Two-time Grammy winner Bill Harley
also wrote about Campbell, saying, "I'm so sad tonight thinking about
the loss of Jon Campbell. If I had to make a list of five or six people
that were Rhode Island, Jon would be at the very top.
Jon
Campbell, a member of the Rhode Island Music Hall of Fame, was admired
for his song-writing ability, with much of his work reflecting Rhode
Island and coastal themes.
"Singular,
brilliant, talented, definitely Irish, definitely indigenous, prickly,
one of the best damn songwriters I ever met, and someone who followed
his own path," Harley wrote.
"Never
one to conform to just one single path or recreation, he is remembered
as many things: a musician, an artist, a writer, a film crewman, a
mentor, a brother, a father and likely the funniest and most intelligent
man in any room he ever walked into," she wrote.
"Jon’s music
brought him from the docks of Point Judith and Block Island to the
shores of Kodiak, Alaska and into the stereos of homes everywhere in
between," she wrote, noting that his Hall of Fame induction was one of
his proudest moments. "He will be deeply missed by his family, friends
and communities both near and far."
Born in 1951, Campbell began
writing songs "on an irregular basis" after several decades of focusing
on instrumental music in Denver, Boston and Providence, the Hall of Fame wrote in his biography.
"It
had become obvious to him that coastal Rhode Island was fertile ground
for this undertaking and the operating principle of 'write about what
you know about' offered a lot of possibilities and latitude," his Hall
of Fame biography says.
Campbell
released albums with songs about "regional cuisine, tourists, swamp
Yankees, commercial fishing, politics and local history," according to
the Hall of Fame.
Consider these lyrics from a song about clam
cakes. "You must be from Johnston or Silver Lake if you think there's a
clam in that clam cake."
Harley wrote, "I think of him now,
writing songs only he could write on one of his bouzoukis (I'm lucky
enough to have one he made for me), performing his songs with his
dismissive, sardonic attitude, ("watch a mobster, eat a lobster") ..."
"What
kept me in the ring — a boxing metaphor is all I have for Campbell —
was his musicianship, songwriting skills, intelligence, and, most
importantly, his wit," Houlihan wrote.
Many of Campbell's songs
were funny, but he could also be "grounded and provocative," Houlihan
wrote. He admired Campbell's writing skills and even acknowledged
jealousy, particularly upon hearing his "Restless Waters."
The song goes, in part, like this:
"It's many a man has left his home to sail upon the seas
To seek his fortune on the waters many miles from these
But the further that you sail away, the quicker you float home
As around and 'round and 'round the world, the restless waters roam"
They've got brown vinyl sandals and black nylon socks.
They've a red peeling nose and synthetic clothes
And from June to September it's anything goes
Where's my flipflop? Where's the gift shop?"
According
to the Hall of Fame, Campbell summed up "his remarkable, uniquely
'Rhode Island' career in this way, 'When you live in an interesting
place where interesting people are doing interesting things, all you
have to do is make it rhyme.' "
Campbell also worked in films, as a
grip and with pyrotechnics, according to Houlihan. He was a self-taught
mixed-media artist "skilled at jewelry, metal working, stone cutting
and painting," according to HopArts, a website that promotes Southern Rhode Island artists and artisans.
A
memorial service and celebration of Campbell's life will be planned for
the spring, Marina Campbell wrote. In addition to Marina, he is
survived by daughter Grasa Campbell, sister Sarah Campbell and brother
Ben Campbell.
Campbell's daughter finished her Facebook post with
lyrics from his song "Keep on Fishin'." "In our sorrow," she wrote, "let
us remember with a smile Jon’s own advice:"
“You might feel bad and you might miss him,
But when you’re into fish you got to keep on fishing.”
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