With Hooks, By Crook(ston)

Writer’s passions play out in story songs about life’s journeys

Georgia O'Keeffe always did what she wanted, reasons Joe Crookston. She painted without regard for the conventions of her time. She painted the American Southwest when no one else did, and she was a strong female presence in a sea of male contemporaries.

"She embodies this willingness to do what she wanted," says Crookston, who also paints.

FAQ

Joe Crookston

WHEN — 2 p.m. today for a screening of “Blue Tattoo”; 7 p.m. today for a public concert

WHERE — Fayetteville Public Library

COST — Free

INFO — faylib.org or joecrookston.com

Of course, that's not what he's best known for. Crookston is an accomplished folk singer, and he tours the country telling others' stories via song. He performed last year as part of the Fayetteville Roots Festival. His return visit, which included two days of workshops, concludes today with a 2 p.m. screening of a documentary called "Blue Tattoo" and a 7 p.m. public concert. Both events take place at the Fayetteville Public Library.

For his latest album, "Georgia, I'm Here," he has taken a cue from O'Keeffe, the late, great American painter.

"It's a nod to her spirit," Crookston says by phone prior to his upcoming concert. "I'm going to put out some art and see where it lands."

"Georgia I'm Here" works as an exercise in exploration, perhaps in the way Bob Dylan's forays into gospel music were the artist taking a simultaneously personal and commercial risk.

"It's an experience in new ways of writing," Crookston says of the new album. Instead of the laser focus on the human subjects that serve as the backbone of his older material, Crookston says he's instead invested more in the sonic arrangement. The ways are sometimes overt but sometimes as subtle as the addition of slide guitar. That's one of many sonic levels Crookston adds to the album: He also plays guitar, violin, banjo, resonator guitar and piano. No Depression magazine called the album "a spiritually inflected gem, (that) delivers coherent and crystal clear snapshots from life's journey."

Of course, Crookston will never venture too far from story songs. An afternoon film screening at the library will show just how important capturing stories is to him.

The film documents the process of Crookston meeting, researching and finally writing a song about Dina Jacobson, a Holocaust survivor. He tried the song many ways, but he was finally struck by the idea to tell it from Jacobson's daughter's perspective. It focuses on the blue tattoo, the one the Nazis used to identify her. The documentary debuted in May at the Buffalo International Jewish Film Festival. With today's screening, FPL visitors will become only the second group to watch the film.

He's proud of the song, Crookston says, particularly because it shifts focus to those who deserve it.

"I feel proud it honored her and her daughter and didn't involve me," he says.

Watching the documentary reminded him of his passion for telling stories.

"It deepened my commitment to what I do," he says, even if what he does is somewhat in flux at the present time.

He is certain he'll enjoy his return to Fayetteville, a community he "completely fell in love with" upon his visit just less than a year ago. His public show tonight, he says, will be hilarious, fun and feature a high level of intensity.

That's something the audience gets to participate in.

"I'm still making a choice to see the beautiful," Crookston says. "Let's create."

NAN What's Up on 07/11/2014

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