February 13th (Valentine's Day Eve), some musician friends of mine, and many I’ve never met, are doing a virtual concert to raise money for meals for New Mexico’s hardest hit. New Mexico ranks almost at the bottom in poverty (49th) in the US, and the Navaho and other Native American lands have long been shorted basic health, jobs and education services- so the impact of Covid on these folks has been devastating.

How in the world are they going to fit all these folks into one show? We’ll see.

Now for some folks my connection to these musicians might seem a little odd - we don’t exactly make the same kind of music - but I sense there exists some mutual appreciation. It’s certainly there from my end... I met Terry Allen, the artist and musician who helped put this together, in the mid eighties when I was making the True Stories movie. I love his music (and artwork). Terry often works within this vaguely country/Americana musical style, but he’s definitely on the artier end of the spectrum. Through him, I soon got to know fellow Lubbock alumni The Flatlanders - Joe Ely, Jimmie Dale Gilmore and Butch Hancock. All great songwriters. Terry sent me a cassette with Steve Earle’s song “Billy Austin”, and eventually Earle and his then wife ended up singing on my Here Lies Love score. Alejandro Escovedo was in a punk band The Nuns, and Joe Strummer of the Clash and Joe Ely were close friends. A lot of boundaries get crossed with this crowd. So my being part of this is maybe not as surprising as folks might think.

-David Byrne
 

VIRTUAL CONCERT INFO:
The “Food for Love” virtual concert will start at 5pm MST on Feb. 13 and be available for viewing for 48 hours. The concert is free, but viewers will be encouraged to donate to the New Mexico Association of Food Banks.
More Info: http://www.foodforlove.org