Ted Hawkins & The Michael Messer Band

November 2003 update - both of these albums are out of print

'Nowhere To Run'
Catfish Records

Photograph by Dave Peabody©

'Nowhere To Run' is a full studio album of 10 original Hawkins songs recorded in the
 spring of 1989 in London that have never been extensively available to fans until now.

They capture Ted at the peak of his powers working with the talented Michael Messer Band
(rather than as solo or with session musicians as he has previously been heard).
 Messer also co-produced the album with Hawkins, and it is undeniably
 the most widely accessible collection of songs Ted ever recorded.

The album acts as a stepping-stone from the Venice Beach busking Ted Hawkins
 to the fully fledged studio artist who went on to score massive success with the Geffen Records  release
'The Next Hundred Years', in fact many people believe that this album acted as the blueprint for that release.

Press Quotes:

Net Rhythms review
Rediscovered by Andy Kershaw in the mid 80s, the Biloxi born singer and sometime jailbird
had a voice that sounded like Sam Cooke reincarnated, ideally suited to the world weary 
soulful folk blues that formed a large extent of his repertoire. Under Kershaw's championing, 
Hawkins got to release or re-release a clutch of wonderful albums throughout the 80s, 
touring the UK where he had found a far more appreciative audience than back home in America, 
before returning to Venice Beach in 89. In 1994 he signed to Geffen and seemed to be on
 the bring of a major breakthrough when fate played its cruel hand and he died of a stroke. 
What remains though is a collection of timeless albums and an army of fans dedicated to keeping
his memory alive. Musician Michael Messer is one such and it was he who produced this 1989 set, 
originally released to almost instant obscurity as I Love You Too, but rescued and put back 
on the shelves where it belongs last year thanks to Messer's efforts. Featuring Baby, 
the first song Hawkins ever wrote, it's a typical warm, easy on the ear set as he 
works his way through love songs, songs about being stuck in jail, about fickle success, 
and even a medley of nursery rhymes rearranged to bring out deeper, personal meanings and emotions. 
Who'd have thought London Bridge is Falling Down could sound so heartbreaking. Like Dollar Tree, 
it also ripples with the Caribbean palm wine music influence of SE Rogie, while Ding Dong Ding 
veins an African coloured Bo Diddley riff into a Buddy Holly sounding melody and Who Do You Love 
(one of Hawkins' many devotional songs) gently ripples with a reggae beat while sounding like 
Cooke at his silkiest. Hawkins said I Love You Too was his favourite album, a sentiment 
you'll likely be inclined to share.
Mike Davies

Amazon.co.uk Review
Hawkins has always been a figure on the periphery of the modern blues world
 and Nowhere To Run does little to reposition him. The first two tracks feature reggae treatments
 that would not have disgraced Bob Marley, and only on track three do we get some down-home blue notes.
 After that there are a string of songs that echo various soul and gospel singers,
 most notably Sam Cooke and Al Green. Hawkins wrote and performed
 very simple material and did it feelingly: this is no doubt part of his charm
 for his worldwide audience.  After that, Hawkins combines both the reggae and the folk
 traditions in a series of tunes that have a naïve charm, especially if the listener is willing
 enough to suspend disbelief on such tracks as "Nursery Rhymes" and "Ding Dong Ding".
 Perhaps Hawkins is the true successor to Joseph Spence.
 If so, then he is closer to folk than blues, so if that's where you sit, this will be for you.
 Keith Shadwick

Nowhere To Run captures Hawkins at the peak of his powers working with
the excellent Michael Messer Band, who also co-produced the album. Full marks
to the Michael Messer Band for their work on this accessible and thoroughly enjoyable album
Dave Drury

 A 'must-get' Ted Hawkins album, 28 September, 2001
Reviewer: A music fan from Hull, UK
Where has this wonderful album been since it was recorded in 1989?
While I still think 'The next hundred years' is Teds best album, this one comes a very close second.
 Ted Hawkins had (he died in 1995 or 6) one of the richest and most powerful voices
 I have ever heard. To hear him live, his first vocal note commanded instant attention from the audience.
This album scores highly on the fact that ALL the songs are written by Ted Hawkins
 (apart from his own version of 'nursery rhymes', but like you've never heard before).
Every song is well put together, some fantastic slide playing in there 
(check out Michael Messer recordings while on-line!).
If you like Ted Hawkins, you MUST BUY this one.
 If you've never heard of Ted Hawkins, now is the time to find out what you're missing!
Amazon.co.uk


Photograph by Dave Peabody©

Ted Hawkins & Michael Messer - 1989 -photograph by 'Kath'©

Photograph by Dave Peabody©

Ted at The Bluebird Café Nashville Tennessee - 1993
photograph by Alan Messer©


The Unstoppable Ted Hawkins
Catfish Records

This 17-track album was recorded at the Mean Fiddler, London, in December 1988.
 Previously unreleased, the recordings here show just how impressive this man's talent was.
 This set hosts an eclectic mix of covers ranging from 'Zip-pe-de-doo-dah' to a beautiful version
 of the seminal 'Dock Of The Bay', as well as some of Ted's own compositions.
It will be a joy to anyone familiar with Ted's work and also for those who simply appreciate good music.

The package contains previously unseen photographs of Ted and 
shots of original tour memorabilia including hand written set lists and lyric sheets

Press Quotes:

"Ted Hawkins is without peer...as an interpreter of the far-flung American songbook...a revelation."
No Depression

“First contact with Hawkins' music was alternately joyful and bewildering.
The Unstoppable Ted Hawkins brings it all back. Here was a singer with
 a voice to die for, a Sam Cooke risen from the grave,
by turns pleading and positive, wistful and wily. But the songbook in his head was unique, 
a great fat scrapbook of soul and R&B and country, everything from ‘Dock of the Bay’
 and ‘Let the Good Times Roll’ to ‘Your Cheating Heart’ and, good grief, ‘Country Roads’
 - mingled with pieces of his own, odd yet gripping and hard to forget, such as ‘Watch Your Step’
 and ‘The Lost Ones’. All these and a dozen or so more are gathered in the warm 
embrace of a show Hawkins gave, alone with his guitar, one winter night in 1988,
 at London's Mean Fiddler club. He died a few years later, but this informal recording,
 issued here for the first time, conjures up more than a ghost of his
 good-humoured and immensely likeable presence.”
Amazon.co.uk

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