{"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","url":"https:\/\/mergerecords.com\/products\/richard-buckner-the-hill-reissue","provider":"Merge Records","version":"1.0","type":"link"}