everything away, though.\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eImpasse\u003c\/i\u003e was conceived as a faceted whole. Its lyrics are like scattered snapshots and torn-up letters. The song titles form a poem that structures a story of heartache and dreamt redemption cloistered at the music’s core. Impressions, pledges, and slivered vantages swirl in Buckner’s voice and, while his frustrations at the time of Impasse were only part of the twist, its transmission is so open-ended that the aura of quiet desperation and hard-won grace is yours to use as you please.\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e“You don’t really know what you’re writing at the time,” Buckner says. “Writing seems to be kind of prophetic and it makes much more sense looking back on it. But I think mystery is good. If you ever think you know what you’re doing, then you’re probably in bad shape.”\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: red;\"\u003eLP includes a coupon for a full download.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"merge records","offers":[{"title":"LP","offer_id":52739211002167,"sku":"MRG357LP","price":21.98,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"CD","offer_id":52739210969399,"sku":"MRG357CD","price":13.98,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Download","offer_id":52739211034935,"sku":"MRG357digital","price":7.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0966\/3935\/3143\/files\/4e75a4636a2a7feb832db306875905e3600b11d4_7dc1dd8527df553f58eaacd8458524272ba97d6d_medium_jpg.jpg?v=1785381229"},{"product_id":"richard-buckner-dents-and-shells","title":"Richard Buckner - Dents and Shells","description":"\u003cp\u003eThis one-time, limited-edition white Peak Vinyl reissue marks the 15th anniversary of the \u003ca href=\"\/collections\/richard-buckner\"\u003eRichard Buckner\u003c\/a\u003e classic—his first album for Merge—and its debut appearance on vinyl! The record is housed in a heavyweight inner sleeve with full lyrics and includes a digital download.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eDents and Shells (Reissue) \u003c\/i\u003ecan also be found at your favorite local \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/www.recordstoreday.com\/Stores\"\u003eindependent record store\u003c\/a\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e+++\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eDents and Shells\u003c\/i\u003e is the first LP that \u003cstrong\u003eRichard Buckner\u003c\/strong\u003e made for Merge Records, in 2004. By the time the album was recorded in Austin, TX and Tucson, AZ, with the help of Butthole Surfers’ drummer King Coffey and other Austin locals, he’d been a touring musician and released over a half dozen records. With no fixed home base a decade deep into his career, he was still a roamer.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThat may be why \u003ci\u003eDents and Shells\u003c\/i\u003e still sounds so fresh 15 years later. Whether working with collaborators or going it alone, on stage or in a studio, Buckner has always tended to play by feel.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"merge records","offers":[{"title":"Peak Vinyl (White)","offer_id":52739226501431,"sku":"MRG249lp-C1","price":24.98,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"CD","offer_id":52739226468663,"sku":"MRG249cd","price":14.98,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Download","offer_id":52739226534199,"sku":"MRG249digital","price":7.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0966\/3935\/3143\/files\/9d5d8d0eee3a711791f2c02cb96433e6e155e6d3_dd41976c821ec6fdb4af0a6a7530401d1c3a42dc_medium_jpg.jpg?v=1785381542"}],"url":"https:\/\/mergerecords.com\/collections\/richard-buckner.oembed","provider":"Merge Records","version":"1.0","type":"link"}