Willy Vlautin at Earth

An Evening With Willy Vlautin

EartH, 18 May 2024

At the start of this special evening with Willy Vlautin, celebrating the release of his new book The Horse, compere Gideon Coe spoke about how eagerly he awaited each new Willy Vlautin novel, how he wants to savour it but greedily finishes it too quickly and then can't wait for the next one, knowing it will probably be another four years before it's released. I've always felt the same way about Vlautin's books and it was strange to hear someone express exactly how I've always felt about his work. Given the place was packed tonight, it's pretty obvious myself and Coe are not the only ones that feel this way.

Vlautin is of course also a pretty amazing singer-songwriter and musician, and being a fan of his band Richmond Fontaine is what led me to discover his books in the first place, in fact I know I only picked up his first novel, The Motel Life, because I was a fan of his music. The group has since disbanded and Vlautin now plays with The Delines (who I've yet to see live but plan to the next time they come through), but the last time I saw Richmond Fontaine live I wrote on this blog how much in love I was with Vlautin's words, whether it was in his novels or the lyrics to his music. He's always been a storyteller who beautifully and compassionately tells tales of ordinary and desperate folk, usually set in casino towns in West America.

There's few authors I've felt so connected to, whose beliefs and traumas I have felt so deeply. Carson McCullers' The Heart Is A Lonely Hunter is another that comes to mind, but Vlautin's work connects to me every time, plus he is a living, breathing modern author, whose work I can look forward to and who mirrors the times we live in. Many people say we should be grateful we existed at the same time as say, Bowie or Prince, but I feel lucky to exist at the same time as Vlautin and to get to read his work as brand new living things.

So, as I've said, I've seen Vlautin performing with Richmond Fontaine a couple of times before in wonderful intimate venues like Bush Hall and The Luminere, but when this event was announced, an evening where he would be talking about his work as an author, as well as playing songs acoustically, I knew I had to go.

The evening began with the aforementioned DJ Gideon Coe chatting with Vlautin about his new novel, The Horse (which I literally finished reading waiting for them to come on stage). I thought Vlautin seemed a little nervous but he was so amiable and full of stories. He regaled us with the origin of his new book, which came about when on a road trip he and his friend found a blinded horse, just like in the novel, and thinking there was nothing more sad than a beaten up horse who can't see. He reported the horse and it was thankfully saved, but this, along with his own battles with alcohol, planted the seed of a struggling musician trying to stay clean who comes across a damaged and blinded horse.

He said he had been writing books long before he even had the confidence to show anyone, and really you only need to read his lyrics to know he's always been a storyteller, right from the start. This was the first book however where music has played a big part and it's clear that the main character, Al, is partly based on himself. Some of the most fun bits in the book are the lists of made-up song titles of imaginary songs Al has written, which Vlautin says pretty much tell the tale of where he is in his life at that moment. Later, he plays two songs that he wrote based on titles written just for the book.

After the chat with Coe, there was an interval and then Vlautin returned with his guitar to play some tunes from his years in Richmond Fontaine and The Delines, as well as the aforementioned songs inspired by his new novel. Vlautin said he wasn't a great singer and preferred when someone else sang his songs, as with his new band The Delines, but hearing him alone on stage with just his acoustic guitar, it's actually clear that Vlautin is a great singer in his own right, with a unique and gritty voice, perfect for country-folk tales he so beautifully plays.

Beginning with a raw and haunting version of Capsized, he then told the story of how as a kid his favourite part of the river turned out to be the same part where his uncle had died. He also said that when his uncles heard the song he wrote about it, 1968, they liked it and how thrilled he was, and he then treated us to a stunning rendition of the song.

Another song, Kid Codeine, he told us was inspired by the band while on tour, staying with a bunch of crazy guys who wanted to party with them, and locking himself in his room, and seeing them lighting a motorcycle on fire out of his window!

He played some more Richmond Fontaine tunes: Lost In This World, Lost In The Trees and a request, Contrails, which he admitted he had to practice before the show because it was so long since he had played it. There was also The Delines songs, Oil Rigs At Night and Mr Lucky And Miss Doom. But one of the highlights had to be the tune Mary Anne's In The Mental Ward, which as I said before, was completely based on a song title he wrote for the new novel. Not many authors could write an imaginary song title for their book and then work up a fantastic tune to make it a reality.

After this Gideon Coe returned and the audience were encouraged to ask questions. I would have loved to ask one but it was a bit of an old bloke fest and I'm pretty shy anyway but there were definitely some good ones. Highlights included him recalling how an old woman randomly told him she hated him while he was shopping in his local supermarket. When he caught up with her, she told him she was mad at him for killing the tragic main character, Horace, in his book Don't Skip Out On Me. He also talked about how he writes about the places he loves, which is where he lives in Reno, Nevada and places close by in Oregon etc, and he can't imagine writing about anywhere else.

He said that when he discovered that Bobbie Gentry married casino magnate Bill Harrah and had been in the casino in Reno, he used to imagine meeting her and writing songs for her. Anyone who is a fan of Gentry is okay by me, as I adore her too.

In fact he said that part of the reason he formed The Delines is because, not only does he think he's not a great singer (he is), but he prefers female voices and knew he wanted Amy Boone to sing his songs. He also confirmed that Richmond Fontaine probably won't be reuniting, as they split because it was getting too much for some of the members of the band, but they are all still very close.

Finally, he spoke about having a tiny background role in the film of Lean On Pete and said he would love John Doe (from the band X), to play the role of Al if The Horse ever got turned into a film. He said X was one of his favourite bands growing up and he is now lucky enough to know John Doe, who is one of his heroes. He also told us that they are currently filming an adaptation of his previous novel, The Night Always Comes, for Netflix right at this moment!

Obviously a lot more tales were told, funny stories were heard and a good time was had by all, but that's all I can remember off the top of my head. He did speak a little about how confused he was by working class people voting for Trump and how he doesn't understand how working people are against things like unions, and again I knew this was a guy who shared the same values as me, and why his books are so real and moving to me.

At the end I got to meet him and he signed my favourite of his books, Don't Skip Out On Me (he smiled and whispered to me that it was his favourite too). I had so many questions to ask him but was too shy and awed that I couldn't find the words, except to thank him for his beautiful books. At the very least I'm glad I got to do that and I'm thankful for this very special evening.