Raw, beautiful poetry, which works wonderfully when backed by similarly simple acoustic tunes.
Violinist and songwriter Tucker Zimmerman has lived in Belgium since 1970. Now in his 80s, he has maintained what one press release called “a level of obscurity”, which sees him appear on lists of most underrated artists.
He took a musical hiatus from 1984 until 1996 before returning to live performance and recording. He also writes poetry and fiction, and it’s those strands which inform the words on the opening song and de facto title track ‘River Barge’. Mojo described his music as “Arcadian folk surrealism,” and that’s a decent description of the slightly abstract violin and guitar backing behind this atmospheric poem.
Recorded in 2002, not long after returning to music, this album is a set of songs which were clearly Zimmerman trying out different aspects of writing and playing. ‘Old Hippies Lament’ has a Gallic feel to it, with accordion filling out the sound. His Californian sensibilities are still active even after so many years away from home, referencing Wavy Gravy and Ken Kesey, key figures in the 1960s counterculture.
‘Back Off Blues‘ includes synthesised strings behind a shuffle tune and feels like a slightly unrealised demo; more work on the arrangement would have allowed the strong song the space it needed to show itself off to best advantage.
And that is the trouble with other parts of the album. It feels underdeveloped. While understanding that it is a set of songs which may well have been sketches for further work and that the words are what matter here, it can be a less than fully satisfying listening experience in places. Where it works, on ‘River Barge,’ ‘Pretty Neat Guy,’ and ‘Room 47’, it’s sublime, and the poetry is without exception great. As his record company head Nick Holton says, “his sixty-year-old voice in fine form, mature, passionate, heartbreaking and strong. It’s just that some of the music leaves something to be desired. Some of the finest of his words are on ‘Beyond Belief’, but it’s again marred by an unnecessary synth sound which spoils the dark wooden sounds of the bass and guitar, and the intimate quality of his voice.”
Holton clearly believes passionately in his artist, quoting a line from ‘Beyond Belief’, “We’re all so delicate and fragile it’s beyond belief,” written by the 60-year-old Song Poet as he casts his eye over what it is to be alive. The sentiment articulates the soul of this collection. He is correct in saying that “delicate and fragile” are exactly the words for the best of these songs. While he clearly had to work with the tapes he was given to curate the album from, it’s just a shame that, in places, the source material could have been better. If it was being recorded in 2025, I’m sure the synth would be banished to a cupboard and the raw, simple beauty of his poetry allowed to stand on its own merits.
Listening to some of Zimmerman’s other albums, he clearly deserves the tag of badly underrated, and it may be better to start with those records and work back to this album.
