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A NEW RELEASE—Now Available—SPOKEN WORD WITH MUSIC
SNOW HAS FALLEN by YOUNG & YATA
Sample now at http://cdbaby.com/cd/youngandyata
Early Praise for SNOW HAS FALLEN
In a truly artistic fashion, Yata and Young weave a musi-poetic
fabric in which the combined whole is greater than the sum of its parts.
Unlike other's attempts at the melding of poetry and music, neither artists' material takes overwhelming precedence,
resulting in a beautiful unity of purpose and intent which seeps through on
many levels. This is a wonderful recording, and The "Musician
Married" is very touching. You should listen with wide-open ears.
…..Dan Cavanagh, jazz composer, pianist, big band leader, Arlington, Texas
Sea Breeze Jazz label recording artist of Pulse, 2008
For decades Timothy Young has
pursued the music of poetry, while Yata Peinovich’s songwriting has consistently showcased a
poet's sensibility. What luck for us listeners that these two heart-minstrels
should meet and combine their talents in this deeply felt and richly
modulated collection of poem-songs. Their unique
delivery, equal parts rocksalt and honey, is as
refreshing and joyful as a drive through Wisconsin's
Mississippi River bluff country in late
spring.
…..Thomas R. Smith, poet & musician, River Falls, Wisconsin
author
of Waking
before Dawn, 2007
We know that Timothy Young is
some kind of rare Irish Tiger, semi-mythical, with a fondness for kindling
and heading out of town before dawn. His poetry has the sharpened tips of a
hunter, but he laces the stalk of his arrows with honeysuckle and brandy,
so that we make ourselves willing targets. He is an emerging and brilliant
performer of the spoken word, and carries something very ancient with him.
SNOW HAS FALLEN is a raw, deep and precious thing.
Its top branches are singed by firebirds wings and its roots are in ancient
clay. Sell the car, make love by rivers, befriend impossible odds-its messages
take hold like a heavy wine your grandmother warned you about.
Young and Yata are soulful outlaws giving away treasure from the Temple. This CD is absolutely superb-My Heart is Your Home is going to
become the anthem of some kind of new movement just stirring in the land.
There is something new happening here, I sense trouble. Best record of 2008
I'll wager.
….Martin Shaw,
mythologist, storyteller
& musician, Devon, UK
author
of A Branch from the
Lightning Tree, 2008
These are poems rooted in the
realities of life; poems that do not flinch from the truth, but look deeply
into it to find nourishment and joy. The best work here has both grit and
shine, and recklessly seeks beauty among the scars. I love Pilgrimage especially, a terrific
piece.
….Jay Leeming, poet & musician, Ithaca,
New York
author
of Dynamite on a China Plate, 2006
The best of Tim Young's poems
read as though they have been written by a geographer who has just emerged
from mapping the interior bones of the earth…..His words are set off
brightly by the soulful and sparkling music of Yata
Peinovich…….. Take a walk on the bright side of
the moon with the poems and music of Timothy Young, Yata
Peinovich and friends.
…..Lyle Daggett, poet and publisher of the blog A Burning Patience,
from the poetry blog……..
"And,
in the dawn, armed with a burning patience, we shall enter the splendid
cities." -- Arthur Rimbaud
Tuesday, May 06, 2008
And sing against the cold
In the mail last week came Snow Has Fallen, a CD of poems and
songs by Timothy Young and Yata Peinovich. I've known Tim Young for many years by
now; this was my first introduction to Yata Peinovich. The poems and music on this disk are a great
pleasure and delight to listen to.
Whether reading his work on the page or hearing him read it out loud, I've
always liked Tim Young's willingness to let go of all harnesses, cast away
fear, and jump into a poem all at once. He has written much about the joy
and difficulty in men and women trying to relate with each other, the heat
and the coolness, the great dance and, sometimes, the wound. Many of his
poems reach into the connections between deep pain and intimacy and the
public events and occasions of the larger world.
If someone touched you
wrongly,
if you weep through the night
if your life is a river of sadness
MY HEART IS YOUR HOME,
MY HEART IS YOUR HOME,
If brown clouds are rising and the sun's fading too fast
If the water's dark and angry
If you're losing your work, your children are crying
If your home is no longer your castle
If you don't own your soul
If you're looking for a way out
If you're ready to hold and be held
MY HEART IS YOUR HOME,
YOUR HEART IS MY HOME ...
(From
the poem "My Heart Is Your Home" on the above CD.)
