Author/Musician WILLIE VLAUTIN is on tour in the UK!

[CarolMS]

Heads up, UK Litopians! I just discovered one of my favorite Portland, Oregon, novelists and musicians, Willie Vlautin, is currently on tour in your part of the world. Willie was not only the lead singer of the popular Oregon rock band, Richmond-Fontaine, and currently is with the band, The Delines, but he is also the author of multiple worth-reading novels--several of which have been made into feature films--including: The Motel Life, Lean on Pete, Don't Skip Out on Me, Northline, and The Free, and now a newly released novel called The Horse.

I'm giving him a shout out so that you might experience him introducing a new novel in the same way that I did when Lean on Pete was first published. He's an unusual guy, with a depth of "been there" authenticity that is at once everyday simple and sometimes profound. To look at him, dressed down in jeans and a bit weathered, you'd expect him to be kicking tires at some desolate old gas station out in the Nevada desert with sage brush blowing by. (He reminds me of the first time I saw playright and actor Sam Shephard reading from Buried Child many years ago.) And then he speaks, and reads from his novel, and plays some of his music--and he is so worth listening to. I heard him read from Lean on Pete at Portland's Powell's Books a while back. He brought his guitar, and another musician from his band, and alternated reading passages with singing the song he'd written that inspired the story. At the end of the reading, all 200+ of us in the audience (yes, for an author reading in a bookstore, but that's Powell's) were on our feet cheering. I don't know if he repeats such performances, but if there's a chance, you shouldn't miss it. Here's his UK schedule:

Tour Dates

• Mon 13 May. Brighton, Komedia. Willy Vlautin. ...
• Tue 14 May. Leeds, Brudenell Social Club. Willy Vlautin. ...
• Wed 15 May. Glasgow, Centre for Contemporary Arts (CCA) Willy Vlautin. ...
• Thu 16 May. Manchester, Band On The Wall. Willy Vlautin. ...
• Sat 18 May. London, EartH (Hackney Arts Centre) Willy Vlautin. ...
• Sun 19 May. Bristol Beacon.

Cheers!

 

[Peyton Stafford]

He sounds lovely. Could you share some online videos or posts to help us get us a sense of his artistry?

 

[CarolMS]

He sounds lovely. Could you share some online videos or posts to help us get us a sense of his artistry?

One link is to a video of a reading he did at the Lake Oswego Library. You'll see what I mean about his rough-hewn presentation coupled with unselfconscious personal authenticity. It's clear he's a guy who "gets" human experience because he's lived it, and he can convey it both in his writing and his music. That's why I like him.

The other link is to an album recorded when Richmond-Fonteyn was together. It includes the song "Don't Skip Out on Me," which is the one I heard him singing alternately with reading the novel by the same name (in my first post, I'd incorrectly recalled it as Lean on Pete, another of his novels, which became a movie). He has said that all his novels are inspired by songs he has written, and I have liked his songs because they are all such perceptive, human stories. It's the lyrics that matter.



You might be interested to know, Peyton, that he teaches at Pacific University's MFA in writing program.

Enjoy.

 

[Peyton Stafford]

That's my local library. I will listen later, when I can settle down and enjoy. Thank you @CarolMS!

 

[CarolMS]

That's my local library. I will listen later, when I can settle down and enjoy. Thank you @CarolMS!

And it's a library where I used to take my laptop and spend a lot of time during the ten years I lived in Cedar Mill. Lake Oswego is an area that reminds me of Marin County in the Bay Area, where I moved to Portland from (I lived in the village of Mill Valley, CA). There was a French cafe and boulangerie, La Provence, in Lake Grove I often enjoyed lunch at, or I'd pop over to Le Boulangerie St Honore when they opened in LO. Lovely community. Beautiful lake.