Ancient Tones by Daniel Payne

Recorded with Andy Gibson in Nashville TN 12/2011

Daniel Payne is certainly no stranger to the life of musical gypsyhood. His exploits of rambling and touring stretch across many nations. 800 Mile Monday is his vision and channel for the stories told on tape and seedy nightclub stages from Italy to Norway; Andalusia to Finland; Bucharest to London. Savage tales of betrayal, spurned lovers, and losers give breath to these songs- all told with grim authority and impeccable realism. And yet, it is a reality that reveals more mystery than answers; the darkest pitches of the human psyche are also the paradoxical seeds of hope and salvation that sprout from agony and desperation.

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The True Legend of Clive O’Malley

The year was 1871. A cowboy named Clive O’Malley consumed the flesh of a small cactus to sustain himself on a South Texas trail following a successful cattle-thieving raid into siesta-torn Mexico. Soon, nightmarish visions of future wars and large-scale deforestation began to take hold. In oracle after oracle Clive warned of a blind and selfish people given to shameless, sick corporatism and savage disregard of life and land. Treasured riches would lactate with sulfur, the foul stench to singe its essence eternally into their souls. O’Malley’s ominous warnings and staunch assertions did not go unnoticed, especially by the local whores. Soon his chilling visions had garnered him a modest amount of celebrity status on both sides of the border. After his disappearance the Kickapoo Indian tribe even honored him with the name “Eagle Eyes” for his visionary prowess.

In July of that same year, without even collecting his wages, Clive spurred on his salty sorrel, Dr. Feelgood, out of cow camp and across to the south side of the river and rode off into the fading sunset, never to be heard from or seen again.

Townspeople around the Mexican city of Rio Bravo, however, have claimed since the early 1950′s to hear Dr. Feelgood’s defiant hoofbeats at night, pounding the sun-baked clay on the south bank where the river has since receded. To this day the local medicine men maintain that this paranormal presence is a resounding salute to the old pioneer spirit. An otherworldly protest to the exhaustion of both the land and the human spirit. One morning in July of 2006, the phrase “800 Mile Monday” was found newly scratched in the bedrock of the riverbed. Poor old Clive, what with his weary soul and all. We went and saw it for ourselves. I heard the hoofbeat. Haunting. Terrifying. Bone chilling. True story. With Clive’s permission, we found that to be an agreeable handle for our outfit. The songs we play are the real songs that Clive O’Malley sings to himself on those haunting late night rides along the old dried up banks of the river in the Rio Grande Valley.

Daniel Payne is a Countryblues / folk songwriter from the town of Lubbock, out in the west Texas high plains. His music has traditional country and folk roots and features an edge for compelling and original storytelling.

namespayne.com