Over the years, here in Minneapolis,
I've taken part in various poetry writing and performing groups, sometimes
impromptu, sometimes organized with intention. I've lost count of the
number of times I've gathered with poet friends in a church basement, a
small bookstore, a hippie cafe after closing time, to read poems and beat
and tap on various drums and bells and woodblocks, improvising our way
through another joyfully disheveled night. Bare pipes and concrete walls
and thinned-out rugs, a used couch in the corner on its last legs. Tim was
frequently among us in our mixed-bag gatherings. I recall one evening at
the Seward Cafe on East Franklin Avenue in Minneapolis when he showed up
with a buffalo bone he'd found in a gravel pit somewhere outside the city.
He used it to thump on a large round drum all evening.
The old man pulls the blues
from deep in the earth
His licks are twinkling
like old sea fossils
asleep in a limestone bed.
There's no traffic in this small town
so I stand in the middle of the street
The moon's a bone over the road.
Tonight no dogs will sleep.
(From the poem "Best
Blues," again from the CD Snow Has Fallen.)
The best of Tim Young's poems read as though they have been written by a
geographer who has just emerged from mapping the interior bones of the
earth. My thanks to Tim for sending the disk of poems and song. His words
are set off brightly by the soulful and sparkling music of Yata Peinovich (vocals and
guitars), Bruce Hecksel (guitars, bass and
percussion), Dalyce Elliott playing exquisite
violin, and the various others who have contributed.
Take a walk on the bright side of the moon with the poems and music of
Timothy Young, Yata Peinovich
and friends.
# posted by Lyle Daggett @ 8:23 PM 
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From left, poet Timothy Young,
songwriter Bryce Black and guitarist Yata Peinovich have released two albums, "Snow Has
Fallen" and "Sheer Caffeine."
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Staff photo by Troy Espe
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Mixing
it up
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By Troy Espe
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Leader-Telegram
staff
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Arkansaw guitarist Yata
Peinovich has collaborated on two new albums
with two different styles.
"Snow Has
Fallen" is a spoken-word album that navigates the aging process. "Sheer
Caffeine" extols the versatility of baler twine.
Although subject matters
differ, the albums showcase gifted songwriters, Peinovich
said.
"Both of them are
masterful with words," he said. "We're really happy with the
results."
Peinovich, 55, recorded "Snow Has
Fallen" with Minnesota
poet Timothy Young. The disc contains 11 spoken poems set to background
music. Peinovich sings on three tracks.
The album addresses
relationships, love and grief.
"They all deal with
being an older man in this culture," said Young, 58, of Bloomington.
Young wrote the lyrics
while Peinovich composed the music. The men met
to sync notes and verses.
"It was a pure
collaboration," said Young, formerly of Stockholm. "All the poems are
structured as song, which is unique for spoken word."
"Snow Has
Fallen" is Young's second poetry CD. He taught juveniles at the
Minnesota Correctional Facility in Red Wing before retiring in 2004.
Peinovich recorded "Sheer Caffeine"
with Arkansaw songwriter Bryce Black. The disc
contains novelty songs about mad cow disease and dinosaur chickens.
Black didn't settle for
cheap laughs, he said.
"A lot of the songs
have a satirical element," he said. "The wordplay is fairly
sophisticated. There are lot of images and metaphors that are not
trite."
Black, 56, delves into
contemplative issues on songs such as "Loving the Questions"
and "Stone Goose."
"We get the
ridiculous and the sublime," said Black, who restores windmills on a
60-acre farm. "That's who I am."
Black wrote the lyrics
and melodies. He also sings on the album. Peinovich
provides guitar, mandolin and vocal harmonies.
Both albums were
recorded at Cricket Studios in Maiden Rock. Studio owner Bruce Hecksel, who is half of the popular folk duo
Patchouli, mixed the CDs and played several instruments on the two discs.
"There's a river
theme," Peinovich said. "We could
look out the window when we were recording, and we could see the Mississippi."
Peinovich, Young and Black are longtime
friends. They often played together during White Pine open mic shows in Downsville.
Peinovich, who has recorded seven albums and
played on "A Prairie Home Companion" radio show, approached
Young and Black about making the albums.
"Sheer
Caffeine" was released in February. "Snow Has Fallen" came
out this month. The three men are holding concerts to promote the CDs.
"It was one of
those happy accidents," Peinovich said.
"The main thing for me is working with great lyrics. That's why I
like working with these two guys."
