It's An Actuality: Light in the Attic Uncovers Treasure Trove of Lee Hazlewood Demos

It’s An Actuality: Light in the Attic Uncovers Treasure Trove of Lee Hazlewood Demos

Light in the Attic is continuing its expansive archival series dedicated to the music of maverick Lee Hazlewood with a new collection of previously unreleased demos on CD and LP. 400 Miles from L.A. 1955-56 takes listeners back to Hazlewood’s early days in Phoenix, Arizona, sharpening his skills as a songwriter, producer, and artist. The set is due on September 13.

Lost for over 60 years, the 24 recordings on 400 Miles from L.A. date from the period in which Hazlewood shuttled back and forth from Phoenix (where he worked as a disk jockey) to Los Angeles in the hopes of selling a hit record. Among the demos heard here are a clutch of songs that constitute an early draft of Hazlewood’s 1963 conceptual masterwork Trouble Is a Lonesome Town (reissued and expanded by LITA back in 2013) as well as never-before-released compositions and tracks later reworked by the artist such as “The Old Man and His Guitar.” The package is adorned with a replica label for Viv Records, the label found by Hazlewood in Arizona.

The 2-LP set has been pressed at RTI and is housed in a Stoughton tip-on jacket. Both the CD and LP packages have been mastered from the original Viv Records analog tapes, and contain new liner notes by Hazlewood historian Hunter Lea including an interview with Arizona music scholar John Dixon. The Light In The Attic Online Exclusive Bundle (available only at LightInTheAttic.net) has the LP pressed on colored vinyl plus a set Hazlewood collectibles created especially for this release: a travel journal, 18″x 24″ silkscreen print, a shot glass, and a groovy set of “Labels of Lee” drink coasters, all crafted in cooperation with the Hazlewood estate.

Amazon links aren’t yet available, but we will add as soon as they go live. In the meantime, pre-orders are open directly from Light in the Attic, and you can peruse the track listing below! 400 Miles from L.A. 1955-56 is due on CD, vinyl, and digital platforms on September 13.

Lee Hazlewood, 400 Miles from L.A. 1955-56 (Light in the Attic, 2019) (Amazon Links TBD)

Cross Country Bus
The Woman I Love
Five Thousand and One
Lonesome Day
A Lady Called Blues
Five More Miles to Folsom
Fort Worth
The Old Man and His Guitar
Peculiar Guy
Long Black Train
I Guess It’s Love
It’s An Actuality
Buying On Time
The Country Bus Tune
Long Black Train
Run Boy Run
Big Joe Slade
Son of a Gun
Georgia Chain Gang
Look At That Woman
Peculiar Guy
The Railroad Song
Six Feet of Chain
Trouble Is A Lonesome Town

Joe Marchese

JOE MARCHESE (Editor) joined The Second Disc shortly after its launch in early 2010, and has since penned daily news and reviews about classic music of all genres. In 2015, Joe formed the Second Disc Records label. Celebrating the great songwriters, producers and artists who created the sound of American popular song and beyond, Second Disc Records, in conjunction with labels including Real Gone Music and Cherry Red Records, has released newly-curated collections produced and annotated by Joe from iconic artists such as Dionne Warwick, Diana Ross and The Supremes, Smokey Robinson and The Miracles, The Spinners, Johnny Mathis, Bobby Darin, Meat Loaf, Laura Nyro, Melissa Manchester, Liza Minnelli, Darlene Love, Al Stewart, Michael Nesmith, and many others.

Joe has written liner notes, produced, or contributed to over 200 reissues from a diverse array of artists, among them America, JD Souther, Nat "King" Cole, Paul Williams, Lesley Gore, Dusty Springfield, BJ Thomas, The 5th Dimension, Burt Bacharach, The Mamas and the Papas, Carpenters, Perry Como, Rod McKuen, Doris Day, Jackie DeShannon, Petula Clark, Robert Goulet, and Andy Williams.

Over the past two decades, Joe has also worked in a variety of capacities on and off Broadway as well as at some of the premier theatres in the U.S., including Lincoln Center Theater, George Street Playhouse, Paper Mill Playhouse, Long Wharf Theatre, and the York Theatre Company. He has felt privileged to work on productions alongside artists such as the late Jack Klugman, Eli Wallach, Arthur Laurents, Betty Comden and Adolph Green. In 2009, Joe began contributing theatre and music reviews to the print publication The Sondheim Review, and in 2012, he joined the staff of The Digital Bits as a regular contributor writing about film and television on DVD and Blu-ray.

Joe currently resides in the suburbs of New York City.