Utahpolis

One of the things that I’ll be doing with this site is showcasing tracks from CD’s pulled randomly from my collection. Here’s the first….

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Either Hasil or his manager mailed a burned copy of this album to me a number of years ago to help with promoting a Hasil Adkins show I had booked at a club called High On Rose. Unfortunately, I had never listened to it until a few hours ago. Oops.

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I can never really get a good gauge on how popular Hasil was around the rest of the country and world. We Lexingtonians were blessed with being located just one state away from the Adkins’ homestead, in Madison, W.V. That, coupled with a couple of rabid fans (thank you J. Todd and Jesse) in town enabled Hasil to make semi-regular appearances in various Lexington clubs. I feel that a lot of us took for granted the fact that we were able to see so many shows by this gifted man before he passed away in 2005.

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I first came across Hasil Adkins somewhat randomly at a great little restaurant/small venue called Yat’s back in 1998 or so. Word traveled fast about the show (even though most of us had never heard of the guy) and that night Yat’s was overflowing in every direction. Because of this crowd, all I remember is seeing a cowboy hat bob up and down and some of Hasil’s screams and wails.

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Next came a show at High On Rose, another restaurant/venue that had a capacity of 150, roughly twice that of Yat’s. I was Talent Buyer there from 2002 until 2003 and booked Hasil with the help of WRFL. There was a great turnout and Hasil put on a fantastic show that evening. I remember him asking for tons of coffee and being very proud of his baseball cap with a built in mini-headlight. Hasil was staying with J. Todd and Jessi and I somehow ended up at the after-party. He spent the evening talking to his girlfriend on the phone and asking for plates of sausages.

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His last two shows in town were at The Dame, a much larger venue with a capacity of 390. I’m currently the Talent Buyer and GM for the club, but at the time I was Publicist. The first show I don’t really remember too well, probably due to my rum and coke consumption. The final show seemed kind of odd to me. I went down to the green room because Hasil was running very late. He seemed sort of upset about something and spoke very few words. This was in stark contrast to the Hasil I had met at High On Rose a few years prior. The set that evening consisted mostly of slow country ballads. This would be the last time most of us would see him. He was run down by a stranger on an ATV near his house in 2005 and ended up dying 10 days later.

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Make sure to check out Hasil’s bio if you aren’t familiar with his story….

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What the Hell Was I Thinking was Hasil’s lone release on the Fat Possum label, and was recorded around the same time I first saw him perform at Yat’s.

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Hasil Adkins – Beautiful Hills

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Most people are probably know Hasil for his wild songs full of yells, hollers, and gibberish. This track, however, is a glimpse of the Hasil I saw at that last show at The Dame. A timeless and haunting country ballad.

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Hasil Adkins – Up On Mars

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On a completely different side of things, we have this track. Sounds like hanging out with Hasil at 5 in the morning in a freezing cold trailer after a night of drinking and smoking way too much pot.

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Buy this CD from Amazon.