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Jazz studies produces a ‘Pulse’
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Written
by Zabrina Ransom, The Shorthorn Scene writer
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Wednesday, 05 March 2008
07:19 PM
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Assistant professor of Music Dan Cavanagh,
foreground,
listens to playback of a vocal overdub recorded by
poet,
Timothy Young, background, on Monday at Crystal
Clear
Studios in Dallas.
Cavanagh's band, the Jazz Emporium
Big Band, is recording tracks for their first album.
The Shorthorn: Michael Rettig
With his son cradled in his
arms, Dan Cavanagh walks into his office and
hands him to his mother-in-law.
A keyboard, PBS home video on jazz, music sheets and other material that
accent his career as a musician
and professor cluttered his office.
It’s a busy schedule for the
jazz studies assistant director and music assistant professor. His day
continued
when he picked up musicians from the airport that
afternoon to play in his latest project.
The musicians and a poet came
to record a big band jazz album Sunday as part of the Dan Cavanagh Jazz Emporium
Big Band, a group Cavanagh recently formed.
The album, releasing next fall,
is mostly instrumental with the exception of a poet’s spoken word and
features
original compositions that Cavanagh
wrote. The title, Pulse, came from one of the songs he wrote
for Virginia
Tech University.
Assistant professor of Music Dan Cavanagh,
left,
goes over tracks recorded for his band's album
with visiting assistant professor Micah Hayes,
right,
at Crystal Clear Studios. The
band's album,
tentatively titled Pulse, will be the first album
Cavanagh has released on a record label.
The Shorthorn: Michael Rettig
“As
a musician, my research involves creative activity like playing concerts
and writing music, and this is a combination of
a two-year project that I have been working on,” Cavanagh
said. For him, the album brings entertainment and academic work. “It’s part of my scholarly
activities,” he said. “That’s not the only thing, of course.”
The band comprises 22
musicians including saxophone player Tim Ishii, music associate professor
and jazz studies director, and others on trombone, trumpet, piano and
bass drums. The group performed eight songs on the album.
Some
band members worked with Cavanagh during his
years as a traveling jazz musician. Others attended college with him and
two are his former teachers.
Cavanagh’s
uncle Tim Young, retired teacher and poet from Minnesota, recited his poem with the
working title, “Mississippi Ecstasy,” over music on the album. The poem
is based on a trip to the Mississippi River
he took in 2006.
Though Young performed with
music for at least 25 years, he said this was the first time he had read
his poetry with a jazz Big Band.
“I wanted to be apart of that cutting edge of jazz,” he said.
Ishii collaborated with Cavanagh in choosing which musicians would best suit
the album. The two have played together many times before this project.
“It’s just a great honor to be
included,” Ishii said.
The professionals are not
alone. Aspiring musicians also have a hand in the project — two trombone
players are students.
Music senior Haley Kitts
studied with Cavanagh for three semesters and
said he influenced her jazz writing. One of her pieces premiered at the
Texas Music Educators Association Convention and she said it wouldn’t
have been written without his help.“I
think that he is extremely innovative,” she said. “His music is along the
line of modern jazz.”
Pulse is the first record Cavanagh made that was signed to a record label, Sea
Breeze Jazz Records. He has been part of other musical projects including
The Dan Cavanagh Trio, a piano trio he led in
the Metroplex accompanied by a drummer and
bassist and The Dan Cavanagh Ensemble, a jazz
and creative music group.
“This isn’t your swing jazz music of the 1940s anymore,” Cavanagh said. “There’s some
rock influences, some classical influences as well as the traditional
jazz influences.”
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Four musicians and a poet create a special
performance
Story by: Elizabeth White Contributor to The Shorthorn
The Shorthorn: Megumi Rooze
Timothy
Young left, recites poetry as Jazz Studies
Director Tim
Ishii, right, and Dan Cavanagh, jazz
studies assistant director, provide music Thursday
at Irons Recital Hall.
The
sound of drums and a bass guitar pounded like the rhythm of a heartbeat
through Irons Recital Hall as four musicians and a poet performed Thursday
night.
Poet Timothy Young recited from his
collection of poems as a jazz quartet played original music composed by Dan
Cavanagh, assistant director of jazz studies, for
50 people. They played 10 pieces during the hour-long performance.
Tim Ishii, associate professor
and jazz studies director, played several saxophones throughout the night
and UTA alumnus Jaime Reyes played drums to accompany the poet.
