By the end of the 1960s, the streets of America were awash with folk revivalists, young men with acoustic guitars attempting to emulate Bob Dylan or Woody Guthrie. To say the folk scene was oversaturated would be an understatement, but it has to be said that the folk renaissance of the 1960s did birth a handful of incredible artists, one of whom was a favourite of David Bowie.
Despite entering the music industry during the 1960s, at the peak of the folk revival and singer-songwriter boom, Bowie always seemed to favour the harder or weirder side of music. With New York underground icons The Velvet Underground a particular favourite of the young songwriter, the world of acoustic guitars, flared jeans and flowers in hair seemed a world away.
Nevertheless, Bowie did have an appreciation for some folk music of the time. Picking out his favourite albums for Vanity Fair back in 2003, the Brixton-born musician identified Tucker Zimmerman as a great love of his. The musical opinions of David Bowie tend to hold a lot of weight, given his position as one of the most talented songwriters of all time. So when he lists his favourite albums, people tend to listen – especially when he selects underrated gems like Ten Songs by Tucker Zimmerman.
Zimmerman had been instilled with a musical education from a very young age, beginning violin lessons at the age of four. A truly gifted musical mind, Tucker began a career in folk music during the 1960s. His 1969 debut, Ten Songs, received little recognition at the time despite his unique sound, which blended folk revival with blues rock, as well as an unnerving vocal performance that did not sound dissimilar to the kind of thing Nick Cave would later employ.
The album’s quality is due, in part, to the production of Tony Visconti, a notable colleague of Bowie’s. “Tucker, an American, was one of the first artists to be produced by my friend and co-producer Tony Visconti, also an American after they found each other in London,” Bowie explained.
Of Zimmerman, Bowie joked, “The guy’s way too qualified for folk, in my opinion. Degrees in theory and composition, studying under composer Henry Onderdonk, Fulbright scholarship, and he wants to be Dylan.”
While it is true that folk music tends to favour lyricism and vocal performance over complicated technical musicianship, there have been a few notable exceptions to that rule, Zimmerman being one of them. As Bowie asserted, “A waste of an incendiary talent? Not in my opinion. I always found this album of stern, angry compositions enthralling, and often wondered what ever happened to him.”
Many people have wondered the same thing. In defiance of the incredible talent asserted on Ten Songs by Tucker Zimmerman, the American singer-songwriter never received a great deal of recognition or praise. Though now operating as a somewhat obscure figure, Zimmerman has remained active in the world of music, releasing his last studio album just over a decade ago. With eight albums under his belt since the release of his debut, there is certainly no shortage of material to get stuck into on Bowie’s recommendation.
