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NEWS for North Dakotans
Agriculture Communication, North Dakota State University
7 Morrill Hall, Fargo, ND 58105-5665
October 21, 1999
Tom Isern, Professor of History
North Dakota State University
©1999 Plains Folk
Promotional literature accompanying Chuck Suchy's new CD and tape, "Different Line of Time," labels him a "folksinger, farmer, songwriter, storyteller." Nowhere does the word "poet" appear. I suppose that would be a wet blanket on sales. Nevertheless, it's in the last cut on Side 1, "Indian Dreamer," that Chuck's voice as a poet arrives at its most sublime point heretofore.
Readers not yet familiar with Chuck's music--you should be, so read on--need to know that this is his fifth solo album (and there's one more with his family). He and Linda farm just south of Mandan. Chuck supports the farming habit with his concert and recording career. When people start turning to music as a more reliable income than farming, you know that farming is in bad shape. And then to be a poet, too, Lord how the money rolls in.
I'm looking at this photo of Chuck, where the crow's feet are turning into turkey feet, and trying to understand the deal with his second new song, "The Way You're Looking." Come to think of it, it goes right along with the first cut, "Dancin' in the Kitchen," a nifty two-step (where I find myself wishing for a little pedal steel). Chuck writes,
The kids might wonder
Let's keep `em guessin'
What goes on here
When they're gone
And then he says,
I really like the way I'm lookin'
The way I'm takin' on the years
I like my dancin' and my cookin'
I like the space between my ears.
Over the past two albums Chuck's music has been changing. People try to be polite, say he's broadening, but let's face it: the guy is old as dirt. And we're lucky for it, because his music these days tastes like the cask. No more white lightning--this is sipping music.
For instance, have you been to a class reunion lately? If so, then no doubt you made it a point to find out, as Chuck says,
Are the beauties all still beauties
True homecoming queens
Is the goal-line hero still the hero
In anybody's dream
But if you listen to the rest of "Before the Class Reunion," then you'll notice a lot more about such a gathering next time.
Now back to "Indian Dreamer." There is no Indian in the song, although there is an aboriginal didjeridoo. The Indian is an Indian motorcycle, treasure from the youth of Chuck's father, riding the hills of Morton County,
Feelin' thunder in his eyes
Wheels and wonder under Indian skies
Indian dreamer
Moon and machine
Man and motion
Indian dream
There is no moral to the story, no story in fact, any more than a didjeridoo has a tune. There is a moon, a man, a machine, a smile, and motion. It is pure experience of the senses. More and more, that's what counts.
Contact information for "Different Line of Time": Little Bluestem Records, 4845 20th Ave., Mandan, ND 58554, or telephone (701) 663-7682.
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Source: Tom Isern (701) 231-8339
Editor: Dean Hulse (701) 231-6136
Click here to download a photo of Tom Isern suitable
for printing.
(isern.tif - 512KB b&w photo)
Click here to download a photo of Tom Isern suitable for printing.
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