International business junior
Chris Carfa, who played bass for the concert,
described the performance as experimental. He said Ishii asked him to play
for the concert because he is in the Jazz Orchestra and a family friend. Carfa, 21, started playing bass about 10 years ago.
Poet and musicians traded the
spotlight throughout the performance, some pieces instrumental, others just
poetry. One piece, titled “A Small Harmonica,” featured Ishii on soprano
saxophone as Young spoke of being a god’s harmonica.
Music Education sophomore Denise
Richards thought the performance was different.
“If something like this happened
again, I would go,” she said.
The poetry subjects ranged from
Young’s work at a juvenile correction facility to crows, kisses and coffee.
Young acknowledged poets who
influenced him, like Walt Whitman. The last piece of the night was “Homage
to Whitman.”
Cavanagh,
who composed the music specifically for this performance, said it went
well.
“It was wonderful, even though
there were loose moments like any jazz concert,” he said. “I hope there
will be more performances like this, but it’s a matter of making it
happen.”
Carfa
said the concert was fantastic and that it was a good opportunity to expand
his musical experiences.
“It was great to push the limits
on what I’ve done,” he said. “It was odd, but fun.”
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Thousands Press introduces a book of poems by
Timothy Young.
Building in Deeper Water by Timothy Young
Here's a book full of nourishing darkness: Timothy Young’s Building in Deeper Water. The title comes
from a poem about a pair of beavers “who were too young/ [and] built a
lodge in the wrong place”, and eventually learned “the way to live…having
built in deeper water.” Young is a longtime resident of rural Wisconsin, and earns
his living by teaching juvenile offenders at the Minnesota Correctional
Facility in Red Wing. He is clearly a man who values depth, and that is
evident throughout his book. The poems here frequently take small, daily
moments and open them into larger realities. They are lived-through,
honest, and rarely overdone. A good example is the closing stanza from his
poem “Wild Plum”:
When all the plums are in
you can cook the flesh for jam
and dry the pits for a rattle.
But you still have to live with the thorns.
This quiet, soulful manner is one of the books great
strengths. The natural world is a constant presence in these poems, whether
it’s a pig’s head in a ditch or eagles soaring over a river. Yet the poems
feel more “of” than “about” nature, for they do not stand to the side but
involve themselves in their subjects. His poem “Walking After Breakfast” begins
with a characteristic weaving of the inner and the outer worlds:
Sometimes between the
cardinal’s first whistle
and the bee’s morning hum,
a man hears the answer to a question
he forgot to ask.
It is a pleasure to read poems so involved in the natural
world, that do not cross-examine blizzards or oak
trees but simply take their own place in the larger universe of which we
are all a part. The poem from which the book’s title comes describes how,
after diving into the swamp, the beavers “emerge with a sweet root.” Tim
Young has done his own diving over the years, and the result is this rich,
honest book, full of deeply rooted sweetness.
--Jay Leeming, poet
review in Free Verse, October 2003
Lake Pepin,
Mississippi River, Wisconsin, left and Minnesota, right
Rural Stockholm
poet is building in deeper water with the release of new book
Timothy Young of rural Stockholm
recently had his book of poems published by The Thousands Press of
Minneapolis. The poems, many set in Pepin
County and the Mississippi bluff area, examine the deeper
relationships the author has with the land, animal life and his family.
The book, Building in Deeper Water,
is receiving favorable reviews from established poets and writers. One poem
in the selection, A Thread of Sunlight, was included among the Best
American Poems of 1999 by Scribner Books.
The nationally recognized poet, Robert Bly,
who provided an introduction for the book, writes that this book has a
lived life in it. Bly says, This is superb
writing about relationships, and such writing is a rare gift among men.
Young writes intimate love poems for his wife. He also writes poems on
marriage as a continuing mystery. There are also poems on the nature of
marital conflicts. For instance, In the Middle of an Argument he writes:
Here on the bluffs.
we’ve had practice dealing with storms.
I must resist the wind, just a bit,
push against it, and yield slowly,
so we close the door together.
This book teems with wildlife, farm animals, creeks, storms and the
natural world, and it honors the physical hardiness necessary for rural
life. Thomas Smith of River Falls and a western Wisconsin
native says, “Building in Deeper Water
welcomes the reader into the preserve of a poet who has built his literary
house in the depths of nature and culture.” Smith is the author of three
books of poetry and is poetry editor for the nationally renowned Ruminator
Review.
