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WITH A MIX of corn and sweet sentiment, more than a little country and a lot of rock, Axton easily pleased a crowd estimated at more than 5,000 for his early evening show at the Oregon State Fair yesterday.
"Is it okay so far?" he asked. After the cheering died down, he explained, "We're doing the best we can with what we have left."
Axton, who said he got about 18 hours at home last month, has been on the road with his five-member band and two back-up singers since March. And he won't get off it until mid-December, maybe.
THE SHOW WASN'T nearly as gritty and gutsy as his June 29 appearance at the Oregon State Penitentiary, but it had the straight-ahead push of a man who puts his life in his work.
Axton worked over his favorites, from the joking refrain of "Bony Fingers" through an inevitable "Orange Blossom Special" to a jump-and-shout "Joy to the World." It was a "greatest hits" list of one of folk and country's most prolific singers.
"WE'VE BEEN BOOGEYING, we've been working a lot," he said during an interview on his experienced-looking bus, "Honeysuckle Rose." Reclining comfortably on his bed in the back of the bus, looking like as he joked, "the Orson Welles of country music," the ample singer talked like a man in love with his life.
"It's a pretty good life, what the hell. I've always worked. I've always had work as a singer." He feels obligated to do his best: "The folks that come to these shows, they work for their money."
But, he confided, not everyone had such a good prognosis for his life. He had just taken a physical and been turned down for insurance.
Heart palpitations and overweight, said the doctor. What the heck, said Axton; at 43, he has never felt better.
His life, as they say, is in his songs. Comments?
you can be sure that you're not alone." Hoyt Axton
last updated: 03.17.01