James Porteous : Clipper Media
If you enjoyed 1971: The Year Music Changed Everything you will love Bo Carter’s story of life on the road.
The Last Record Album is a fictional biography, based on the ‘career’ of a fictional singer/songwriter who, until now, has remained… largely unknown. Even to me.
In truth, Carter is sort of a fictional version of the author, had I managed to pursue that singer/songwriter career so many years ago.
As you will soon see, it all began when I first heard Bob Dylan’s Like a Rolling Stone in the summer of 1965. I was 11-years-old and I knew something was happening, but I really did not know what it was.
By the time I was 14-years-old I was writing music and concert reviews for national magazines.
It was not quite ‘Almost Famous,’ but man, I grabbed everything they offered me, from free concert tickets, records by the score, and the never-ending supply of free beer tickets.
By the time I was ‘legal,’ I was often attending two or three ‘free’ concerts a week, whether at Massey Hall, the El Mocambo, or The Riverboat, and then the tons of barely named clubs and bars in Canada and the US.
The original yearning – to be the next Bob Dylan- remained in the background, but it soon became clear to me, and then to Bo Carter, that there was never going to be a ‘next Bob Dylan’ because there was only ever going to be The Bob Dylan.
I continued to write songs, but the consensus remained that one of my first songs – Coal Miner’s Blues- might indeed turn out to be the best song I would ever write.
Still, nothing could kill my love of music. Indeed, I loved finding new music, and when I ‘discovered’ a new genre, whether big band or blues or country, I would study it for weeks or months at a time.
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I continued to write about the music I liked and the songs I thought would not likely receive wide coverage.
As I traveled along this long road I interviewed, talked to, and read about many artists, including my singer/songwriter son, and studied what they did, how they did it, and, more importantly, why they did what they did.
I discovered that most writers rely on particular tricks, or mind-games, when the word-well runs dry or the sacred narrative speeds straight off the tracks.
So this is for the ones who never give up.
The book includes live Bandcamp links to a number of songs ‘written’ by Bo Carter (well, actually, James Porteous), a list of my favorite Bob Dylan songs, ‘interviews’ with Bo Carter and more live links to dozens of songs I have enjoyed over the years.
So sit back, crack open a cool one, put on some expensive vinyl, and let the good (and bad) times roll.
James Porteous
March 2021
Bo Carter was a novice songwriter when a hurricane named Bob Dylan crashed into New York’s folk music scene.
Bo survived the flood, but after a career spanning three decades, he fears he will be remembered as a ‘one-hit-wonder.’
And Bo’s fickle Lady Muse has grown weary of feeding his comically demented creative process. She has even wondered aloud if it is time for Bo to hang up his filthy rock ‘n’ roll shoes.
Still, Mr Dylan is interested in recording one of his songs. And a big-time Hollywood director has requested a new tune for an upcoming movie soundtrack.
Will Bo Carter finally turn his career around? To quote one of Bo’s lesser lyrics, ‘time will tell.’
This fictional biography includes Bandcamp links to Bo Carter’s latest solo album, complete lyrics and exclusive interviews with the author.
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