Young approaches his subject matter with open eyes. He addresses
emotional dilemmas, such as when his wife sends her hand-raised cattle off
to slaughter, with a style that is neither maudlin, nor brutish. In the
poem, When Hunters Rise, Young compares deer hunters with spiritual men.
So few know this hour as well as hunters maybe monks, surely a prayerful
shaman
(The hunter) understands the fundament of life: something dies so
another can live. We know this because when night goes to day the sun kills
the stars in the sky.
Young also writes quirky poems such as A Wooden Cutout of an Old Woman’s
Backside which playfully says that our garden ornaments suggest the nature
of our religious beliefs.
In the October issue of Free Verse, a literary publication from
Marshfield, Wisconsin, New York poet, Jay Leeming,
reviews the book and writes, The poems take small, daily moments and opent them into larger realities. They are
lived-through, honest and rarely overdone. Leeming
goes on, Youngs gentle, Robert Frost-like way of
approaching a subject is to be learned from and admired.
--The Courier-Wedge
Durand, Wisconsin
November 27, 2003
I'm glad to welcome this book into the community of poets. This book has
a "lived life" in it. This is superb writing about relationships,
and such writing is a rare gift among men. This man is able to bless
nature. There's no rural sentimentality.
--Robert Bly
author of The Night Abraham Called to the Stars
Building in Deeper Water welcomes
the reader into the preserve of a poet who has built his literary house in
the depths of nature and culture. Tim Young's imagination remains faithful
to the body and to earth. Every poem in this powerfully physical first book
honors both light and darkness, life and death,
the visible worlds and the invisible.
--Thomas Smith
author of The Dark Indigo Current
Books like Tim Young's Building in Deeper Water might signal the
long awaited beginning of a Euro-American awareness for the need to
continually prepare feasts…. that feed the Divine Female in Nature.
--Martin Prechtel
author of The Toe Bone and the Tooth:
An Ancient Mayan Story Relived in Modern Times
___________________________
This is sophisticated, deeply imaginative poetry done in
a distinctly American idiom. In
Building
in Deeper Water, by
Timothy Young (The Thousands Press) there is a kindness and a wisdom and a generosity of spirit that I deeply
admire. I’ll be keeping this book
close at hand for a long time.
--Robert Edwards
author of American Sounds,
a book of poems, and the publisher of Pemmican on-line magazine.
Friday, January 09, 2004, The River Falls Journal
BOOK REPORT: Listen: Hear the written words of the bards, the
best way to ‘read’ poetry
By Dave Wood
Newspaper book reviewers don’t often review
poetry with the same enthusiasm as fiction and non-fiction. There’s a
reason for that - actually several reasons. First, newspapers aim for a large readership and many
readers have little interest in poetry, judging from book sales in the
various genres. Second,
much poetry these days is not “public” poetry, as was written in the 18th
and 19th centuries, when poets celebrated the deaths or the accomplishments
of great leaders. And
finally, I suspect that poetry doesn’t yield itself to easy review on the
printed page, but shines brighter when experienced aurally. So today,
we’ll celebrate two area poets, one young and one old, by printing a chunk
of each poet’s work. So the best way to read this column is to read it
aloud to your family, the way poetry should be enjoyed.
Our younger poet is Wisconsin
teacher Timothy Young, who is accessible and writes poems about ordinary
life, as in this poem, “My Wife Loading Her Cattle” from his new book “Building in Deeper Water” (The Thousands Press, $10):
Before 5 a.m. in late November
she stepped into the deep mouth of the trailer
and sweetly called to her cattle.
“Come on, boys, look what I have for you.”
Sniffing the metal and blackness before them
twin steers backed away from her beckon.
I squeezed a stall gate against the smaller one’s ribs
‘til he leaped toward her
voice and went in.
“Good boy. Good boy.”
The second steer turned and kicked on the pivot,
his brown bulk confused by her words.
He resisted the driver’s twist of his tail
but finally had to jump into darkness.
“It’s OK, baby.”
And his mother offered him corn.
The door trembled, the trailer door slammed,
something rumbled in the muscles and meat.
My wife wept as her Cattle Boys left
to the Watkins Locker in Plum City.
She said nothing more, and neither did I,
then we both drove off to work.”
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BUILDING IN DEEPER WATER
By Timothy Young
Published by The Thousands Press
68 pages. $10.00
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Timothy Young
10040 Penn Ave. So.
#8
Bloomington,
MN 55431
952-886-0984
tim@twoboots.net
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