Charlie Sexton Resurfaces

Charlie Sexton made his first record, Pictures for Pleasure, when he was a 16-year-old guitar-god-in-training. He’s 37 now. In that time, he’s released a total of five albums, including one as a member of the Arc Angels. His latest, Cruel and Gentle Things, follows Under the Wishing Tree by a “mere” ten years.

It’s not that he’s been holding out on us intentionally; he’s just been busy. In addition to his 1999-2002 stint as Bob Dylan’s sideman, Sexton has played numerous sessions and produced, among others, Lucinda Williams, Shannon McNally and Los Super Seven. He also has a six-year-old son, whose birth prompted him to join Dylan in the first place. Sexton figured being a responsible dad involved keeping the kid fed. (The road life got old, but Sexton finds studio work more rewarding anyway, he says, because, unlike a show, an album has a shelf life.) He also wasn’t in a hurry to re-involve himself with label deals after some distasteful past experiences. And then there was the matter of inspiration.

“I got to a point awhile back where I wasn’t willing to play certain games anymore, and everything really had to mean something to me for it to come out of my mouth in the form of a song,” Sexton explains. “That’s a hard thing to do sometimes, to really get it all out, particularly in a full record’s worth. … And I’m not super-prolific. I write in big batches. I collect pieces. I’ll sit down and write a whole batch of stuff, then start over again and wait for the next flood.”

Luckily, the dam broke, and there’s more to come. Although he can’t rightly be called an Americana artist, he’s found a home on rootsy label Back Porch Records and is already thinking about his next release. The recently reunited Arc Angels also plan to record new tracks for a live DVD, and he hints they may do more under a different incarnation.

Says Sexton, “I’m gonna try and catch up.”